


Live as Regina

by Mac_Northsea



Category: Once Upon a Time (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Battles and death, F/F, I don't know what else to put here..., Long, Mostly through memories and storytelling, My interpretation of Camelot, My interpretation of Neverland, My interpretation of everything else, Post-Season/Series 02, Rape/Non-con Elements, There is a bit of Red Warrior, and some of the canon relationships
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-03-27
Updated: 2020-08-16
Packaged: 2021-03-01 01:27:50
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 26
Words: 712,821
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23343205
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Mac_Northsea/pseuds/Mac_Northsea
Summary: On the way to Neverland, Emma is troubled by the heart-to-heart she and Regina had in the mines at moment of Regina's self-sacrifice. Sacrifice that changed everything, even Emma herself. With understanding her less then ideal upbringing gave her, the Savior decides to save not only Henry but his mother as well. Doing so will take her and her family through harrowing challenges of love, duty, conflict, and magic.(I am importing it from FanFiction.net, after a bit of sprucing up)
Relationships: Evil Queen | Regina Mills/Emma Swan
Comments: 38
Kudos: 71





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> I did some editing work, and consolidated some chapters to make a more equal pacing in the length. I tried to make it work in smaller chapters but I could never find a proper place to break them... Anyway, this is an attempt to inspire my muse to get onto continuing this epic journey...

_ Everyone looks at me as the Evil Queen. Let me die as Regina. _

She could not shake the thought out of her mind, repeating itself, calling others to the front, making her remember all the instances Regina surprised her, and even impressed her.

The wind was picking up, forcing the small ship to speed up toward their destination. Only half an hour passed after they fell through the portal to Neverland, but for Emma time seemed to crawl, making her believe that she was sitting on the bow of Jolly Roger for days, with her legs hanging over the deck, and leaning on one of the barrels, watching the sea move beneath her. Lulled in the sound of the waves, she was adrift in her mind, her thoughts arranging in their own way after finally having a moment to herself, not having to run, find, protect, argue or rescue. There was nothing to do before they reached the land, and she welcomed the opportunity to think.

The others left her alone, thinking she was mourning the loss of her love, but the truth, as usual, was much more complicated. Neal, or Baelfire as Hook and Gold called him, was very dear to her. They had a son together, for God’s sake. But, too much had happened after he betrayed her, and the blonde woman just did not love him anymore. Not  _ that way _ , at least. But she did care for him. If they found him, if he by any chance had survived, she would have to set the record straight. It would cause a lot of pain, but she had firmly decided that she would never pretend for others’ sake. Not anymore.

As much as she cared for Neal, she hadn’t trusted him again. He had abandoned her, in his self-perceived self-sacrifice - to fulfill her destiny as the Savior. Just like her parents had. At that thought, the old anger resurfaced and she felt her hands shaking against the magic. Breathing in time with the numbers counting in her head, she calmed down. Every decision the people closest to her had made for the sake of her destiny as the Savior had caused her pain and suffering. So, no, she did not trust Neal. And Henry… He would be so disappointed, if his father was ever found. Henry - her sweet innocent kid, smarter and braver than all of them together.

At the thought of him, her heart seized, and she gasped in pain, her eyes filling with tears. The guilt assaulted her, along with helpless fury, choking her. She had failed to keep him safe, to protect her kid. His smile appeared before her eyes, and the glinting green eyes he shared with her twinkled at her. The memories of him ran through her mind making her lips turn into a soft smile, even as her eyes filled with tears. He had so many of her quirks, but also he had picked up some of Regina’s mannerisms as well.

_ Everyone looks at me as the Evil Queen, including my son. Let me die as Regina. _

At Henry’s insistence she had read the infamous Book. The stories inside were written in the classic fairytale language, portraying the good versus evil in slanted views, but Emma had been able to read beyond words and pictures, and understand much more than it had been said. She could see beyond the black and white storytelling. Whether because she had a lot of experiences with the gray areas, or because she was the Savior, she didn’t know. But she could finally understand Regina. Although, she would be hard pressed to say that aloud.

_ Let me die as Regina. _

Regina - the Evil Queen, Madame Mayor, Cora’s daughter, Henry’s mother, Daniel’s love, her adversary… There were many faces of the woman who raised her son and each of them was a complex part of the woman herself. And the moment she had looked into the resigned and tired woman’s eyes filled with pain and odd relief, in the mines, Emma finally had felt all the pieces of the puzzle called Regina fall into the place. The self-sacrificing act of the older woman humbled Emma, and she had noticed something change between them. Something crucial.

Emma heard footsteps behind her. Wiping her tears, she collected herself before the heavy but agile gait brought her father to her. He crouched beside her, kissing her on the forehead, pushing a lock of her hair behind an ear in tender and loving motion. When she looked at him, his blue eyes regarded her with love. “If you want to talk, we are here for you,” he whispered looking into her tired and troubled eyes. After she nodded in acknowledgement he patted her shoulder, and rising, covered her with a blanket he had brought, and left her to her thoughts once more.

She followed his retreat with her eyes, noticing the worried glances Mary Margaret was throwing in her direction. Although she loved her parents equally, Snow tended to fuss more than Emma could stand at the moment and she was glad that it was David who came to check on her. It was sometimes still too weird to think of him as of her father, but she was getting used to it, just as she had gotten used to Snow in the Enchanted Forest. And one of the reasons for the weirdness was occupying her mind.

After being informed of Regina’s behavior during their stint in the Forest, learning about Daniel from Snow and David, and meeting Cora, plenty of things were explained. After all, she couldn’t think of Regina as the Evil Queen anymore. And, deep inside, she knew that she had never considered her evil, but troubled, damaged even. Again, her experience in the ‘Normal’ world gave her insight needed to see beyond the moniker.

Sighing, she leaned her head onto the barrel, bringing her knee up to lean her elbow on it, arranging the blanket around herself, for the air grew colder, doused with sea water. She knew that the change of position would bring her mother about. It was time, Emma decided, gathering her thoughts. This forced calm before the storm of Henry’s rescue helped her organize the information she had into the cohesive and most likely true story.

A memory jumped at her.

_ “You can use magic?” the unrestrained wonder colored the dark woman’s voice, and for a moment, Emma had seen the beautiful young Queen in the face of Regina Mills. Too soon the eyes darkened and the face closed off in a mask of contempt. “The Savior, of course.” She had all but spat the words. Emma had noticed that Regina had never deigned to look at Snow and David, keeping her gaze on the blonde. Too quickly the things had gotten out of control, and Emma had been left standing in the front yard of the Mayor’s mansion with the last glimpse of Regina etched in her memory. The broken, defeated woman had a look of such sorrow and impotent anger, enveloped in betrayal and despair, glancing upon the Savior in a last attempt to convince her that she had done nothing. With her pleas unheeded, she had fled. _

Emma had let her own insecurities obscure her instincts. Her naivety of magic and the new circumstances had made her doubt herself, and she, not knowing what to do, had relied on Snow’s and David’s moral guidance and unflinching belief they knew best, making one of the bigger mistakes of her life. Leaving Regina without any support had pushed the witch into the arms of her mother, and they all knew how that had ended.

Another sliver of past found its way to the forefront of Emma’s mind. The day after the curse had broken, when Regina had uncovered Jefferson’s hat, Emma had found herself amazed by the woman before her.

_ “Did Henry really ask you to protect me?” the regal woman asked tremulously. _

_ Emma could not keep the older woman in suspense, and with a short nod, she replied. “Yes.” The smile that showed on the Queen’s face was sweet and it lit her face with a charming glow. However, the moment passed and they were as before. _

A soft hand on her shoulder brought her back. Looking up she saw Snow’s concerned face. “You’ve been here a long time,” Snow said softly. Emma gestured to her to sit beside her.

“I’ve been thinking,” Emma murmured, careful not to raise her voice. This conversation needed to be private as much as it could.

“About?”

“You, me, Henry, Regina, Cora… Take your pick.” The blonde glanced upon the woman beside her, and pleased that she had her full attention, she turned back to look at the sea. “I need to tell you something, and you need to promise me you will listen without reacting in anger and storming off.” She felt the woman beside her tense at the firm tone of her daughter.

“I promise,” the pixie haired woman said softly after a while.

“I want you to stop antagonizing Regina.”

The sentence hung in the air for several moments before Snow simply nodded. “I mean it, Mary Margaret. No more quips about the Evil Queen or stuff like that.”

“Alright, but why?” Snow asked calmly, although her voice betrayed her confusion. Emma shrugged and looked up into the clear sky, avoiding to look into the eyes so similar to Henry’s, to her own. “Emma?”

“Just trust me.”

“I do. But, I do not trust her.” After a moment of Emma’s silence, Snow grabbed her hand hanging off her knee and squeezed it. “Emma, because of her we are in this mess in the first place.”

But when Emma finally turned to look her in the eyes, Snow gasped at the anger brewing in her gentle green eyes. Before she could do or say anything, Emma turned her hand, taking hold of Snow’s, keeping the other woman in place. The air vibrated around her, and the smaller woman felt tingles on her skin, where their hands touched.

“Do you know she loves you?”

The unexpected words made Snow look up in shock, seeing the absolute truth in Emma’s eyes. “Yes, she hates you, but she still loves you. Even after all of this. She loves you just like she loved her mother no matter the pain and humiliation she had suffered by Cora’s hands and later by yours and your father.” The slight frown on Emma’s forehead warned the smaller woman not to interrupt with a staunch defense of her father. “And yes, it is possible to feel both toward the same person at the same time. I have seen it plenty of times in foster care, and it is common with abused children. If you think about it is very logical.” Emma’s gaze softened and the magic dissipated, but Snow still kept quiet, in order to let her daughter say what she wanted. “She loved Cora because she was her mother, the only one she had. She provided the shelter, the food and it is in the child's nature to love adults around it, even if they give them pain, because they know nothing else.” Emma glanced down upon their intertwined hands, and sighed. “I have seen a boy who was being raped repeatedly by his father jump the officer that was arresting the man, defending the very monster that made his life hell because it was the only love he knew.” The soft distant voice that Emma used was frightening in its own right. The blonde woman had refused to speak of her childhood and no matter of the cajoling would make her budge. But to share this story of her own free will, just to make a point about Regina… It was unthinkable.

“You were everything she wasn’t. Carefree, joyful, innocent. And she loves you for that, for bringing that into her life. But when you betrayed her, along with her mother, it was so much easier to blame anyone and everyone else but her own parent. And, it is not like you were blameless in all that. You made a mistake, a grievous one that had destroyed her entire life… Or so it seemed at that time.”

“I didn’t know.” Snow’s whisper, heavy with regret made Emma look at her mother. “I didn’t know Cora would kill him.”

“I am not trying to make you feel bad. I am explaining her point of view.” The soft reassuring tone was immediately replaced with a harder one, with a harsh edge. “But, you still broke a promise and a young innocent man lost his life for it. And despite that she could never kill you. Never leave you without a way out. All the instances she had you in her mercy, she not once moved to end you. It may have seemed that way, even to herself, but, honestly, if she wanted you dead you would be – a long time ago. She could have destroyed you in so many ways.” Emma released the hand and placed both of her own on her knee. “Personally, if it was me…” Emma glanced upon Snow, making sure that her mother understood perfectly. “If it was me in her place, I would have ripped your heart out and made you kill David yourself and then live with yourself for the rest of your imprisoned life remembering the last minutes of your loved one.”

The calm deliverance of the idea made Snow shudder with horror. But, she could not deny that her daughter was right. She had been aware of Emma’s hot temper, but she had never contemplated what the pain of loss would do to her.

“I pardoned her time and time again. She tried to kill me with a knife after Rumplestiltskin protected us from her.” Snow spoke with faltering conviction in her voice.

Emma chuckled bitterly at the miffed face of her mother. “Do you honestly believe that she, a most skilled tactician and master of intrigue, didn’t know it was a test? A test she was meant to fail from the start?” Shaking her head at the naivety of the other woman in things regarding magic, Emma sighed, understanding the condescending sneer that would grace Regina’s face every time Charmings were mentioned. “I can feel the presence of magic in the objects around me, and even in the people around me that can use magic – and I am still new to this. She as an experienced and practiced sorceress would know its presence the moment she came close to you.”

“Why then?” Snow asked bewildered, for the first time taking into an account the magical signatures she had heard about from Blue.

The blonde woman smiled sadly. “If you were faced with an impossible choice of living, banished, alone with nothing but your own sorrow, anger and hatred for company, with no power, home or anything else; and death that would bring you peace and freedom from the anguish that is torturing you, what would you choose?” The silence following the question was an answer enough. “And, knowing Regina, she would never allow you to show her pity, and if she just asked for death…”

“She cursed us, Emma!”

“And, because of it you have a grandson. It was her way of starting again. You are here, with your husband, reunited with your daughter, alive and well.” Before she would lose her temper because of the old argument, Emma closed her eyes and forced herself to breathe deeply. After several moments, she looked at her mother, calm enough to continue.

“Yes, she tried to kill me, to hurt us, again and again, but it was her only way to defend and protect herself. I was a threat, and she had every right to do it.” Before she could interrupt, Emma raised her hand and pushed on. “The way she went about it was a bit over the top, but Snow, Henry was everything she had left. And everything she did was a direct reaction to our actions. Take Henry. He is a wonderful boy, and that is all thanks to her. How could someone evil raise such a loving and happy child? And how could someone evil give their life for saving the very people she wanted to destroy?”

Snow lowered her head, finally understanding her former stepmother, seeing her from Emma’s point of view. She glanced at the blonde, watching her daughter with a new appreciation. Emma noticed the poorly hidden scrutiny and raised her eyebrow in question in pure Regina expression.

“You would make a wonderful Queen.”

Emma scoffed and slowly lifted herself, gently moving her stiff limbs. “What, the Savior is not enough?” She shook her head and walked away gingerly. The smaller woman watched her, recognizing the need to hide the emotional turmoil in her daughter, knowing that she would not be welcome to follow.

Ignoring the men huddled around the helm, the tall woman went below the deck, holding herself upright by touching the walls around the narrow stairs. Going to the captain’s cabin, she sighed, struggling with the overwhelming pressure of her emotions. She needed to hide away from the worried presence of her parents and the leering glances of Hook. Gold did not bother her as much, but she was loath to cry in front of him.

She entered her designated room and stopped at once. Right. She had forgotten, they were sharing the rooms. The object of her thoughts was lying on the only mattress in the cabin, huddled in a ball and shaking, holding something in her hands. Obviously, Regina had not heard her, or she would have already been greeted with an acerbic remark. Making a quick decision to risk her life, Emma went to the sobbing woman and molded her own body around the frail woman, holding her close. Placing her arm around Regina’s waist, Emma drew herself as close as she could, lying behind the older woman and despite the years of self-conditioning not to show any weaknesses, she let go of her shaky control over her emotions.

Regina froze. There was only one person not only on this ship but at all who would dare to touch her. Her first reaction was outrage, and she was about to move away.

“Miss Swan, what d…?” she started but the gruff voice, laden with tears stopped her, as the arm around her middle pulled her closer.

“Don’t… Please, not now.” The pain in the whisper shocked the witch and in a move too quick to counter, she turned around, facing the Savior, who was in the middle of falling apart. All the fight left her after she had seen the despair in the murky green eyes. The only thing that played in her mind was her son, and she knew he was also the reason for the Savior’s tears. Their son. Regina did not even blink after hearing her mind connecting them together. Lowering her head onto Emma’s shoulder, she held the taller woman close, in the only gesture she could think of to ease the burden they shared. Surrendering to the enveloping arms around her, she let go, oddly reassured that she was not alone.

After a long while, they both calmed down and Regina, exhausted by the whole torture and trigger ordeal, fell asleep in Emma’s arms, burrowing herself deeper in the safety she felt there. Emma would follow her soon after, but not before she had healed the older woman’s burns that had reappeared after feeding the trigger with the magic. The young woman smiled at the easy feat. Rumplestiltskin had said that it was about emotion, and right at that moment Emma felt an overwhelming need to protect the woman sleeping in her embrace. Moving the soft dark strands of hair of the Mayor’s face, Emma let the buzz of magic grow until the marks on Regina’s body were gone. Pleased with the result, she finally closed her eyes and let the unconsciousness claim her.

Regina was first to wake up, feeling rested for the very first time in a long while. At first she was confused. Why was her pillow moving? Then she remembered the events of the day before, they were on Jolly Roger. But it still did not explain why she was so warm.  _ Emma _ .

The gasp she let, opening her eyes and finding herself looking into the neck and chin of the Savior, was loud enough to rouse the other woman who only gripped her closer and mumbled a soft  _ You are safe  _ before relaxing again.

And indeed she had never felt safer. The typical anger was absent and in its stead was a tiny kernel of gratitude, followed by deep weariness of fighting. The woman who had offered herself as a pillow had always kept her safe, even at her own detriment. The Savior was keeping the Evil Queen safe. Regina smiled at the irony. Placing her hand next to her face, on Emma’s chest, she focused on the strong heartbeats beneath her ear and hand. The old Regina would have plunged her hand into the blonde’s chest and had taken the ultimate prize.

A quiet, sleep roughened voice interrupted her musings. “Even if you wanted to, I don’t think you can take it. Cora couldn’t.” A hand covered her own, keeping it in place. Regina looked up in amazement, seeing the green eyes, still shadowed and blurry with sleep, focused on her.

“She never told me that,” the wonder seeped in Regina’s voice.

“I have no doubt. It would mean she failed at something.”

Regina agreed by humming, settling back on Emma’s shoulder, enjoying the comfort she found. Something nudged her memory and she gasped. “You tried to warn me.” The older woman suddenly rose up on her elbow, looking down at the startled blonde. “That day, you tried to warn me about the beans without betraying the Charmings.”

Emma closed her eyes in resignation. It was not supposed to be found out. A gentle palm leaned against her cheek. The surprising reaction from the Mayor startled Emma again and she blinked her eyes open, finding herself lost in the dark chocolate eyes.

“Why?” Regina whispered, at a loss why would this annoyingly wonderful Charming fool of the Savior keep thinking of her. “Why are you fighting for me?”

“Because I believe in you. Because I have faith that with the help and support you can be what Henry wants you to be, with your own twist on things, of course.” The attempt of humor at the end of the soft and honest admission did nothing to break the tension building between them. Emma squirmed under the piercing gaze, uncomfortable with the silence. “I know you probably don’t believe that, or that I see the real Regina beneath all the façades presented to the world.” She placed her own palm against the one on her cheek, and willed the other woman to accept the truth she was trying to impart. “I heard you in the mines. But I will not let you die. I want to help you live as Regina.” Not being able to watch the strong woman’s dark eyes fill with tears, she looked away. “You do deserve happiness, after the life you had. And Henry…” Emma’s voice broke, and she closed her eyes, feeling the tears glide down her face. Swallowing hard at the knots lodged in her throat, created by their son’s name. “And Henry deserves the mother he grew up with.”

Regina blinked against the tears, refusing to let them fall. It had been enough crying. Gathering herself, she smiled at the blonde beneath her, sharing a look with her. Using her hand, she wiped the younger woman’s tears and rose. There weren’t any words of thank you for they weren’t necessary or needed. The look of tenderness and gratitude that Regina had directed toward Emma, removing the tears was more than enough.

“But, first we find Henry.”

“We are going to fight, manipulate, plead – but we will win at any cost to bring our son home, safe and sound.” Emma said firmly, with determination in her eyes and voice. She rose, moving toward Regina, looking at her with stunned attention.

“Our son?”

The taller woman walked to the other one, grabbing her shoulders gently but firmly and lowering her head to look into the surprised chocolate eyes. “He is our son.” The finality of Emma’s statement filled Regina with hope that perhaps this would end well, even for her.

“We are going to save Henry.”

* * *

Snow held on to David, still thinking about the conversation she had had with Emma earlier. She knew Emma was right, and the revelation that the loving stepmother Snow had adored was still alive, buried under the pain and hatred made the pixie haired woman feel the confusing mixture of fear, apprehension and happiness. She had missed the woman she considered a mother.

“What has you troubled, my love?” David whispered into her hair, holding her closely, but watching the other two men talk about Baelfire and their time with them, looking for a sign of trouble. The uneasy peace between Rumplestiltskin and Captain Hook could break apart at any moment and they could not afford that.

“Regina.” Snow forced her prince to look her in the eyes, holding his face. The soft blue regarded her with interest. “She never killed you” she murmured, remembering Emma’s cold statement. After some time spent on considering her experiences from a different perspective, she realized what Emma was trying to show her. Seeing David’s confused look, she decided to tell him about the conversation she had with their daughter.

* * *

“Sheriff…” Dark eyes followed the rapid movement of the blonde. “Will you stop pacing!” Regina snapped, wincing when her strong voice reverberated in the small room. Emma had been pacing the length of the cabin, making the other woman queasy with motion.

“Sorry. I just…” Emma leaned against the wall in frustration, crossing her arms at the chest. “I cannot just sit for the next two days. I’ll lose my mind.”

“And everyone else with you, most likely,” came the caustic reply. Emma looked at the woman sitting primly at the edge of the bed, her hands in her lap, her back straight. Regina Mills was a picture of elegance, somewhat displaced in the pirate quarters, on a shabby bed, in a cluttered cell of the room. “Patience is a virtue.”

“Not mine.”

“Obviously.”

Emma scowled by habit and walked off the wall. She lied down on the bed, careful not to jostle the other woman, and placed her arms behind her head, crossing her legs at the ankles. She blinked slowly, trying to dispel the need for sleep that still plagued her. Apparently, she had exerted herself a bit too much, trying to heal Regina and she was still feeling the effects. And, now when she was unmoving the headache came to the front, making her even more short with Regina.

Regina watched the other woman, noticing the bruising under her eyes and overall paleness. Disregarding her observations for the moment, she decided to follow Emma’s example and placed herself on the bed, reclining, but she leaned on the up-righted pillow against the wall. “I am…” the former queen paused, not sure should she even start this particular topic. But, stubborn as ever, she continued. “Sorry about Neal.”

Emma glanced up at the woman, and smiled in appreciation, however the sad smile only looked as a grimace on her face.

“Do you want to talk about it?”

If someone saw the two women at that moment he would not be sure who was more surprised by the words that slipped out of Regina’s mouth. However, the surprise turned into another twisting of the lips for Emma, and Regina relaxed, not sure exactly what she had been doing.

“No, not yet. But thank you.”

The silence fell upon them, growing more uncomfortable by the second.

“How…”

“What…”

They both started at the same time, and hearing the other speak, they both broke off. Emma smiled in apology, but Regina waved it off and gestured to the other woman to continue.

“How are you feeling?”

Such a simple, everyday question should not cause such a reaction, Regina berated herself. The affectionate warmth bloomed in her chest at the soft candid question, and her eyes clouded. No one had asked that since… Well, since she had killed her father, and even he would have rarely dared to ask her that particular question.

Immediately after, her eyes grew hard, and the walls rose. It must have been a test of some kind, a search for weakness. But a soft grip on her upper arm, so much like the one that helped her activate the hat, stopped the further escalation of her defensive mechanisms.

“Regina, please. Don’t do that.” Emma spoke, leaning over her, having lifted herself onto extended arm, turned toward the woman who glared at her. “I only asked because I noticed that the burns had reappeared before, and I was wondering if I healed them well.” After the incredulous look in her direction, Emma shrugged sheepishly. “I didn’t want you to be in pain” she mumbled, lowering herself back down.

If Emma had healed Regina without her noticing it, and she had because the older woman hadn’t felt better in a while, it would mean that the blonde’s magic was compatible with hers. Regina frowned, not pleased with the situation. She already had an inkling why it was possible, but she did not want to spend time on that ridiculous idea.

But, there wasn’t only the question of Emma using magic on her without her knowledge. Emma had indeed healed her, but she undoubtedly without intention had transferred part of her energy as well. That explained why she had been well rested after so little time, and why Emma seemed so exhausted. She would need to teach the younger woman to control her magic better. It would not do for the Savior to kill herself by overextending her reserves.

“I am alright.” In that sentence an apology was issued silently. Emma nodded slowly, licking her wind chapped lips, drawing Regina’s attention to them. The brown eyes traced the damage on the blonde’s face, noticing wind scraped cheeks as well. “You, however, are not.” Disregarding her habitual reticence to touch, Regina lifted her hand and placed it on the younger woman’s face, smirking when Emma closed her eyes and leaned into the touch without any reservation. The brunette healed the damaged skin, all the while internally reprimanding herself. It hadn’t been necessary to touch Emma for the magic to work, but she had wanted to show her appreciation in some way. “Sleep. Everything else can wait.” Regina smirked again when her only reply was a soft murmur and a flutter of Emma’s eyes.

Having covered the blonde with the fleece excuse for a blanket, Regina left the cabin in search for some fresh air. Glancing into the other room she saw Hook and David sleeping, each taking one of the crew pallets. When they had boarded, the discussion about sleeping arrangement had arisen, and because she had been the Evil Queen, and thus had the most enemies on the ship, she had been elected to use the Captain Quarters. And because she had been the least likely to be killed by the aforementioned Evil Queen, Emma had gotten the honor to join her. The others would have to use the Crew Quarters, sleeping in shifts… Well, sometimes it was so gratifying to be the Evil Queen, Regina smirked to herself, climbing up onto the deck.

The night sky was clear and the stars shone, making the dark waters glimmer around the ship. The lanterns had been doused to obscure their arrival, but the darkness was not oppressing. Recognizing Rumplestiltskin at the helm, she turned to the other side, walking to the bow. There, she leaned onto the railing, looking into the distance.

“Here.”

Startled by the sudden whisper in the night, Regina looked sharp at the intruder, but seeing Snow holding out a dish with a fresh broth in, she took it without a word. The mouthwatering smell of supper made Regina realize that she had not eaten in days, ever since before Hook had gone into her office.

Snow stood by the other woman’s side, waiting for her to finish eating. When the dish was emptied, the pixie haired woman silently took it back, and stepped away, but before she could go, Regina stopped her by catching her arm. “Is there more?”

After a short nod, the younger woman left to bring another serving, while Regina kept her place. It seemed only a moment had passed before the dish was trusted back into her hands, along with a piece of bread. Again, Snow was standing beside Regina, in silence but the older woman knew that it was only a matter of time before the night quiet would be broken with a question or a classic Charming peace offering. Wanting to get over it quickly, she ate everything and placed the dish on the nearby barrel, and turned to Snow.

“How are you?” The sincere and quiet question brought Regina to a stop. What was it with the Charming women, asking about her? With a suspicious frown, Regina searched the other woman’s eyes. Finding nothing but honesty, she looked away, gripping the rail.

“Fine,” she said tersely.

“Emma?” Snow asked again.

“Asleep.” Knowing that it didn’t answer Snow’s question, Regina blew a frustrated sigh and glanced toward her once enemy. “Miss Swan will be alright, after some rest.” When the other woman nodded, she pushed away from the railing and turned to go away.

“Regina?”

It wasn’t so much as calling out of her name that stopped her, but the apprehensive tone accompanied with something else, that she hadn’t heard in Snow’s voice for a while. The former Mayor turned and placing her arms over her chest pierced the other woman with her eyes. Watching Snow struggle for words was an interesting albeit pointless exercise, so she stepped forward.

“What, Snow? Spit it out, dear, I don’t want to spend the entire night here.” As the retorts go, this one wasn’t a good one, Regina remarked to herself, but she was tired of the constant bickering with the woman before her.

“Can you…” Worrying her hands, Snow swallowed and tried again. “Can you teach Emma magic?”

The Mayor straightened out and stood in front of her nemesis, pointing a finger at her chest. “You, want  **me** to teach Emma magic?” The incredulous tone rang off the surfaces of the ship, making the younger woman wince. “After all the ‘You must not use magic, Regina – for Henry’!!” Regina drew so close that their noses almost touched. “You dare ask me?” she bit through her clenched teeth. Seeing a small terrified nod, she stepped aside, the anger draining away. Slowly, Regina pushed the hair out of her face, and glanced toward the old man at the helm. “I would’ve thought you would want anyone but me, teaching her.”

Snow saw the look and pushed on. “We don’t trust Gold.”

“And you trust me?” came the scoffing reply.

“No.” But before Regina could retort, Snow continued watching her former stepmother closely. “But Emma does.” Seeing the glimmer of something in the dark eyes, despite the night, Snow sighed internally with relief. “We talked earlier. In this exact spot, actually. She was very adamant about that. And I know my daughter. She is not easily manipulated, not even by you. Not anymore.”

“She is a fool…” Regina spoke softly, with a shake of her head.

“Maybe, but she still needs to learn to control that power inside her, and only the one she trusts can teach her.” Snow placed her hand onto Regina’s forearm, and leaned in. “Regina, she doesn’t know the consequences of magic, and that big heart of hers may just kill her.” The younger woman saw a shadow pass in the other woman’s eyes, too quick to identify properly. “Please,” the heart wrenching entreaty made the former Queen nod in acquiescence. “Thank you.”

“We are a family, after all…” Regina said, her biting retort falling short of sarcastic. There was longing, Snow realized, buried deep under the protective layers of mocking and sneer. Still keeping her hand on the older woman’s arm, she squeezed in confirmation.

“Yes, we are,” the young woman spoke firmly, without a trace of doubt and regret. “And we always were, Regina. Regardless of the past.” Feeling the other woman tense up, she brought her other hand onto Regina’s cheek and smiled sadly, reminding herself of a moment she experienced as a child. The Queen had come into her room to soothe her nightmares, and Snow, in order to remind herself that she had been awake, had touched the beautiful young woman whom she had loved as a mother. Usually, it would be a hug, but one particular night Snow had placed her small palm onto the Queen’s face, bringing up a tender smile, and a soft kiss on her palm. Immersed in the memory, she didn’t notice the glare directed at her from the dark eyes. Blinking rapidly, Snow smiled at the irritated woman.

“Emma once told me that her world has a saying -  _ The ones you love hurt you the most _ . I think it is rather apt in our case.” And with that, Snow stepped away, letting her hands fall and walked off, picking up the almost forgotten dish on the way.

Regina swallowed hard against the tears lodged in her throat. “Damn you, Snow,'' she whispered, getting her composure back. Would this day ever end, she bitterly thought. Or there was someone else lurking about, just waiting for an opportunity to make her cry? Deciding not to tempt fate, she got below deck and entered the Captain’s Cabin.

The woman lying on the mattress, with her hair strewn on the pillow, was sleeping restless in her dreams. With a soft murmur she fought the blanket that she had managed to entangle to the point of immobilizing herself. Regina chuckled at the image, reminded of another who was an active sleeper. A sharp pang of pain seized her heart at the thought of Henry.

“No, please…” the blonde murmured, fighting the restraints. The pleading voice brought Regina to the present and she sat next to Emma, placing her hand on her shoulder. But, Emma flinched away from the touch, sobbing. “Please, I’ll be good. Please. No, I promise, I’ll be good…” The Savior was crying now and Regina watched her, shocked still, immersed in her own memories.

_ Watching her mother glare up at her with a cloyingly sweet expression on her face while she was several feet in the air, suspended by the magic her mother wielded expertly. The straps around her middle were getting tighter, making her chest hurt and hard for her to breathe. “Please…” Regina whispered helplessly. “I’ll be good.” The fear made her heart pound thunderously, and the dark spots started showing before her eyes. As Cora’s punishments went, this one wasn’t the worst, or even one of worse, but the fear it instilled in the young girl’s heart was enough to ensure obedience. _

_ “Excellent. That’s all I wanted to hear,” Cora spoke after she had released her daughter and brought her down to the ground. Her false proud voice grated on Regina’s already frail nerves and she did the only thing she could. She ran away, after throwing a disappointed look in her father’s direction. _

“Don’t, no…” the helpless sobs shook Regina out of her stupor and she gently shook the younger woman. But it seemed that the touch only made it worse. Regina started calling the Savior.

“Miss Swan! Wake up!” Rising from the pallet, Regina took the blanket with her, hoping that the sudden freedom and cold air would rouse the flaying woman. “Emma!”

With a start, Emma sat up right, placing her hands before her face in a defensive position, breathing heavily. Seeing Regina, she relaxed slowly, trying to calm herself. “Hey,” the older woman spoke gently, careful not to touch the trembling blonde. Emma brought her knees to chest and leaned her forearms on them, watching Regina carefully. Almost cowering, Regina noticed. The Savior seemed to wait for something bad to happen. And that made her close her eyes. Of course, Emma had left herself wide open for the Evil Queen to exploit her weakness. And yet, she remained there, not protecting herself or running away.

_ But, Emma does. _ Emma did trust her, regardless of their history, and that caused her to smile gently at the younger woman, feeling something warm her heart. Leaning her forehead on her arms, Emma shuddered, and took in a deep breath, trying to stave off the impending tears. But when the warmth of a soft hand on her back seeped through her chilled skin, all the barriers broke and a sob broke out of her chest, shaking her ruthlessly. Pulling the shaken woman into her arms, just as she would do for their son, Regina murmured soft words of comfort, letting her once competitor for Henry’s love release the storm of emotions.

It seemed that they did nothing else but cry, lately, Regina noted to herself, holding the Savior to her shoulder. It had been hard, and a lot had happened, and the former Queen could not blame Emma for falling apart. They were only human, no matter how differently they acted.

The soft tears glided down Regina’s face, empathizing with the pain and fear she felt emanating from the crying woman. For the first time after a very long time she could honestly say that there was someone in the world who could understand her fears. Because, what she had heard Emma say in her terrors, was the verbatim for what she had used to say in her own childhood. And, Regina doubted that Snow knew anything of her daughter’s past. It seemed that Emma was like herself in that regard. How could you share darkness with someone so pure?

Nevertheless, Emma gathered herself quickly and pushed away from the comforting hug, albeit gently. “I’m sorry…”

“No, there is nothing to be sorry for.”

Emma looked into the dark eyes and the shining paths on her face, glimmering in the soft light of a lantern beside the pallet. “Why are you crying?” The surprised edge made Regina chuckle mirthlessly, wiping her eyes with the back of her hand.

“It seems that the Charming women are determined to make me cry today…” she spoke, amused smirk on her lips.

“Women? What did Mary Margaret do?” the quick, somewhat accusing tone threw Regina off balance.

The older woman watched amazed by the Savior – who did not look like she had been crying just a minute before, apart from negligible redness of her eyes. The flashing green pierced the former queen, tensed posture of a person ready to jump into the fight, clenched fists - they were all the signs of the knight in shining armor ready to defend his damsel. And Emma, the Savior and a Charming fitted the bill perfectly. Only the damsel in question wasn’t in distress, or needed help.

“We talked, she asked me something to do… It’s ok. She did nothing wrong.”

Seeing Emma’s incredulous eye roll she chuckled again. Well, apparently it was a day for uttering strange sentences – such as Snow White did nothing wrong… Her bashful and awkward smile made Emma chuckle, relaxing her posture.

They settled on the mattress, lying side by side, staring at the ceiling, not able to sleep. After placing a warming spell on the blanket, Regina had shed her coat and scarf, remaining in her deep blood red jacket and black tights. Emma had followed her example, and took off her black overcoat. Their boots were abandoned beside bed.

“Bad dream?” Regina whispered in order to fill the silence, not looking at the other woman, rolling her eyes at herself for the senseless opening.

“Bad memory.”

The silence stretched, and after a while Regina thought that the blonde had drifted off, until whisper broke the quiet.

“One of my foster parents was abusive. I was eight when I got there, already marked a troublemaker. He knew no one would believe me if I said anything…” The detached, quiet way Emma used to share information made Regina cold inside. “He would snap for no reason, and beat me, always careful not to hit my head or arms. Everything was my fault. The supper was late, TV was too loud, other kids did not settle quickly enough… One day I was late from school and he tied me up on a bed and took his belt off…”

Regina lifted herself onto her elbow, and drew nearer to the pale blonde. Lining her body with Emma’s, she placed her palm onto the heaving chest before her. It was a very intimate position, but for Regina, it was the only way to show Emma that she was not alone anymore.

“I ran away the next day…” Emma finished softly, turning a bit into the warmth.

“Did he…?” Regina started but she didn’t know how to formulate the question. However, she didn’t need to, for Emma understood perfectly.

“No. He wasn’t interested in that. I guess I was lucky that way, for no one forced himself on me. But, I knew a lot of children who weren’t as lucky. I heard the stories…”

“I do not regret the curse, for it brought me Henry, but I am sorry for what you went through.”

Emma looked up at the chocolate eyes avoiding her gaze, playing with the lines in her turtleneck sweater. She took the hand, just as she had several hours before. “They put me in the wardrobe, not you…” Emma squeezed the elegant fingers gently. “And, I think that what I went through only made me a stronger and better person, not easily blinded by rules.” The sheepish smile appeared on her face, when Regina looked at her. “And I had Henry.”

Regina smiled at the mention of her boy. “He was always an adventurous boy, testing the limits.” The faraway look in her eyes transformed her face, giving it softness that Emma rarely connected with Regina. She knew that the look appeared only several times in the time she had known the Madame Mayor, and in every instance Henry was the topic. “He would come to me in the evening and tell me everything he did that day, bad and good. We’d shared a lot in those days, before Gold told him about adoption.”

“And you became the Evil Queen…” Emma continued. She knew what Regina was doing. She missed the kid and decided to share something of him, with the only person who could appreciate it and maybe share something in return. “When we went to New York, he was glowing. Everything was interesting to him, but he stayed near us, mindful of the ‘mission’ as he called it. Not many eleven year olds would have the strength of character to stay put. I certainly didn’t.”

Regina smiled at the hidden praise and lowered her shoulder on the pillow, placing her elbow beneath her head. “Apart from meeting Neal, did he enjoy the journey?”

“In the beginning. Later, he was angry with me.” Emma saw the surprise in the Mayor's eyes. Apparently, the ‘Emma can do nothing wrong’ was just proven false. “He found out I had lied about Neal. He blew up.”

_ Henry was sitting on the fire stairs, while Emma was standing before him, explaining why she hadn’t told him about his father. “… That is why I didn’t tell you. I was thinking of me, not you.” _

_ He looked at her, his heart breaking, and reproach on his face. “I thought you were different. But you are just like her… Regina. She always lied to me, too.” _

Emma explained everything that had happened in New York, including his comparison of Emma to Regina. It was at that moment that Emma understood when her opinion of Regina started changing. That very moment in New York she learned about black and white definition of the world, and how it wasn’t fair or correct. There were too many shades of gray in between to categorize, and people could never be placed in neat little boxes, simply labeled good or bad. Of course, she didn’t share her discoveries with Regina, just the facts and memories of Henry.

They talked, firstly about Henry, then about Storybrooke… Simple talk, without sharing too much, just to pass time. But neither of them saw that their bodies grew closer with each passing hour. Finally, they dropped off to sleep in the early hours of the morning, Regina’s hand in Emma’s, held on her chest.

* * *

Despite what Emma would think, the morning was not awkward. They woke up at the same time, disturbed by David’s booming voice calling them out for breakfast. After a quick soft good morning, they dressed and stumbled out of the room. They ate in the galley, where Snow placed plates with scrambled eggs in front of them.

“This will be a very busy day for you. There is a part of your education you are lacking in.” Regina spoke, watching Emma inhale the food, just like Henry had been doing when he had been at home. Disregarding the groan of disagreement and affront, she pressed onward. “I will teach you the basic defensive magic, but seeing that we are going against the enemy who knows how to disable the magic, you need to learn to fight.”

And true to her word, Regina created three blunt swords and gave them out to the Charmings. Emma listened to David showing her the proper grip and several simple moves, while Snow walked to Regina.

“I thought you would be teaching her.” Snow glanced at the woman watching her daughter carefully.

“I will be, but this is more important. Go there, help him,” Regina said, not looking away from Emma. It was still early, but they would reach the shore in the evening of the day after, and it left them too little time to train the Savior properly. Soon, Emma was engaged in a vicious training exercise, trying to fight off both of her parents, her moves clumsy and slow. From time to time, Regina would shout out an advice or a proper maneuver to help her, but mostly she was just watching, observing for the weak points, that surprisingly weren’t many and were dropping by the hour. The Savior was indeed a quick learner.

After three hours of grueling training Regina strode in and started throwing fireballs at Emma.

“Oy! What are you doing?” Emma yelled at her, after one of the balls passed her face.

“What does it look like? Defend yourself!” Regina said, waving the Charmings off. David had been just going in her direction before Snow had stopped him with several words of reassurance. “You are the child of True Love. Your magic is not acquired or learned. It is part of you.” Regina circled the confused and angry blonde, throwing not more balls of fire but of ice, using Emma as the target. “Defend yourself, Miss Swan. Use your instincts.” She knew Emma tried, but nothing was happening. She would have to push, but she was reluctant in fear of damaging the new precious balance and relationship that was growing between them. She didn’t want to lose a friend.

“Aw! Regina, stop it and tell me how to do it.” Emma tried to use the sword to repel the painful attack to no avail. She was getting angrier, as her clothes were getting soaked by the melted bits of ice.

“No.” The one word, filled with such contempt and condescending made Emma bristle. “Come now, dear, giving up so soon?” The mocking voice of the Evil Queen filled the air. “How can you be a Savior if you cannot stop simple hail?” Regina noticed Emma focusing on her but she still got pelted with ice.  _ Damn it, Emma, do it! _ Regina said internally, already regretting the next move. “And, how are you going to save Henry?”

The moment Henry’s name was invoked, the air itself filled with magic. Emma’s eyes, focused on Regina in fury, were glowing with pale blue sparks. The ice melted, the water evaporated and the fire was put out. A thunder sounded and Regina found herself flung back, flying through the air, before colliding painfully with the higher deck.

The footsteps sounded but Regina could not see who ran to her, for the darkness was flooding her consciousness. A hand gripped one of hers, and another one lifted her head, cradling it gently, before the gentle tingle of magic enveloped her.

“Is she alright?” Snow asked, grimacing at the blood covering the floor, where Regina’s head connected with the wood. Emma smiled bashfully, holding Regina’s healed head on her lap, pushing away the wild strands of her face.

“She is fine. Should wake up soon.” Emma had noticed Snow’s holding Regina’s hand but did not comment. She looked down at the witch that had made her so angry, but now when she was calm, she knew why she had done it. Emma had been thinking too much paralyzed with sudden attack, and Regina had told her to use her instincts. The magic was based on emotions. And anger was the easiest to provoke.

She felt the slight movement and smiled at the confused brown eyes, peeking below the half opened lids. “Hey there. You ok?” Emma asked, helping Regina sit up.

Regina looked around and saw that she had been thrown for more than twenty feet. “Not the way I meant, but effective.” She looked at the blonde woman and smiled. “There is hope for you yet, dear.”

In the next hour Emma got better at accessing her magic and controlling it. Snow watched the women do repetitive movement, with different success. Not once Regina raised her voice at Emma’s failure, nor did she get mean. In fact, Snow thought that she could see glimpses of the young Regina that had helped her get back on the horse.

David also watched, amazed by the speed Emma was picking things up. He noticed his wife smiling, and went to her. “She is learning fast.”

“She has a good teacher. Look at her, David. Look at them. I have never seen Emma so pleased with herself. Just like Henry. And, Regina…” Snow stopped, with a gentle smile on her face. Words weren’t necessary for David to understand what his wife had meant. Regina seemed so different too. Maybe this would be the thing needed to bring them all together in, at least, semblance of peace.

* * *

“I can’t move my arms,” Emma complained, leaning her head on the working surface in the galley. Snow just chuckled and continued making lunch. Several minutes before the Savior had stumbled in, groaning and moaning, drenched in sweat. Luckily, the heat of the stove in the galley had dried the blonde woman, or the cold air of the drafty ship would only cause more grumbling from Emma.

Snow was proud of her daughter for managing to handle the sword so quickly. She was far from excellent, but she wouldn’t be helpless when necessary. And Regina seemed pleased enough to let Emma rest a bit. “It’ll pass. How long is your break?”

“The slave-driver did not say. But, knowing Madame Mayor, we’re far from done for today.” Emma lifted her head a bit and placed her arms beneath it. Leaning her forehead on forearms, she groaned feeling the muscles tensing painfully in her back and shoulders. She hadn’t known swords were so heavy. The first of the two times she had handled the sword before she had thrown it into the dragon (Maleficent was it?) and killed it. Of course, before she had even thought to use the damn sword she had emptied the whole clip of her pistol into the fire breathing beast. She had barely used the thing in her excursion to the Enchanted Forest with Snow, her clumsy attempts of keeping Hooks attacks away ending with her slugging him with the compass rather than her sword handling. And, magic was so tiring. “My knots have knots. How do you deal with this?” Emma groused her voice muffled by her arms.

Snow placed a skillet on the heated cooker and turned to her daughter. Placing her hand on Emma’s head she stroked the golden mop of hair. “With time and practice. When Red took me out for my first hunt, my legs hurt for more than two days, unused to that much squatting and running.”

“I won’t be of help if I cannot move.” Emma raised her head, looking at Snow with a worried look on her face. The pixie haired woman patted Emma’s cheek comfortingly and turned to the cooker, placing meat on the skillet.

“That is why I am pushing you so hard, Miss Swan.” Regina’s voice came from the door. Emma twisted her head quickly, making her neck snap loudly. Wincing, she closed her eyes in pain, not noticing the advance of the other woman.

Regina threw a look at Snow and nodded in greeting, before she took her place beside Emma. “You need to accept the power you have as a part of you.” She touched Emma’s neck gently, feeling the knotted muscles. “You need to reach for it as instinctively as you breathe. Then, you will heal instantly.” Feeling Emma using her magic on herself, Regina nodded in praise, her lips quivering in the beginnings of a smile.

“Is that how you never seemed to get tired?” Snow asked after a while, breaking the silence. She did not look at her former step mother but kept her eyes on lunch she had been preparing.

Regina narrowed her eyes and leaned forward on the counter. “Did I make an impression, dear?” The older woman’s condescending voice had a sarcastic edge and made Snow bristle but before she could say anything, Regina shifted back and placed her hands in front of her, palms down. “Oh, I got tired. Sometimes, even beyond the point of passing out.” Seeing Emma’s perplexed frown, she continued, turning to her new pupil. “There is a difference between healing oneself and getting rest. Your magic will heal your wounds, ease the pain of your muscles and tendons, but you will grow wearier because of the expenditure. As you heard Mister Gold say many times, magic always has a price, dear. There must be a balance…” Regina pushed the strand of hair off her face, tucking it behind her ear. “So, it is upon you to decide whether you will bear the brunt of magic, or suffer soreness limiting your body.”

“And, sometimes, having your mind set on your goal can provide the energy you need,” Snow added quietly, sharing a look with the older woman. Emma tensed at the silent communication, ready to break the women up at the first sign of trouble. But, after an unnerving moment Regina nodded and the tension between the women dissipated without further mention. Snow placed plates before the others and gestured them to eat.

* * *

After another three hours spent on making Emma get used to her magic, Regina sat down heavily, pushing back her dark hair. Emma lowered herself next to Regina, looking into the dark tired eyes. She leaned against the railing, directly opposite to the other woman who had sat on the stairs, placing her elbows on the higher step, leaning against the inner balustrade of the stairs.

“Did Cora teach you?” Emma asked, after she had caught her breath. Regina had been an amazing teacher, she was reluctant to admit, and that had to come from somewhere. Yearning to know more about the woman before her, Emma waited for the answer patiently, withstanding the scrutiny the brunette inflicted on her.

“No, that would mean she would have lost her advantage over me.” Regina brought her knees together and placed her intertwined fingers around one knee, leaning back and preparing for a long, heavy talk. She didn’t begrudge Emma her thirst for knowledge – for Henry was much like her in that aspect – but it did not mean she liked the fact that she would share something of her past, to the Savior no less. “I found out that Rumplestiltskin had been my mother’s teacher. I had seen him several times during my childhood and I had known he had had to do something with her powers, but only when I had grown I learned his name and who he was. I held on the information for a long while, thinking that things would never get that bad for me to learn magic.” Regina glanced at Emma and smiled self-deprecatingly. “You see, I hated magic and what my mother used it for. It was a symbol of pain and control for me and learning it, using it would mean that I was just like my mother. I guess I was not wrong.” Lowering her head, she looked at her hands, missing the movement from the other side of the stairs. Emma reached and placed her hand on Regina’s, patting them gently.

“You are nothing like her, you know,” Emma said softly. Before Regina could deny it, she pressed on. “You may have acted the same, but the reasons and the situations were different. And you never controlled your child like she did. It had come close, but you stopped before it got out of the hands.”

“I tried to kill you, and Henry loves you.” The end of that sentence –  _ more than me _ , went unsaid but heard nonetheless. “That is the same as what she did.”

“Regina, we can sit here for years and rehash all the wrongdoings and mistakes, but hear me when I say, I will have something to say against every example you state.” She took the older woman’s chin in her free hand and forced her to look her in the eyes, trying to drive her point home. “She killed Daniel for her own advancement, coldly and purposely. You lashed out, endangered and cornered. It is different, believe me. OK?” Seeing the glare soften, Emma released the woman and sat back in her previous spot, not wanting to crowd the former queen.

After a moment spent on gathering herself, Regina decided to continue, acquiescing to Emma’s demand of accepting that she was indeed different from Cora. “The life in the palace was unbearable. Snow was always around, cheery and pushy and it was hard to pretend that I was happy there all the time. I didn’t even have time to grieve or adjust. Daniel had been gone for only a week, but it seemed like an eternity to me. Dealing with Leopold and my mother only made it harder. I was desperate to escape. From the Whites, Cora, even myself.”

When the memories came, assaulting her with pictures and sounds of her past, she closed her eyes, not letting herself go, not immersing into them. Instead, she used them to set the back story for Emma, in order to make the younger woman understand her situation, although Regina had a nagging feeling that the Savior already understood a great deal about her, more than anyone else, except perhaps Henry Senior. She opened her eyes, taking a deep settling breath and started.

“You already know bits and pieces of the story. That damn book had most of it in it.” Seeing Emma nod in confirmation, she went on. “I don’t remember a time when my mother did not use magic in my up-bringing. Whenever I did something wrong, in her opinion, she would punish me.” Unconsciously, Regina brought her hand up to her mouth and traced her upper lip, ending with the only scar marring her face. After she realized what she was doing she startled and glanced at Emma. The blonde’s inquiring gaze asked the silent question. “It was an accident. She lost control and I got hurt. The damage was too severe to heal properly,” came the explanation in a quiet voice. Regina shook away the lingering memories of the accident and despite Emma's desire to follow up on it visible in her green eyes, the former Mayor was grateful she didn’t ask. “After she killed Daniel, we moved to the Royal Palace and the preparations for the wedding started. The first three days passed in meeting the Court, moving in and honestly, I was still dazed by the earlier events. Two days before the wedding, I tried to run away, but my mother knew me better than I did myself. She stopped me…”

_ The powerful pounding of the hooves on the forest path pierced the air and the beautiful horse galloped into the trees, its rider urging him on and on, looking back in fear. _

_ “Come on, Rocinante! Go!” the young woman astride shouted, directing her horse. “We’re almost free.” The hope was evident in the rider’s voice and Regina pressed on, kicking the sides. Suddenly the vines surged into the air and grabbed Regina, pulling her out of the saddle, twisting around her limbs and middle, suspending her in the air. She wriggled, trying to escape, until she heard the voice behind her, dousing her in the icy dread. _

_ “And I thought we were done with all this nonsense.” Cora said, watching her daughter struggle with calm. The soft smile belied the hard and dangerous edge hiding in the iciness of her voice. _

_ “Hello Mother. What evil have you conjured?” Regina, having lost all hope of escape at the sound of her mother’s voice, asked resigned. _

_ With her condescending chuckle, Cora opened her book. “Not evil, darling. A barrier spell.” Finding the page she wanted, Cora softly blew and a whiff of murky brown cloud rose off the pages and the vines released Regina, dropping her on the ground. Watching her daughter rise, she continued. “Designed to keep you where you belong.” _

_ Regina slowly turned toward her mother with astonishment and hidden anger in her voice she spoke. “I can’t leave?” the soft question almost got broken off. _

_ “Not alone. Not without the king.” Cora spoke walking toward the young woman. “We’ve been through this,” with a sigh, she added. “In two days you will be married. You’ll be queen. After that you’re free to go whenever you are with him.” Cora said with a false smile. _

_ “Mama, I don’t want to marry the king.” Regina pleaded with the older woman. “I don’t want this life,'' she added tears breaking her voice. _

_ “You are just frightened of having all that power.” _

_ “I don’t want power!” Exasperated with the situation and her mother, Regina sighed. “I want to be free,” she whispered, hoping in vain her mother would let her go. _

_ “Power  _ **_is_ ** _ freedom.” Looking into Regina’s stunned face, she smiled and lifted her hand, placing it on the girl’s shoulder. “Don’t worry. I am here to show you,” Cora said leading her away. _

“It wasn’t long before I started having vivid thoughts and daydreams about making Snow pay for betraying me. They felt so real and the thought of harming another living being, even her made me sick. It did not help that I spent most of my free time with her.” Regina looked up to see Emma sitting very close to her, but not so close that their bodies would touch. The body heat the Savior was giving out was soothing to the brunette, the talk and memories bringing icy cold into her heart. Turning her head to look Emma in the eyes she came even closer, needing the comfort of the heat. “You may not know this, but your mother was very spoiled as a child. I guess being the only heir of the prosperous king would do that to a person. She had no boundaries, at least in regards to me. She would go through my things, picking the item she liked, wearing them. I know it was a sign of affection, but when she took the ring Daniel had proposed to me with…” The shudder passed through her and immediately after, it was quelled by the warmth spreading over her shoulders. Emma had thrown her arm around Regina, offering the only thing she could at the moment, the comfort. Regina closed her eyes, letting the scent of lavender, along with something spicy and enticing she associated with Emma, wash over her. Leaning her head on the offered shoulder, she continued relieved that Emma was still there.

“That is when I had the most terrifying daydream so far, and it made me boil inside. My father did not know how to make things better for me. I don’t think he even understood that I was in pain, not having some teenager crisis.”

_ Coming into the Royal Garden, to her apple tree, Regina rushed, talking to the old man following. “Daddy, you don’t know what Mother’s doing to me.” With her restless hands she tried to put her emotions into words, desperate for the man beside her to understand and help. “It’s like she’s turning me into her,” her voice rose with panic. “I have to get away,” she whispered softly, her eyes roaming the garden, idly looking for a way out. _

_ “Get away? But, tomorrow’s the wedding, child?” came the somewhat surprised answer. The man looked at his daughter, waiting for her to turn to him. _

_ “I don’t want to marry the King”, Regina answered, the voice breaking with the tears. “I’ve told you that!” she said, hopeless. _

_ “Are you certain it isn’t just cold feet?” Henry tried to soothe his daughter, feeling out of his place. _

_ With firm stature and overstated gestures, Regina came closer to the old man. “Daddy, this is not cold feet. This… This is…” She tried to find a way to describe what she wanted to say, and giving up, she spoke again. “This is insanity!” Trying to make him understand she pressed on. “I’m angry all the time. She’s making me crazy.” _

_ “She wants to give you everything she never got for herself.” The quiet reasoning voice came over Regina, breaking her further and the tears spilled onto her face. _

_ “I don’t want her life!” Turning away from him, Regina looked into the distance, her voice breaking. “I want a life of my own.” After a moment, Regina’s demeanor changed. “How did she get like this?” _

_ Henry, powerless under his daughter’s distress, fiddled with the gloves in his hands, deciding to tell her, knowing the consequences. “There was a man.” Seeing Regina turned back to him with interest in her eyes, he continued. “Well, not quite a man. Someone Cora knew before I met her. He brought magic to her. Gave her that book of spells.” With anguish filling his face he added, “He made her like she is”. _

_ “What was his name?” Regina asked, fascinated with the information, coming closer to her father. _

_ “I don’t know. Cora won’t even say it.” _

_ “But the book is his,” Regina concluded, her turmoil slightly eased with a solution looming over the horizon. _

Regina fell silent, contemplating her past. So many mistakes. Bringing herself into the moment, she noticed a warm hand gliding up and down her upper arm in soothing motion. It was strange to be in this position. Her family was not physically affectionate although she knew without a doubt Henry had loved her. They had shared a rare hug and several fatherly kisses, but nothing like the affection Snow had poured on her during the first years of marriage. Just being this close to somebody else made the queen nervous, feeling deeply ingrained need to step away and protect her space. As the Evil Queens she had established the rule that no one got close to the woman unless she wished it. And she rarely did, disregarding her personal air only when she had been intimidating other people or interrogating. You cannot rip a heart out if you cannot reach it, she had said once. Being this close to Emma confused her. Apart from the threat, she also felt safe and warm. Protected, even from her own memories.

_ I want to help you live as Regina. _

The words Emma had offered the day before floated into her consciousness. Maybe this was one of the ways, Regina thought and decided to embrace the warmth leaning into the Savior’s body.

The younger woman shifted slightly bringing her other arm around the smaller woman in front of her. The silence that had fallen on them was comfortable and soothing, and for the first time Emma actually thought that Regina liked the contact. Deciding to test that theory, Emma moved a bit more, placing herself on the step behind Regina, leaning on the inner railing, as Regina had before and led Regina into her arms. The brunette followed without a second thought, proving Emma right. But it left a question for Emma – what did it actually mean?

Before long, Regina started getting restless and feeling it, Emma elected to break the quiet, rather than to let the woman rise and walk away. “So you heard about the man from your father?”

Grateful for the distraction, Regina nodded, her cheek feeling the soft material of Emma’s turtleneck. “I stole the book that night while my mother slept. I felt so thrilled, doing something forbidden. When I got to my room I searched through the pages for the name. It was written along the edge of one of the pages. I read it wrong.” Regina chuckled at the memory and proceeded to tell Emma about it.

_ The future queen opened the book and searching through the pages, she found one with a small but clear writing on it. Trying to read it under the weak light of the night lanterns and the moon, Regina struggled with the unfamiliar name, breaking off in the middle of it. _

_ “Rumplesh… Stilts.” After several tries she closed the book, certain she would pronounce it properly. “Rumpleschtiltskin, I summon Thee,” she spoke clearly, placing her hands on the hips defiantly, her voice ringing out in her room. Not a moment passed when a sound startled her, coming from behind. _

_ “That’s not how you say it, dearie!” A man, tinted in golden-bronze skin sat, almost laying down on one of the lounges in the room, having steepled his fingers and crossed his legs. “But then…  _ **_You_ ** _ didn’t have to say anything.” He continued, amused at the woman’s attempt. Allowing Regina to take a look at him, he angled his head toward her. _

_ “What are you?” the youngster asked, childhood amazement streaking her voice. _

_ “What? What? What? My, my, what a rude question.” The imp uncrossed his legs and raised his upper body, shifting into a proper sitting pose, delight still evident in his voice. “I am not a what.” The gentle rebuke came. _

_ Regina cleared her throat and reaching for her apple tree pendant, she spoke. “Sorry. I don’t really know what I’m doing”. Her youth showed in insecure gestures and the timbre of her voice. _

_ “That much is clear..” the man spoke quietly, rising, with a sarcastic grimace upon his face. Moments later his voice grew stronger. “Allow me to introduce myself. Rumplestiltskin.” He ceremoniously threw out his hands and bowed. _

_ Regina followed his example and gathering her skirts, she curtsied. “And I’m…” _

_ But, the imp interrupted her. “Regina. I know.” _

_ “You do?” Speaking with wonder, Regina straightened up. _

_ “But of course.” _

_ “Because of my mother, Cora,” Regina continued, her countenance showing disappointment. “You taught her?” _

_ “My legend precedes me.” Rumplestiltskin placed his hand over his heart. _

_ “People say I look like her when she was younger.” The woman spoke, pride coloring her tone, and she lifted her chin in the air, allowing the other to look upon her. _

_ “Really?” he spoke in a high voice, sarcasm flowing out of him. At his question Regina frowned. “I don’t see it.” He had stepped closer and looked into her face, searching for something. Only many years later Regina would understand what the imp had meant with it. “That is not how I know you,” he spoke, stepping aside. _

_ “Oh? How then?” The soft voice betrayed the fear. _

_ “I knew you long ago, dearie. It’s been some time, but I knew this day would come. I’ve been waiting for it. And I am so happy we’re back where we belong.” Having stepped behind the woman he leaned back, waiting for her to ask the inevitable question. _

_ “Where’s that?” _

_ Coming to the other side of the young woman, he whispered “Together.” _

_ Terror filled Regina, not knowing what she had gotten herself into, but also the promise of her mother’s teacher helping her brought her hope. Looking at him with questions in her eyes, she watched him smile. _

_ “Oh, yes, I know everything about you, my dear. I held you in my arms. You were younger, more…” Searching for the right word, his smile grew. “Portable. There is much history between your family and me…” He turned to Regina, having walked away. “History both in the past” he paused for the impact, “and in the future.” _

_ “Then, can you help me?” Regina walked to him, holding the book with both of her hands close to her midriff. _

_ “Possibly, yes.” He started walking to her, enjoying seeing her step back. “You seek power.” Getting no reaction he went on. “The death of your enemies?” Intrigued, he added – “the death of your friends?” _

_ “No!” Disgust filled Regina’s face. “I don’t want to hurt anyone.” _

_ “Hard to believe you’re from the same family. So kind, so gentle, so…” Coming really close to the woman, he had placed the back of his fingers of his both hands on Regina’s cheeks. “Ooh, Powerful!” Stepping back, he spoke quietly “you could do so much, if you just let yourself.” _

_ “But, I don’t know how.” Regina turned away with her shoulders slumped, her hope fading. _

_ “Well… Let me show you the way.” Rumplestiltskin placed his arm around her and turned her back, showing a tall covered present. _

_ Regina gasped. “How did…” _

_ “Magic. It can set you free.” _

_ “I don’t want to do that.” Shaking her head, she glanced up at the man beside her. “Use magic… That’s what she does. I don’t want to end up like her.” _

_ The imp leaned in, superciliously. “No, no. Of course not, but that’s the beauty of my gift. You don’t have to. It will do it for you.” _

_ Regina saw the gleam in his eyes and turned to the gift, calculating look on her face. “What is it?” _

_ “A portal. A passage between lands. This is a portal to a specific annoying little world. Useless to me, but for your purposes, a-perfect. You’re unlikely to ever see her again. All she needs is a little push. The question is… can… you… do it?” _

_ Regina stood before the object, the weight of decision heavy on her. _

“I was in my room, knowing my mother would come, to impart a bit of her wisdom before the wedding. She saw the covered mirror and intrigued, went right to unveiling it. She told me about what I should do once I was married. Leopold was old and frail, she said, and it wouldn’t be long before I was the reigning Queen. I realized that somehow it was planned all along and the anger I felt at that moment gave me enough strength to fight my mother off and push her into the mirror. Standing up to Cora, coupled with the heady feeling of magic… It felt wonderful. Powerful. Like the entire world was in the palm of my hand, to deal with as I pleased. It also frightened me terribly, so I decided to run, again. Almost in the same spot, where Cora had stopped me the first time, Rumple stood there barring the pass.”

_ “Leaving, are we?” Rumplestiltskin smiled at the new Queen and watched her dismount. _

_ “That was always the plan.” Opening her leather bag, she took out the book. “Here. A gift. I don’t want it.” _

_ Rumplestiltskin took the book and flippantly spoke. “Ah, it can’t be a gift. It was mine to start with.” As Regina turned to her faithful horse, he spoke again. “Before you go… Answer me this.” When she looked at him, he grinned. “How did it feel?” he asked, his eyes knowing. _

_ “I love my mother,” Regina said, dodging the question. _

_ “But, that’s not what I asked, dearie. How did it feel to use magic?” _

_ “It doesn’t matter. I’ll never use it again.” Regina spoke, unnerved with the persistent imp. _

_ “Why not?” The Dark One spoke, a bit of petulance giving rise to his tone. _

_ “Because I loved it,” the young woman answered with self-doubt and fear in her voice, warring with confusion. _

_ “You’ve discovered who you are. You could do so much now… If you let me show you how.” He ended his speech in a sing-song voice. _

_ With understanding, Regina added, “Through magic.” _

_ “Through many things.” _

_ Leaning into his space, Regina smiled indulgently. “And, what do you get out of it?” _

_ “Someday, you’ll do something for me.” Offering the book back, he continued. “Let me guide you.” _

_ Regina sniffled, enticed by the offer, but knowing something would have to give. “And I won’t become like her?” _

_ “That, dearie, is entirely up… to you.” _

“The offer was so tempting. Magic is seductive, Emma, especially for the people who aren’t born with it, but learn it. It brings such rush, power and focus in your life, that almost no one can resist.”

“And, you being in the position of power and control for the first time in your life, were loath to give it up,'' came Emma’s understanding whisper. “As he once told me, he knows how to recognize a desperate soul.”

“That is when things started escalating…”

_ For a while, Rumplestiltskin was a marvelous teacher. Regina advanced quickly, and took great pleasure in the fact. All was well until her teacher asked her to take a heart. It was a nice day and Rumplestiltskin brought them to a wonderful creature hiding in the shadow of the trees. The lesson started easy enough, by the man asking her to immobilize the magnificent specimen of magical beings. A unicorn, completely black, rose to his hind legs and tried to fight them off, before Regina froze him. Giggling with joy she turned to her mentor. When he told her she would have to take its heart, her joy faded away, replaced with disgust, reminded of her mother’s action with Daniel. Rumplestiltskin, aware of her past, pushed to take it out, but when she couldn’t he did it for her. _

_ Throwing it to her, he demanded she killed the unicorn, explaining how it was all about power. With a final threat, he said that he wouldn’t teach her anymore if she didn’t do it. Her face contorting in grief and revulsion, she tried to crush the heart but at the animal’s whining, she stopped with tears on her face. _

_ “What’s holding you back?” he spoke, shaking his head at the end of the lesson. There she was reminded of her love for Daniel and her promise she would not be like her mother. But as the days passed, nothing changed except for the steady loss of rush and control. _

_ Several days later she tried to interest Rumplestiltskin into teaching her again, but rebuffed she was left behind. Jefferson offered his help and, reminding that she could give him the Royal passport, he promised his services. Soon after, he brought The Doctor to her. _

_ After all that spectacle with Daniel and the spare heart, the knowledge that even the Doctor failed in bringing him back broke Regina’s already suffering and fractured heart. The innocent good meaning girl was no more, twisted and shaped by the grief, helpless anger and hate, fueled by the most powerful black magic. _

_ Dressed all in black, in mourning for her lost love and self, the first image of the Queen appeared. No more was there youthful exuberance and smile sparkling eyes. There was a smirk, so reminiscent of Cora’s condescending one and the might in her posture and haughtiness in her countenance. Destroying Rumplestiltskin’s new student right before his eyes, at his immeasurable pleasure, she came to him, demanding him to teach her once again. _

Once more, the silence filled the air, only interrupted by the soft sniffles, muffled by the firm embrace Emma had bestowed on the suffering woman. Holding the brunette to her, Emma closed her eyes against the empathic tears. So much pain in her life, and Emma was certain she had been told only a fraction of the whole story. Understanding the notion, Emma placed one of her hands on Regina’s back, gently rubbing the shaking woman. Some secrets were so hard to part with.

“When you were away”, Regina mumbled into Emma’s chest after a while. “I tried to force Henry to love me back. To imprison him in the house placing the same barrier spell Cora used on me. Later he said the same thing I once used to say, and at that moment it hit me so strongly. I had become my mother.” Regina lifted her head and looked into Emma’s gentle eyes. “I had to let him go.”

“That’s when Henry…” Emma started, not knowing what to say.

“That’s when he went to live with David.” Regina leaned back, tucking her head in Emma’s neck. “When Daniel showed up at the stables…” A shuddering sob passed the smaller woman’s frame. “Whale explained everything that had happened then. How Rumplestiltskin played me and asked him to fail the procedure on purpose to, as he said, create a monster out of me.” The voice breaking, Regina clutched Emma’s front in desperate need to hold on. “I was more terrible than Cora. I did things with my heart still beating in my chest.”

“That is the only reason why,” Emma spoke softly, wiping the errant tear of Regina’s mostly dried cheek with her thumb. Guiding her eyes to her own gently, she looked into the brown windows into the tortured soul. “You felt things deeply, and you reacted to them more powerfully than one ordinarily would.” The blonde Sheriff searched the face before her, hoping for understanding and forgiveness to bring a shine to those eyes. “I once read somewhere:  _ After the noblest light is extinguished only the wickedest darkness follows _ . And, it is often said that the most benevolent people, with a twist of fate, become the worst tyrants.” Regina closed her eyes, trying to escape from the intense gaze filled with compassion that scorched her damaged spirit. But, the words Emma spoke pierced her and the remaining shields around her heart crumbled in shards, leaving her heart vulnerable.

Unused to such openness, Regina pushed herself away, moving out of the safety of Emma’s arms and standing up, worrying her hands. “Sorry…” She whispered, unable to speak up, her throat closed off by many tears that started gliding down her face. “I, I need…” she shook her head, and stepped quickly back when Emma rose up reaching for her. “I need time.” Raising her arms in the air, placing them as a barrier, she implored Emma to stay where she was. “Please, I need to be alone.” The pleading in her voice shook Emma’s composure and putting her hands in her back pockets of her pants, she nodded reluctantly.

Regina turned and before she could walk away, Emma spoke softly. “I am here if you need me, or if you want anything. OK?” Regina stopped but never turning to Emma, she nodded, knowing that the other woman would catch the motion, and walked away hastily wiping away her eyes. Emma sat down heavily, looking at the hatch leading below deck long after the woman had stepped through it.

The time passed while the blonde woman still sat in her place, her gaze locked onto one spot on the deck, lost in thought. As Regina had said in the beginning, she had heard bits and pieces before, but she had never realized how right she had been about Regina’s circumstances. The parts of the story she had just heard were much more devastating, especially seeing the flashes of the young Regina, every time the other woman remembered some pivotal part of her past. Emma was sure that she had been actually catching the memory readouts here and there for an infinitesimal part of a second, seeing Regina as she remembered – by magic.

An almost childlike need for comfort warring with an unreachable entity of the Evil Queen, was heartbreaking to witness. Emma felt her eyes fill with tears once more at the memory of an anguished face that Regina sported, reluctant to leave, yet in need of time and space to regroup, just before she had walked away.

Wiping her face with her hands, Emma noticed two figures approaching her in the dim of the twilight. Recognizing her parents almost instantly, she remained in place waiting for them to join her. They took their seats beside her, Snow on the higher step while David took the lower one, boxing Emma in. Any other time, she would feel threatened or annoyed with the arrangement, but at the moment she didn’t mind. She smiled at their show of unity when they both placed their hands on her forearms that had been resting on her lap.

“What is wrong, honey?” Mary Margaret asked, worried about her daughter. She had gone to sleep after lunch, leaving Emma in Regina’s care, and when she had gotten up, Emma had been holding crying Regina. When the older woman had seen the pixie haired one watching, she had made herself scarce. Expecting to see Emma come to her, Snow had waited, but as the time had passed and Emma had been yet to move she had called out to David and walked to her daughter.

Emma just shrugged and leaned back, her head thumping lightly against the wood. She looked up and saw a falling star shooting across the sky. The streak of light sparked something in the blonde’s memory and she leaned forward, turning to Snow, but having grasped David’s hand, the newcomers knew that there was something Emma wanted to talk about with both of them.

“I made a wish on the blue star.”

Mary Margaret and David looked each other at the utterance, not following.

Seeing the confusion on her parents’ faces, she continued. “When Henry came for me, I made a wish and it came true.” Emma said, bewildered by the memory and its significance. “In the Enchanted Forest, anyone can make a wish?”

“Yes, but mostly children are granted them. Something about the entire fairy lore resting on the innocence of the child,” Snow answered after thinking for a moment.

“And, Sister Astrid once told me that a fairy will appear before the child even if the wish is not granted, to explain why.” Emma added, deep in thought. “Can something prevent fairies from interfering?” she asked, feeling like something really important was about to be uncovered.

“If the wisher is obscured by a magical entity, or it is bound to one permanently as in a magical contract. Also, the children of the magical beings aren’t known to be granted wishes, but that may be because they did not ask upon them.” This time it was David who answered, still not understanding the topic of their conversation.

“Emma, what is this about?” the smaller woman asked, but instead an answer Emma lifted herself in a crouch and looked around, her eyes searching for something. 

“Where are the others?” she asked, seeing that they were alone on the deck.

“Hook is in the galley, drinking and Gold is in the cabin, sleeping I presume,” David answered, watching his daughter settle down. When the blonde just nodded, he started to speak but a hand on his shoulder stopped him.

“Give me a moment,” Emma spoke, closing her eyes. Snow shared a worried look with her husband over Emma’s head, before they turned to look at her. “You know, that is very annoying,” the woman said, still keeping her eyes closed. “That synchronized parent thing.” Bringing her hands to her face and rubbing it in a tired gesture, she went on. “Never mind that now.” She opened her eyes. “Not one fairy came to Regina when she was a child. And, you cannot tell me that the ultimate good in your world would stand by and watch a young girl be tortured for no reason and do nothing about it.” Aware that she was a bit brisker than necessary, Emma smiled in apology to her mother. “What if she was obscured? Or, better, what if she was connected to a magical entity and she didn’t know about it.” The woman looked first at her mother, then at her father watching them think over what she had said.

“Well, it makes sense. After all Cora was a witch.” Snow spoke, thinking aloud.

“No, witches aren’t magical beings, they are just users,” the Savior spoke in explanation.

“Then, what are you saying?”

“In Henry's book there is the story about the miller's daughter…”

“Yes, about Cora and my mother,” Snow added in confirmation.

“The version from my world says that the girl had to give the first born to the imp. What if the deal went slightly different in reality?” Emma shook her head at the sentence, there were so many things wrong with it, but disregarding the whole ‘you are a fairy tale character’ bit, Emma pushed on. “What if Rumplestiltskin asked the girl to bear him her first born?”

The stunned silence was grating on Emma’s nerves. Had she jumped to a false conclusion? Or was she right, and many things got explained and much more convoluted, at the same time? She needed others to tell her if it made sense or she was just plain crazy, mad as a hatter, twisted with the worlds colliding in her head.

“Emma, are you saying what I think you are saying?” Snow asked softly, as if the loud spoken words would pollute the very air they breathed. But as seconds passed, Emma saw acceptance on her parents’ faces.

“The Dark One would for sure fall under the category of the magical entity,” Emma added, just as softly.

“I think this family just got more complicated, and I know we had a similar conversation while you were in New York,” David spoke sighing. “Emma, you really think that is true?”

“It makes sense. Perfect, actually, in a sick way.”

“So, Regina’s Henry’s step great grandmother, adopted mother and fraternal aunt?” David said, his eyebrows hitting his hairline with astonishment.

“Let’s not talk about that, it hurts my head.” Emma mumbled, lowering her head on her knees.

“Well, I think Fate was very insistent about Regina belonging to this family,” Snow added flippantly, placing her gentle hand on Emma’s shoulder, rubbing it tenderly, before she rose. Pulling her reluctant daughter up, she held her in her arms for a moment, before she passed her on to David. “You need to rest,'' she whispered into the blonde hair, while David held Emma to his chest. He kissed her forehead in silent goodbye and he, with his wife, climbed the stairs. Turning to the helm, David took the wheel and following Hook’s direction, watched the stars to guide him.

“Hey guys?” Emma spoke, before she turned to leave. Seeing she had their attention, she continued. “Not a word about this. To anyone.” She smiled at the immediate simultaneous nods from her parents and with a wave of her hand, she walked away, climbing down the hatch. “How the hell am I going to explain this to her?” she mumbled to herself, before entering the Captain’s Cabin.

Regina was lying in the bed, covered with a blanket and wearing something that looked a lot like pajamas. Listening to her steady breathing, Emma smiled at the almost peaceful face on the pillow. Taking off her boots and upper layer of clothes, she slipped under the blanket and the sweet oblivion claimed her even before she settled down.

* * *

After the jump of the docks, the darkness tinged with greenish light enveloped him, squeezing the air out of him. For a long moment, he actually thought he was going to die, alone, in the darkness, taken away from his family. But, then the darkness thinned and he found himself falling, before diving deep into the salty water of the sea. With his hands bound and heavy clothes that got soaked in seconds, he sank fast, unable to swim toward the surface.

The salt from the water burned his eyes and his throat, while he struggled to reach the blurry white spot in his vision, thinking it must be the surface. Clenching his jaw, fighting against the burning need to breathe, he realized that he was doomed. Losing his fight with sea, his mouth slackened and the instinctual need for air sucked in the water, scorching the flesh it passed. He closed his eyes and let the darkness reach him once more.

The next time he opened his eyes, he found himself lying on something hard. Unable to move, or to even open his eyes, he just concentrated on pushing the air into his burning lungs, moaning as the pain overwhelmed him. A shadow fell over him and he waited, stilling his breath. A hand grabbed his collar and pulled him up into the sitting position. “Drink, boy!” he heard and a skin of something was thrust into his hands.

Opening his eyes, at first he saw undefined shapes moving around in the glaring light, but soon the shapes cleared by the aid of his own tears, cleaning his eyes. He was on a boat, sitting between the middle benches, surrounded by four hooded people. The one closest to him impatiently gestured toward the skin in his lap and he, following the directives, uncorked it and took a careful swallow. As the soothing effects of the liquid washed against his tortured inner flesh, he gasped and swallowed more, eager to ease the pain.

Once he had his fill, he replaced the cork and looked at the man beside him. The veil covered his face, but he could see the cold eyes searching the horizon for something. Probably Greg and Tamara, he thought. Glancing around, unobtrusively as he could, he saw that the boat was rather small and it held five people including him. The other three were rowing, synchronized, their bodies turned away from the front, facing him and the other hooded man. Even with the daylight, the lit lantern stood on the bench beside him, ready to be taken for a moment’s notice.

Rising a bit, he threw his head around but as far as his eyes could reach, there was nothing but the sea. He knew that the people that had him were dangerous and what he would call bad, but as there was no land he couldn’t even try to escape as he was opposed to jumping into the water again. Keeping silent, with his knees drawn to his chest, he leaned his head back onto the wooden edge and closed his eyes. Tired out by the events, he dropped off to sleep, lulled by the rhythmic sounds of rowing and the water washing against the hull.

A rough hand shook him out of his nap, and he startled, remembering where he was. With a frown he looked around and saw the not so distant shore line. The sand beach was covered in timber, positioned in groups like pyres, ready to be lit. There were other people waiting on the shore, looking at the boat and showing with their hands, talking among themselves. As the hull ground against the sand ridge, the leader of the people in the boat grabbed him and pulled him up, helping him roughly out and then throwing him on the land, before he got out of the boat himself.

A tall man walked to the boy, sneering down on the sputtering child. He crouched, reaching for the boy’s brown jacket lapels and grabbed him roughly pulling his face towards him. When he saw the boy’s face, his frozen eyes glinted with malice and pleasure. His gaunt and dirty face twisted into a grimace of mirth, overshadowed by the cruelty. Lifting the boy up, he turned to the boat leader. “Others?”

The mask covered man shook his head once in answer. “They aren’t important.” The man holding the boy spoke dismissing the other one. Turning back to the boy, the blond hooded man sneered. “Welcome to Neverland, boy. He will be greatly pleased to finally have you.” At those words he felt the boy tremble against his hand. Pulling him away, he led the way inland, to a forest.

“What do you want from me?” the boy squawked, his voice unused for a long time and damaged by the salt water. He looked up and seeing only a harsh smile upon the man’s face, he dropped his head trudging through the woods, following the path.

They reached a cave and, leading the way inside, the man grabbed the torch from the entrance and lighted the insides. On the far end of the dark and damp cave were bars inlaid into the stone. Opening the doors, the man pushed the boy inside and took him to another door, hidden in the dark. Throwing him through it, he locked the door behind him and spoke through the bars on a small window. “Stay quiet, boy. He will see you when he wishes it. Food will be here soon.” With that he turned away and reached the outer bars.

“Wait!” the boy yelled, in panic. “Wait, don’t leave me here!” Kicking the door, the boy saw the torch move out, letting the dark consume the place. “Please!” The only answer he received was a chuckle reverberating off the walls of the cave. Realizing that he had been locked away, he sat down and hugged himself, tears flooding his sand dirty face as the despair and anguish enveloped him.

He remembered another cave, another dark place that he had found himself stuck in two years before. But, then he had had company and he had known without a doubt that Emma would save him. Now he didn’t even know if they could find the world he was in. Looking around, his eyes already used to the darkness, he saw a small trickle of light from the roof of the cave that served as his cell. But, the hole was too small to try and widen it, and even if it wasn’t he couldn’t reach it. Giving up hope that he could escape that way, he sat back down and closed his eyes, trying to get some rest, still exhausted from the ordeal.

Emma was the Savior, and she had brought him from the dead once. But, could she travel this far? And Regina, his mom, was unstoppable when he was in danger. Perhaps they could work together on getting him home, he thought with a gentle smile on his face. He liked the idea of Emma and his mother getting along, and even helping each other. But, his smile faded away quickly. It was more likely that his kidnapping would bring them to destruction, and he didn’t want them to fight each other.

Before the curse broke, there were the few times Regina and Emma fought in front of him. But he knew about each and every argument, twisted move and reaction. If she were the Evil Queen, his mother might have been proud of his skills to find information and spy on people of interest. God only knew it was the only way Henry would learn something important, as both his parents tended to protect him with lying.

Emma had told him about his mother’s actions and her despair when he had been ill because of the apple. Then, he had understood that she might not be as evil as he thought. Or evil at all. Emma had tried to get him to understand that sometimes people cannot be judged only by their actions, that there were circumstances and that it had been necessary for them to learn the whole story. His childish reluctance to listen caused a lot of pain to both of his mothers, and he felt sorry for it.

It seemed appropriate that he would think about his mother’s past while he was locked in a dungeon.

_ “Your mom is not evil, Henry,” Emma spoke with certainty. _

_ “But, she is the Evil Queen!” The childish insistence would continue and Henry almost stomped his foot. Emma sighed and took his hand, leading him to their favorite bench on the pier. They sat side by side, Henry filled with anticipation, vibrating in his seat, while Emma watched him, debating silently about what she should tell him. She knew for a fact Regina was a good, even great mother. Just one look at Henry was proof enough. _

_ “Henry,” Emma started, her decision firm. “Your mother is not evil.” _

_ “Emma, I told you…” Henry spoke but a raised hand stopped him from going further. _

_ “She may have been the Evil Queen, but that is not what I see.” Before the boy could complain, the woman pressed on. “I have seen evil.” The quiet, sure voice kept the boy silent. “You had food that was good for you. Sometimes even your favorites, right?” A single unsure nod confirmed her statement. “You always had clothes and shoes you needed. She took care of you even when you were fussy and ill. Even when you screamed at her that she was not your mother. Did she ever hit you?” _

_ “N-n-o,” Henry mumbled, looking down tucking his chin into his chest, throwing his legs wildly, below the bench. He knew what Emma was trying to tell him, but she was  _ **_wrong_ ** _. _

_ “Your mother loves you, Henry. And people who love cannot be evil.” _

_ “You are wrong! She is the Evil Queen. She wants to destroy us.” Henry jumped off the bench and briskly moved away. Emma just sighed before going after him. _

_ “The sooner you realize that people aren’t black and white, kid, the better. It will save you a lot of disappointment and heartbreak,” Emma spoke, closing the subject, and leading him home. _

And she had been right. Snow had made Regina kill Cora, Regina had spared Snow and she had saved them all, along with Emma. Emma had been a thief as a youngster, and now she was the Savior. They could not be seen as black and white, and his childlike ignorance had faded away with each day spent in Storybrooke after the curse had been broken. And, then the unthinkable had happened. In New York, Emma had disappointed him and the shock of it made him think hard about what she had said that day long before, on that bench.

Nevertheless, after all the heartache, he knew without a doubt that his mothers loved him, strongly enough to blindly follow after him and try to save him. With Emma he had irrefutable proof, she had saved him with a kiss of True Love. But, with Regina he had had his doubts before her many deeds proved to him that she did indeed love him, even when the darkness came over her.

When Emma and Snow had informed them that Cora had been after them, Regina had gotten herself involved with Gold, falling under his influencing reasoning once more. Although she might have killed his other mother and grandmother, Henry believed she had really tried only to protect him from the great evil of her past. Seeing what Cora could do, he understood too well her fear.

_ “What I know is that my mother will destroy  _ **_everything_ ** _ that I love, and that means you, and I can’t let that happen,” Regina spoke, her fear and sorrow for his pain evident in her voice. _

However, after he had pleaded with her, convincing her that good would always win and that Emma would be the one coming back, she looked at him, her head inclining just a bit, almost a nod. Straightening out, she had looked calm and resolute while she had walked to the sparkling and crackling well. Slowly spreading her hands in the air above the well, as if she had been afraid of the green light, she had summoned the power to her, letting it fill her up, the sheer magnitude of the curse shaking her body and tensing her muscles. After several tense and terrifying moments, she had been thrown away and the curse was gone. In that one gesture she had shown Henry that she had indeed had faith in him. In fact, she had saved Emma and Snow, without mentioning what she had had to do.

Several hours later, after Emma finally had allowed him to slip out of her embrace, he had gone home, to the Mayor’s house. Using his key he had slowly opened the door, and silently he had climbed the stairs, looking into the rooms, searching for the woman of the house. Not once had a thought that she might not be well passed his mind, and when he had found her in her en-suite bathroom on her knees, throwing up, he had gasped in horror.

_ “Henry?” Regina rasped, lifting her head off the toilet seat weakly. “What are you doing here?” she whispered, watching him with her tired and bloodshot eyes but he saw a glimmer of happiness in them caused by his presence. He walked in slowly, and placed his hand on her shoulder gently. Her shirt was drenched in sweat and her hair slicked back, wet with exertion. She was pale and looked very, very sick. _

_ “Mom? What’s happening?” He asked, kneeling beside the tortured woman, looking into her dark eyes. _

_ Regina closed her eyes in defeat. She never wanted anyone to find out that what she had done may have killed her, least of all her son. “My body is fighting the magic I absorbed,” she explained simply. She would never tell him that she was not supposed to survive the death curse placed on the wishing well and that she had known what it had been. She would never brag about her trust in him, or demean it by trying to cash it in. “I’ll be fine in a couple of hours.” I wasn’t a lie, exactly. She would be well enough to present herself for the party the town was buzzing about, the one Emma had invited her to. And after that… Perhaps it would taper off and leave her be as she was. But, the death curse was made of such powerful dark magic, there was no way to predict its influence. _

_ Henry placed his palm on her cheek and smiled. “Can I help?” He knew she was diminishing the danger she was in for his sake, but the effects of the curse were quite evident. But, if she didn’t want to talk about it, or to just tell him or anyone else about it, he would honor her wishes. Feeling the tears against his palm he looked into the glossy brown eyes and saw the tear trails. The offer made her cry with happiness, Henry noted sadly. Had he really been so terrible to her? _

_ “No, that’s OK. I’ll see you later tonight, I promise.” She lifted her head slightly and smiled softly at him. She never liked other people witnessing her at her weakest, not even him. The boy nodded and rose, turning away from his mother and walking out. As he did, the sound of throwing up once more filled the bathroom. Closing his eyes against the tears he walked out of the house, locking the door and went to the station to meet with Emma. _

Later, Cora had arrived and the whole mess had been created by the evil witch. He hadn’t been kept in the loop but he had understood things well enough. But, as Emma had said, people have so many faces. Regina, under the familiar influence of the Queen of Hearts committed unspeakable deeds. However, as they saved each other many times, almost as many as they tried to kill themselves, Regina and Snow had forged an uneasy truce because of him, the link that connected them all into one happy family. And as a part of that family, Regina had offered her final sacrifice.

_ “I am sorry for what’s happened. I tried to be the person that you wanted me to be, and I failed. But, I won’t let you be alone. You just know that I love you.” Regina watched her son with tears in her eyes, her goodbye meaning so much more than any of them knew at the time. Taking a deep breath and settling her emotions, she embraced her choice and went to her destiny. _

It was only later that when Emma had told him Regina wouldn’t be coming back he had understood her last words. His mother had chosen a path of a hero, finally redeeming herself and she did it for him, so he would not be alone in the world, even if it meant he would be with Emma, her adversary for his love. The dread had gripped his heart and he had raged against their decision to honor Regina’s sacrifice. She had been his mother and he would have had been damned to let it happen like that. Not when she finally had become who he had wanted her to be all along. Listening to him, Snow had offered an alternate solution and the town, following their Queen, had agreed. But Hook had interfered by having stolen the bean, leaving them helpless against the destruction wrought by the diamond.

_ “I love you, Henry.” Regina sighed weakly, shaking with the force of the power draining through the diamond. “I only wish I was strong enough to stop all this.” Her voice breaking when Henry hugged her, she cried in anguish. “I am just not,” she whispered, in despair. _

Emma had figured it out just in time to save them all. He had seen his mothers stand one across the other and work in tandem to survive. His mother’s encouraging smile directed at Emma made something click for him, before a hand grabbed him and pulled him away, having placed something against his mouth. And that was how he had gotten himself stuck in this forsaken world, in this dungeon.

The last moments he had spent with his mother had made him think about the possibility of having a united family, a rather unique one and whether it was possible for all of them to live under one roof. Once upon a time, he had hoped to be brought to the Enchanted Forest and to experience adventures the other children only dream about – riding horses, fighting battles, slaying dragons, and living in castles… But, then he had realized that Emma had not liked that world, and that Regina had been deeply hated. Would he have been happy with the two very important women in his life miserable? His mother had lost her True Love and Emma had not found one. Had it been fair to expect them to live in that world with only a promise of a possible contentment, but never happiness?

_ Of all the places I have seen, this is the fairest of them all. _

Regina had told him that when he had the talk with her, about magic.

He knew the story about the stable boy. He had known it since he had read the book, but he never connected the young woman saving the princess to his grown up powerful mother. Daniel had died because she had loved him.

After the man had charged into the stables, he had seen Regina’s True Love and the thought of the young man made him smile. He had been much more suited for the young noble woman that the old King, even though he was his great grandfather. Tall, slim with piercing but gentle blue eyes… Henry only hoped he would be as good looking as him when he would grow up. After Regina had stopped him and Henry had been freed, David had made him leave, but instead he had hid in one of the many nooks of the stables and had witnessed the whole thing. He had seen the pain, the sorrow, the grief she had experienced. He had also heard Daniel’s last words directed to her. “Then love again,” he had said. But who would ever fall in love with the Evil Queen?

Perhaps the answer wasn't an obvious one. He wasn’t stupid or too ignorant of the things around him. He had heard the comments adults had made when they had thought he hadn’t been around. Somehow, it always involved Emma and other women of the town. And Mary Margaret had been very strict when she had explained the sex orientation and discrimination. Not one pupil from her class had ever been called to the principals for bullying. And, the smirk his mom had directed at Emma when they had fought the diamond together had opened the door for so many questions regarding two of them.

Emma had been forgiving enough. Perhaps it was her life experience that made her that way, but everything she had said to Henry in her wise tone, he had memorized. And so many times, he would remember and figure out that she had been always right.

_ “Kid, I am not a saint!” Emma spoke exasperated, opening the door to Mary Margaret’s place. Henry trudged in, passing her and going straight to the breakfast bar. _

_ “You are the Savior, Emma!” _

_ “What does it even mean?” the woman spoke, opening the fridge and gathering the supplies for the promised sandwiches. _

_ “You are going to break the curse, remember? The operation Cobra!” Henry stated, missing the blonde’s eye roll at his childishly absolute persistence. _

_ “Yeah, but what does it mean for me? What does that make me?” _

_ “A hero.” _

_ “I’m no hero, kid. I’m just a bounty hunter who did some bad things in her life.” _

_ “You are, Emma. And, you had a hard life because of the curse and the Evil Queen.” _

_ “Kid, even if that were true, I cannot blame anyone but myself for the choices I made. And, I made my share of bad choices and mistakes.” _

_ “Yes, but…” _

_ “Henry.” The name spoken a bit sharper than usual made Henry blink with surprise. “I know you don’t want to believe me regarding this because you are a sweet and innocent kid, but I am no hero.” _

Indeed she was, and had been. Only he had the wrong definition of the hero. He had thought it was the person who is always good, on the side of the truth, a knight in shining armor. But, he had been wrong. A hero was a person willing to sacrifice everything to protect the one he, or she, loved. A person willing to bear eternal pain for the loved one’s moment of happiness. The one who thought of others before themselves. Rumplestiltskin always spoke the truth – only he would twist it in that way that one couldn’t find his way with it. Snow had been good, and yet her heart started to darken. 

And his mother, Regina, had been the hero many times over, but no one had recognized it at the time. Letting him go, to live with David – it had been no doubt the hardest thing she had to do in a while, and she had done it for him. She had saved Emma and Snow, absorbing the death curse. She had denied herself a way to ensure some form of his love, in hopes she would one day receive his honest affection. She had offered her life as the delay tactics.

Shaking off the sluggish limbs, he rose, touching the stone walls. The light over his head had extinguished some time while he had been lost in thought, making him conclude it was night outside. A clanking noise startled him and a torch light spread, casting shadows all around the cell. The door opened and one of the hooded men brought in a pallet with a roll of blanket on it and a pillow, while another one brought in a bucket and a skin filled to the top, along with a plate that contained some kind of paste and bread. Quickly they left him in the dark once more. Surveying the offerings, he frowned at the bucket. Suddenly understanding its purpose his face scrunched in distaste. “Ugh!” he mumbled, shuddering.

Having eaten a bit, Henry got back to his place against the cave wall, bringing the cot with him. Preparing himself for the night he remembered all the times Regina had tucked him in his bed at home. Always gentle, but firm about his curfew, Regina had given him the best memories, and the fact that she was the Evil Queen did not change it. He still smiled when he thought about their game night, or a story time before bed. Emma had been right once again, Regina had always loved him. And it hadn’t been the fact that she had been the bad guy that had made him so angry. It had been the fact that he had felt betrayed by the person he had trusted the most. She had lied to him, even though there had been something about having the Evil Queen for a mother.

As time had passed he had gotten to see glimpses of the real person his mother had been. And if he was honest with himself he had liked the woman that had peaked through the vulnerable shields of his mother. And, although she had done some pretty bad things, he couldn’t call her the Evil Queen anymore. Not after Daniel, and definitely not after the trigger business.

He just wished he had told her at least once that he had forgiven her. And, now, sitting in a damp cell with a bucket for a toilet he felt regret and remorse for his behavior toward his mother. Both of them, in fact. He had pitted them inadvertently, one against the other, wreaking havoc. But, the irony was that the one person Regina had considered the ultimate threat had helped him grow and understand the grownups. If it hadn’t been for Emma‘s little chats about Regina, he would never have realized, in time anyways, that Regina could redeem herself and earn a place in his life. She didn’t have to earn his love, she had never lost it, although it had been hidden under a lot of anger and betrayal.

With that as his last thought he sank into sleep, a deep and dreamless one, despite the danger he was in.

Time passed. He couldn’t know how many days had it been, but he was sure it had been days because the fickle light out of the crack in the ceiling overhead disappeared from time to time. His meals would arrive seemingly at random intervals. With every further moment spent in the darkness of his prison, he would lose a bit of his hope.

“He will see you now,” a voice pierced the darkness startling Henry so hard that he overturned the cot he had been sleeping in. Chuckling, the man that had come to bring him to his Master opened the door.

Henry rose off the floor cautiously keeping the cot in between him and the man entering his cell. For a moment he had considered pushing through and trying to escape, but when another hooded man appeared in the doorway carrying a torch, he gave upon the idea. Slowly, he walked toward them at their beckoning moves, watching them carefully. When he reached the door, the man with the torch grabbed him and pushed him forward, taking him to another twit of the cave’s tunnel. Going deeper into the cave, the man holding the torch kept his hand on Henry’s shoulder, squeezing it sharply when the boy hadn’t moved quickly enough or in the wished direction. Not a word was spoken again, and Henry had a feeling that if he were to speak he wouldn’t get a reply as an answer, but some kind of abuse instead.

It seemed that they were going for hours, but in reality it had been only several minutes. Finally, they reached a wooden door and the leading man gestured with the torch to the one behind them to pass them and open the door. As soon as it was done, Henry was overwhelmed with sounds and lights. The amount of noise hurt his ears unused to the din, having only the sound of his voice for company for the past few days.

The space he was pushed into was a great hall of some kind, alit with many blazing torches and lanterns. There were so many people bustling around that Henry had to close his eyes, for he was becoming dizzy with the movements of the crowd.

“These are those who are loyal to Him. We prosper in His grace,” spoke the man in front of Henry, leading the way, while the man with the torch stood by his side, his hand still on Henry’s shoulder.

They brought him into another great hall, but this one was doused in darkness, so Henry could not see anything past the circle of light surrounding the torch by his side. The man released him, and along with the other one left the room, leaving him immersed in the darkness once more.

“Hello?” Henry said softly, having heard the rustling in front of him. Suddenly, there was a pressure around him and he couldn’t move.

“And you are here, at last.” A soft whisper came to Henry, its malicious tone making goose bumps rise all over Henry’s body. “I had hoped I would find you sooner,” the voice came closer, followed by the eyes that glinted in the darkness, giving Henry something to focus on, no matter the terror he felt. “It does not matter. It changes nothing.”

“Who are you?” Henry spoke, searching the darkness for the eyes, to see where this person was.

“Peter Pan is the name, boy,” the darkness spoke. “And you shall help me rule the realms,” the voice added, murmuring just off Henry’s ear making his shudder with fear. This, whatever this was, was pure evil and he felt that down to his bones. The only one thought started repeating in his head, fueled by his desperate need to get out of there.

_ Mom, Emma, please hurry. _


	2. Chapter 2

The dawn came sooner that Emma had expected. The time she had been sleeping had passed it seemed in the blink of an eye, leaving the younger woman disoriented and sluggish. But not bewildered enough not to recognize the head on her shoulder, resting peacefully after the turbulent night. Regina had suffered nightmares throughout the night, no doubt provoked by the tales of her past, forcing the former queen to ask for the calming influence of a simple hug that Emma had offered easily. Lifting her arm Emma placed it around Regina’s back, tenderly stroking the arm around her midriff, barely aware of her actions. The soft steady breathing she could feel from Regina brought her unexpected calming peace of her thoughts. Despite the turmoil of the past days, Emma was able to relax just for a moment and recharge, although she still felt tired and sleepy.

“What are you thinking about?” a soft murmur broke the silence of an early morning. The unspoken acceptance of their position and the closeness that had been born out of their love for their son and similar experiences and understanding was highly unusual for both women, who both avoided personal connections.

Emma smiled, closing her eyes. “Nothing. For the first time in a long while I am not obsessing about anything.” She whispered, pulling the other woman closer. “Go to sleep, there is still time.”

“You, too. I kept you awake most of the night.” Regina answered quietly, snuggling deeper in the hug, letting the sleep claim her once more. Emma shifted a bit and followed after.

The next time the blonde woman opened her eyes she was greeted with warm brown eyes above her. Regina had been leaning over her, but as soon as she opened her eyes, the older woman moved aside and took a bowl with a steeping paste in it. “Your mother sends her regards,” Regina said with a quirk of her mouth. Remembering the morning meeting with Snow brought on her high spirits.

_ When she stepped in the galley for breakfast, Regina saw that the pixie haired woman was still busy with preparations, joined by the Captain, grumbling in his seat. The moment she saw the former queen she squeaked and rushed to bring two bowls for the meal. Regina cocked her eyebrow and narrowed her eyes at the woman’s behavior. “What is with you?” _

_ “Nothing!” Spoken too quickly to be the truth, Snow winced at the sound of her higher than usual voice. “You surprised me.” _

_ “And that is the reason to behave like you are hiding something?” Regina came closer to the younger woman and leaned in. But by the time she spoke, Snow had already collected herself. The calm veneer greeted the queen. _

_ “I expected David. Is Emma awake?” Snow quickly changed the subject, knowing that Regina knew very well that she had avoided answering the question. With a scrutinizing look over, Regina waved her head and took a seat on the counter, as far away as she could from Hook. _

_ “He said that we should arrive late in the evening to the island,” Snow spoke nodding away to the Captain watching them. _

_ “If the weather doesn’t change, that is,” Hook spoke, finishing his meal and rising. He had taken no offence to Regina avoiding him, and he was happy she wasn’t killing him on sight. The Swan was good for the woman, he thought with amused sneer. _

_ “Captain,” Regina had spoken suddenly, before Hook could leave. When he turned to her, she continued. “I presume you have weapons on board? I will need to see them.” Hook smiled and nodded in a negligible bow. His hand went to a panel in the wall and pressing a hidden lever he opened the secret door to what looked like an armory. _

_ “My arms are your arms,” he spoke flippantly and left. Regina rose and walked to the small space filled with various kinds of swords and sabers, flintlocks, throwing knives and daggers, among other things. Touching the various blades she looked for two that would suit her and the Savior. Snow joined and picked one for herself. _

_ Regina took the two most promising double edged swords with their scabbards, several knives and daggers, getting out of the small space, smiling at the stunned face of Snow. “It is not just for me,” she spoke with a laughing tilt in her voice, placing her burden on the counter beside her bowl. _

_ Snow picked up one of the swords and gently smiled, passing her hand over the scabbard and pulling out the blade, testing it in her hand. “This one. It would fit her perfectly.” She looked at Regina and seeing her with an agreeing incline of her head, Snow lowered the sword. _

_ Finishing her meal, Regina rose and picked up the cluster of weaponry, managing to place the extra bowl on top of it. Turning to go, she waited for Snow to glance up to her face. “Tell David I have something for him in the cabin.” With that she left. _

Emma took the bowl from her and started eating with gusto, watching the other woman move around the room, picking up the scattered things. Noticing something different, Emma frowned, lowering her spoon. Regina was dressed differently. The black tights were different and the blazer was in deep navy blue with a gray turtleneck underneath. Straightening in the bed, Emma placed the bowl on the floor beside the pallet.

Regina turned and saw the other woman looking at her with a confused face. Reaching her, she sat beside her on the mattress, looking into Emma’s face, her question obvious in her eyes.

“Where did you get this?” Emma asked, fingering Regina’s lapel.

The older woman just smiled in understanding. “I brought it with me.” Rising, she gestured to two sports bags half hidden with a spare blanket. “When Hook came back, I collected the things with magic, anticipating the need to move out immediately.”

Emma chuckled and rose, throwing the blanket of herself, not paying attention to her attire. Regina smirked, reminded of their second meeting. The blonde took one of the bags, recognizing her as one of her own and opened it. “You are amazing,” she whispered, picking out the things Regina had packed. Turning around quickly, she threw her arms around the stunned woman and hugged her with glee. At first, Regina froze with the sudden movement, her body ready to defend itself, but quite quickly she relaxed into the childlike embrace, placing her hand on Emma’s back, patting her lightly with amusement.

“I am sorry,” Emma whispered, pulling away, aware that she had startled the other woman. But, Regina only waved away her apology with a slight shake of her head.

Emma hurried back to the bag and noticed several things that did not belong to her. With a slight frown she lowered herself down and picked a shirt, recognizing one of Henry’s favorite clothes. She looked at Regina clutching the shirt to her chest, inhaling the clean scent of the fabric, and watched the other woman smile sadly. This time Emma moved slowly and drew Regina into her arms, holding her firmly against herself. She felt Regina place her arms on her back and sink into the hug, accepting the comforting touch from the Savior. “I thought he would need…” Regina started but her voice broke and she lowered her head, hiding her eyes into the Savior’s shoulder.

The blonde kissed the forehead near her in the soothing fashion and gripped the woman in her arms firmer. “He will. I’d guess he will be quite a stinky mess when we get him.”

Regina offered a watery chuckle, deciding not to comment on Emma’s previous actions. Pulling out of the hug she placed her palm on Emma’s cheek, looking into concerned green eyes. “Thank you,” she whispered and seeing the green eyes light up, she stepped away. “Get dressed, you’ll need to practice.” Chuckling again at the childlike groan that came out of the younger woman, Regina picked up the sword she had chosen from Hook's stash.

Emma quickly donned her old clothes and took the sword out of Regina’s hand and tried it out in her hands. Deciding to wear it on her back, because of the gun holster on her hip, the blonde placed the scabbard over her shoulder.

“There, a true knight,” Regina spoke joking, with her hands on her hips.

Emma scowled at the comment and tried to pull the sword out, managing it with ease. ”If you say so, Your Majesty,” she spoke, placing the blade back into its place.

The older woman hit the younger one in the shoulder, giggling when Emma yelled in surprise and outrage, and walked toward another bag, obscured by the clutter in the cabin. Emma followed her closely, almost touching her back. Opening the lid of the duffel Regina let the Savior see the contents of the bag. Several filled clips, along with boxes of ammunition lay on the floor of the container. Emma’s second gun, the revolver she used as a backup, was resting on top of it in its holster and two boxes of its bullets. A full accessory belt of the sheriff’s uniform and two vests, along with a black chain mail that was almost hidden among the rest of the stuff. And, underneath it all, a glinting gold hilt of David’s sword peaked out.

“Wow,” Emma whispered in awe of the woman beside her. Regina had singlehandedly prepared the Sheriff’s part of the crew for the upcoming quest, giving them more than a fighting chance in the following adventures. “And you did this, only minutes before we sailed out?” She asked with admiration in her voice. “No wonder you secluded yourself. I would think it would have left you drained even if you hadn’t stopped the trigger.”

“It did.” Regina spoke softly, uncomfortable with open praise of the woman beside her. “And you stopped the trigger.” She added looking into the glimmering green eyes.

Emma came to Regina and placed her palms onto the older woman’s shoulders. Searching the suddenly shy brown eyes, the blonde let one of her hands reach to the face in front of her, gently tilting the Mayor’s head up, locking their eyes firmly. “It was your turn at saving the world. I only helped.” The serious tone in her quiet voice pierced the self-doubt that enshrouded Regina, and Emma watched the older woman reluctantly believe in the truth of her words. Keeping them in the position for several moments just to make sure that the message had sunk in, she let go. Taking one of Regina’s hands she led them to the deck for another grueling training session.

* * *

Snow walked toward her husband and glanced upon the two women circling one another on the deck. The ease with which they anticipated and countered each other’s moves surprised her, but considering that they had spent most of their time on the ship together, and that they both were experts at reading people, Snow did not wonder much about how it had come to be.

“She is good with that sword,” David commented when Snow had leaned against the railing next to him. Snow smiled and leaned onto his shoulder, watching their daughter practicing sword and magic fighting at the same time.

“She has good teachers,” she murmured.

“I meant Regina,” David spoke again, gesturing toward their former nemesis. Snow blinked and realized that Regina was indeed using the sword to fight Emma, using it expertly, coaching Emma with patience.

“I never thought she knew.”

“She must have learned after she had run away from you in that village,” the prince said softly, after a minute spent in silence, watching their daughter and Snow’s stepmother.

“Could be.” Observing the woman exchange quite underhanded blows, Snow comprehended Regina was teaching Emma to fight dirty. If the situation was any different she would complain about the former queen’s methods, but at the moment, she couldn’t find it in herself to object to the skill that would most likely keep Emma alive. And that, Snow reckoned was why Regina taught the Savior such moves. A warm feeling appeared in her chest at the thought that her step mother was protecting her daughter.

“They seem close,” David suddenly spoke breaking the quiet that had fallen on them.

“They connected on the level we could not,” the pixie haired woman spoke with sadness in her voice, knowing that Emma was keeping her past experiences hidden away from her parents, telling them only the broad and vague explanations of her life. On the other hand, the former Evil Queen could reach their daughter perhaps because she also had a hard life and even harder childhood. It hurt, and although Snow knew it was petty, she envied Regina on that understanding of her child. However, it seemed apt for the women to have a unique connection, both being Henry’s mothers, and magic users. Being neither, Snow could only watch her daughter form a closer bond with her once competitor for Henry’s love.

“I think they have a connection that goes beyond their shared love for Henry, their hard past and magic.” David turned to his wife and looked down into her concerned face. “I think it goes deeper.” He said, his blue eyes searching the green ones of his wife. “I think Emma likes her, and that Regina is drawn to her as well.”

“You mean, like us?” Snow asked after thinking through her husband’s words. She couldn’t say that she hadn’t thought the same thing once or twice, so what David had said was not such a great surprise. However, it was something she didn’t like to think about. She had hopes about Emma and Neal coming together, but after he had been gone… And Emma had seemed too angry with him to be in a good relationship with him on a romantic level. Emma was hard on trusting people, and he had damaged their love and her belief in the innate goodness of people. In fact, it was his action that had made her so untrusting as a person, closed off and careful in personal relationships.

But, Regina? Snow couldn’t help but feel resentment toward the woman, taking her daughter from her once again. Nevertheless, it would make perfect sense in a cosmic way. Fate, Universe or whatever had a sense of humor. What Snow had taken, she would give back, unwillingly. And, Emma did seem to be attracted to the former Evil Queen on more levels that Snow could even comprehend. Even though she didn’t know much about her daughter’s past, Snow knew Emma. Even at that moment the pixie haired woman could see the palpable connection – Emma had grinned at the soft patient smile Regina had sported at the blundered move.

“She seems unbelievably patient with Emma, despite their previous arguments and outright war,” the man beside spoke softly, holding her tighter to his chest.

“When I look at them, I see the Regina before magic had corrupted her.” Snow replied, deep in thought.

“Will you be ok with this?” David asked, worried about his wife’s absentmindedness.

“We don’t know if this is really what we think. But, I cannot say I will be. At least not right away.” Snow turned to him and smiled sadly. “Too many things mare our past to accept this easily.” Looking back to the women caught in a vicious bout of fighting, the pixie haired woman considered her answer. “But, if it makes Emma happy, I will try.” She saw her husband nodding in agreement and sank into his embrace, taking comfort from him as she offered the same to him.

* * *

Rumplestiltskin watched the two women prepare for the dangerous rescue mission ahead, frowning at the lessening of the personal space around his protégé, unused to seeing her so trusting of another close to her. In the past thirty years only Henry had been allowed that close, and seeing the Savior joining with Regina unsettled him for some reason.

Leaning on his cane, he stood beside the helm, his hand resting on the wheel, keeping it steady. If the luck served, they would reach the island of Neverland by nightfall, but he knew they wouldn’t be so gifted by fate. The storm clouds could be seen in the distance, gathering.

* * *

“Come on, Regina, I did that well.” Emma placed her blade onto her shoulder, in such a Charming gesture, with her legs wide apart and her other hand onto her hip. Regina shook her head slowly in false annoyance.

“You left yourself wide open!” And indeed Emma had left herself grossly unprotected during the maneuver she had attempted. “If I was your enemy, I would have killed you in seconds.” In order to show to the obstinate Sheriff, Regina gestured for her to repeat the move, preparing to act. In a quick maneuver, the older woman passed the Sheriff’s defenses and stilled the blade onto Emma’s neck, nicking the skin underneath it.

But, only then she realized that she had made a mistake in her attack. Overconfident with Emma’s holes in her defensive movements, she had left herself vulnerable to the other woman’s blade, which had been directed at her heart, piercing the skin.

Regina watched the rivulet of blood make way down Emma’s skin into the high collar of the turtleneck with stunned fascination, frozen with the knowledge that only superb control on both parts had kept them alive in the heat of the moment. Lifting her gaze, her eyes met the green ones. The dark haired woman lost herself in the deep excited verdant look that searched her own face. The world faded away and Regina felt the buzz of the magic awakening under her skin, enticed by the magic activation in the other woman. Suddenly, there was a warm feeling of healing, and the world rushed back in, followed by two worried yells.

“Emma!”

Keeping her look connected to Emma’s, Regina understood that Emma herself was surprised by the feat of magic healing she had performed. Slowly lowering her sword careful not to nick the skin again, Regina felt the other woman do the same, and just in time. Snow and David pulled them apart, checking them for injuries, all the while, Emma and Regina did not break their gaze.

“You are healed,” David spoke with amazement, wondering when it had occurred. It seemed only a moment before when they saw the women attack each other in a ferocious way, and for a second it looked like they had injured each other but they seemed fine.

“Emma did it,” Regina said, finally finding the strength to look away from the intoxicating gaze, breaking the inexplicable connection that had been created with the surprising bout of magic from the Savior. 

The sudden thunder rolled over them and all of them looked up, their conversation forgotten. The dark stormy clouds were covering the sky, heralding the tempest few had lived through. Emma saw the worried glances David, Snow and Regina exchanged but before she could ask anything, another thunder pierced the air followed by the wind.

“Secure the ship!” Hook yelled as soon as he stepped onto the deck, and the group scattered around, leaving Emma to watch after them. “Swan, tie up the sails!” the Captain said passing by her, rushing toward the bow to secure the many barrels and boxes. Using the knots she had learned in a summer camp, she secured the sails, leaving the mast to look bare.

With nothing else to do, as everyone else dashing around the deck with their tasks, Emma looked to the horizon, enjoying the twirl of the colors in the far. The many shades of gray collided in the air, sometimes pierced with lightning or the last streaks of sunlight. The sea below was turbulent and foamy with the rising waves and winds. She had heard Hook yell out to her parents that they had only five hours to get ready, if that.

“Swan!” Hook came to her and leaned onto the railing, pleased with the speed his ship had been secured. There was nothing else to do but to wait for the storm to break over them, and he thought he could fill the remaining hours with some idle, or not so idle flirting. He turned to the blonde hero and leered over her look, with the scabbard over her shoulder and dark clothes. Her hair was wild in the picking wind and she looked the part of the dangerous Savior. “You look wonderful.”

“Not in the mood, Hook. And I am still angry with you for your bean stunt.” Emma crossed her arms over her chest, inadvertently making herself look even more dangerous and sexy.

“Oh, come on.” Hook nudged her with his elbow. “As I see it, I did you a favor.”

An incredulous look showed on Emma’s face. “Of course. How do you figure?”

“If I hadn’t taken the bean away, you would have spent it on destroying the trigger, and you would be left with nothing to follow Henry.” Hook grinned in that self-satisfied smirk that annoyed Emma to no end. “And, this way, I get to be a hero, you get to Neverland and save the day. Win for all of us.”

Emma chuckled humorlessly at the Captain, shaking her head. “The way I see it, you are lucky I don’t throw you overboard.” Turning toward the man, the blonde flexed her muscles. “If you hadn’t helped them, they wouldn’t have gotten the trigger, Regina wouldn’t have been tortured, and Henry wouldn’t have been taken. Only one good deed after a lifetime of selfishness and duplicity is not the way to balance the scales, or to try to sidle up to me.” Emma clenched her fists while her voice grew lower and deeper, making Hook’s skin erupt in goose bumps. “And when I say I am not in the mood for you, it will do you only good to heed the warning!” She growled, her magic swirling around her, making the air crackle with static. The Captain nodded and slinked away, throwing a worried glance at the blonde woman. 

Dispelling the magic, Emma leaned against the railing, sighing. Regina had warned her when they had started training in magic, that because it was so closely linked to her emotions, it would be harder to control when she was emotional. She had almost fulfilled her threat and thrown Hook overboard, and the only thought was that he had been the only one who could get them to the island unnoticed. They needed him.

The sky had grown dark, even though it was only midday. The lightning tore the darkness at irregular intervals, followed by deafening thunder and rising sea. Emma looked around, feeling the tendrils of fear seize her limbs. The nature around her was magnificent and deadly. Never had she felt so small as in that moment, at the sea with no shore in sight, at the mercy of the wild storm.

“Hey,” a voice pierced her reflection. The suddenness of the familiar sound made her jump and turn toward the intruder. “Easy, it’s only me.” A gentle hand found her way onto Emma’s upper arm, right above her elbow. Emma shuddered at the startling relaxation that had flown into her limbs at the touch, craving more.

“That is weird, hearing you say ‘only me’.” Emma spoke, getting closer to the woman that kept her company. She took the other hand and drew the woman into a gentle hug, lowering her head onto the woman’s shoulder. “It is like the queen saying she is nothing but a poor pauper.” Feeling the warmth of the arms around her, she closed her eyes, enjoying the swirl of magic filling her at the presence of the other woman.

“You are so much more,” Emma mumbled into the shoulder.

Regina stood there, holding the Savior in her arms, feeling the anger and fear drain from the other woman. She had seen Emma gear up for the fight with Killian, and she had felt the magic coursing through the air on the ship. The brunette had been only seconds away from interrupting them in apprehension that the Savior would do something stupid but inevitable in that state of irritation. Luckily, the Captain had decided to withdraw and the magic had been gone from the air. Regina knew that the amount of energy Emma had called upon had been huge, and such expenditure would end in feeling drained and weak, emotionally as well as physically. So she had decided to help her as much as she could have, but before she could reach the Savior, Regina had seen the fear in her eyes that had darted around, scanning their surroundings. It was in moments like these that Regina was reminded that Emma had not grown up in the place where sea storms were relatively regular occurrences. It was moments like these that she liked about the woman in her arms. When the arrogant survivalist would falter and the innate bravery and obstinacy would prevail and let her bear the title of a hero.

“And so are you, Emma.” Regina murmured, nuzzling the mop of wild blonde hair, feeling the younger woman sink deeper in her arms. “This is frightening even for the experienced sailors. Your mother is green below deck. It is alright to be overwhelmed with this power of nature.” She leaned them onto the railing, lifting one of her hands to Emma’s face, pushing the hair away. “Even for me this is scary,” she murmured softly, barely audible over the wind. Emma smiled at the calming words Regina had uttered for her sake.

“How did you know?” Emma asked, lifting her head, but remaining in the enclosed space of Regina’s arms. “What troubled me, I mean?” She looked into the gentle brown eyes, soft and caring as never before. Emma had a feeling that only Henry had seen the dark woman so open and soft.

Regina smiled at the scrutiny and the question, knowing that her vulnerability would not be explored in any painful manner, at least for the moment. “Henry has the same expression when he is terrified out of his mind.” The gentle teasing crept into her tone, giving her smirk a softer edge.

“I am not!” Emma complained childishly, but then she grimaced at the sound of her raised voice. “It’s just that I have never been on the open sea, especially not on an old fashioned ship in the middle of the hurricane.” After the soothing movement of Regina’s hand on her back calmed her a bit, she went on. “I don’t know what to do. And look at this.” Emma gestured toward the wild sea, and the dark clouds covering the early afternoon sky. “It’s like the end of the world – the night in the middle of the day…”

“Emma, Armageddon, really?” Regina asked, smiling amused at the younger woman’s antics. “As for what to do, for now there is nothing for you to do. And after, when the storm hits, keep yourself safe and if you are needed you will be told.” The assured tone brought the reassurance Emma needed. “We’ll be fine.” With the gentle pat on Emma’s shoulder, Regina stepped away, glad that she could help. “I am going down to find something to eat. Should I get you something as well?”

Emma shrugged and remained leaning onto the railing. “I am not really hungry. But, I suppose I should eat, right?”

“With this looming over us, I don’t know when we will have time after it hits.” Regina confirmed.

“Fine, then. I’ll be here.” Emma watched Regina nod and walk away. Rubbing her face, she looked up at the sky, sighing at the low visibility. The ship rocked from the waves, but it was not anything Emma could not stand. As far as she was concerned, so far it had been as it would have been in an amusement park. But, then a soft thudding sound came of her left, announcing another intrusion in her reflection, this one unwelcome.

Firm steps followed by the thuds of the cane brought Rumplestiltskin by Emma’s side. After several minutes of silence, Emma pushed away from the railing and turned slightly toward the older man, watching him carefully. He was a dangerous man and it would not do for Emma to anger him without a good reason, but she was tired of everyone butting in her life and she would no longer stand for it. Leaning her head to a side, she narrowed her eyes.

“What do you want, Gold?”

Rumplestiltskin raised his eyebrow at the open hostility from the Savior, but pushed on. “It is not about what I want, Miss Swan.” He leaned onto his cane, placing one hand over the other. “It is about what you need.” At the glower directed at him from the gleaming green eyes, he continued, assured that he would be heard. “And you need to be careful around Regina. She will yet find a way to betray and destroy you.”

Emma chuckled mirthlessly at the audacity of the man in front of her. He was Henry’s grandfather, but she would not tolerate such conceited self-righteousness from anyone, especially not the heartless imp masquerading as a man. She turned her glower back toward him and scowled at his expectant face. “Consider me warned.” Her brusque answer startled Rumplestiltskin. “Now, if you would excuse me…” Emma turned to leave, ready to go below for a meal.

“What would Bae say about leaving his son in the care of that monster?” His sneering voice sounded behind her, setting her nerves on edge. Anger surged through her. Emma whirled around and gripped Rumplestiltskin by the lapels of his suit jacket, her eyes glowing bluish white, and her skin vibrating with the suppressed magic. She leaned into his face and looked into his dark eyes, daring him to look away with her searing gaze, her eyes shining in the darkness of the storm. The man seemed frozen in place by her actions, having yet to move.

“You’ve got to be kidding me! You as the source of parenthood advice…” Lifting him off the ground easily, aided by her innate sorcery, she watched his face turn from condescending sneer to confusion and then to outright fear when he realized he couldn’t fight back. Emma, feeling empowered by her sudden advantage over him, lifted him higher in the air, looking up to him. “What would Bae say if he learned that his imp of a father fathered another child, abandoned her to her abusive mother, ruined her life and among other things, manipulated her into casting a curse that destroyed the Enchanted Forest, and countless lives, all for the purpose of finding his long lost son he had abandoned in the first place?”

“I have no idea what you are talking about, Miss Swan.” Rumplestiltskin spoke against the wind, reaching for her hand holding him up, but unable to touch it because it was isolated by the current of protective spells. Emma just smirked, lifting him further up and stepping toward the railing. “You are lying, Rumplestiltskin,” she spoke calmly, letting him know that she was sure and beyond any doubts.

She watched him go paler, when she managed to transfer him to the outer side of the railing. Gripping her hands, despite the pain he obviously experienced by touching her, he looked surprised at her calmness, and the unsettling glow of her eyes. “How did you…?” he managed to groan out, before she interrupted him.

“That is my secret to keep.” Lowering him down, bringing him in line with her eyes, she leaned into his face. “Let me be quite frank. If you move or help someone else move against my family, including Regina, I will end you, Dark One, or not. Have I made myself clear?” The low voice that seeped out of her mouth brought the imp to terror and unwelcome pride and amazement.

“Crystal, Miss Swan.”

“Sheriff, what the hell are you doing?” the sharp tone pierced the air, and Emma smiled at the surprise in Regina’s tone, her eyes losing some of her ferocity.

“Stay away from her,” Emma warned him quietly, before turning to the former Mayor striding toward them in her imperious gait. “Practicing?” Emma spoke devilishly, her face glimmering with humor.

Regina came to the younger woman and feeling the air crackle around Emma, she frowned. There was no magic coming from Rumplestiltskin, and as he still was hanging over the sea by Emma’s arm, she was surprised to see him accept such treatment. “And, exactly, what are you practicing?” she asked, interest bleeding into her voice and a small smirk curling one corner of her lips.

Emma grinned roguishly and turned back to the older man she still held above the stormy water. “Negotiation and cooperation.”

“Ah, I see,” Regina spoke with her smirk growing bigger. “I assume you have mastered the exercise?”

“I don’t know.” Emma shrugged and turned back to Rumplestiltskin with a smile. “Have I?” she asked him, raising her eyebrow, letting him know that she looked at him to confirm his answer to her previous question.

“Perfectly, Miss Swan.” Rumplestiltskin answered without aplomb, breathing heavily, glancing toward Regina.

“Well, then, if you would bring him aboard, dear, we need to go down below and prepare for the gale.” Regina watched Emma nod and move the man into his previous position, noticing the glare Emma had directed at the older man and the almost imperceptible nod from the imp.

After releasing the magic, Rumplestiltskin stumbled a bit, landing on his bad leg. Emma’s hand move brought his cane back into his hand, having been dropped when she raised him in the air. He walked away not sparing them a glance. Regina watched after the man, knowing him pretty well and she knew he was very angry, but also she noticed something she had never seen in his behavior before – fear. Turning to the blonde beside her she raised her eyebrows and placed her hands on her hips, skewering the woman with her inquisitive look.

“What was that really about?”

Emma looked into the dark eyes scrutinizing her face, searching for an explanation. They were really close to each other, their shoulders brushing together, Emma realized. When did they get so comfortable with each other in their personal spaces? The frown that had appeared at the thought drew Regina’s attention.

“Sheriff?”

“Emma?” Snow’s voice broke their intense shared look. Blinking, Emma stepped away with apology on her face, and moved toward her mother, glancing upon the brunette, giving her a reassuring smile and mouthing the word ‘later’. With a nod, Regina gestured down, in the direction of their cabin, and saw a small nod in return. She watched Emma join Snow beside the mast, and shaking her head, she went down.

“I am sorry, I didn’t mean to interrupt.” Snow took Emma’s hands into her own and held them close.

“You didn’t, or at least, it was good you did. She asked me why I attacked Gold…”

“You haven’t told her? Emma…” Snow leaned her head to the right, her disapproval apparent.

“How can I?” Emma took back her hands and shrugged. “How does someone even do that? Hasn’t she suffered enough?” The blonde woman closed her eyes. Taking a deep breath, she looked at her mother. “What is that you wanted?” Emma asked, tiredly.

“I just wanted to know how you were. I mean, this must be a really awesome ride…” Snow spoke, trying to use levity to delay Emma’s tendency to close off at pointing out that she was not used to certain conditions.

“I will be glad when it is over, that is for sure…” Emma looked at Snow and smiled gently, placing her hand onto the pixie haired woman’s shoulder, squeezing it lightly in a gesture of appreciation. The soft caress of her mother’s hand on her face told her Snow knew why Emma was hesitant to speak with Regina, and accepting it, in a way only a good parent could – with caution. Seeing the concerned but warm look in her mother’s eyes, she nodded. “I’ll go now.”

“You need to tell her,” Snow said to her back.

“I know.”

She did know. And she planned to. Only she didn’t know how. Or when. Every time she would start something else would happen and she would forget or decide not to. And if she prolonged the silence any longer, when Regina found out, and she would, the trust that had been built between them would crumble into dust, leaving them in a worse place than before. Emma did not want to lose the connection they had, whatever it was. So, with a decisive sigh, she strode in the corridor before the Captain’s cabin, her stride heard over the creaking of the ship in the restless sea. Entering their room, she saw Regina pacing in the small space.

At the sound of the door, Regina whirled to the newcomer and came closer, worrying her hands. “You are keeping something from me,” she said quietly, the shaking of her voice showing her anger. “Again.” The simple word, uttered in that resigned tone, broke Emma’s heart. She walked to the pallet, dropping onto it, taking the sword and other weapons off. Leaning her elbows onto her knees, she lowered her head onto her palms.

“Yes.” Emma said after a moment of tense silence, while Regina watched her. Seeing the brunette’s shoulders slump, Emma continued, trying to prevent the catastrophe that was about to happen.

“I see.” The coldness in Regina’s voice caused Emma’s insides to drop in despair. “I suggest you find another place to spend your time in, then Miss Swan. If I cannot be trusted, then perhaps you shouldn’t be here.”

“Regina, no.” Emma spoke, rising off the mattress, ignoring the sea sickness that had suddenly sprang up on her. “I do not keep this because I don’t trust you.” Seeing Regina scoff, she walked to the other woman and stood in front of her, exposed. “I do trust you. I just don’t know how to tell you.” Emma whispered, searching Regina’s eyes, but the older woman crossed her arms, and avoided looking in her direction. The blonde woman raised her hand carefully and placed it on one of the Regina’s crossed forearms, feeling the electricity running off her skin. Ignoring the tings of pain, and the rising sickness, she endured Regina’s silent anger. After several minutes of quiet, Emma spoke again. “I haven’t known for long, only a day. And every time I get around to telling you, I chicken out because…” Shaking her head at her inability to speak, Emma covered her eyes with her other hand. “I don’t want to hurt you.” She mumbled and stumbled away from Regina, touching the wall of the cabin, to steady herself.

And there was the crux of the problem. She did not want to be the bearer of bad news, and she did not want to hurt Regina. But she had gotten herself in the situation where any way she’d chosen would end in hurting the woman she had come to care about, a great deal she might even say in the darkness and solitude of her mind. Leaning sideways against the wall, she took a deep breath, trying to quell the rolling stomach. She could feel the clamminess of her skin, and her condition got worse with every lurch of the ship. Emma didn’t know why she reacted so strongly to the not yet rough waters, when she had never had motion sickness, not even when pregnant with Henry. Feeling Regina’s questioning gaze on her back, she managed to lean back onto the wall and turn to the woman standing in the middle of the small room, still locked in protective self-embrace.

“I have learned something that has the power to destroy everything, and I don’t want to lose…” Emma spoke, breaking off when another bout of queasiness came. Stubbornly avoiding stopping the conversation from happening, she pushed through, even after the drops of sweat appeared on her face. “I didn’t want to lose this we have built.” The blonde woman pushed the hair of her face, frowning at the drenched tresses around her forehead. “Here you are, probably incredibly pissed for it seems I am going behind your back with something, again as you said, and the irony is – there is no one I trust more, or that I would like to hurt less. And, this thing in my head is making everything you have done, and everything that had been done to you makes sense in a peculiar way, so it could help you in dealing with your past. But, I have no courage to stand here before you and tell you, knowing it could change everything…” At the end of her sentence, Emma’s voice grew weak and she felt her legs tremble, unable to bear much of her weight.

Regina frowned at the obvious paleness of the woman in front of her. Feeling her anger and other turbulent emotions subside, she sensed the growing worry at Emma’s countenance. Coming closer, she saw the wetness on her skin and the slight greenish pallor and it did nothing to assuage her concerns. Just at the moment she came even closer, Emma had lost her fight with gravity, and slid down the wall. “Emma?” Regina rushed to the woman sitting on the floor with her hand over her mouth, fighting with what seemed to be bouts of sea sickness. Summoning a bucket, Regina sidled down next to Emma; just in time to hold her while the Savior threw up the contents of her stomach.

After the heaving stopped, Regina led the suffering woman’s head onto her lap, gently pushing the blond hair out of her face. With a motherly experience, she softly passed her hand over Emma’s back, feeling the woman’s breathing slow down.

“I don’t know why this is affecting me so much…” Emma whispered, unable to speak louder as the acid roughened her throat. “I’ve been on rides much tougher than this…”

“I think it’s the combination with you exerting yourself, along with the fear of the unknown situation, coupled with the rough sea,” Regina spoke, just as softly, looking down onto the still pale face, turned toward her belly, leaning onto her thigh. “Can you tell me?” she said, still keeping the motion of her hand on Emma’s back. When Emma hesitated, Regina lifted her eyebrow in question, feeling her stomach drop. “Is it really that bad?”

“Yeah,” Emma breathed out, looking up at the concerned brown eyes.

“It has something to do with either Hook or Gold, and I would bet on that old devil.” Regina spoke, looking down carefully, searching for the indication from Emma’s expression. But, the reaction to Gold’s name surprised even Regina. Emma’s face had contorted into an ugly scowl and her eyes glimmered white for a second, before she managed to relax and even out her visage. But that moment of lost control was enough for Regina to come to the right conclusion. “So, it was Gold. What did he do? What did he say to you?”

Emma tried to lift herself, but the firm arms kept her down. Giving up the fight, she took one of the hands holding her captive and encased it in both of hers. “He had done too much to even put in words.” Her soft whisper drew Regina in, focusing on the still clammy hands on her own, and the face of the suffering woman. “I need you to promise me you won’t go after him, or interrogate him.” Losing her breath, Emma grew greenish again, but refused to move before Regina gave a terse nod acquiescing to the demand. “Promise me.”

“I promise.” Regina spoke, and helped Emma to the bucket, deciding that it was wiser to wait for Emma to tell her anyways, then to risk herself being exposed to the imp, at his mercy. After another bout of violent retching, Emma slumped on the floor, exhausted, unable to move. The brunette sighed at the sight and transported the debilitated woman onto the pallet, joining her right after, enveloping her into her arms. Smiling at the weak snuggle of the younger woman, Regina held her close. “I think magic makes you worse at the time being…”

“I know.” Emma moved her mouth away from Regina’s shoulder in order to be heard clearly. “It ran away from me several times today, every time when I felt angry.”

“Not only angry. Emma you healed us both without even thinking about it. And when I startled you, the air around you was thick with your energy.” Regina placed her hand onto Emma’s shoulder, leaning her chin onto the blonde’s head. “You blocked Gold completely today. I had never seen anyone be able to do even for a second, and you did it the whole time he was near you.”

Emma shrugged one shoulder, closing her eyes, feeling her body relax in the warm embrace. “I didn’t want him to strike back,” she murmured, sensing a gentle tingling of the magic coursing off Regina straight into her, feeding her overburdened reserves. It lasted only seconds, but it was enough for sickness to subside and for her to feel generally better. “Thanks.” Her soft whisper made Regina turn her onto her back, lifting herself a bit, looking into Emma’s eyes, concerned. “What?” Emma asked, her eyes slowly closing.

“I shouldn’t be able to do that.” Regina touched Emma’s cheek, feeling the warmth come back. “How do you feel?”

“Better.” Emma breathed out, sluggishly opening her eyes, searching for the reason for Regina's worry. “Sleepy…”

“Your body accepts my magic. That is impossible!” Regina pushed herself off the bed and started pacing the room, ignoring Emma’s groan at the loss of warmth. “It is one thing to accept healing with dark magic, or to heal and supply a witch, but to accept it…” Regina looked toward Emma with fear in her eyes, her voice showing the strain she was under. “Do you even know what it could mean?”

Emma managed to lift herself onto her elbow, looking at Regina, trying to stay awake long enough to reassure the woman who was going out of her mind. As one who had run from relationships and emotional intimacy, she understood the crisis Regina had. Of course she knew, at least in broad strokes, what it could mean. She had made Blue tell her about magic and its properties. The lecture about mingling black and white magic was ringing loud and clear in her mind, even now.

_ “You, as a being created with the most powerful magic in the world, True Love, are the white magic embodiment. You need to be careful, because dark and white magic have unfortunate consequences when mixed, as the types are like poisons to their counterparts.” The mother superior stopped at her explanation and came to Emma, who had sat in the guest chair in the mother’s office at the convent .They had spent the past hour talking about various magic beings and their abilities in order to help Emma get used to her own powers. However the topic somehow took this turn, after Emma had asked about Gold and his magic. “Dark and white are only used together when the price of not doing so is too high and the casters are willing to die for the spell. And then it could be considered as the most good, because it is usually used in defense and protection spells on very wide scales.” _

_ “But, when used in any other circumstances?” Emma asked, interested with the tidbits of magic. _

_ “It is like you took something vile… Your body would reject it, violently and make you pay for even attempting such a thing. That is why the mixture is only used in very dire situations. But you should not concern yourself with it. The only dark magic users here are Mister Gold and Regina, and I don’t think you will be mixing your magic with theirs any time soon.” Blue placed her hands onto her belly and leaned against her table. “There is only one circumstance when your body would accept the dark magic, but it would be almost impossible to happen.” Blue spoke with a frown, but she shook away her thoughts. _

_ “What?” Emma asked, intrigued. _

_ “To be connected to the dark practitioner in a most powerful way.” Deliberately vague, but at the same time clear, the mother superior gave the blonde Savior the answer she needed. _

_ “You mean…?” And indeed Emma had grasped the meaning hidden beneath the ambiguous statement. _

_ “It does not matter. The odds of you finding a dark practitioner are improbable at best. To connect with them – are even less… There is no need to worry about it now.” _

But, the improbable, or better said unthinkable had happened. The magic was proof enough, but if it wasn’t, one only had to see them talking, or practicing and see the connection between them that was so obvious. However, one should ever tread lightly around frightened and surprised Regina.

“What?” Emma mumbled, on purpose making herself seem sleepier than she really was.

Regina turned to the woman wobbling in the air, leaning on her elbow. All in all, Emma seemed very cute trying to fight her exhaustion to talk with her. The soft smile turned into a frown.  _ Cute? Have I really just thought that? _ Regina shook her head and focused onto the blonde. “If you can accept my magic - that means that-”

“We are connected. I know, Blue mentioned something about it…” Emma interrupted, sounding pleased with herself at knowing something about magic. In reality, she scrutinized Regina’s face through her half lidded eyes, searching for the tells of emotions and thoughts she had learned about her Majesty.

“Of course she would, that little meddling know-it-all. What did she say?” Regina asked, interested to know what exactly Emma was thinking this would mean. At one hand, it was good to know she was given another chance, no matter who the bearer of that news was. But, on the other hand, she felt like she had betrayed Daniel, even only entertaining the thought of being with Emma. Had he ever been her True Love? All the things she had done in his name… Nevertheless, at the thought of her betraying him, she saw his last moments, telling her to love again.

“That when the opposing magic users could use their magic to aid each other without consequences - that they were connected on a deeper level that two ordinary people would have been…” Emma spoke, lowering her head onto the pillow, closing her eyes. The pallet moved under the other woman’s weight and Emma felt herself being moved and embraced. Humming softly in approval, she kept her eyes closed, listening carefully for Regina’s next words.

“You need to rest.” Regina said softly, pulling the woman onto her shoulder, her actions shown in different light. It had been affection all along, Regina realized.

“You’re changing the subject,” Emma mumbled into Regina’s neck.

“You cannot keep up with the subject.” Regina’s retort made the younger woman chuckle before her breathing evened out, signaling her sleep.

Regina caressed the soft hair under her fingers, smiling at the revelation. If it happened, Emma would be the perfect choice for her True Love. The candor and protectiveness the blonde had for the Evil Queen, even though they had been enemies in the past, only served to show that Emma indeed had Regina’s interest in her heart.

_ I see the real Regina beneath all the façades presented to the world. _

No one had seen her before. Not the real her, hidden beneath all the layers. Not Snow, not her mother. Not even her father, the man she had shown herself most to.

* * *

A sudden violent lurch of the ship awakened the slumbering Savior, almost throwing her on the floor. Emma sat up, gripping the edge of the mattress to steady herself, and looked around. Regina had left sometime before, but not too long before for her side was still somewhat warm. Doing an internal check, she noticed that her nausea and weakness were gone, and that she felt good again. With a satisfied smirk, she remembered the storm and decided to see how she could help.

She walked out, immediately regretting her decision to leave the warm and dry bed. The rain drenched her instantly, as the tall waves were throwing Jolly Roger around in the sea, making it hard for Emma to cross to her parents, who she had seen in the moments of the lightning tearing the darkness surrounding them.

Gripping the arms closest to her, Emma saw that her parents were trying to secure the ropes that eased the movement across the deck. “Do you need help?” Emma asked, needing to yell to be heard over the torrent of rain, screaming of the wind and creaking of the ship. Seeing Snow wave her head, she leaned in. “Where are the others?”

“Regina and Hook are trying to steer, and Gold is at the front, helping us avoid the worst of the storm.” David spoke, tying a rope around Emma’s waist and attaching it to one of the lines. Before she could complain about the measure, a tall wave crashed over the railing, sending them sprawling on the deck. Emma hugged David in gratitude and gestured toward the helm. Leaving them to go back to their assignment, Emma fought the water to get to the Captain and the brunette.

Seeing them after another lightning, Emma grabbed the wood next to the steering wheel, hearing the remnants of the argument. “This is not the regular storm!” Regina yelled over the wind. When she noticed the blonde standing next to her, she just took her hand.

“I can’t do anything about it!” Hook yelled back, holding the wheel, glancing upon the women. But, he agreed, this wasn’t just a sea storm. Half an hour before, the wind had changed direction, pushing them back from where they had come. That in itself would not be weird, just unfortunate, if the waves did not try to do the same, moving against the wind. And the rain had been falling straight down, no matter the wind, filling the ship with water in the quickest way. If Rumplestiltskin hadn’t been in the front, they would have been already flooded and in serious danger of sinking hard. Whatever he had done, the crocodile had kept Jolly Roger afloat and mostly dry inside. But even the magic of the Dark One could run out, and this storm gave no indication of abating.

Emma squeezed Regina’s hand in silent question, getting closer to the other woman in order to hear her. “Someone is controlling the storm.” Regina, having leaned into Emma’s shoulder, to reach her ear, saw the woman shudder with sudden warmth of her breath. Pulling back a bit, she found the green eyes frowning in understanding. “I am going to Gold to see if we can do something.” Regina let go of Emma’s hand, pausing when the other woman grabbed her upper arm. Looking back into the worried eyes, she received the message clearly – be careful. Emma released her after the nod Regina directed at her.

Emma remained by Hook’s side, ready to help him if it was needed. In the meanwhile, she watched Snow and David fix the lines and run around the deck, checking the ropes and security measures, redoing them if they were lacking. They looked like they knew what they were doing, and at that moment, Emma felt such jealousy and pettiness at the inability to help them because she didn’t know how.  _ Some Savior _ , she thought reproachfully.

Regina had come to Rumplestiltskin, and they seemed to be trying to do something, but by Regina’s body position it had not worked. Again and again, they huddled together, talking, and after every conversation they would manage a thing or two, before giving up.

The gale was raging on the ship, trying to tear it apart. Emma snorted at the random thought in her head. It was probably what it was doing, with real intention of tearing it into bits and pieces. The waves, much taller than the ship’s deck, crushed onto it, battering them with constant force, pushing the unsecured or poorly secured things off the ship. And, the heavy rain pounded onto them, pushing them down, making them fight to stay upright. The lightning gave them the only light, only in fractions of a second, giving them only pictures in time, as the lanterns had been ripped out by the howling wind.

A hand landed on her shoulder, drawing her attention to the man beside her. Hook held the helm’s wheel with his hook, while the other one was on her, seeking her response. After he saw Emma looking at him, he gestured toward the main mast, and the loose bit of the sail, flapping in the wind. The Savior understood the danger, even though she did not know a thing about medieval ships. The sail could be ripped out by the wind, leaving them without a way to use the winds effectively, practically lying dead in the water, because the smaller sails could not be used to propel the ship of this size.

Even though the sail was right above Snow, Emma knew that the overwhelming noise of the rain and wind covered the sound of it fluttering, and nothing could be seen in the darkness unless one looked for it and waited patiently for the next lightning strike. Understanding that she was to go to Snow to tell her about it, she took the line toward the mast and set off on her trek, hoping she would manage to reach her mother before substantial damage was made.

But as she came to the half way, several things happened in rapid succession, making it almost impossible for Emma to say what actually came first. It was like in the books and films, when people would scoff at the improbability of the Fates being that angry with someone. A huge wave lifted the ship, leaning it onto one side so the deck was almost upright to the tempestuous waters, sending everyone off their feet and hurtling toward the lower railing, their only hope the lines that held them attached to the ship. A lightning hit the mast, almost splitting it in two, the loud crack reverberating throughout the ship, making Emma wince in pain from her ears, as she was the closest to it. Another wave leveled the ship, sending everyone in the other direction, but the line holding David could not endure that much strain anymore and with finality it snapped, sending Emma’s father across the deck.

The scream pierced the noise in the air and Emma recognized David’s name shouted by Snow, whipping her head toward her parents, just in time to see the man hurtled onto the railing and then into the sea. Luckily, he grabbed the railing, holding on as much as he could, fighting the waves and the gushing water running over him. At the same moment, the mast moved, creaking under pressure the storm had put on it, the splintered wood held together with many ropes going around its width. But it wouldn’t hold for much longer as already the lines were frayed with constant strain, Emma had seen and the way it would crush down would kill Gold and Regina instantly, or send them into the deadly waters.

For Emma, it was the moment when time stood still and something snapped inside of her. Kneeling on the deck she closed her eyes and felt the tide rise inside and rush out in the wave most powerful she had ever felt. All the emotions she felt at that second got funneled into one focal point – all the anger, fear, hope, despair, worry, stubbornness, rage, and above all love, making Emma feel her skin ignite with magic. Letting go of her control, she spread her arms rising to her feet and sent out a pulse of bright white light outward, growing in its size until it encompassed the entire ship and the air around it. She opened her eyes and sent another pulse, this one mending things in its way, and securing the people she cared about to the ship. Looking up toward the sky, Emma’s eyes shone, the lights piercing the heavy clouds.

Regina froze when she felt the familiar magic in the air. Turning to see what Emma was doing she noticed the impending doom that awaited them. David was hanging off the railing, already losing his battle, and the mast was hurtling toward her and Gold. But nothing happened. The mast stood immobilized in air, just a meter above their heads, while David found himself on the inner side of the railing. Regina looked at Emma and saw the Savior gripped in the magic, shining in the darkness like a beacon of goodness she had been, and fighting the storm with her power. Another pulse reached Regina and she saw the wood restore itself in the proper place, as if it was never severed by the lightning strike.

But then she saw Emma’s glow increase and gripped with fear she tried to reach the blonde woman, before she killed herself with such a show. Even doing what she had done should be enough to kill her twice over, but Emma stood strong, still sending out the light into the darkness. But before she could grasp the Savior, Rumplestiltskin held her back with fear on his face.

“Don’t touch her!” he yelled in the abating storm. “She will suck you dead!” He warned, when she pushed him away. Of course, she knew the dangers of touching another person when in the state overwhelmed by magic, but she had to try to stop Emma from killing herself. Ignoring his attempts to seize her again, she reached for the shoulders in front of her, looking into Emma’s radiant face.

She had expected pain. She had expected suffering and Emma defending against the intrusion. But what she found was nothing like she had expected. The warmth suffused her, and she felt the safety surrounding her, as if they weren’t in the middle of the deadly storm, fighting for their lives. She looked into Emma’s bluish white eyes and saw her purple ones reflect in them when Emma looked down at her with a gentle pleased smile on her face. After a moment of seeing herself in the Savior’s eyes, she felt herself sinking into them.

The memories rushed by, so intertwined that it was impossible to see whose they were. Emma saw things she had experienced and some that she hadn’t, knowing deep inside that she was witnessing Regina’s past with her own eyes. She had no doubt that Regina was seeing hers and instead of fear and anger from forced divulging the past secrets, she felt acceptance and love fill her for Regina, finally finding a way to share herself with the brunette, without forcing herself to speak.

Regina saw the past several days from the blonde woman’s point of view and the grim understanding of Emma’s fears made way to the warmth she always associated with the Savior. Also, every memory that Emma had, Regina could see in the fast forward, each second bringing with itself another year of the Savior’s life.

Regina understood what had happened. Ordinarily, she would be killed with such amount of white magic pulsing around her, but the magic itself recognized her and pulled in, into the safety of the Savior’s shields. But, such an act had a price, she was open and vulnerable, just as Emma had been, and they shared everything because at that moment they indeed were one. She could feel Emma agreeing to her conclusion, and she smiled at the strange sensation of feeling another one’s emotions. However, she could also feel the exhaustion that threatened Emma and deciding to gently break the connection, Regina led them out of their shared space.

Blinking, Regina saw the green eyes look back at her in the light of the setting Sun. Surprised by the sudden light, Regina looked away and saw that the storm had disappeared, and in its place was a beautiful Sunset over the water. The ship looked worse for wear, but most of the critical damage had been repaired by Emma’s magic. Everyone was present and accounted for, David holding Snow to his chest, looking at them with awe on his face, close enough to touch them if he reached out. Snow was peaking under David’s chin, with worry focusing on Emma. She had known that her daughter was supposed to be dead with that much energy used. Gold stood by their side, his eyes still wide in disbelief, seeing them both still standing. Hook was steering the ship, nodding in acknowledgement and gratitude when he saw Regina looking at him.

Looking back at Emma, she let her smile grow. “You did it,” she whispered, still having her hands on the blonde woman’s shoulders. She felt Emma’s gaze caress her face, but the Savior did not move. “Emma?”

Her concerned tone brought Snow and David right at her side; they both touched their daughter, in hope to get her to move. But as soon as David touched her back, Emma’s knees buckled and her eyes rolled into her skull, and if her father had not caught her in time, she would have fallen onto the deck.

“Emma? Emma, answer me.” Snow’s shrill voice made Regina shake her head and kneel beside the prone woman, held in David’s arms. “Regina, what is happening?” Snow turned to her former stepmother, in alarm. David turned his head to her as well, his eyes asking too.

The brunette checked the unconscious woman and smiled at the relaxed look Emma sported in David’s hold. According to her exam, the Savior had only passed out, unused to the amount of magic passing through her. She had not been under duress for using too much of her magic too soon, as she had guessed when in the shields. Emma was perfectly fine, just her body needed time to adjust to the events, and it needed to do it in the peace and quiet of the unconscious mind. The gentle smile spread onto Regina’s face, making Snow and David breathe out in relief. “She is fine,” Regina whispered, looking up at Snow, her face alit with pride and affection.

Snow sobbed out in reprieve and hugged the older woman, surprising Regina with such a move. Snow had not hugged her for more than thirty five years, and the familiar feel of the arms around her brought Regina to tears, albeit happy ones. The tears fell down stronger when she felt David’s hand on her back, soothing her. However, still unused to such open displays of emotions, especially in the present company, Regina collected herself rather quickly and moved away, wiping her eyes.

“Can you bring her down?” she asked David, after she gathered herself. Her only answer was David’s nod, before he rose slowly, gently cradling his daughter in his arms. Rearranging her to settle down in his arms more easily, David softly stepped toward the hatch to the below deck. Regina watched after him, smiling at the blonde hair fluttering in the gentle wind of his shoulder.

An arm encircled hers, and she felt herself pulled after David. Turning to her side, she saw Snow smiling after her husband as well, leading them below. “She is special, isn’t she?” Snow whispered, with awe in her eyes. She looked into Regina’s soft brown ones and nodded at the unspoken confirmation. “I always knew she would be magnificent, but this was beyond my wildest dreams.”

“She is the Savior,” Regina spoke, her voice breaking with uncertainty of the goal of this conversation.

“Only for the people she loves.” Snow squeezed Regina’s arm and stopped them just as they reached the corridor toward the captain’s cabin. “She moved to save us only when she saw that you were in danger.” The direct way Snow spoke made Regina understand perfectly what she was talking about. Regina was the one Emma saved, and the others were only the happy collaterals.

“I never wanted her to do that. Especially not at the price she could have paid.” Regina spoke, hoping Snow would believe her, because it was the truth. But, taught by her experience, this was the moment when she would be accused of using sorcery on the Savior to influence her. But her fear was stopped at once when another hand touched her, this time on her face, the tender stroking pulling her out of her mind.

“I know.” Snow spoke with certainty. “You are good for her.”

With that, Snow left her, going after her husband and her daughter, leaving the stunned brunette standing in the hallway. After several moments, Regina felt her shock replaced slowly with affection toward Snow. It brought another smile, making Regina chuckle in release of the tense emotions of the day, shaking her head at the unexpected conversation.

When she entered the room, she saw that David had found his sword in the opened duffel and the spare clips for the guns he had hanging of his shoulders. “I will take these,” he spoke quietly, placing his free hand onto Regina’s shoulder and kissing her forehead in a fatherly fashion. Snow followed, after she had kissed Emma on her forehead, and placed her hand into Regina’s searching her surprised and unshielded eyes.

“Take care of her,” Snow spoke and with a gentle squeeze of her hand, she left the room, closing the door behind them.

Regina lowered herself onto the bed, watching the wondrous woman lying beside her in a peaceful manner. Lying down onto her side, she saw Emma frown in her sleep. Murmuring her name, Emma moved her hands, like she was searching for the woman beside her. Regina took one of the wandering hands, and leaned into Emma’s space. “I am here.” She kissed the cheek below her lips, and smiled at the pleased murmur escaping Emma’s mouth with a gentle sigh. “I am here,” she said again, lowering her head onto Emma’s shoulder, preparing herself to stand vigil over the blonde once more, but not being bothered by the task. In fact, she enjoyed it immensely.

* * *

The dark seeped into the room, when no one had remembered to light up a lantern. But it did not matter, for one of the occupants of the room was sleeping deeply, and the other had spent her time thinking over the things she had learned by the process somewhat similar to the ‘mind meld’ of the Star Trek.

It had been hours since the storm had passed, and she had no doubt that Hook would reach the island soon, under the cover of darkness. She, also, had no doubt that it would take another three to four hours to guide the ship into its hiding place under the veil of night, going slow to keep the sounds down. Just enough for everyone to rest for the rescue part of their mission as her son would call it.

The truth she had heard reverberating in the Savior’s mind during the meshing of the magic made her angry. All the things she had learned had hit her, and she understood Emma’s desire to protect her from the further pain, no matter how futile it had been. She did feel pain, accompanied with anger, hatred, and devastation, followed by understanding, acceptance and finally affection toward the people who had offered themselves to her, to help her ease the pain of her past. It did not bother her that Snow knew what she did, although she would have expected to be irritated, at least with such intrusion. It didn’t even bother her that Snow seemed to accept her as an inevitable and important part of Emma’s life, therefore her own. And the looks she had received in the past days reminded the former queen of a young girl, affectionate and loving toward her step mother. And, if she were honest with herself, she did miss the child she had known before her marriage to the king. Emma had been right, as usual, Regina thought, with a slight sarcastic bite to her mind’s voice.

The knowledge that she never had a chance, that she had been always fated to be the Evil Queen, by orchestrations of her own father. That thought made her sick inside. He had conceived her for the sole purpose of reaching his son, as if she had been just another tool he used in his search, ignoring the lives destroyed in the process. But, Emma’s thoughts that accompanied that knowledge did enough to assuage her guilt and ire.  _ You are so much more than what he imagined of you. A much better, loving and brave person. _ It was only the thought of Emma’s support that stopped her from demanding explanations from Gold. Although, she knew, deep down, that Emma had given them, and that it had been all she had been to the Dark One. Just another means to an end.

It burned, however. Deep inside, the knowledge of her past hurt more than she would ever admit. The man she had considered her father was nothing to her, biologically at least. She would always regard him as the only father she had. Had he known? Had Cora used that knowledge to keep him somehow in line? Perhaps it had been the reason why he had never stood up to her on Regina's behalf. Not directly, anyways.

A soft knock interrupted her thoughts and she used her magic to open the door, loath to speak, not wanting to wake the woman next to her. A soft glow of the light in the hallway outlined the familiar silhouette of her former stepdaughter carrying something in her hands. Gesturing to Snow to keep quiet, Regina lifted herself gently, leaning onto the wall, softened by the pillow she placed beneath her back. The pixie haired woman walked in slowly, and placed the tray she had been carrying onto the small night table beside Regina’s side of the mattress. Lowering herself beside Regina’s free side, Snow sat onto the edge of the pallet, looking at her sleeping daughter.

The peaceful face Emma sported brought a soft smile on Snow’s face, and she glanced up to see Regina smile as well at the Savior’s sleeping expression. Feeling her smile grow, Snow took the free Regina’s hand, that was resting on her lap, noticing that the other one was held in one of Emma’s, close to her chest. Regina looked at her former stepdaughter with a question on her face. However, Snow did not answer, only squeezed the hand in hers in a gentle manner, before she rose and turned to leave. But the grip firmed on her hand.

“I am sorry,” Regina spoke softly, her murmur barely heard in the silence of the room. There was no need to specify why Regina was sorry, for Snow understood perfectly.

“I am, too.” The soft whisper brought a nod out of the reclining woman, but Snow was not finished. Having sat back in her place, the younger woman brought their linked hands to her chest in comfort. “For everything. And I hope we could move on, for them.” Pixie haired woman glanced toward her sleeping daughter. She felt her hand squeezed in response, and she looked back into the face that had often marred her dreams, now seen in a different light. With a gentle smile, she tapped their linked hands with the other one, and let go, rising up once again. With another look at the women on the pallet, Snow left the room.

“I am glad you called a truce with her,” Emma murmured, not opening her eyes, drawing Regina to herself in surprise.

“You heard that?” Regina asked, not really surprised by Emma’s statement, more with her sudden break of the silence. She took the plate and nudged Emma to rise up, in order to eat. The blonde woman groaned but lifted herself, settling beside Regina, also leaning onto the wall. Taking the offered plate, she dug in, aware that she hadn’t eaten in a while.

Regina followed her example, but not having a real appetite she only nibbled on the food, watching Emma in the darkness of the room, with only light coming from the open door.

After the hunger was sated, and having Emma eat both of their plates, Regina lit the lantern closest to her, bringing a weak light into the room, making the shadows stand out even more. Emma watched her carefully, aware that something was going to be brought up, and with their experience of several hours before, she had no doubt, what that something would be.

“We need to talk,” Regina started, worrying her hands before placing them in her lap. Emma placed one of hers over them and turned slightly toward the other woman, giving her full attention. “I understand why you kept the truth about me and Rumplestiltskin from me. Like you said, you did not want to hurt me. And I can accept that. But, there is something else we need to discuss.”

“Can it wait?” Emma interrupted. She saw Regina look at her with a slight frown and she shook her head. “We are going into God knows what and with all the dangers I do not feel comfortable about making some kind of long term plans.” She shrugged at the narrowed look pointed at her face. “I know it is complicated. It is even beyond complicated, but when the things between us aren’t? This new revelation makes it even trickier, but I know deep down that this can work, but only if we both want it.”

“How can you say it so dismissively?” Regina asked, her unresolved anger close to surface.

Emma rose from the mattress and straightened out, placing her hands on her chest. “What do you want me to say? That it is impossible?” Emma said, her voice rising. Emma walked to the door and closed it, leaning on it. “After all that I have been through, I cannot say that anything is impossible.” Going through her hair with her hands, she rubbed her head, calming herself down. “The fact is it is complicated. But, honestly, I have seen relationships that are more complicated in my world. Hell, history is full of them!” She pushed off the door, placing her hands on her hips. “The fact that you are Henry’s aunt, or that you are my step grandmother – they do not trouble me.”

“I am older than you. More than thirty years.” Regina tried to argue, but she knew her argument was weak, as soon proven by the Savior.

“So what? You don’t look it.” At the scowl directed at her, she grinned. “Neal had several hundred years on you.” Emma walked to the bed and took Regina’s hands and pulled the other woman up, right into her arms. “And speaking of ages, here is a fun fact for you. I am older than Snow.” She smiled when Regina whipped her head toward her.

“What?”

“She has been in stasis more time than she had been alive. It is only a matter of months, but still, I am older than my own mother – isn’t that mind boggling?” Emma said, lowering her head in order to catch Regina’s eyes. Her smirk brought out the green in her eyes, seeming almost amber in the light. Her hair, still mused from sleeping, fell down in soft waves. Regina lifted her hands and placed them onto Emma’s shoulders, accepting the hold. “I know we need to talk about too many things, but we don’t have time to get into it now, and it is not worth starting it and then not finishing…”

Regina only nodded, leaning into the other woman’s shoulder, taking the last bit of the open comfort for the night, and very possibly longer. “Let’s get our son.”

“Yeah.” Emma lowered her arms and walked toward the bag that held her things and picked out several dark things, to blend with the darkness. Not bothered with the presence of the other woman, she stripped into her underwear and put the fresh clothes on. But before Emma could put her leather jacket, similar to her favorite red one, only dark, Regina stopped her. She gestured for her to raise her arms up in the air and after Emma had obeyed, she pulled the black chainmail over the blonde head. Fixing the straps, Regina looked at the Savior and smiled. With one wave of her hand, the light in the room increased and a mirror appeared in front of Emma. The blonde woman looked at the reflection and gasped at the handsome sight in it. The black of the chainmail showcased her upper body, making her look sleek and dangerous. It was light and did not restrict movement as much as Emma had guessed. If fact, she could move with it more freely than with the protective vest.

Regina helped her place the belt with her gun, extra clips and a knife over the jacket that covered the mail, and at last the sword at the back. “There, you look good.” Fixing the lapels of the jacket, Regina pushed Emma’s hair out of the collar.

“You don’t have one of these for yourself? I could have used the vest.” Emma fingered the mail that peaked under the jacket, on her hips.

Regina shook her head and stepped away, placing her own sword and daggers on her person. “I will not be in the thick of the fighting, and I know how to avoid danger, unlike you, Miss Swan. Sometimes, I am of the mind that you are quite a danger magnet…” The brunette smiled at the end showing that she was joking, slightly. Placing her hands on her hips, she presented herself to inspection. “How do I look?”

Emma lowered herself before the older woman, kneeling on one knee, while placing one hand on the other. “Ready to fight for our son, Your Majesty,” Emma spoke, and while she was down she placed two daggers in her boots, and tightened the holster of her backup revolver. Taking the offered hand, she rose and crossed her arms on her chest, feeling the mail move across her back, adjusting.

They went up and reached the mast, where everyone else seemed to be in the light of the stars. Emma stood right beside her parents and Regina beside her side, while Hook and Gold were on the other side of Snow and David. The pixie haired woman took Emma’s arm and pulled her closer, reaching out to Regina to do the same, while Hook explained the layout of the island. Emma looked around, half listening to the minutiae of the paths and trails in the vegetation of this place, surveying the cove she saw the ship was in. As she understood, Hook had led the ship here because it was a remote part of the island and hidden from the view, from both land and sea. The trees came up to the water line, and the lagoon went deep into the shore, giving them a bit of an advantage, a clear path to the middle of the island. The sky was filled with stars but there was no moon, giving them another advantage.

Snow squeezed her arm, pulling her back to people around her. Hook outlined the best options but Snow considered them carefully. “Emma and I will go for a look out. I want to see if the path is clear. If everything is ok, we can proceed.” Seeing the nods all around, they both turned to their partners in silent goodbyes. Emma heard Regina’s soft whisper telling her not to use magic until absolutely necessary, and then only on small scales to avoid detection. With that last advice and a gentle pat on her back, she followed Snow over the railing and climbed down the rope ladders leading into a small boat.

Silently they rowed to the mouth of the lagoon and walked on the different shores, looking for traps and alarm systems. After a while when Snow was pleased with progress, she signaled for the return, watching Emma cross the water carefully, avoiding getting wet and making noise. Joining her mother, Emma crouched watching the light of various fires in the distance. Snow gestured to the direction of the ship and the blonde nodded, following her mother’s footsteps.

A soft buzz of an insect assaulted her from the back, and Emma tried to swipe the annoying creature away but the buzz did not get away. If anything it got more persistent. And if Emma was not wrong there was a soft glow of something behind her. But before she could swipe her hand once more it got held back by Snow’s firm grip. The experienced brunette only cupped her hand and the soft buzzing light flew into the protective grasp. At Emma’s raised brows, Snow smirked and gestured to continue their trek to the ship and the encampment that would find them, as everything went as planned. 

As soon as they cleared the forest, Emma saw the rest of the crew looking into their weapons. She saw that David sported one of the Sheriff’s vests, beneath his jeans shirt. As they reached the temporary camp, Regina came to her and looked at Snow holding the flickering light.

“A pixie? Here?”

Emma turned at the question, and glanced carefully at the light in her mother’s hand. “Let me guess, Tinker Bell?” Her exclamation was followed by a rapid buzzing and chirping from the light.

“She says that it is rare for humans to know her name,” Snow answered for the pixie, understanding the small creature. “Especially for humans who cannot understand her.” Emma rolled her eyes at the development and placed her hands on her hips. It was getting out of hand, and Emma could feel her sanity cracking and only Regina’s soothing hand on her back helped her calm down. With another roll of her eyes she looked at her mother.

“The next thing, the mermaids of the lagoon will come out to play…” Emma remarked softly, but not quietly enough. Regina snickered at the comment and Snow frowned as the light in her hand, flickering in and out rapidly.

“She says that they are in a different lagoon, to the north of the island.”

“Easy, Miss Swan.” Regina whispered into Emma’s ear, coming from the back, still having her hand pressed against the blonde woman’s back. “They are not aware that so many of their worlds are familiar to yours, although with several misconceptions.” She could feel Emma’s tenseness leave her body, and with that she turned to Snow who had been watching her carefully, probably because Emma had seemed so agitated before. “What does she want?” Regina asked, directing the question at Snow although she knew that the fairy could understand them perfectly.

After a brief chirping, Snow raised her eyebrows in surprise. “She wants to help us end the great evil.” All the while Snow talked the pixie chirped. “He has many of her people in his cells, using their magic to his own purpose. They wish to be free once more. And she, as their princess, is obligated to report to Peter Pan if new pixies are born. He expects her soon. She was on her way to him when she saw Emma cross the water in the forest. As we seemed as the ones to come for the boy from prophecy, she thought we would accept her help and in return help her people.” Snow finished and released the pixie. But before Emma and Regina could react, to hold her captive, the light turned to the Savior and landed on her shoulder. For the first time, Emma saw a small woman, shaking her insect like wings. The miniature woman turned to the blonde’s face and with flourish curtsied. Emma looked at the small woman and noticed that she was dressed in a tight fitting suit but over it was a small silver rope going around her legs, individually and then up her body and her arms. The long reddish blond hair was plaited and raised in an intricate bun. A top of it was a tiara declaring her position among the fairy folk. Emma inclined her head in return but the frown of mistrust remained on her face.

A soft melody washed over her face as the woman spoke, and Emma heard Snow speak for the woman. “She sees you don’t trust her, and she wishes to tell you that she would do anything to prove herself to you.”

“Can you tell us about their encampment and where they keep their captives?” Emma asked directly, seeing the princess nod vigorously. “Alright, go to Snow and explain everything about it to her. She will ask you many questions. Be prepared to answer them.” With another curtsy the pixie flew off to the designated woman, leaving Emma and Regina alone for a bit, as everyone else gathered around Snow to hear the outlines of the camp.

“Something is bothering you about her.” Regina spoke softly, watching the crowd at the other side of their camp. Then she looked at the blonde woman beside her.

“It is convenient that we stumbled across a guide just as we needed her.” Emma watched the small light prepared to react at a moment’s notice, waiting for the group to relax. “And I cannot see if she is telling the truth because I don’t understand her. Maybe I have turned into a cynic, but things do not go this easily.”

Regina nodded in agreement and she too watched the pixie. The obvious solution was to disregard anything that the pixie told them and to scope out the camp and the fort for themselves, but it would take time, a luxury they did not have. “What do you plan to do about it?”

“You are the tactician. I just push through the obstacles, and I figure here is needed a more subtle approach. So, the question is what your plan is?” Emma said, glancing toward the woman beside her, her frown turning into a smirk when she saw Regina focus on the group in front of them.

“So, we plan this as a trap, right?” Regina asked, her mind already whirling with possible routes. Seeing Emma’s subtle nod, she listened to the outline that Snow translated to the others. Along, she formulated two different plans, one for the entire group, that the pixie would hear and the other one only for the two of them. As soon as Snow was finished, Regina smiled in victory, her smirk a mixture of an Evil Queen’s smirk and the Mayor’s victory grin. Turning to Emma she noticed the woman’s focus had been on her face. Caught staring, Emma felt her cheeks burn but she pushed down the embarrassment, ready to hear Regina’s solution. “Have you heard what Snow said?” When Emma nodded, Regina continued, first outlining her plan, then the revisions. “The plan rests on someone going into the dungeons and finding Henry. The most people knowing us would assume that you would be outside, covering me, because it is more dangerous out there, and you are the Savior. So, instead of me, you go in, while I cover. You get Henry; we switch and proceed as planned.”

“You will be pinned without backup.” Emma spoke, shaking her head. But Regina grabbed her hand.

“You are my back up, and if we are discovered that quickly, it really doesn’t matter, does it?” Regina raised her other hand to place it on Emma’s shoulder. “Henry is our first priority.” The soft reminder, whispered with a firm voice - that their lives were second to the life of their son made Emma reconsider the plan and reluctantly agree. “Good. Now we have to inform the others of it.”

While the plan was explained to the others, depicting each person’s post and assignment, Regina worked out a few bits of their own plan, setting the contingency strategies. Updating Emma before they moved out, they were all set. Hook would stay near the ship, protecting their own way of escape, while the others would be involved in the action. Emma smirked when she saw the captain’s pleased expression when he had heard that he wouldn’t be involved in the fighting directly. But, she did not deny him his escape from the thick of the danger. He was not Henry’s family, and that he had brought them this far was enough in Emma’s opinion. He did not need to prove himself to her, and honestly if he joined, she would worry about him betraying them once more to the enemy.

With the last preparations they set out. Snow in the front, Emma and Regina behind her, followed by David and Gold bringing up the rear. With the pixie’s guidance, they traversed the forest quicker than they had expected, reaching the path to the caves before midnight. Having learned that the caves had two exit points, Emma directed Snow to go above the mouth of the cave and stand guard from that side. David and Gold continued on to the encampment at the shore, keeping the watch from that side. Regina followed Emma in, having given Snow some directions on the pixie. The two of them reached another mouth inside and with a simple hand squeeze they parted ways.

After several minutes of walking in the dark, seeing what she was looking for, Emma dashed toward the secured door, and knelt down, reaching for her burglary tools from her belt. Listening carefully to the silence, she picked the lock. Slowly opening the door, Emma peaked inside seeing another door. The wooden door with small bars placed at the head level proved to be harder for her to open, but after several minutes of trying she managed to unlock it.

Opening the door, her hand poised over her gun, ready for anything, Emma searched the room with her eyes, not bringing the light into the small cell. After several moments when her eyes got used to the darkness, she saw a small pallet and a body covered with a rag. Recognizing her son, she walked softly to the bed, and knelt beside the boy, gently waking him up.

“Henry!” Emma breathed out, pleased to find him unharmed. He blinked his eyes open and stared at the familiar eyes looking down at him, glinting in the weak light from the door. For a moment he lay frozen, not believing that she was finally there, but as she moved to get him up he jumped into her arms, slamming into her body, holding her in a vice-like grip.

“Mom!” he gushed out, aware that he needed to be quiet. Then the sound of a gun fire pierced the air, startling them both.

“That’s David. We must hurry.” Emma turned to take Henry out before too many men gathered outside. But, she considered that she was bringing a child into a fight zone and she turned back to the boy, looking at him. Making a quick decision, she took off her belt and her sword, unzipping her jacket. Quickly stripping the chain mail, she motioned to the boy to follow her lead and take off his things. “Just the shirt, this thing might chafe if on skin.” Pulling the mail on his shoulders, Emma tightened the straps to fit the boy’s body. Stuffing the showing part of the mail into his pants to keep it out of sight, she helped him button his shirt and jacket over it.

“Emma? Is mo… I mean, is Regina here?” Henry asked before they left the cell. Emma looked at him and smiled with softness, pleased that he asked about her.

“You can call her mom Henry. That is what she is.” She took out one of her daggers from her booth and gave it to Henry, just in case something goes wrong. “She is just up ahead. Now, listen to me.” She knelt before him, placing her weapons back on her person, after she put the jacket on. “We are all here, Snow, David, Regina and Gold. But, that is not important. Whatever happens, you are to go to the forest, to the lagoon. You know how to discern the sides, right? East, West and such?”

“Yeah, I am not an idiot!” Henry spoke, but as soon as he had said the words, he wanted to take them back.

“I know you are really smart. So, you go west, and you will reach a small lagoon. Follow the water, and you will go to Jolly Roger.” Emma rose and took his hand. “No matter what, you are to go to Hook, do you understand me?” Her voice brook no doubt her orders were to be followed. Henry nodded, his fear growing.

“Now stay close.” Emma walked out the door, looking around for the enemy, pleased to find none. Taking out her gun from the hip, she cleared every corner before gesturing to Henry to follow her. They moved slowly, not rushing into the danger ahead. When they reached the fork Emma had passed before and split with Regina, she noticed the cave in further in the way. Their path out was blocked from that side, and the only way was to go through the caves and the fort, as the fairy had called it. Becoming worried for the other woman, Emma hastened her pace, eager to leave this place. Henry trudged behind her, barely catching up with her.

A minute later they almost stumbled over a body lying in the dirt, half hidden by the dark in the cave corridor. Emma searched for a pulse, but a voice interrupted her. “He’s alive. I just knocked him out.” Sighing in relief, Emma turned to the woman, sitting in the dark, standing guard.

“Mom!” Henry spoke, reaching the older woman and hugging her firmly. Regina took his face into her hands and wiped away his tears, before kissing him on the nose and forehead. Pressing his head to her chest she took a deep breath, like she could finally breathe with ease, now that her boy was found.

She looked over his ruffled hair to the blonde woman standing on guard, her body tensed to defend at a moment’s notice. The protector. The Savior. Regina rose and placed a hand on the other woman’s shoulder in silent communication. Emma just leaned her head toward the hand, before they wordlessly turned to the tunnel leading to the way out. Henry watched his mothers communicate in this way, and his surprised frown was quickly turned into a pleased smirk. Staying close to Regina, he watched Emma assume the lead.

Quickly, they reached the door that Henry had passed through not so long before. With a soft whisper he explained the layout of what he had seen to Emma and Regina, while the younger woman was picking the lock. Emma opened the door and walked in first, taking out her sword along with her gun.

The first man attacked before she even had cleared the door. Yelling in alarm, he waved with his weird looking mace and jumped at Emma. She managed to push him away, before slicing his weapon in two and away from his hands. Not discouraged in the slightest, he brought his hands up, trying to reach her neck. With another swish of the sword, he fell down, his legs slashed. But before Emma could think about his wounds, another one jumped out followed by many more. One by one, she fought them off, trying to slow them down with her pistol before they reached her. Even then, she was loath to take a human life, so she aimed for the wound shots, not kills. With the corner of her eye, she saw that Regina had led Henry into the hall, hidden by the shadows, with her sword out. She had been guiding him out while the enemies had been engaged in fighting Emma.

Soon she was able to follow them, as the attack yielded because there were too many wounded in the hall. As far as she knew, Emma had not killed anyone, but it did not change the look of things. Covered in grime and blood, she could feel the sticky substance all over her hands and the sword. Disgusted with the outcome, she rushed after Regina, pushing the thought of what she had done out of her mind. Henry was the priority, and for him, she would destroy the world if need be, and her conscience would be a small price to pay.

Meeting with the other two at the other hall Henry had been in, Emma saw Regina gesture to a door beside the dark hall. Nodding, the blonde woman opened them carefully and looked through them quickly, before pulling herself back in. “It leads into an atrium of a kind, and after that is the camp.” Emma said softly, looking into Regina’s eyes. The realization settled quickly. They would have to fight their way out, facing the entire contingent of the Lost Boys and Peter Pan. Luckily, the Indians were only in the book, Emma grimly thought. The pixie had said that there were about a hundred of the men working for Peter. Emma doubled the numbers in her head, just to be on the safe side. Even with the more than two dozen disabled in the hall beside them, there were too many. Emma looked at Regina, seeing the brunette’s gaze focused on her face.

“We won’t use magic, until it is absolutely necessary. I don’t know how Greg enchanted my mother’s cuff, but it is safe to say it came from here.” Regina spoke when it was obvious that the decision had been made long ago, even before they had set out on this mission. It was the price of motherhood. “I don’t know about the others.” Regina saw Emma nod grimly, so she turned to Henry who held her hand in a bone crushing grip. “Henry, you know I love you?”

“I do, mom,” he spoke, his eyes filling with tears. He recognized the look in her eyes, as it was the same as before when she had spoken to him what she had thought to be the last time. Another goodbye was to be said, and this one might even be the last one he would ever get from his mother. He understood the situation perfectly. He had seen the numbers of people feasting in the hall before, and even Emma as the Savior could not fight against them without serious help. Even with Regina it would be a very close call, but they could not rely on using magic to fight the people off for it might not work – so they had to count on sheer power and strength they had. Emma had her gun, but Regina had only her sword. “I love you too.” He pushed himself into her arms and gripped firmly. “I forgive you, for everything. And I hope you can forgive me, too.”

At his words, Regina sobbed out into his hair, overwhelmed with love for her boy. “Of course I do, Henry. I always would forgive you, no matter what. I am your mother.” Her voice breaking, she buried her face into his hair.

Henry kissed his mother on the cheek and moved to the blonde, leaning on the wall beside the door. “Hey, kid,” Emma spoke softly, as her throat had tightened with the tears she never allowed to fall. She enveloped him into her embrace, and kissed his forehead, speaking no words of goodbye. “I love you.”

Henry nodded sadly, wiping his eyes. “Now remember what I told you,” Emma said firmly. “West, then follow the water, ok?”

“You do know that you are a hero, Emma? You both are!” He spoke holding the hands of the women before him. Emma chuckled, remembering the old conversation she had had with him about heroes.

Wiping her eyes, Regina regained her composure and stood behind Henry. Kissing the crown of his head, she took her sword and nodded to Emma. The blonde woman grabbed the metal handle on the door and pulled. Quickly filing out, Emma crouched low and moved to the gate to the camp. Glancing outside she saw David captured and the light, signaling that the fairy had betrayed them as Emma suspected she would all along.

Emma rushed out, drawing the attention away from the gate, as several men attacked her on her way to the forest. Emma didn’t hesitate, aiming her gun at them and bringing them down one by one. Quickly reloading, she changed her direction and marched into the camp, with her cocky attitude and brandishing her sword. She knew that Regina had smuggled the boy out while the others were busy, but the danger was still apparent. At any moment they can choose to send someone after them to the forest.

With her smirk she invited the Lost Boys to attack. But before the first one could lay his hands on her, an arrow appeared in his chest, mowing him down just inches in front of her. Emma smirked, recognizing the archer’s style. At least, Snow was safe. One by one, arrows whistled around Emma’s head, finding their targets into the men willing to attack. However, Emma knew the volley would not last for there were not enough arrows to keep the disfigured men away for long.

* * *

Regina looked behind her, seeing Emma stride in the camp, giving them the needed distraction. With her heart going out to the brave Savior, the woman pushed through the forest, climbing over the limbs of the vegetation, helping Henry whenever they were going over a trunk too big for him to step over. However they could not move fast enough.

“Mom, look out!” Henry yelled from behind her, and she lifted her head just in time to see the club going toward her face. Soon, only darkness followed.

Henry saw his mother fall down, her lifeless body crumbling on the forest floor. But, before he could reach the woman, hands grabbed his middle, hoisting him up in the air. The blonde man that had led him into the cell the days before smiled evilly at him, before throwing him over his shoulder, all the while Henry yelled and fought the man, trying to get to the woman lying just several feet away. “Mom! Mom, wake up! Let me go!” He watched helplessly, still fighting as the place they had left the brunette was moving away from him at the steady gait of the man. The fact that he was captured, again, did not worry him as much as the crumpled form of his mother not moving at his cries.

The blonde man carried him into the camp where he saw Emma fight the Lost Boys, and it pleased him to see that she held her own against the tide of the men attacking her. An arrow here and there would pierce the air taking down men who had come too close to Emma for Snow’s comfort. He had heard about his grandmother’s ability with a bow, and he was glad she was there too.

He was dropped beside David, who was bound tightly around a pillar in the middle of the camp. As soon as his captor stepped away, Henry moved to David and pulled down the gag of his face. Doing that, he looked around the camp. It was very well lit with fires and torches at every few steps. And his biological mother stood thirty paces to a side, involved in a fight, cutting down and pushing off the attackers with her sword, having spent all her ammunition for the semi, and not having enough time to take the revolver.

“She is magnificent, isn’t she?” David whispered to the boy, showing him that he was awake. With a subtle head shake, he pointed to the knots on his back that held him to the pillar. Henry glanced upon them and frowned. They seemed too complicated to try to untie them and not be detected. However, he remembered the dagger Emma had given him, cursing himself silently for not thinking of it sooner. He would have been able to stay with Regina. Pulling it slowly out, he started cutting the ropes, moving as little as possible. At last, he felt the lines snap and David move a bit to loosen the rest. Placing the dagger into his grandfather’s hands, Henry moved slightly away. Just at the right time, it seemed as the blonde man returned and grabbed him up.

“STOP!” He yelled, his voice carrying across the camp. Henry froze feeling the barrel of the gun under his chin. It must have been David’s, for Emma still had her own on the hip. “Stop or I will shoot!”

Emma had seen Henry in the arms of the blonde man at the first cry but still fought, trying to reach them. However, when she saw the gun pointed at the boy’s neck, she stopped.

* * *

The darkness and pain were overwhelming, and the nausea that followed made her turn at the side and throw up the meager meal she had hours before. The flashes of light pulsed before her eyes in the rhythm of her heartbeats. If she hadn’t looked up at Henry's warning, the glancing blow would have killed her for sure.

_ Henry! _ Her mind exclaimed causing her to grab her pulsing forehead. “Damn it all to hell,” she murmured and summoned her magic to heal and light her way back. She would not leave Henry to these barbarians, no matter the cost. Wiping the blood, she straightened and dusted off, picking her sword and placing it in the scabbard. After her head cleared of the pain and nausea, she looked up trying to judge the time she had spent unconscious. It was still night, and the stars had not moved much. There might still be time to do something.

Creeping in the shadows, she came closer to the camp. What she saw froze her body and the chills came down her spine. Emma was kneeling in the dirt and blood while her own sword was pointed at her, leaning against the jacket. Henry stood across, held by the man that had hit her and watched helplessly as his mother surrendered to keep him safe. The gun at his chin was hard to miss.

Looking around, she noticed many men had been downed by arrows. So Snow had made herself useful, Regina thought with approval, but judging by the numbers of the arrows littering the bodies in the camp, the pixie haired woman must have run out. And rushing in the camp with the sword swirling and yelling would do nothing except get them all killed. Luckily for them, the young queen had not been the rash one in the Charming Duo. Where the hell was Gold?

Returning her attention to the camp, she saw a young man, a boy really, approach the prisoners. With a startling realization, Regina gasped. The worst evil they had ever faced, by Rumplestiltskin’s words, was a teenage boy!

* * *

Seeing Henry in the arms of what looked to be the chief among the Lost Boys, and that Regina was nowhere to be found, Emma felt anger and grief warring in her, fighting for supremacy. They had lost, spectacularly. David was bound, Snow was powerless against the many, Regina was probably dead somewhere in the forest, and there was no sound of Gold. She was held at the point of her own sword and Henry was kept prisoner by the weapon she had given to David long before.

“You will not kill him. You need him.” Emma spoke, projecting calmness and assuredness. But before the blonde man could answer another person stepped into the light, smiling arrogantly at the kneeling woman. He walked slowly to the blonde Savior and leaned down, looking into her eyes. She shuddered, seeing that his were black holes, and the blackness covered all the space of the eye visible, bordered with eyelids. Looking into the face of her enemy she knew that she was watching the face of unspeakable evil and she was afraid, not only for her and Henry’s life, but for their souls as well, for if there ever was a devil, it would be this person.

The person that approached her looked like an ordinary teenage boy, several years older than Henry. Dressed all in dark green and black, his flame red hair glinted in the light of the fires, and a top of it was a small hat with a red feather, so similar to the one the cartoon character wore… Lean and agile, he was striking, but his beauty was cold and terrifying.

He reached out and placed his hand onto Emma’s cheek, lifting her head up. Enjoying the shudders going through her body, the boy smirked devilishly. “Yes, I will not kill him.” His voice, deeper than expected for a boy, even an ordinary man, pierced the air, heard in all the corners of the camp although he did not raise his voice. “But, I do not need him to be whole for it. Or anything, but alive.” The even delivery of his threat did more for Emma’s courage than anything else that might have been said.

“Why do you need him?” Emma asked weakly, looking in the frightened face of her son.

The boy released the blonde woman from his touch and stepped closer to his prize. “The boy has the spirit and the power I had never felt before. And as it was foretold, he will give me the power to cross the worlds and conquer them, no matter the magic or weapons they have.” His face darkened with the malice. “My agents in the other worlds believe I hate magic and I want it destroyed. But, the truth is I am the magic!” He raised his arms and levitated into the air. “I am immortal!” He spoke, his gaze coming over all of them. Coming lightly to the ground, he continued. “I have used the spirits of the children brought to me here by my fateful shadow to keep myself eternally young and powerful. I have seen what the age does to people, making them weak and pitiful. Am I not magnificent?” With a smirk, he summoned the pixie. “Ah, my dear, you did well.” Cradling her in his hand, he smiled gently at her, the smile looking like a painful grimace on his face. “You have earned your freedom.” At the cheerful chirping of the pixie, Peter smirked once more and closed his hand, with the light still in it. After a moment, he shook his hand dislodging the glimmering dust of it. “Well, she is free,” he commented flippantly.

Giving a flick with his hand, he turned away and walked to a chair at one end of the camp. At his signal Emma was bound with a silvery chain and stripped of her weapons. All the time she watched her son, held at gunpoint. Keeping her eyes glued to his, she tried to give him all her courage and love, sorry that he witnessed his family destroyed in front of him.

“I have lost enough time.” Peter spoke from the chair. “Bring me the boy.” With a rough pull, Henry was dropped on his knees before the ageless boy. Emma tried to fight against the restraints but she couldn’t reach her magic, although she could feel it. Sensing her struggle, Peter looked at her and smirking, winked at her, reaching behind him and uncovering a lump that was situated behind his chair. Gold, bound with the silver rope and gagged, laid in dirt, his eyes darting wildly around. If he couldn’t break the barrier of the chain, how could she?

But then she remembered that she had been more powerful than him on the ship. Focusing internally at the barrier, she pushed wishing herself free. But as that did not work, she thought about her family. She wanted them all safe and sound, and for that she needed to be free. The seconds ticked away as she pushed against the obstacle, until she finally found the smallest crack in the wall cutting her off from her magic. Mentally she slammed into it with all her power, feeling the wall weakening. As time slowed, she could feel the sweat drip from her face, lazily, as she slammed once more.

From the outside, it seemed like Emma was praying, her lips only twitching, her eyes focused at Henry. Peter laughed at her focus. “Prayers won’t help you now.” He reached for the boy, taking him by his neck and lifting him up, breaking the intense gaze. “It is time to end this.”

But before he could take anything from Henry, several things happened at once. David jumped off the pillar, slamming into the blonde man holding his gun. Henry used the commotion to get himself out of Peter’s hold rushing off to the forest, following his mother’s instructions to the letter. But before he could leave the encampment, he saw his other mother wielding power and mowing the Lost Boys down. At his excited yell, she looked at him and smiled, hurrying him along.

A shot rang out, and Henry fell, his startled yell ringing afterwards. Regina looked at David, seeing him taking his gun out of the hands of the blonde thug, knocking him out with a butt swipe. Rushing to her boy, Regina saw Henry lift himself gingerly and shake off the dirt, joining her. “I’m fine,” he spoke at her obviously distressed and surprised look.

“Take him!” Emma’s voice startled them, as the woman in question rose to her feet, her eyes glowing bluish white. The ropes fell off her turning into the dust in the second they touched the ground. Standing in between her boy and the greatest danger she had ever faced, Emma waved Regina off. Understanding the message, Regina took Henry’s hand and directed him to the part of the forest she had come out of. Ignoring the gun fire and the sword clashing, Regina pushed her child in front of her.

Suddenly coldness filled the air as the East started to get bright with the new day. Regina turned to see a dark fog rushing at Emma at speed from Peter’s hands. Worried, she clutched Henry’s shoulder, watching Emma trying to fight it off. She could feel its devastating power even from her position away from the camp. “I guess the mail will absorb the worst of it,” Regina mumbled, unwilling to move away, but knowing that she had to bring Henry to safety.

“Mail?” Henry asked, confused, looking at his mother. “You mean this?” he spoke, pulling the neck of his jacket and shirt away, uncovering the dark metal weave. Regina blinked at the sight and grabbed her son, turning him around to see his back. And there, in between his shoulder blades, close to his left, was a hole in his clothes. Touching around, Regina unearthed a bullet that had been lodged in the weaves of the chain mail, keeping her son alive and unharmed. Closing her hand around the bullet, she looked out at the blonde Savior fighting with the fog and losing.

“Damn her!” Regina whispered in helpless anger and terror, tears coming down her face, holding Henry close to her.

Emma, seeing that she could not win against the powerful dark spell, refocused her magic and released Rumplestiltskin from his bonds, and after he understood what she planned to do, she refocused her energy again. With a last look toward her son, hiding in the shadows of the forest, invisible in the light of the dawn, she searched for the woman who had occupied her mind, looking for her magical signature. Finding it, she smiled and nodded in goodbye. Turning to her enemy, she directed all her power to Peter, joined with Rumplestiltskin.

The fire haired boy froze in surprise when his limbs locked. He could not move and could not release himself, and that had never happened to him before. It was a nuisance that the Savior could not be stopped with the specially crafted chain to block magic, but it did not mean that she was more powerful than him. No one was more powerful than him, he had proven that time and time again. But this was impossible. “No!” He screamed in helpless fury. “I am to rule the Realms!” He said his hands sending more of the spell of darkness toward Emma. “You shall not defeat me!”

Rumplestiltskin sniggered at the struggling boy, adding more of his magic in the mix, knowing he, they, would need more to destroy their fiend. And Emma was already at her end of the rope, so there was the only other source of magic willing to help them. “Regina, we need more!” his voice rang out, strained with exhaustion. Instantly, Regina rushed back into the camp, closely followed by Henry, whom she directed to David. Standing close to Emma, she raised her hands and sent out her purple magic, joining the others. For a moment there was a stalemate but a second later, things changed, drastically. With her power in the mix, suddenly the boy started aging, destroying all the years of agelessness in seconds. Regina felt his power leaving him, and the taste of his magic was making her sick with terror, recognizing the true evil of the world. His screams filled the air, until there was nothing left but the dust. Regina turned to Gold, and gasped in surprise. His skin had turned into gold of the Dark One the moment he joined his power with Emma’s and now his skin was returning to his human one, but he seemed older, more fragile. He had never looked so old, in fact, Regina thought until more pressing matter diverted her attention.

Disregarding him, she looked at Emma and saw her smiling at her in the light of the new day. The Sun grazed her as it came out of hiding behind the hills and it showed Emma covered with blood and grime, standing there, looking around. For a brief second, Regina regarded her with pleasure – a victorious warrior after the hard won battle, and she had never looked more powerful and breathtaking, regardless of the state she was in. As she walked to her, Emma straightened out with a heavy sigh, her hands dropping down beside her hips.

“Everyone is safe,” she spoke quietly with a tired but pleased smile on her face, her relief obvious, looking at Regina and checking her out for injuries.

“Yes, we are,” Regina answered, stepping closer, worried with the paleness and stillness of the woman before her. Emma was too quiet for this moment, even if she was tired. And, too much motionless for a woman who did not know how to be stationary for more than a minute. The dark curse was too vivid in her mind to let it go and attribute it to exhaustion.

“Good.” Another smile twisted her lips before her eyes rolled into her head and she crumpled into the heap at the ground.

“Emma!”

“Mom!”

“Emma!”

Regina had jumped to the falling woman, managing to catch her head before it hit the ground, but it did nothing for Emma as she was unconscious. Quickly checking for her pulse and breathing, Regina furiously opened the jacket in her way. Snow and David rushed to her, the man holding Henry to his chest, keeping him out of the way.

“What happened?” Snow asked, while she tried to find the pulse on Emma’s wrist. Regina saw that the Savior was not breathing and that her heart had stopped. Starting the cardiac massage, she looked at Snow with desperation on her face. Pushing the breath down Emma’s mouth, she repeated the procedure refusing to believe that the Savior was gone.

Rumplestiltskin slowly walked, leaning on his cane heavily, reaching the group in the clearing. Kneeling beside Snow, sparing his bad leg of bending by putting it aside to his body, he looked down at the blonde woman. “She took the curse of darkness. I have hoped she managed to avoid most of it, but apparently she did not.” Gold spoke softly, with sadness and regret. Although he felt nothing significant for the blonde Sheriff that had butted in his business more than it had been warranted, he knew that she had used her last moments to free him to aid in battle, ensuring the certain victory, even if she had died in the process. Sacrifice worthy of the Savior, but never freely offered to the Dark One. And in doing so, she enabled him to redeem himself, if not for Baelfire or Belle, then for Henry.

“Can you undo it?” David asked, ignoring Regina’s tired scoff as she continued to perform the heart massage and breathing for Emma.

“I am afraid that even if a Dark One could undo it, which he couldn’t, I cannot.” Gold looked at Snow and David and shook his head. “There is only one thing that can save Miss Swan, and the time is running out even for that.” At that he looked at Regina, but she refused to lift her eyes away from Emma’s face. Stopping with the life support, she waved her hand over the body making the air around it simmer with purplish tint. With that she pushed off and walked several steps away, holding herself while she sobbed silently, and her tears streaming down her face.

Henry pulled out of his grandfather’s protective embrace and kissed his mother’s cold cheek, ignoring the blood and dust. He wished with all his might it would work as it had worked for him, but nothing happened. With desperation, he grabbed her shoulders and started shaking them. “Come on, come back to us!” He yelled at her, no one stopping him. “You can’t leave us! You can’t leave me!” His cries turned into sobs and he felt soft hands come around him, pulling him into a soothing embrace, but it seemed cold and hollow, as Snow was crying for the blonde Sheriff too.

“Why isn’t it working?” Henry asked weakly, turning to Gold. He looked at his older grandparent and begged for an answer, a solution. Whenever he asked the old man, the shopkeeper had provided the answers, even if the boy did not like them.

“Her love for you was true, Henry. But she was the child of True Love, and as such, all the love she had was true, no matter whom she loved.” The old man spoke in the past tense, knowing that the chances of the Sheriff waking up were slim, and with Regina’s refusal to believe in the truth, even slimmer. “However, for it to work in return, it had to be the real True Love, her romantic love, to kiss her back. And, you are not, Henry, no matter how much you love her.”

“So we find her True Love then?” The child spoke, his mind focused only on the positive outcome. After all, it shouldn’t be hard to track his father with all the magic floating around. “We find Neal.”

Gold smiled at the simple fact the boy stated, admiring his single-mindedness. “It is not that simple. First, we need to get to whatever world he was sucked in. If he survived, we have to find him. And, even then the chances that he is her True Love…” He paused with pain closing his throat. He did not wish to endure another argument with his son, but he wanted to know if he was alive. “I would be very happy to find Bae, my boy, but what if he is not the one we are looking for?”

But before Henry or anyone else could answer, a cloud of light floated in the clearing and one of the lights separated from the group and floated to Snow. Holding her hand out, Snow accepted the small pixie, waving her other hand at Regina to stall her responding magic surge.

The small pixie dressed in yellow, bowed lowly, her head almost touching the palm of the hand she was in. the light chirping could be heard, and before Snow could reply, Henry interrupted.

“She apologizes for the actions of her sister and wishes to offer their sincere condolence for losing a great hero,” the boy said, making all of the adults turn to him in surprise.

“You can understand her?” Snow asked, but the chirping interrupted Henry’s answer. “She said that the children that had kept their innocence can understand the pixies of this land quite easily.” Periodically pausing to hear the pixie, Snow delivered the message the newcomer wanted to offer. “She said that Tinker Bell had done what she had thought best for her people that had been enslaved for generations. Her decision had been wrong but she did it out of the will to protect her people. However, they wish to thank us for liberating them from the great evil and they recognize the countless loss we had suffered in this battle. In small ways of repaying us, in gratitude they offer us a gift that we would find valuable. It had been found in the pockets of one of the out-world-people that had washed up on their shore a couple days before.” With that, the other pixies joined them and dropped a small satchel into Henry’s hand.

The spoke pixie flew to Henry and landed on his forearm, asking for his attention. He leaned in, aware that Snow was listening carefully; watching for the first sound of trouble, ready to give his adoptive mother a sign to attack.  _ “I wish we had met under better circumstances, young prince Henry.”  _ The dark pixie brushed her hair and looked at the woman’s body, lying just beside Henry’s knee.  _ “She was truly the Savior, and we would have been proud to know her as a friend. I have advice for you, young prince, if you wish to hear it.” _

Henry looked at Snow and seeing her nod, he inclined his head to the pixie, giving her a go ahead.  _ “Your mother is loved by many, but only one is her own salvation, and it is born not only out of love but of understanding and forgiveness as well. Only one can help her now, and that one is much closer than you think.” _

Henry frowned at the riddle presented to him, making him confused. Neal fitted the bill, although he had to think about what the pixie said, knowing the small woman spoke the truth. “Can’t you do something?”

_ “We are not the same kind as the ones you know. We do not have magic beyond what is inherently the fairy magic. Only the Godmothers are in possession of powers you are asking for, and even they would not be able to help you, young master Henry.” _ The pixie flew up and came close to the boy’s face, pressing her palms onto the boy’s nose.  _ “Only the True Love’s Kiss can break the Curse of Darkness, as the former Dark One had spoken. Nothing else is to be done, apart from what your mother is already doing to the Savior’s body, keeping it in suspension, unaware of the passage of time.” _ Wiping the tears of the boy’s cheek the fairy bowed once more and flew higher up, joining her sisters.  _ “We leave you now. But, remember, you are always welcome here. You are the Savior’s son and friend.” _

“Wait!” Henry spoke suddenly, clutching the satchel in his hand. “What is your name? And where are you going?” he asked the fairy folk. The dark one came down again, inclining her head in greeting.

_ “I am Iridessa. We are going back to our home at the Pixie Hollow, to rebuild and restore the island to its former glory, young prince. In hope we will see each other again, I must say it has been an honor to meet you all.” _ With a curtsy, Iridessa flew to the others and together they formed a circle above Emma’s body, all bowing down at the same time, before they flew off to the North.

Henry watched them leave before his eyes fell down to his blonde mother’s body. At Snow’s soft nudging, he opened the satchel in his hand and gasped in surprise when he had seen what had been there. A single translucent bean stood alone in the darkness of the satchel. It must have been the last of the beans Greg and Tamara had stolen from his mother. Turning around he showed the rest the prize he had gotten from the fairies. Pushing the satchel into Snow’s hands, he turned back to Emma and with his shirt sleeve he started wiping her face, but when the dried blood and the encased mud could not be taken off with the dry shirt cloth, he tried harder, before gentle hands stopped him.

“We’ll take her to Roger, and then we will wash her.” Regina had come to him, seeing his devastated look, but the hope tingling in his eyes was even worse to watch. Placing her hand onto Henry’s shoulder she gently guided him into her hug, closing her eyes when he placed his arms around her neck. Taking comfort in closeness and love that emanated from her son, Regina felt her eyes fill with tears that spilled over her closed lids. Snow placed her hand on Regina’s back, offering a sympathetic smile to the boy peering out of the older woman’s shoulder.

“We should go,” Snow spoke softly. Regina nodded and looked at the mother of the blonde woman. Even though the future seemed grim or even non-existent for her daughter, the pixie haired woman looked like a beacon of hope shining through the gloom of their fate. Helping Regina up, who refused to relinquish her hold on Henry, Snow looked at the small glimmer surrounding Emma. “You did that?”

“It should keep her safe, from time and other things…” Regina murmured softly, turning her head away from the boy in her arms, making sure only her former stepdaughter could hear.

A high pitched scream made them all turn to the source of the sound. David lifted his weapon but as soon as he saw the children coming out of the underground passage, he lowered the gun, but remained vigilant. Several children clambered out of their hiding place, shaking and holding each other, their tears making visible tracks on their muddy faces. The children saw them and started walking toward them, the oldest one carrying the youngest. The moment they came into the clearing the oldest placed the baby into another one boy’s arms, shushing the baby gently. When they reached the small group, Snow stood in front of the first child, offering her hand slowly.

“Hey, sweetie. Are you OK?” She asked, seeing that the boy was not older than ten and looking at the verge of tears, but remaining strong for the others, all younger than him. After an unsure nod, the boy looked at one of the younger boys and showed at a deep cut one of them sported. Moving quickly, Regina lowered Henry, and signaled him to remain next to Emma, while she rushed to the small four year old crying and holding the injured arm. Gently, she approached the boy and took his arm, careful not to injure him further.

Healing the boy, she looked at the remaining three. They were all boys, dressed in rags, dirty and smelly from obvious neglect, and if she wasn’t wrong, starving. “What is your name, dear?” Regina spoke gently, returning the healed arm to the boy in front of her. He looked at her with his wide eyes and then he glanced down to his arm.

“Sammy,” he whispered in awe of what Regina had done.

“Sammy, that is a nice name. Where are you from?”

“Chicago.”

At the name of the city, Regina straightened out in surprise and looked at Snow, in askance for further directions. Snow came to the oldest boy and frowned when the boy fell to his knees before her, bowing his head. “What it is? What is wrong?” she asked, crouching in front of him, looking for the reason of distress.

“Nothing, my Queen. I am fine.” The boy glanced up at Snow and then at Regina, fear passing his visage when he saw the former Evil Queen. However, Snow took his shoulders, calming him down. “Thank you for helping Sammy,” the boy spoke, lifting his head and directing his look at the older woman. “My name is Elias, from Charming’s Kingdom. This is Robert, Bobby Kenneth from England. He is seven, at least he was when he was taken.” Elias pointed at the scruffy blonde boy next to him, carrying a baby in his arms. “That is Kyle. We don’t know where he is from, the boy he came with did not talk much.” The oldest boy turned to the other two. “You met Samuel Connors, of Chicago, and that is Damian, of the former White Kingdom.” Elias showed the boys, four and five years old. “There were a lot more, but in time they were gone.”

“Do you know how long you were here?” David asked, remembering the police procedures Emma had shown to him when she had gotten back from the Enchanted Forest. Boys shook their heads collectively, but Elias frowned.

“Time moves here differently. Or Peter controlled it, somehow. I was up to seventeen moon cycles for sure before I lost count, and it had been a long while since then, but I haven’t gotten older. Kyle was there before any of us and he is still a baby.” Elias came to Regina and bowed, before he came closer to Samuel, holding him close. “Tell them about your world, Sammy. It’s OK.” The leading boy spoke gently toward the youngster, showing a great maturity in his gesture, his shoulders moving like he had a great weight placed on them. And he had, Regina understood. He had taken upon himself to take care of the remaining children.

“What was the hit cartoon in the movies when you were taken?” Henry suddenly spoke, appearing beside his adoptive mother, lowering himself not to tower over the younger boy.

Samuel looked at Henry and smiled, with the understanding that he knew his world and would not look at him like he was a stranger. “The one with Zebra, Lion and Giraffe… Mommy took me to watch it just before…”

Henry frowned at the mention of the characters and looked up at his mother. “We watched it, too, a while back…” Screwing his face in concentration he looked at the boy and then smiled with satisfaction. “Madagascar.”

“Yeah!” the young boy exclaimed with glee, clapping his hands.

“That was over eight years ago,” Henry whispered after he had leaned closer to his mother. When she blinked in confusion, he pulled her lower to him and coming to her ear, he whispered. “I don’t think they aged a day since they were brought here. And I think they were here a really long time…” Seeing Regina’s jaw clench in understanding, he straightened out, letting his mother do the same. She looked at him with horror in her eyes but when she turned to the boys, her face showed nothing but compassion and care.

If she could put on that mask and make it perfectly believable, even after the events of the day, then the mask she had worn in the past, day after day was damn unbreakable. At last, Henry understood what Emma had told him years ago. Regina was not the Evil Queen, she only behaved and wore the mask of one, modeling it after the influential people in her life, and using it as an outlet for all the pain and hurt she had suffered. Emma would be proud of him, Henry thought and looked at the blonde on the ground, Gold standing above her head. When she would wake, she and he would have a very long talk, and he had apologies to make.

“The pixies said you can offer assistance,” Elias said, looking hopefully at the Queen of his home. Snow crooked her head in consideration and slowly nodded.

“We can only offer a way of this island. Even we do not know where we are going next.” Snow said, going to Elias and Robert, taking Kyle out of his hands and placing him into her embrace, gently shushing him when he started fussing. “But, whatever you decide, you must do it quickly, as we are about to leave.”

Elias looked at the boys, scrutinizing each one’s face, judging their answer. Pleased with the consensus, he nodded as well. “We would like to come with you.” When Snow smiled gently at him, he blushed and took Robert’s hand while he gestured to Damian to go in front of him.

Regina looked down at the sudden jerk of her jacket. Seeing Samuel looking up at her expectantly, she smiled crookedly at the tremulous smirk on the boy’s face. Glancing toward Henry she nodded at his go ahead gesture and picked the boy right up, settling him on her hip. Placing her other hand around Henry’s shoulders, she turned to follow Snow. But before she moved, she caught David’s eyes and gestured toward Emma. Having used almost all of her energies, creating the protective spell on Emma, she had very little left, and it was not enough to magically carry the woman who had been more that her friend and confidant in the past days, regardless of Regina’s feeling of protectiveness and possessiveness of the woman. Understanding the conflict playing out on Regina’s face, David knelt and took his daughter into his arms, picking her up, with the help of Mister Gold by his side.

It was time to go back to the ship.


	3. Chapter 3

Regina sat on the floor, leaning onto the small night table, looking over at the pallet. On the bed in the Captain quarters the Savior was laying, freshly washed and in new clothes. Her hair had been brushed and washed, now lying strewn across the pillows allowing it to dry naturally, curling in the dry air of the room. Her hands were placed on her middle, one covering the other in the resting and peaceful pose. And her face was relaxed, her mouth still holding the soft smile that appeared in the last moments of her awareness. With her eyes closed, Emma seemed asleep, dreaming wonderful dreams. But Regina knew that if the Curse of Darkness was anything like the Sleeping Curse, Emma was not experiencing anything wonderful.

It was only an hour after they had come to the camp on the shore, where Hook had been waiting for them, restless and eager for their return. When he had seen the Savior lifeless in David’s arms he had frozen on the spot, his mouth hanging open in surprise. He had never actually thought that she could die on this mission. She had been the Savior, the all mighty power source that could stand up to the Dark One! But, it had seemed that this had been the one fight she couldn’t win.

_ Silently, the Captain took them to the ship, not even questioning the presence of the children. With one look in Henry’s direction he helped the kids aboard the Jolly Roger, leading them straight to the Crew quarters to rest. Snow followed him, directing the children to wash up and eat before going to bed. Helped by Regina, she didn’t question her presence as the women prepared the hot water and warm meal for the children, Henry included. But, the young prince had refused to leave Emma alone in her cabin, and agreeing to his pleas, Regina let him stay, taking care of the little ones first. _

_ When the children had been put to rest, she carried a bucket of hot water and a bowl of food, followed by Snow who carried rags and a pitcher of cold water. Making Henry wash his hands and eat in the hallway out of the cabin, closely watched by David, Regina turned to Emma, not really prepared to do what she had intended. “I can do it, if…” Snow started, but at the slight shake of Regina’s head she stopped, knowing that the former Mayor would push through her own feelings to help the Savior of her son, and her friend, in the lack of a better term. _

_ With slow and gentle movements, they undressed the blonde woman that had been lying on the conjured mattress on the floor, leaving her underwear on. Kneeling beside the mattress the women took the rags and washed off the blood and dirt, uncovering many cuts and bruises. Regina felt her eyes water with tears as she traced the injuries that could have been avoided if Emma had worn the chain mail – but then they would not have their boy beside them, lost to the bullet. Emma’s good call had cost the woman her life for Regina had no doubt that the chain mail would have absorbed the curse, giving her enough time to fight it off. With the last reserves of her energy she placed her hands over Emma’s skin and with slight tremor in them she glided over the injuries, healing them as she went over them. With the last vestige of her power, she healed the cut on Emma’s face, leaving her hand on it for longer than necessary, gently rubbing the cheek with her thumb. _

_ Snow did not comment on the open admiration and sorrow in Regina’s behavior but continued to wash her daughter, staying strong and refusing to cry. When they had finished, Regina turned for a moment, picking up what to dress Emma into, letting Snow change the underwear. As that task had been finished, Regina and Snow dressed Emma and with David’s help lifted her to the bed, vanishing the mattress in the process. As they were finished, Regina caught Snow’s eyes and communicated silently that she would like a moment alone with Emma. Snow nodded in understanding, and taking Henry’s shoulders, she pushed him out talking about him desperately needing a bath. David stayed behind, taking several things for the boy to wear afterwards. He placed his hand on Regina’s shoulder in solace before leaving the room, closing the door behind him. _

Regina brought her knees to her chest, circling her arms around them and lowering her head on them, her face turned toward the woman, seeing her upper body and her face. “I know you did the right thing,” Regina spoke, her voice roughened with tears barely heard in the quiet of the room. “However, I cannot help but feel betrayed by your choice. Even when I know that the alternative was not an option, and still it isn’t. I would never sacrifice our son for anyone, but I wish it turned out differently.” Regina felt her tears slide down her nose, onto her legs. “How am I to continue without you keeping me straight?”  _ Without you giving me strength to face the new day _ , she said in her mind, not willing to speak the thought aloud, even now when no one could hear it.  _ You promised to help me live as me. To help me be who I was meant to be from the start, and to be the one who deserves all the forgiveness I have gotten. How can you keep those promises if you aren’t there, by my side? How can you help me, when all I am feeling now is anger at the unjust fate that dangled the fulfillment of my hopes in front of me, only to take them away? You were the only one to understand me and know the real me. How am I to continue when I am denied acceptance once more? _ Closing her eyes against the flood she felt coming on, she let herself grieve for the friend she had gained in the past few days. For even if she was woken with True Love’s kiss, it would mean that Neal would occupy much of Emma’s time, and she had gotten used to the blonde encroaching her personal space. Outright denying the possibility that Rumplestiltskin had been hinting at, and what Emma had concluded before their mind connection. It simply could not be, she claimed in her own mind, faced with an opportunity to prove it once for all. But at that thought fear gripped her, stopping her from even coming closer to the Savior. So she grieved, for there was nothing else, in her opinion, she could do.

Half an hour later she left the room, meeting Henry in the hallway. She kissed him on the forehead, wishing him a good rest and let him lie down next to his mother. Climbing up to the deck, she looked out and saw that Hook had already moved them away from the shore in case some of the surviving Lost Boys came. Going to the front, she leaned onto the railing looking at the horizon, trying to empty her mind of all thoughts and emotions swirling inside, making it impossible to make out individual emotion or thought. Tired, in pain, her stomach rumbling in hunger she did not feel, Regina felt lost. She was happy that Henry was saved and that he was well, aboard the ship. And he had even forgiven her, making her heart soar in that moment, before all the other things happened.

The next part of their journey was to find the cure for Emma. And that meant finding Baelfire, her half-brother.

“May I join you?” Rumplestiltskin asked softly, for the first time in Regina’s memory showing humility.

She looked at him and scoffed, turning away. Clenching the railings so hard that her hands lost all color, she directed her look outward, afraid of the magic rising in her, ignited by her anger. “I should kill you where you stand,” she spoke through her clenched jaw, not looking at him.

She heard him walk closer to her, but staying out of her immediate reach. Leaning heavily on his cane he sighed, knowing that it would come to this eventually. “I know you are most definitely able to do it. And that you have more than enough cause. But, should you, really?” He spoke calmly, accepting in advance that this conversation might end his life. At this moment he wished the Savior was able to join them. The Sheriff, despite all her misgivings and faults, provided a balance, forcing the warring parties to peace. In this situation she would even save his life, even though she had been angry at the knowledge herself.

“You are of no use to us now.” Regina, of course, knew of the sacrifice he had offered for her son. Losing all his power, destroying the Dark One in the process was an immense loss for him, the man that had treasured magic above all. She could feel he was only human now.

“I still have centuries’ worth of knowledge.” Sensing immediately he had used the wrong reason, he quickly added. “I am still Henry’s grandfather. And…”

Regina looked sharply at him, daring him to finish his sentence, her look piercing through him, her eyes showing all the hatred, the betrayal, the anguish she had felt because of the man standing before her.

“She told you,” Rumplestiltskin changed the subject quickly, for the third time in the short while fearing for his life. It had been long since he had been afraid. And underneath it all, he was still a coward, despite his actions earlier that day.

Regina let her emotions drain away, the thought of Emma calming her down almost instantly. “She didn’t.” Seeing that Rumplestiltskin was about to object at her statement, she went on. “I learned about it, despite her not wanting me to.”

The silence enveloped them, while they both considered their situation. Neither was willing to walk away, being the one to fold and withdraw, and neither knew how to continue. But, at last, Regina turned away from the railing, leaning on it and looked at the man watching her carefully. Crossing her arms at her chest, she looked away.

“Did Henry know?” She spoke, breaking their impasse. “That I wasn’t his?”

Rumplestiltskin joined her at the rail and he too turned to watch on to the ship’s deck, standing beside the woman. “He did.” His voice was quiet but without the usual mocking edge that had been heard in his voice for ages. “Your mother had taken great pleasure in reminding him of the fact, making it his failure in the process.”

Regina nodded, knowing that he spoke the truth, because it was just the thing her mother would do. Remembering the man she had called her father, she glanced upon the man beside her. “And yet, he loved me. I was someone else’s child and he still loved me.” Her voice contained wonder at the revelation.

“You love Henry even though he is not yours,” the old man said wisely, expecting the outburst at his words.

“He is my son!”

“This is precisely my point.” He placed his cane directly in front of him, leaving one hand on it, but with the other he took the railing in between them, slightly turning his body toward the woman. “Regina, you of all people should know that blood has little to do with love and the bonds it creates.” Looking into her face, he saw that he had her attention, just like in the old days, when she had been his student. “You are his mother because you love him as one, and you raised him as one. Nothing can change that, not even the fact that he is not of your womb.” Regarding his words carefully, he continued, the strange desire to be of help to the woman beside him enveloping him, now that he was free of darkness dousing his soul. In a complicated and strange way, Rumplestiltskin knew that he would have never felt anything of sorts toward Regina if he was still the Dark One. Just two people had been able to move him enough to make him care about them, and one of them was his true love. “It is possible that in the absence of the blood bond, he loved you even better. He had chosen to be your father, to help you and to love you, even with his last breath.” It was risky to touch his death but he decided that they would talk, really talk, and it meant digging up some old wounds for Regina.

She threw him a warning look, but he just shook his head. “Was I always doomed to be the Evil Queen? The one who would use the curse for you?” The bitterness in her voice was apparent, but there was no anger. Which honestly surprised him.

“No.” He looked away in something akin to shame. “No, you were not doomed at all. In fact, you were blessed with the kindest heart I have ever seen.” He shrugged, admitting his own part in corrupting the good soul before him. “It did not suit me or your mother to have such a good person in line for the throne. We did everything in our power, each for oneself, of course, to divert you to the path we meant for you. She wanted a fierce uncompromising ruler she could take out, becoming the kind queen herself, adored by the crowds for rescuing them from the Evil Queen. I, on the other hand, needed someone in such despair willing to destroy everything for a chance of revenge and punishment. Someone who would unthinkingly cast the curse, paying the price in the process.”

“You both succeeded. Well, you did. She somewhat did.” Casually commenting on the past, she focused her look on Snow, who had left the below just minutes ago. The reminder of the woman in stasis below helped her keep her own calm, knowing it was placing Rumplestiltskin on edge, expecting her to lash out any second now. But, she would never give him the satisfaction. She loved being able to surprise him. And at the same time she was keeping her promise to the Savior that she would do better.

“Even young Snow played into my mother’s hands, giving her another nail to hammer into my coffin.” Regina broke the silence, turning to Rumplestiltskin. “I often wondered how fate offered such a perfect gift to mother, with the young princess being motherless at the time. She had something to do with Queen Eva’s death, didn’t she?”

“It was a matter of careful and long term planning and preparation. Cora hated Eva from their first meeting in King Xavier’s court. Having been humiliated by the princess, your mother swore revenge. But it also fulfilled her other goal, to leave an empty spot an agent of her choosing could fill.” Rumplestiltskin spoke, revealing the closely guarded secret. “She had even been the one who had given Snow the candle she used to heal me, masquerading as the Blue Fairy. I didn’t know it at the time, but when I learned I was very proud of her. Using Snow’s own kindness, and willingness to help, she enticed her to use one of the darkest magic objects in the world to heal her mother, destroying the goodness in her in the process. And by refusing, Snow would always bear the stamp of guilt in denying her own mother the cure. Such a brilliant piece of work.” He spoke, remembering his reaction when he had found out about Cora’s scheming. At Regina’s disgruntled murmur he curbed his smile. “Of course, you had to marry Leopold to reach that spot…”

“And she pushed for it so hard, and I never understood why. She had the power of magic, why would she need more?” Regina said, going back into the time when she had met Snow. “Now, of course, I understand. Power and fear demand constant feed… That is what makes them so dangerous…” she murmured to herself, but loudly enough for Mister Gold to hear her.

“Miss Swan told you that?”

“Not in those words, or even in that sentiment…” Regina said with a smile, remembering the blonde Sheriff’s commentary in her thoughts during their connection. In her style, Emma had offered clichéd comments giving them her own twist, appropriate to the situation. Absolute power corrupts absolutely was one of many…

Turning to the man beside her, she looked into his face. “When I summoned you, that night, before the wedding, you said you knew me since I was a baby. Why tell me that and not that you were my father?”

“You still had your kind heart with you, refusing to become like Cora, refusing to take action against Snow…” Leaning against the railing, he looked at her with an apology in his face. “If you learned that you came from two magical beings, both in your standards evil, apart from destroying your fiery spirit completely, you would have never accepted my offer, and you’d never use magic. And I would be left without a scapegoat…” Seeing her move, he flinched unwillingly, but disregarding it, he continued. “It served no purpose for you to know. And you know that I did nothing that didn’t bring me some gain.”

“Did you even consider me as anything more than a tool?”

Flinching again, but this time from the venomous and bitter tone of her voice, he looked at her trying for his patented smirk. “Here you go again, looking for parental approval. Even then, you had that need to please me, to make me proud, even though, to your knowledge, I was only your teacher. Later it turned in contempt, with many games we played with each other. I was proud of you, of your progress, but I don’t know if I ever felt toward you even a fraction I felt toward Bae…” He turned away, looking at the sails flapping in the wind. “It wasn’t your loss. I wasn’t a good person, let alone good father that even my own loving son hates me. Or he did…”

Regina frowned at the shaking voice of the man beside her. Was it possible he was choked about his involvement in her lifetime of misery? Disregarding that line of thought, she looked away, wanting to get out of the conversation but unwilling to yield.

“I wanted to ask you something. That is why I actually came.” He spoke after several minutes of uncomfortable silence.

She looked at him, silently giving him permission to continue. She could always deny him the answer…

“What are you afraid of?”

The question, so sudden and so much laced with meaning, surprised Regina into dislodging her arms off her chest. “What do you mean?” she tried unsuccessfully to stall for more time, to think out of the way to leave, without seeming that she was running away.

“You know very well what I mean. Miss Swan, you, True Love’s Kiss… What are you afraid of?” Rumplestiltskin insisted, careful not to touch her in order not to push her too far. She had been hiding herself for far too long, and he would do anything to rectify that, as his penance, even if she never forgave him for his many transgressions.

“The truth… That I am not the one you are looking for.” Regina finally broke, her fears coming out. “Snow looks at me with this expectancy in her eyes, that somehow I would save her daughter. Even David glances at me with his sympathetic look.” She threw up her hand in the air. “And I am not the one. I can’t be.”

Before there was the danger of him ending up in the sea water from her anger, as her hands were sparkling with magic, he changed the subject, fast. “You said before that you learned of my part in your life, but that she hasn’t told you. What did you mean by it?”

Feeling tremendous relief for the sudden turn in conversation, she leaned back on the railing. “During the storm when you tried to stop me from going to her…” She looked at him, with a calculating look, her decision that she would not feel anything of kindness toward the man wavering at the consideration that he had tried to save her that day. Or he had only tried to prevent the loss of another needed power source, her mind spitefully added.

“I wondered how you did not get burned to cinders.” However his voice implied that the answer was so obvious that she was really obtuse for ignoring it. Frowning at his smirk, she pressed on, keeping the memory in her mind, keeping Emma’s voice ringing in her thoughts to prevent her from catapulting him over the railing and so far out of the ship that Hook could not maneuver it fast enough to rescue him.

“When I touched her, her magic recognized me somehow and pulled me in the inner barrier of sorts. When I saw my own eyes reflected in her magically glowing ones, it was like I was pulled in her very soul.” The memory of such warmth enveloped her, bringing a smile to her face, lighting up her eyes. Seeing her looking away in the distance, Rumplestiltskin knew without a doubt that he was doing the right thing. “And after one moment, that could have lasted an eternity as far as I knew, I could see her memories, her thoughts, even could feel her emotions and her reactions to various events and findings. And I had no doubt at all that she could do the same.” Coming back to present she shook away the smile, the memory bringing such ache into her heart, for she would never feel so accepted and loved again. Looking down at the man who dared even to smirk at her, when she could smite him with a flick of her hand, she frowned, feeling her magic rise once again. But Emma's sheepish smirk appeared before her, telling her that she was trying to learn negotiation from Gold, and calmed her down.

Aware of the danger he had caused for himself, he sighed and pushed. “Even after such indomitable proof that you are bound by magic more powerful than anything else, you are still riddled with doubts and fear. And, even if it wasn’t true, which it is, you would know for sure, after the kiss. Have we damaged you so much, that you cannot recognize your way to the happiness you have always desired?” He spoke with honesty and regret filling his voice. “What is the real reason you are refusing to accept this?” He asked earnestly, taking her shoulders, willing her to tell him, to admit to herself.

Regina tried to fight off physically, as her magic tapered off in her emotional storm, but Rumplestiltskin held on, careful not to inflict her pain. After minutes of helpless struggle, she gave up, letting herself be placed against the railing, so she would not slide down onto the floor. “Daniel,” she whispered.

He closed his eyes against the pain and anguish in the simple word. Of course. It made sense now. Her refusal, her fear, even her anger at the suggestion that she was Emma’s True Love.

“If he wasn’t my True Love, that all the things I did, all the crimes I committed in his name were meaningless,” she whispered in self-reproach.

“Why do you say that?” the old man asked, releasing her from his grip.

“If I kiss Emma and she awakens, then…”

“Where is it written that you cannot have more than one True Love?” But before Regina could stutteringly deflect his question, he continued. “Even if it is true that one could have one True Love, it being Emma, why do you feel that it would change the motive beyond your actions you had committed in the past?”

Making her think and reason was the key, he knew, having learned that with his various dealings with her. Seeing that he made her consider his words, he let her think of a counter argument. When the time passed and she remained silent, except the inaudible mumbling, he decided to break the quiet again. “You feel deeply, whatever you feel at any given moment. That is your greatest weakness, and also your greatest strength. And, that means that what you felt for Daniel was deep enough for you to be, well, not justified in your actions, but understood and forgiven.”

His words, reminiscent of Emma’s, spoken not so long ago, touched Regina in the way she couldn’t explain. But, it wasn’t the only thing she feared. And he sensed that.

“What else is troubling you?”

“What if she is?” Regina spoke tremulously, realizing that she was showing her weaknesses to the man she hated, but not caring at the moment.

“What if she is?” he prodded, waiting for her to continue.

“And she dies. Really, this time.” She looked up and crossed her arms across her chest again, protecting what little was left of her dignity. “I destroyed the Enchanted Forest in revenge for Daniel’s death. What would I do for hers?”

He placed his hand upon her arms, drawing her look toward him. “Nothing bad. Because you would have a loving family to help you deal with the loss. And haven’t you learned with the Charmings, True Love is hard to separate, almost impossible, in fact.” He leaned into her space, lowering his voice, gentling it for her sake, ready to offer another possibility, more probable one. “What if she doesn’t die, apart from old age? Which really is the most likely outcome, and I mean it with my complete assuredness. You deny yourself an eternity, as long as it lasts, of happiness and joy, balanced with hard moments, of course, just to keep you on your toes and the things interested.”

“Enough”, she spoke softly, overwhelmed by his reasoning and her own heart wishing for it to be possible. But it was not. It was not like Fate to give her such a gift not to take it away later. In this fantasy only heartbreak lied ahead, she convinced herself, deciding to protect what little was left of her heart. Not willing nor able to risk it again, and feel it break, again, she fought with all her power against the wishes of her own heart, denying ‘the obvious truth’ as Rumplestiltskin called it. It was much safer that way. And they all would be proved wrong when they found Baelfire, and he swooped in, the gentle knight Henry always wanted him to be, waking Emma up. Regardless of her desire to run as far away as she could, she couldn’t leave her son or Emma. She would gladly suffer the pain of witnessing them proved wrong, and her right, if it meant she would keep a friend by her side, and her wonderful boy.

Knowing that she had doomed herself to a life of yearning and suffering for as long as she lived, but not ready or eager to deny herself the only remaining joy she had left, in the shape of her boy – who had finally accepted her and forgiven her, she turned away, ready to leave. She had enough of this conversation and the pain it brought. Unwilling to sully her Savior by breaking her promise, she started walking away, trying to put some distance before she did some damage to the old man.

“Regina, you…” Rumplestiltskin started, following after her, but the sharp movement of her hand stopped him in mid sentence.

“Enough,” she said again, her voice firmer this time, not turning to look at him. Walking away, she glanced up at Snow and seeing her once nemesis wave her over, she changed directions mid step. Any kind of distraction would do at a time like this, she thought.

* * *

Snow had joined her husband at the Helm, keeping him company while Hook had something to eat and caught a small nap. She looked at the woman talking with the old man, worried that a magical duel would break out at any time, and the only person able to break them up was in a magical coma, stopped only moments away from dying. But after a while it seemed that Regina had controlled her temper, and Gold did not seem to lose his composure either.

“I would have thought that she would be the first in line to kiss Emma, to prove her stake in this family,” David’s voice broke the comfortable silence that had fallen between them. Snow looked up at him, and saw him watch the older woman with confused frown on his face. As observant as he was, he sometimes just couldn’t understand Regina and the motivation behind her behavior. Snow placed her hand onto his cheek, smoothing the lines on his forehead with her fingers in gentle caress.

“She would never expose herself in that way willingly,” Snow spoke with an understanding born of knowing both Emma and Regina, and their ways of thinking. A lifetime of evading Regina and meaningful conversations she had as Mary Margaret with Emma gave a lot of insight in the psyche of these women. And, she had a feeling that understanding one of them meant understanding the other one.

“Why?” David asked, looking down at his wife.

“She is afraid.” Looking at the woman, she saw that she was involved in a heavy discussion with Rumplestiltskin. She hoped he wasn’t taunting her now when she was down, prepared to go to the other woman’s rescue at a moment’s notice.

“Of what?!” Her husband spoke with authentic surprise that Regina was afraid of anything besides losing Henry. Rolling her eyes at him, Snow shook her head, noticing that Hook was walking toward them.

“Of being hurt again,” she said shortly, drawing David’s attention to the man coming to them, warning him to stop his line of questioning. But she had no doubt that when they were alone, he would have more queries for her.

Hook placed his hand onto the wheel, taking over from David. Gladly relinquishing the controls, Charming stepped aside, taking Snow’s hand, ready to go down below for a little rest as well. “Oy, before you go, would someone tell me where we are going next?” Hook asked, looking at them.

Snow looked startled for a moment but then she just shook her head. “I don’t know. Gold was supposed to see where Neal had been sent.”

“Well, get on with it then,” Hook replied impatiently. “I am not spending another moment here if I don’t have to.”

Deciding to hold a meeting regarding their future plans and destinations, she looked around and seeing the other woman striding purposefully toward the entrance to lower decks, she waved to get her attention. Regina looked at her and at the moment’s deliberation, continued toward her. At the same time, David called Gold to join them for the meeting. It was about time they left, for they all were still feeling the effects of the battle and the destruction of Peter Pan.

* * *

As everyone gathered looked at Rumplestiltskin to summon his globe again and to search for Baelfire, he shook his head in defeat. “I am afraid I cannot do it,” he said heavily, leaning upon his cane. When everyone but Regina erupted into an argument, one yelling over the other, he just waved his hand, asking for silence. But, before he could speak, a boy joined their midst, hugging his mother in greeting.

“What is going on?” Henry asked sleepily, wiping his eyes with his fist in such a childish move, that both Regina and Snow smiled gently upon him. “What are you shouting about?”

“Your grandfather was about to tell everyone why he couldn’t look for Baelfire in his blood searching globe,” Regina spoke to him, keeping another one of her promises – not to lie to her son. It seemed she had made quite a few in these few days. Was it only a few days?

As no one wanted to interrupt Regina while she spoke to Henry, the quiet settled on the group. But it was soon broken by the one man who had the answers. “As I was about to say, I cannot help because I don’t have my powers any more.” It was apparent that he was uncomfortable with the surprised scrutiny he was subjected to at the statement.

“You lost your powers?” Henry spoke, his voice rising, astounded by the fact that his grandfather was no longer the Dark One.

Rumplestiltskin scowled at the boy, before he tapped his cane snottily. “I, my dear boy, did not lose my powers. They are not a watch to misplace somewhere.” Calming himself down at Regina’s reproaching look, he inclined his head in apology. “I simply used them up, fighting Peter Pan. If not for your mother, I would have been dead.” When Henry looked up at the brunette, and seeing her confused look he glanced back at Rumplestiltskin, followed by every head in the group. “The other mother. If she had not pushed her magic toward me at the last moment, it would be the end of me as well as the end of the Dark One.”

“So she used her powers saving you instead of saving herself,” Regina said coldly, but before she could continue he pressed on.

“She had already been hit with the Curse of Darkness, even before she freed me. Actually, that is why she freed me. To help her, because she needed additional strength and she did not want you to get into the fighting because he needed one of the parents there for him,” Rumplestiltskin spoke softly, gesturing at Henry with his hand. “She knew it would take most, if not all of my strength and yet that it might not be enough. I called you in because we were so close and needed just one more solid push. It was safe for you, that was the reason she allowed it.”

Henry left his mother’s arms, having hugged her in comfort. He walked to his grandfather and stood in front of him. “Belle will be so proud of you, when we get back.”

At Rumplestiltskin’s watering eyes, David placed his hand upon the boy’s shoulder. “I don’t think we are going back. Not if Belle made good on her promise.”

At the startled looks directed at David and then again at Rumplestiltskin, the old man rushed to explain, before he was enveloped with another yelling match. “I gave Belle a cloaking spell to put on our town. Greg, or Owen as Regina knows him, only proved to us how dangerous the world is for our kind. They do not understand magic, and they will fear it, and destroy all of us in that fear.” He looked at Henry, as he was the best judge of what would happen of the world finding out the magic of Storybrooke, as he was well versed in stories about people with magical powers, many of them found in the comic books he liked to read so much. Seeing him nod in agreement, he continued. “If the spell is activated before we return, and I trust it will be, we will not be able to see the town from outside the border. And, as we are outside of it when the spell is casted, there is no way for us to unveil it for us. So, no, we cannot go back.” He looked at Henry’s tearing eyes so the next words he spoke directly to him. “I know that this is not what you wanted, but I had to protect Belle and with her everyone else in the town. Greg and Tamara activated the trigger knowing what it would do. Who knows what the others might do? I think it was the right thing to do.” He ended softly, pained with the knowledge that he would never see his True Love again, despite Belle’s reassurance.

Henry just took his hand and squeezed it, looking into his eyes with understanding in his own. “It was.”

Regina came from behind and hugged her boy, wishing that she could ease his trouble. Pulling him into her embrace, she nodded to the old man in acceptance of his move. Soon, the other two agreed, David having already known about the cloak. Only Hook remained silent, but they did not think it strange for he had no interest in going back, as Rumplestiltskin was no longer the Dark One, and killing an ordinary man, no matter who he was, was not the revenge he imagined. So, in his mind, he had set his debts with the crocodile that had killed his love in the past, when he had chosen Henry over his revenge.

“So, if you no longer have the magic, who can tell us where to go?” Hook asked, eager to get the show going again.

Rumplestiltskin looked up at Hook watching him, scrutinizing him carefully, and deciding to lay out his secret. Or perhaps he would just give the answers without explanations. He was always good at using the truth in his own way. “Regina.” His short answer was enough.

The woman in question looked at him and after a long moment of scrutiny, nodded in acceptance. She let Henry go to Snow and came closer to him, ready for her instructions, her sharp look warning him to keep it strictly in the business mode. He leaned in her space, standing by her side and softly spoke his instructions, slowly, making sure that she understood each one perfectly. When he mentioned that she would have to concentrate on her blood connection to Neal, she speared him with a suspicious look, but he held firm to her doubting gaze.

“It is the only way,” he answered softly, aware of the trouble for Regina. Not only was he an unrecognized brother to Regina, but also a competitor for the place in the Charming family. And now she was to acknowledge and accept her connection to him, in order to find him.

“Fine,” she blew out softly, clenching her jaw afterwards, keeping her temper under control. It would not do to Henry to see her outraged for no apparent reason. She still did not know what to tell him about the newest development. Closing her eyes, she remembered Neal’s face from one of their encounters. If she really thought about it, they had similar smiles and the same eyes. Reaching for the likenesses, she pulled the knowledge deep into her own heart. She had a brother. Feeling her blood react to her thoughts, she poured magic into it making the connection stronger.

“Now, summon the globe from the Crew Quarters. You have seen me what I did after, just follow it…”

With a poof of purple smoke, the globe appeared and she placed her finger on the prick at the top, puncturing the skin. As several drops of blood dropped on to the surface of the globe, Regina felt small arms encircle her waist. Smiling down at her boy, she placed her undamaged hand onto his back, pulling him to her tighter. When he looked up into her face, he frowned with concern. But before she was able to compose her visage into calm and assured form, he pulled her down toward him. “Don’t do that,” he whispered softly, hiding his mouth from the others by leaning into her shoulder. “Don’t pretend.” Sounding so much like his blonde mother at the time, she felt her mask fall away even before she could put it on. Placing her hand onto his face, she caressed his cheek with her thumb gently, nodding with a bashful and weak smile. “You will always be my mother, no matter what,” he said firmly, albeit softly, conscious of the closeness of the others. “One of them,” he added with what she thought of as a patented Emma smirk. Chuckling at his humorous adage, she looked at the globe and gasped, recognizing the shapes swirling on the globe’s misty surface.

“Where is that?” Henry asked, looking up at the adults who stood stunned with the image of a land. When no one answered him, he turned to his mother and concerned with her worried and afraid face he tapped her shoulder, drawing her attention to him. “Mom?” She opened her mouth to answer but nothing came out. Getting more concerned by the second he grabbed her hand.

But before he could ask again, Henry heard Snow clear her throat. “Home. That is the Enchanted Forest.” Her voice shook with many emotions, and she looked at Henry with teary glaze in her eyes. “We are going home.”

Henry looked back at his mother. That was the worst place for the former Evil Queen to be, and he knew that. And Henry also knew that she would look for Neal, even if it meant her life’s end, because he had asked for it. In that moment it hit him, as it had several times before, so strongly that he lost his breath for a moment. She loved him, so much, that she would go into certain death just to make him happy. His eyes watered.

“You don’t have to come,” he spoke, unaware that he had spoken loudly enough for others to hear. Snow closed her eyes in realization that the Evil Queen would not be welcome in the Enchanted Forest, no matter what anyone said.

“I am not leaving you,” Regina answered with a weak smile, oddly pleased that he had tried to protect her.

“But, Mom…” He tried again, but a gentle finger across his lips stopped him. The older woman touched his nose gently and wiped the runaway tears from her son’s cheeks.

“I am not leaving you,” she said again, speaking each word with calm enunciation, making her point clear.

“We will protect her, Henry,” David spoke with certainty. Henry turned to his younger grandfather with the hopeful inquiry in his eyes. “We will defend her. She is a part of the family.” Charming spoke in his proclamation voice, reassuring Henry, and lifting his gaze to the former Evil Queen, he looked her directly into her eyes. “And you never abandon family.” His firm declaration eased some of the fear that clenched her heart, and she gratefully smiled at the Prince.

“Well, then, let’s go!” Henry exclaimed happily, ready for another adventure, hardly able to wait to see the land where they all came from. Clapping his hands in pleasure, he looked at Hook and Snow, waiting for them to move. Snow still held the pouch with the bean, as he had entrusted her to guard it.

“Not so fast, lad,” Hook spoke, breaking Henry’s mood. “Emma did fix her up good, but Jolly still needs to be prepared for the rough seas. They are common at this time of year in the Enchanted Forest, and we cannot know where we will be dropped.” His voice of reason calmed the boy down. “I and the Prince will take care of it; you just sit tight and stay out of the way.” Tying up the rope around the wheel, he gestured to David to follow him

Henry took his mother’s hand and held it, leading them to the stairs close to the entrance below deck, seeing everything that was happening, but keeping aside. Snow and Rumplestiltskin joined them, enjoying the moment of peace.

“What I do not understand is how the boys remained the same age they were taken at, and the Lost Boys almost grew up?” Regina asked after a while, breaking the comfortable silence and looking at Rumplestiltskin, thinking he would know as he almost always knew things regarding magic. Henry nodded, also interested in the answer.

“Peter had a very powerful magic at his disposal, fueled by an endless supply of young minds and spirits.” Rumplestiltskin started, remembering what he had known about their enemy. “His presence in Neverland was so powerful that the land itself was doused with his magic, making it a place where no one aged, no matter the time that passed. I do not know the specifics of the magic, but it involved using the energy of the young children.” He looked at Henry and continued, consciously gentling his voice. “It would seem that there was a prophecy about you, young prince, which said that you would have energy in you, powerful enough that when fed to Peter it would end his dependence on the new coming boys, and even give him the power to cross realms on his own.” When Henry shuddered at the reminder of the danger he had been in, Rumplestiltskin placed his hand onto the boy’s knee. “However, it would seem that there are more prophecies about you, dear boy. Earlier, in my time, I heard a prophecy from the Seer that had foretold that I would lose my son to my actions. She had foreseen that you would be the end of me.” At Regina’s startled gasp, he turned to the woman and nodded, confirming her thoughts about the danger her son had been in, from his own grandfather. “But, as prophecies go, this one came to be in the way I could not predict. In saving you, the Dark One met his end, fulfilling the vision of the Seer.” He smiled at the boy. “And as the Dark One ceased to exist, Peter Pan followed him into oblivion.”

But he was aware that he had not answered the question. As he didn’t know the answer, he just shrugged, the move seeming so strange on the dignified man.

“If I may?” a new voice interrupted, drawing the group’s attention toward Elias who was sitting beside the stairs to below. “Your Majesty?” the boy asked for permission to join them.

Snow invited him with a gracious hand move, gesturing to him to sit beside her, closing their little circle. “You do not have to ask for permission to talk to us, Elias. I am not the Queen here.” At his glance toward Regina, she chuckled, letting the older woman deal with it.

“Nor am I,” Regina spoke with a gentle smile, holding Henry to her.

“You know something about this mystery?” Rumplestiltskin asked the boy after he had settled down.

“I heard Felix explain it once to one of the boys.” Elias looked at his hands, uncomfortable with the attention of so many adults, after the endless time spent in place that had none.

“Who is Felix?” Snow asked.

“The blonde one, the chief. He said that Peter would find out who was faithful to him and devoted to his goal and he would reward him with the ability to reach an older age.” Elias shrugged, but continued nevertheless. “But Christian, one of the boys, thought that Peter needed an army and that he allowed the ones who would quickly forget about their homes and past to grow, because he had no need for the army of weak and helpless children. Not long after he had said that, Devin came for him and we hadn’t seen him again.”

At the question who Devin was, the boy explained his appearance and Henry recognized the man that had accompanied Felix when he had been led to Peter. Elias shared some of his experiences, explaining that most of the children were taken to never be seen again, while few were given the opportunity to become one of the Lost Boys and fewer remained untouched, such as him and the other four. When he spoke of the Shadow, Henry looked at his grandfather hoping that he would know to explain it away.

“The Shadow is the entity Peter used to kidnap children. As he could not cross the worlds because it would use up much of his energy he created the Shadow in his own image, imbuing it with just enough magic to go to its intended destination, back and to protect the charge of the crossing in process.” Rumplestiltskin answered the inquiry in the boy’s eyes. “But as we fought him, he summoned the Shadow to him, needing the extra power. It got destroyed along with him.” Knowing that he hadn’t satisfied the boy’s thirst for knowledge, he added. “The Neverland is specific. It could be reached not only with portals but also with flying, unlike other Realms. If someone had enough power to keep himself airborne that long, he would reach it, regardless of the mode of transport. However, they had to know where they were going and to wish to get there, as there is a protection spell around the Realm, defending it from unsuspecting people barging in.”

When Henry nodded, understanding how the Shadow could just fly away with its victims, Rumplestiltskin rose to his feet, groaning softly as he leaned onto his bad leg. Looking around, he noticed that David was walking toward them, having left Hook at the Helm. “It seems that the preparations are done.”

“Hey, guys. Hook said we are ready to leave, but he suggested we eat first.” David helped his wife up to her feet, smiling at the group. Reaching to Regina as well, he offered her a helping hand which she accepted without a blink. Henry smiled at the ease they all behaved with around each other, telling him that most, if not all of the past had been put behind them.

Henry waved Elias over and guided him to the galley, talking with the younger boy about the Enchanted Forest Elias remembered. Snow took Regina’s elbow, and nudged her gently, showing at the boys. “He is making friends.”

Regina smiled sadly, looking at her child, letting Snow guide her toward the hatch to the lower level. “He is using Elias as a distraction. The news of not going back shook him, badly, regardless of his cheery appearance.” Then she looked at Snow, afraid of how her words might have sounded.

Snow released Regina’s elbow and let David climb down first, wanting a moment alone with her former stepmother. “I know what you meant, Regina. You don’t have to watch your every step, afraid that we will judge you the moment you slip. I will not. We will not.” Placing her hand onto Regina’s forearm, she squeezed gently. “Emma made sure of it, and I know that she was right about you. I think I always knew, but refused to accept.” Sighing, she looked toward the hatch. “He has so much of you both in him.”

Regina nodded and turned her arm so she could reach for Snow’s arm that had already been grasping hers. “I don’t know what to do,” she whispered suddenly, startling the younger woman, who had thought that their conversation was over. Regina looked at the former nemesis, and shook her head in defeat. “It seems that I am failing on every side.”

“What do you mean?” Snow managed to say, surprised with such a show of vulnerability from the other woman. It must have been Emma’s unavailability that forced Regina to talk to her. Still, she would have never thought that Regina would come to her. However, accepting the role with responsibility and care, she tried to offer comfort to the mother of her grandson.

“Emma is…” Regina started, but her voice broke at the word she wanted to say. “Indisposed at the moment.” Snow knew the woman enough to know that it wasn’t the word she had in mind to speak. “We cannot go home, and I might die in the hands of outraged villagers of Enchanted Forest. I cannot ease Henry’s worry and pain the way Emma could, and with her gone-”

“Regina,” the pixie haired woman spoke softly, interrupting her wallowing. “Henry loves you. And he would never blame you for not being able to go home. And he worries because he doesn’t want to lose you. Worry is part of loving someone, as you must know. Emma will return, when someone is ready to get her back.” At this, Snow pierced Regina with such a meaningful look that the older woman had to look away. “And David meant what he said, as do I. You are part of our family, and as such you are protected with our swords, bows and anything else that can help.” Grabbing both Regina’s forearms, but not harshly, she forced the woman to look back at her. “You are not failing. The situation is overwhelming and you are doing what there can be done. And it is enough.” Searching the dark eyes in front of her for a glimmer of hope, or ease, Snow continued on. “He is such a wonderful boy, strong enough to endure this with few if any marks, because you raised him as you have. You have done so much for him already, and it is OK to falter here and there.” Finally seeing what she was looking for, Snow smiled gently at the relaxation in the tense shoulders in front of her. “Let’s go down, they will wonder what’s keeping us…”

During their meal together, it was decided that Snow and Rumplestiltskin would stay with the rescued children in the Crew Quarters, Regina and Henry in the Captain’s Cabin with Emma, and Hook would navigate, with David’s help and assistance. As they did not know where exactly the portal would leave them, it was agreed to first make the jump, and then plan for the search.

“I don’t understand why I have to be inside?” Henry complained, after Regina closed the door of the cabin. Leaning her head against the wood, she closed her eyes in resignation. Henry had been arguing against their decision to keep all the children below deck during the jump for their own safety. The young prince, not wanting to miss the important part of the mission of saving his biological mother, expressed his wish to be on the deck with David.

“Because it is not safe, Henry.” Regina turned away from the door, looking at her son, who was standing close to the bed, with his arms crossed, staring defiantly at his brunette mother. “I, we, just got you back. And I am not ready to risk your life for your desire to have fun.” She looked at Emma, lying peacefully on the bed, and swallowed visibly. Henry followed her look with his eyes and with a changed attitude sat on the bed, placing his hand onto Emma’s.

Regina walked to him, going through his hair with her gentle fingers. “I know you wish to see and experience everything there is to this adventure, but sometimes, it’s just not worth the risk,” Regina spoke softly, welcoming the relaxation in his posture with relief. As he leaned his head onto her belly, she took hold of his shoulders, giving him a hug, still having one of her hands in his hair.

“The protection spell,” Henry started speaking, still keeping his hand on his mother’s ones, then he looked at the other mother in the room, standing beside him. “Will it keep her safe until we find Neal?”

And that was the important question that tortured Regina since the moment she had casted it. The Curse was still active, and it was attacking the spell, making it less effective in time. Regina didn’t know, and could not even dare to predict how long it would last. All that knowledge was weighted with the expectations that the adult crew, well most of the crew, placed on her. For now, it was still easy to hide the fear under justifications and rationalizations, reinforced by Henry’s adamant belief that Neal was the one they were looking for. They still had time, but it was the inevitable fact that it was running out.

“I think so.” Regina was looking at the blonde woman lying on the bed when she spoke, seeing the soft smile frozen on her face.

Not really reassured by her whispered answer, Henry searched Regina’s face for more clues. It was rare to see the emotions swirling in the darkness of her eyes, but at the moment he saw uncertainty and fear fighting for supremacy over hope and determination. Snow had told him that his mothers had become friends, and it could explain all the feelings showing on Regina’s face, but something was off. He was missing something, and it tickled him because he had a feeling that his grandmother had known about that thing when she had talked to him about it.

“Mom?”

Regina blinked and looked down to her boy, slightly frowning in confusion, thinking that she had missed a question. “Sorry?”

“You seem tired.” The change of subject made Regina blink again, but she only raised an eyebrow in answer. But, used to his leaping from one subject to another, she just nodded and sat down onto the bed, next to him. If she had to be honest, she would say that she felt down right haggard, over worn with all the emotional and physical stress she had suffered in the previous day.

Henry reached for her face, touching her cheek with concern, finally having a good look at the brunette. Her eyes had shadows not even magic could hide and her movements were slow and sluggish, compared to her precise and sharp motion she always had exhibited. “When was the last time you had some rest?” Henry asked, sounding more like a worrying parent than a child at the moment, making Regina quirk her lips into snorting sneer that had none of her usual venom and bite.

“I thought I am the parent here.”

“Mom,” came Henry’s reproachful tone.

Regina tried to remember the last time she had slept, but the events only started piling up in her mind, making it hard for her to recollect the precise moment in the past days of her last rest. She had grabbed a little shut eye just before the storm had hit, the day prior to the rescue. Had it been only a day? It seemed an eon had passed, with all the things that happened. And the last time she had slept was the night before, when her night had been interrupted many times by nightmares, soothed every time by Emma who would whisper at her with a calming and soft voice, easing her terrors.

“It was two nights ago…” Regina spoke gently, musing at the events that had happened during the previous mission.

“Do you think we’ll get a chance to rest before we continue on, after the jump?” Henry asked, more for her sake than for his own. She just looked at him with a kind smile, acknowledging his care.

“I don’t know, depending on where we come out.” Feeling the ship move to a side, she took his shoulder and summoning some of her regenerated power, she held them tight. “Hold on, it may be rough.” At that moment, the ship banked hard left, throwing Henry off balance, but Regina was ready for it, holding him steady and keeping Emma motionless at the pallet. After a while they experienced a sudden drop and the whooshing noise of the water could be heard even in their cabin. And then everything went quiet, and the ship leveled out.

* * *

“You know, I could do this by myself, if you would rather be with your wife, down below.” Hook commented, his hook at the wheel, as he did the last spot check of Jolly Roger before the travel.

“As if anyone trusts you enough the second time with the bean.” David took the pouch and opened it, seeing that the captain finished his observation, obviously pleased. “Your selfish streak can kick in at any moment, and why would we risk it, unnecessary?”

“You wound me,” Hook spoke, glancing toward the prince as he tied the rope around his middle.

“I just might yet do that. I still owe you for before.” David followed Hook’s suit and secured himself with another rope as he checked the line thoroughly. Then he looked at the captain and frowned. “Something is different, now. Is this about Neal? You knew him from before, I heard you talking to Gold about him when he was a boy.”

“I loved his mother, and he reminded me a lot of her, when he was a boy.” Hook blinked at his sharing, not used to divulging personal details about his life to anyone. “And then I betrayed him,” he added for the measure, before looking up into the sails to judge the direction of the wind, avoiding eye contact with the prince. “I just wanted a chance to right that wrong,” he mumbled softly, but he knew that David had heard him by the surprised raise of his eyebrows.

Gesturing to the other man to get on with it, Hook took the wheel in his both hands, sort to speak. When David picked up the translucent bean and threw it overboard, the dark haired man watched the object fly over the railing and into the sea, immediately creating a whirl of greenish light and turbulent water. Turning the wheel quickly, he sailed into the whirl, prepared for the rough twist of the ship. Keeping the careful balance on his feet, he held onto the wheel, maintaining the course straight to the source of the light.

“Off we go to the Enchanted Forest!” he spoke to David, seconds before the ship dropped into the whirlpool of green light and tremendous noise, darkness engulfing them at once. Seconds passed slowly and at last they reappeared in the rain of another sea, the gloom of the day pierced with lightning and thunder.

As they appeared close to the shore, he took out his scope and watched for any landmark in order to gauge their position. Seeing a familiar building in the distance, he smiled, giving the scope to the prince beside him. “I believe you are home.”

And indeed, the castle in the distance was the one he, along with Snow, had won from his father, King George and had made his home. As he watched the ruins of his Kingdom, a tear slipped out of his eye, streaming down his cheek. “Home,” he murmured, lowering down the scope as his tears mingled with the rain drops of the storm.

* * *

Slowly unlocking her limbs, Regina sighed in exhaustion. Henry looked up at her with concern, rising from his place at the pallet. When Regina did not follow him up, but lowered her head tiredly, he took her hand that wasn’t holding her up and squeezed it in question. Slowly, the older woman gripped the small hand in hers and smiled weakly at the boy waiting for her. “I just need a moment,” she whispered, still not looking at him, knowing that she would seem even more tired after that last bit of magic.

“Go to bed, mom.” Henry spoke gently, not appeased with her reassuring grip on his hand. Having a pretty good idea what she had done in the previous minutes to keep him and Emma from knocking themselves around the cabin, and that she was at the end of her rope, he gestured her to lie down, guiding her with a hand on her shoulder. “Emma won’t mind,” he whispered with a smile, as he watched Regina sigh in comfort as she stretched out on the bed. “I’ll go to Snow, and see what’s up.” But before he left, he leaned over his barely awake mother and kissed her forehead, replicating the ritual Regina had used to send him to sleep every night before he had run away. “Sleep tight,” he said with a slight smirk, as he covered her with a light blanket.

“Henry?” Regina spoke, her eyes already closing. As he turned to her, on his way to the door, she continued, “Wake me if you need me, or if something happens.”

With a soft murmur of agreement, Henry watched his mother fall asleep almost instantly, her hands on her belly, mirroring Emma’s position. Softly, he opened the door, and with a last look toward the women who had the title of mother in his life, he left the room, closing the door behind him, and went in search of Snow.

He found his grandmother with the children in the Crew quarters, while Rumplestiltskin was absent from the room. The younger ones were sleeping peacefully, while Elias and Robert were talking to the woman, at ease with the gentle and mothering figure. As he walked in, the boys stopped talking, looking at him with interest. Waving at them, he sat beside his grandmother, accepting the kind and affectionate ruffle of his hair with the suffering smile.

“How is your mother?” Snow asked, turning slightly to her grandson. She didn’t know if he was aware of what the brunette sorceress had done, but she wanted to make sure that Regina was taken care of, knowing what the woman had gone through.

Knowing that the pixie haired woman meant the older woman, he shrugged his shoulder, leaning onto the cabin wall, beside Snow. “Tired. I guess magic took the little she had left of energy, so I left her to sleep a bit.” Looking into the approving eyes of his grandmother, he smiled. “How did you manage through the ride?”

Snow watched him closely, picking up the awakening and fussing Kyle into her arms. “We did OK, after your mother managed to secure all the children in their places. I would’ve never been able to hold them all down.” At his surprised look, she knew he had not been conscious of the safeguard his mother had provided for them all. “I don’t know how but the purple smoke strapped the children down during the jump, like the harness in the baby seats of the car.”

At the information, Henry almost jumped off the pallet, worried about the tired woman. But, before he could move away, Snow took his hand and held him in place. “Don’t go storming in there, it would give her a start.” Gesturing him next to Elias and Robert, she placed Kyle in his arms, kissing his forehead in affection. “Elias will help you, while I check on her.” Rising, she saw Henry panic with a small baby in his arms, but it was soon enough that gentle guiding voice of the leader of the boys soothed him enough to relax, making Kyle smile and giggle with his own goofing grin.

Moving swiftly, but quietly, Snow went in the direction of the Captain’s cabin. Although she was reassuring and comforting toward Henry, she was worried about the older woman. She had known that Regina hadn’t slept the day before they had gone in rescue attempt, and that her sleep had been anything but good before that. Emma had shared offhandedly once that Regina had nightmares, and by her daughter’s daunting expression, they had been terrible. Once upon a time, she would be glad to hear that her nemesis was suffering at the hands of her own conscience, but at the moment, she was only concerned for the woman so prominent in her and her family’s life.

The knowledge that Regina had used magic to secure them during the journey through the portal, although she had been overwhelmed and tired enough for Snow to notice the sluggish movements during the meal in the galley, made her worry. She had never seen Regina not move in economical and precise movements, each with its purpose. Considering the memories of the woman in question, she amended her thoughts. She had seen Regina move more freely before the wedding to King Leopold, and only days before, with Emma. Must have been really exhausting to keep the mask on, all the time, all those years, Snow wondered. And, Emma had once said that sometimes the only protection someone could get was to be the meanest kid in the crowd.

Instead of pity, Snow was flooded with amazement and sympathy for the older woman, fighting the evils of her past the only way she had known how. Following her mother’s example, even though she hadn’t liked the woman at all, Regina had built herself powerful and mighty. But, as Emma had said, Cora had been the only mother she had known, and following the wrong example only made it more impossible for her to repent and accept help.

However, she had seen Regina as a parent many times during their time spent in the curse. As Mary Margaret she had seen the indulgent, loving and proud side of the powerful Mayor that now she could only connect with Prince Henry and with his care toward his daughter, for she had been in deed if not in blood. And now, Henry, her grandson was exhibiting the same care and kindness that he had learned from his adoptive mother. Right after the curse broke, she was all for denying Regina’s part in Henry’s upbringing, but faced with many facts and choices, she chose to follow Emma and accept her once nemesis as the irrefutable and undeniable parent to her grandson and thus, part of her family.

Opening the door slowly, she peeked inside, smiling at the sight that had welcomed her. Regina was deeply asleep, her body on her side, turned toward Emma. Although they were not touching, there was a sense of closeness and belonging that made Snow sigh, shaking her head at the older woman’s stubbornness and defensive attitude. But, Regina needed time to accept the facts, and Snow was willing to give it to her, as long as Emma was safe. She knew how Regina dealt with being pushed into a corner, and that was the situation Snow hoped to avoid.

Sneaking in, watching for the creaking floorboards she fixed the blanket over her former step mother, smiling in relief when she heard the soft inhalation of two people, breathing in rhythm. Moving over, she noticed that Emma seemed undisturbed, so she turned to leave. Then she found a shadow on the door, startling her a bit. Recognizing her husband, she waved him off and walked out the room, softly closing the door behind her.

“Is something wrong?” David asked softly, following Snow into the galley, it being the only empty room.

“She is just sleeping.” Snow turned to her husband and noticed his wet appearance. “What is going on?” She asked, gesturing toward his clothes.

David went with his fingers through his hair, pushing the remaining raindrops of his face. “We came up right in the cove off our castle.” The grieving voice accompanying his slumped shoulders made Snow’s heart ache at David’s downtrodden posture. “I know you have said it was in ruins, but to actually see it, stark against the lightning…” He shook his head and smiled weakly at her, his blue eyes hopeful once more, defiance burning through them. “But, we will rebuild. We did it once before, we will do it again. The children deserve their home.” He spoke with confidence, but Snow knew he was covering his fear and doubt with his need to do something.

“We will.” Simply agreeing with him, Snow reached for him and pulled him into her embrace, running her soothing hands over his broad back. They stood in silence for several minutes, soaking in their love, reaffirming their connection and devotion to each other.

“Gold is up there with Hook.” David continued, pulling out of the embrace. With a sheepish smirk he pulled them toward the cooker in the galley in order to dry out, as Snow’s clothes were almost soaked as his, in the front. “The Captain estimated it would take more than several hours to navigate to the Safe Haven in the storm, and as it would be much longer and more arduous on feet, he suggested we just wait it out, while he gets us closer to the village.”

“Is it wise to leave them alone?” Snow asked, having silently agreed with the plan. The rain storm would have passed by then and Regina would have rested enough to go on with them into the fortification. However, despite Rumplestiltskin being without his powers, it did not make him much less dangerous. Nevertheless, Killian had promised that his revenge was done, and on that, she trusted him.

David only smirked, having witnessed the conversation between the men in question just before he had come down, and looking for Snow. It could have passed for civil, even cordial one. “It is their problem to solve.”

Snow nodded and smiled, pulling her husband toward the Crew quarters, expecting Henry would be at the end of his wits surrounded by much younger children. When they came in, they stopped at the door, watching the scene developing right before their eyes. Henry was sitting on the bed, his knees akimbo and ankles crossed, holding the young Kyle on his lap. The youngest of the group was sleeping, leaning onto Henry’s belly, while the rest were entranced with what the oldest boy was telling them. Elias had Samuel on his lap, sitting next to Henry, and Robert had Damian, on the other side. As the adults paused, they could hear the story that had captivated the boys.

“… And so, the former Evil Queen, looking into her son’s eyes, nodded. She will be a hero, if only for the boy before her. She took his hand and squeezed it lightly, before pushing him away. With a fortifying breath, she looked at the magic well and seeing the deadly greenish gleam, she started walking toward it, her decision made. One way or the other, the death curse would be lifted as soon as she came to the well, and she will do her best to do as her son told her. Raising her hands high in the air, she glanced toward her boy, seeing the fear and hope in his eyes, and once more she nodded.

Placing her hands over the well, she closed her eyes, waiting for the death curse to work. It took a moment but then the green light attacked the woman, going into her hands, her skin, making her body glow with sickness. Shaking in pain, she endured the light until there was none of it left. As it disappeared, the woman was pushed back, thrown onto the ground, breathing heavily. For a moment, she thought that she had failed and sacrificed her life for nothing, but then her boy’s voice pierced the air.” Henry had seen his grandparents enter the room silently, and he appreciated the care they showed not to interrupt him. Looking into Snow’s eyes for a second, he continued on. “The Savior, followed by Snow, the fair Queen, climbed out of the well, proving the boy right and the woman glad she had listened to her son. But, she kept one dark secret, the former Evil Queen. Secret she didn’t want anyone to know. Secret that was not so much a secret as information everyone had forgotten about.” He liked that feeling, when everyone was hanging on his words, waiting impatiently for him to continue. Once, Emma had called him the storyteller, and she had been right. When August had agreed with her assessment, and had given him the idea to write his own story he had balked, thinking that they had been wrong to say that. But now, he realized that perhaps he had always been meant to tell stories, real or not.

“Later, when she was alone at home, she looked at herself in the mirror and saw the green light simmer on her skin, even swirl in her eyes. With sadness, she touched her face feeling her skin burn with the light touch. Slowly, she climbed to her son’s room, silently saying goodbye to him by touching his things and preparing his bed. Not letting her tears fall, she breathed in deeply, shaking off the weakness that engulfed her and walked toward her own room. Her secret was so dangerous, so powerful she dared to tell no one. And, she thought scoffing at the mirror in her room – someone would figure it out sooner or later, but it would be too late. Perhaps, it would be better that way, she thought.” Henry spoke, intentionally letting his voice drop, making the words sound more ominous. He knew he had the attention of everyone in the room, including his grandparents. He didn’t think they knew what had happened to Regina that day, nor that they even remembered what she had done. But he was to make sure that Snow knew what she had done that day, and maybe give them the new incentive to keep her safe from the angry villagers. And also, he wanted his new friends to know the other side of his mother, not just the Evil Queen.

“But then, the message came. The Savior herself wanted her to attend the welcome back party in their honor. After making a promise that she would try to get to the party, for her own son, she looked at the mirror with grief and helplessness. It was more than likely that she would break her promise, but she would try to get to the party, if only to see her boy one more time. You see, the secret she kept so closely was not a secret at all. She just didn’t want anyone to know that she was…” Henry looked up, his eyes boring into his grandmother’s green ones, keeping them locked into the intense gaze. “Dying.”

The startled gasps could be heard all around him. Then the boy at his left moved in discomfort. “But she can’t die!” the boy said with fear in his voice. “She saved the Savior. She is the hero.”

Pleased that he wasn’t the only one who saw it that way, Henry just shrugged, letting Elias intervene. “Shh, Bobby, let Henry finish. It will be OK, I promise.” At the last bit, he looked at Henry and smiled, gesturing for him to continue. As Elias was the one to recognize Regina in the Neverland, Henry knew that the boy knew without a doubt that the woman would survive the ending of the tale. Ignoring his grandparents for the moment, he continued his story, letting his mind shape it into words.

“The death curse she had taken was made to stop the evil witch from the other side of the well. And as the witch was the most powerful sorceress in the realm, the curse was very strong. And being one of the people, who made it, helped only a bit. So, sitting in her room, the former Evil Queen conserved her energy for the battle that would wage in her own body. And not wanting to disappoint her son, she was to at least try to fight it. After long hours of pain and misery, the burning sensation stopped being so strong, making her able to move. And the pain and the curse itself made her so violently sick that she couldn’t lift her head off the pot. At that moment, her son walked in, knowing that something was wrong with his mother.” Letting his own memories fill the gaps of the story, Henry felt the fear that had engulfed him that day, which seemed so long ago. “When he saw his mother weak, kneeling on the bathroom floor he rushed toward her, touching her skin. In that moment he was hit with the realization that he could have lost this woman before him, not knowing for a long time. If not for the nagging feeling in his belly he would never come by to check upon his mother and the thought made him feel so guilty. With a kind smile, his mother welcomed his affectionate hug, but still not willing him to witness her in such a weak state, she sent him away, knowing that she would see him again, very soon. It was the care she had seen in her son’s eyes that had given her the additional strength to fight the curse, in order to fulfill her promise to the boy and his other mother. After he was gone, she sighed, feeling her strength return slowly into her body. And after a long and hard battle with the magic poison, she won with the help of her son. The former Evil Queen was a hero, if only for a day, but that day was remembered and it helped the Queen be good, and the Evil Queen was no more.” Henry finished his story, laughing at the clapping he had received from the younger children. Elias patted his shoulder and moved away, letting Samuel down gently, leaving him to sleep. Soon the other children followed the young boy’s example, dropping into sleep with Elias watching over them.

“If you say the Evil Queen does not exist anymore, Prince Henry, I believe you,” Elias whispered to Henry before the older boy rose from the pallet. Taking the youngest into his arms, Elias smiled at the boy and went into another pallet, lying down with Kyle in his arms.

With a soft murmur of wishing them a good sleep, he followed his grandparents out to the galley, suddenly hungry.

Snow, remembering his voracious appetite that he had apparently inherited from Emma started preparing a light meal for him while David took his seat beside the boy. “She never said anything about that. Not even Gold.” David spoke, leaning his chin onto his heel of the palm.

Snow placed a plate full of sandwiches in front of them and sat across from them. “She would never divulge something she considers a weakness, not even to boast about something else,” the pixie haired woman spoke softly, considering the memories she had of the woman in question. And feeling shame at the attack she had initiated the moment Madame Mayor showed up at the party, carrying her lasagna.

Thanks to Henry, the conversation ventured into more pleasing and fun areas. They talked about the past adventures Snow and Charming had in the Enchanted Forest, how they had met other princes and princesses, their grandiose balls and quiet evenings. David talked about his first heroic deed as Prince James, slaying the dragon for King Midas. All in all, it was a nice family evening spent in laughter and storytelling.

“Sorry to interrupt,” Captain Hook said entering the galley. Taking off his leather coat and hanging it close to the cooker, he sat next to Snow, keeping close to the warmth of the fire. He was soaking wet, and murmuring his thanks when Snow offered him a towel, he picked up the remaining sandwich on the plate and ate it quickly.

“It doesn’t feel inside like there is a storm outside,” Snow said, remembering how David had been wet, just hours ago. But then, the ship had rocked with the wind and the waves, but now it was lulling away peacefully, for the ship at the sea.

“It’s not a storm. Just rain.” Hook said, wiping his head. Leaving the towel around his neck, he picked a jug of warm, spicy tea Snow had made during their midday meal. “It’s quiet outside, not much wind, no thunder, just the rain that makes visibility non-existent. And, it’s past Sunset anyways, so there is no hope in searching for the markers in the dark.” He drained the jug, silently asking for more. While Snow was puttering around, boiling water for another batch of tea, he explained that he had no idea where they were at the moment, because of the rain. He was reluctant to continue his blind wandering, for the coast around the Safe Haven was filled with sand ridges and if Jolly was to get stuck, they would get nowhere.

“So, you want us to wait out the rain, and continue in the morning?” Snow asked, putting some fresh tea in front of the Captain.

He took a long sip of tea and sighed when the hot liquid streamed along his insides. “That’s right.”

“And, it is dangerous to cruise along the shore when you can’t see much of anything,” David added, agreeing with the pirate wholeheartedly. “Do you need help with the anchor?” the light haired man asked, preparing to rise from his chair. When the man in leather waved him away, he relaxed his posture.

“No, it’s fine. I have already released it, and we are anchored safely.” Looking at everyone in the galley, he smiled and lifted his jug in mock salutation. “Nothing to do but to sleep and eat.” With that, he drained the jug once more and rose from his seat. “The hatch to the deck is battened down, the anchor is secure, and the helm is fixed. We are set ‘till the morning.” He took the coat and started toward the exit, but the moment he reached the door, he turned back. “At dawn, we go on. Good night, lad.” Tapping the frame of the door in rapid rhythm, he left toward the Crew quarters, silently sneaking in, in case the children were asleep.

“Now, why don’t you stay here with your grandfather, while I take something for Regina to eat,” Snow spoke gently, having already prepared a vegetable broth and several pieces of twice baked bread. Pouring the broth into a bowl and taking the bread, Snow set off to the Captain’s Cabin, leaving her men to entertain themselves for several minutes.

Opening the door with her shoulder, Snow sneaked in the room and left the food on the table beside the mattress. Quietly, she sat on Regina’s side and placed her hand onto the shoulder that peaked from below the blanket. Even though her touch was gentle and light, the contact startled Regina right out of her sleep. Moving onto her back with her hands already crackling with magic, Regina prepared to defend herself from the evils that had decided to follow her from her dreams.

“Hey, it’s OK.” Snow raised her hands in the air, remaining still. “Regina?” She called at the frightened woman, and saw the moment when the woman realized that she was awake. It was like shutters were slammed over her brown eyes, making them cold and distant in a blink of an eye. The fear was replaced by worry and irritation, and Snow was very well aware that it covered the shame for overreacting in such a way.

“Henry?” Regina asked, lifting herself up, having doused the magic out of her hands. She looked around, before her eyes found the pixie haired woman sitting before her once more.

“He is fine, with David in the galley.” Snow spoke, lowering her hands, now that Regina seemed aware of her surroundings. “I brought you something to eat.” Slowly bringing still hot broth to the older woman she noticed the collecting breaths Regina was taking. Having given her the bread and a spoon, Snow moved slightly away, giving the other woman some space.

Taking the offered meal with the look of gratitude, Regina ate quickly, not saying a word. Leaning her head against the wall, she looked at Snow who was busy at the moment watching her daughter with a frown on her face. The worry and impatience were easy to spot for Regina, who had watched the woman before her grow from a charming and wonderful child into the Queen. Underlying it all, Regina sensed fear the other woman must have felt for the blonde woman lying next to her peacefully, lost to the world.

Noticing that she was being watched, Snow glanced toward the other woman, placing her hands on her lap. Regina had placed the bowl onto the table, empty and wiped clean, and now she was watching her former step daughter, sitting on her bed. Calmly placing one palm over the other and putting them on her belly, Regina gave out the look of elegance and style, even though her hair and clothes were bedraggled from sleep. The pose and the calm consideration reminded Snow of her childhood, when she would run into the Queen’s quarters for an evening story or a morning talk.

Knowing that they were at a stalemate and not having patience for this to go on, Regina sighed and shifted her shoulder, preparing herself to talk. “I am grateful for the food but what are you doing here?” Regina said softly, minding her voice, even though there was no one there that would mind the noise of the normal level of conversation.

“I came to check on you. Henry has been worried that you overdid with magic, so I told him I would keep an eye on you.” Snow said, also minding her tone, although she knew that Emma couldn’t hear them. “After you slept for several hours, I figured you would be a bit hungry.”

“Several hours?” Regina asked, surprised by the amount of time that had passed while she had slept. But before she could rise, Snow placed a hand on one of her legs, stilling her movements. “What time is it?” She asked, grabbing Snow’s wrist and looking at the watch situated there. “Half past nine?” she whispered with astonishment.

“You needed to rest.” Snow said gently, taking hold of Regina’s hand, easing her wrist out of the grip.

“Oh, I’m sorry, I didn’t…” Regina started speaking, pulling her hand but it was held in both of Snow’s.

“I know, it is OK.” The pixie haired woman squeezed gently the hand in hers’ and smiled at the older woman. “That brings me to one of the things I wanted to ask you. Do you want Henry to sleep here with you?” The younger woman gestured at the mattress, wide enough to hold two people easily, but it would be a bit of a tight fit for three. And Henry was not a peaceful sleeper. “Or do you want him to be with us?” Snow offered.

“Here,” Regina answered, thinking it through. “I doubt he would be willing to sleep away from Emma. And, I am not ready to leave him alone in here.” Gesturing to Snow to move, she lifted herself up, and rose, folding the blanket automatically. With her magic, she moved Emma a little bit toward the edge of the pallet, leaving more space on the other side. “We will manage,” she spoke smiling at Snow. After she had made sleeping arrangements for her son and herself, she turned to Snow. “Are we that far out, that we need to sleep on the ship?” In her knowledge, the portals opened more or less near the place one wanted to go. They should not be that far away.

“It was raining a lot, and Hook didn’t want to risk us getting wrecked because of the weather.” Snow picked up the bowl, while Regina stepped away, toward her bag of things. “We emerged at the Charming’s Castle.” Snow glanced toward Regina over her shoulder and noticed the woman stopping her motion for a second, before continuing as if nothing happened. The place from where the Evil Queen and the Charmings had been taken into the new world, and where the execution for Regina had been decided – making it one of the more complicated places for the older woman. But it was also Emma’s birth place, the home of the Charmings and for Snow the place held some of the best memories in her life. “The Safe Haven is not far, but in the rain and dark…” Snow continued as if she did not witness the complicated reaction from Regina.

“So, we wait.” Regina had picked up pajamas from her bag, and held them in her hand. Shifting her shoulder she walked to the pallet and started taking off the turtle neck she had been wearing.

Snow just hummed in confirmation and turned to leave the room. “I will send Henry here.”

“Miss Blanchard?” Regina spoke surprised at the name that had left her lips. Looking over to Snow, she noticed that the younger woman also seemed startled by the former Madame Mayor’s choice of name. “Snow…” Regina said, her voice firmer this time. “Thank you for dinner.”

Snow looked at the older woman and nodded with an appreciating smile on her face. With the last incline of her head, she left the room, leaving her former stepmother to change into the sleeping wear. Several minutes later, Henry walked through the door, closing it behind him.

Regina turned down their side of the bed, while Henry changed into his pajamas. Without any preamble, he jumped on the mattress, claiming the middle. Soon, Regina joined him and covered them both, careful not to disturb Emma’s side of the bed. For a while, they lay in silence, both watching the blonde woman beside them, lost to their own thoughts. But, before long, Henry turned to Regina, and looked at her with watery eyes, so much like Emma’s, and Snow’s. The older woman moved instantly, pulling him into her arms, holding him tight, trying to soothe the boy.

“Snow mentioned you became friends in these few days,” Henry spoke when he calmed himself down. With his head on Regina’s shoulder, he remembered all the times she had stayed with him in his bed, whenever he had been afraid or ill. Holding him in her arms until he had felt better, not once complaining about sleeping in a small bed or in an uncomfortable position, she had spent countless hours just loving him. When the gentle hand passing up and down his back paused in the soothing movement, he continued, taking it as a silent question asking him to elaborate on his conversation starter. “Can you tell me about that?”

It was a plea in his voice that made Regina to even consider talking about shared moments with the Savior to her son. It was his wish to hear about his blonde mother, to feel close to her, even though she was not a foot away from him – but under the curse, she could have been realms away. “What do you want to know?” Regina spoke, pleased that his position made it very hard to look into her eyes.

“She knew how to fight with a sword. When she had told me the story about the dragon, she had said she didn’t know how to use one.”

“Well, she didn’t know. I must say I enjoyed the time spent teaching her the moves, because I got to kick her butt time and time again.” Regina spoke, letting the humor color her voice. With the forced lightness in her tone, she proceeded to tell her son the anecdotes from the time spent with Emma on the ship. There had been many poorly done moves, badly shaped magic, all giving Regina a great fodder for entertaining Henry. But, not once did Regina mock Emma or her mistakes, telling the stories with fairness and good natured wit, and Henry, the precocious boy as he was, noticed that. Chuckling at the stories, he asked many questions, expecting his mother to make a sarcastic remark any time, but the longer he waited, the more he realized that Regina treasured the moments she had spent with his blonde mother. It was a miracle in itself that Regina had shared so much of her with him, and that she had made an honest connection with the Savior was unbelievable. Relaxed, and pleased about his mothers making things better for themselves, Henry fell asleep, holding his brunette mother close. Regina followed him not long after his eyes closed.

The morning came and the boy woke up only with Emma in bed. Sometime earlier, his mother must have risen, careful not to wake him up. Even at home, she was an early riser, so he wasn’t surprised to find himself, well not alone, but without Regina. Getting out of the bed, he went to the circular window on one side of the wall, and opened the wooden cover, peering through the glass. It was light outside, the Sun was shining, and in the distance, he could see shapes forming in the distance, getting cleared every minute. Land ahoy, Henry sniggered to himself and changed his clothes, anticipating an exciting day.

“Ah, you are awake,” a voice came from the door, startling the boy away from the window. “And dressed. Good.” Rumplestiltskin walked in slowly, leaning heavily on his cane. Seeing that Henry was still startled, he reached with his hand, letting it hang in the air as an invitation to the boy. “Just an old man, dearie, nothing to be afraid of.” He smiled when Henry accepted the hand, coming closer to the man, and shouldering the outreached arm. “I was sent to fetch you for breakfast,” Rumplestiltskin said while leading them out of the room.

“I thought only the blind witch ate children,” Henry asked in faux frightened voice, smiling at the old man.

“Ah, I see you are good with words. Just like me…” As they walked toward the galley, the voices could be heard from it, cheering the freshly delivered meal.

But before they entered, Henry stopped them, pulling his grandfather aside for a moment. “What is going on between you and mom?” he asked in a whisper, knowing that only the old man heard him. As the silence prolonged, he thought he wouldn’t get an answer but at last the old man sighed heavily and nodded to himself.

“It is something that you should know, I agree.” Leaning down toward the boy, Rumplestiltskin placed his palm under Henry’s chin. “But, it is something that I would like to talk to Bae first, so I would ask you for time. You will find out, but not now.” Looking into the boy’s eyes, he smirked as he lowered his hand and placed it in front of himself, prepared for a handshake. “Do we have a deal?”

Henry watched him closely for several seconds, before accepting the hand, and shaking it in agreement. “Deal.” With a quick roguish smile, he dashed into the kitchen and ran straight to his mother, who was delivering pitchers to the small bar in the galley at the moment. “Mom, you wanted me for breakfast?” he spoke, letting his outrage fill his voice, instantly shutting everyone in the galley up. Before Regina, or Snow could react to the strange behavior, Henry went on. “I will not be eaten!” he said with a firm defiant tone, his hands upon his hips, glaring at his mother and grandmother, but there was a glimmer of humor in his eyes that Regina had recognized instantly. After a moment of pregnant silence, she started laughing, lowering the pitchers down and opening her arms wide for a hug for the little prankster. Her joyous laugh was quickly joined by several snickers from other adults in the room, while the other children stood by, confused by the show.

After a hearty hug, Regina kissed the forehead of her son, ruffling his hair. Snow came by them, patting the boy on the back, smiling at the comfortable family picture in front of her. “You looked just like Regina, and Emma at that moment,” Snow spoke softly, glancing up at Regina’s misty eyes. It was clear to Snow that even the hard assed former Evil Queen missed the Savior, perhaps even more than everyone else. After a second, she turned to the rest of the children explaining the joke, easing their confusion.

They ate quickly, the adults and Henry discussing the plan for the day. Hook had already brought them close to the Safe Haven and unwilling to risk his ship, and his life, he anchored Jolly Roger close to the island, but still safely away. They would need the boat to come ashore, and they all agreed it was the best. With a quick deliberation, it was decided that Rumplestiltskin and Hook would stay with the rescued children aboard, while the others would disembark and go into the village, and if they found Neal there Regina would send word to Rumplestiltskin.

After the breakfast, when everyone was off to their quarters, preparing for the journey, Regina pulled Henry close, closing the door.

“I need you to promise me that you won’t go off running around, no matter how something interesting is.” Regina knelt in front of the boy, holding his upper arms. “We don’t know what is out there, and I don’t want you to get hurt.” She looked into his troubled eyes and saw the spark of defiance and petulance but after narrowing her glare, it disappeared. “Promise me.”

Henry nodded readily. “I promise.” With that he looked at his clothes, searching for a jacket or something else, as Hook had mentioned that it was a chilly morning. But before he could put the coat he found on, Regina gave him the chainmail. When he looked at her with a question in his expression, she just put it over his head, fixing the straps, as she once had done for Emma. “But, mom, you could use this…” he was saying before her whisper shut him up.

“You are more important.” Letting the mail fall over Henry’s hips, she did the straps on his chest. “And I know how to take care of myself,” she said, reminded of the last time she had spoken the same words. She glanced toward the blonde woman on the pallet, feeling the quiet anguish seize her heart. She missed the woman and her quirky smile. She looked at her boy, seeing his inquisitive eyes directed at her in concern. “There,” she said, distracting him. “You look like the prince you are.” Placing the knife Emma had given him onto his belt, covered with sheath, she looked over him once more. With a pleased nod, she rose, and fixed the scabbard of her own weapon on her hip, taking a short jacket with her.

The journey to the shore was spent in quiet rumination, no one knowing what could wait for them. As the ship could be seen from the coast, the village was no doubt informed of their presence, but if they were welcoming it remained to be seen. With a soft whisper, Snow asked Regina if she could cover her face with the scarf she had brought, in order to delay the inevitable recognition. Regina obliged, knowing that her face had been very well known and feared throughout the kingdoms.

Jumping lightly onto the sandy beach, Snow turned to help Henry to leave the boat. Regina followed, staying close to the boy. And, as last, David stepped out of the boat into the shallow water, pushing the vessel onto the shore, above the sea level. Snow waited for David to join her and Regina, while Henry was close, looking over the washed out logs on the beach.

Snow guided them toward the village, across the sandy beach and sporadic grass. When they reached the shrub, Snow showed them the path. But as they entered the shadowed space filled with growth, Snow suddenly froze, lifting her hand up, warning them to stop.

Rustling could be heard all around them and at once, archers surrounded them, their faces hidden in the shadows. “What is your business here?” A voice came from the deepest shadow, the person concealed by the high growing bush.

“We are looking for someone,” Snow answered but before she could elaborate, one of the archers released the arrow at the sudden movement. Henry had moved closer to Regina, searching for safety she had often offered him, but he had tripped onto an exposed root. Regina, having seen the direction of the arrow, lifted her hand and incinerated the projectile in the air, pulling Henry behind her with her other hand. But, with her movement the scarf covering the lower part of her face drifted down onto her neck, uncovering her identity.

“The Witch! She is here to finish the job!” Someone shouted in the crowd, inciting panic and fear, making the many hands that held arrows aimed at the newcomers tremble.

“Don’t be ridiculous!” Regina scoffed, ready to destroy everyone who moved against them in a moment’s notice. “If I wanted you dead, we wouldn’t have this problem. On the other hand, it is an idea…”

“Regina, you are not helping,” Snow warned, knowing that the former Evil Queen only reacted when Henry had been in danger of the arrow. “We mean you no harm,” she spoke to the bushes, trying to reason with the guard.

“You can kill us all, witch, but we have people coming,” the voice answered back, giving the order to archers to shoot, but Regina was quicker. Before the last vowel left the mouth of the speaker, every bow and crossbow directed at the small group vanished in the purple mist.

“What is going on here?” Another voice joined in, and immediately the bushes parted letting two people through, one of them pointing a sword in Regina’s direction. “What do you want, witch?” A young man, dressed in the warrior’s garb but with the posture of a ruler turned to Regina, his hands on the hilt of his sword.

“We are looking for someone,” Regina answered looking at the woman holding the sword on her. The woman was a warrior that was clear by her planted feet and strength in her grip of the weapon. And if she was indeed the woman Regina had an inkling she might be, the conflict soon would be over. As soon as Snow opened her mouth and addressed the woman. But Snow kept silent as the woman was hidden behind the two men and the spokesperson that had come out of the shrubbery. “That boy over there released an arrow at my son and if I had not interfered, he would have killed him.”

“Son?” The ruler asked quietly, looking at the newcomers carefully, and then he noticed Henry hiding behind his mother. “Are you alright?” He directed the question at Henry, hearing the soft footsteps behind him that meant only one thing. His love was joining them.

Henry moved slightly away from Regina, but still staying really close in case something else happened. “I am fine. Mom is right, she only was protecting me.” He then looked at the woman behind the man, showing directly into his line of sight, still obscured from the rest of his group. “Aurora!” he exclaimed happily, startling the ruler and the woman beside him.

“Henry? What are you doing here?” Aurora spoke, showing herself into the small clearing. Then she saw Mulan pointing the sword at the Evil Queen and others still edgy around the remaining two of the newcomers. “Snow?” At her surprised exclamation Mulan lowered her sword turning toward the other two of the group.

“It is really good to see you, Aurora,” Snow said, seeing that everyone relaxed as soon as they heard her name. Stepping toward the princess, she pulled her into a heartfelt hug. Turning toward the man, she nodded in recognition, realizing that he was Prince Phillip.

“Stand down, men.” Phillip waved away the guard, inclining his head toward Snow and David. “Your Highnesses, I am pleased to finally meet you.”

“Well met, Phillip. If we could move away from this spot, it would be great.” Snow spoke, as Aurora approached Henry and Regina by herself. While under careful watch of the warrior woman, the princess and the boy officially introduced themselves to each other.

“You may know her as the Evil Queen, but she is my mom,” Henry spoke, taking one of Regina’s hands.

Aurora and Mulan looked at him with surprise, the Prince turning in their direction as well, confused with the boy’s answer. “I was under the impression that he was the Savior’s child,” Phillip said to Snow, but his voice was heard by all.

“It is complicated and yet not so much,” David answered, stepping closer to Regina. “She is the boy’s mother.” He spoke, placing his hands gently onto her shoulders. “And, Emma is his mother, as well. It is the truth on both counts, and let’s just leave it at that.” With the unyielding look, he glared at Mulan and Phillip who still held their hands on the hilts, ready to strike. But, his conduct convinced the hosts that the Evil Queen was accepted as part of the newcomers’ group, and as such they agreed to let it go, for the moment.

“Come, you must see what we did with the place,” Aurora spoke, breaking the tension, taking Henry’s hand and leading the way, careful not to step too much away from the former Evil Queen with her son. Guiding them out of the shrubbery, she showed them the palisades and the watchtowers. As the gate opened, Snow stepped by Regina, taking her hand in support. By now, the entire village would know that the Evil Queen was back, and hiding would not help.

“We will protect you,” Snow whispered, squeezing gently the hand she had in her own. She smiled when David came to flank Regina from the other side, talking with Phillip like he was not aware of who was beside him. That show of unity and ease would do wonders for the villagers to settle their minds and appease their fears.

When they entered the village she saw the renovation had been finished, with new additions. Now the meager village of Safe Haven looked like a fort, with palisades and upper walkways for archers. The warning bells hung on every watch tower and guards stood by them, looking out for anything that could mean danger for the village. But there were more men in the village as well, much more than there had been before, and after Cora had slaughtered almost all, it was surprising to see that number of people milling around.

“As Mulan returned my heart, we returned the remaining ones to their owners.” Aurora spoke to Snow, interpreting her awe and confusion correctly. “It had something to do with the magic of the heart, because as soon as we returned the hearts, the bodies turned back into living beings.” With a welcoming gesture, she led them into the village hall, telling them to sit wherever they would like. “As for the rest, after Mulan and I restored Phillip, we set out to search for survivors. Emma told me that the town had too few people to hold the entire population of the Enchanted Forest, and that some must have remained here.”

“The Savior was right,” Phillip spoke, having sat down and gestured to someone to bring out drinks. “Most of them were found in the Dragon caves at the edge of Midas’ Kingdom, hidden in the belly of the mountain. By some old legends the rocks contained powerful magic because they had been soaked in the blood of many dragons that lived there.” He ignored Regina’s interested hum and continued. “The others were found roaming the wilderness, escaping the ogres and other creatures.”

Receiving the ale with gratitude, Regina nodded in appreciation to the matron who had given it to her. But, before she could take a sip, Henry took the cup away from her hand, flinging the offending drink into the hearth. In the same moment, Snow pulled the dagger on the matron, placing it on the woman’s neck, forcing her down onto her knees. Ignoring Phillip and Mulan’s roar, knowing that she would be protected by her husband, she directed her look at the matron, recognizing one of the servants from her castle.

“What have you put in it, Martha?” Snow asked, her clear voice ringing in the room. The regal tone she adopted was the same one she used as the just and rightful ruler, the voice that many people respected and adored, but all obeyed.

“What are you doing?” Phillip angrily spoke, his sword in his hand, ready to attack, with Mulan by his side, and Aurora behind them. However, David stood with his sword out of the scabbard, tall and menacing. But before anyone could move, Regina rose and with a gentle and soft smile patted her son’s cheek, soothing his worry lines with her fingers.

“What?” Snow asked the captured woman again, making her wince.

“You must be under her spell to willingly ally yourself with her,” Martha spoke, her voice trembling. “Why else would you suffer the company of the Evil Queen?”

Regina walked toward Snow and the woman, placing her hand on her former step daughter’s shoulder, easing the dagger of the woman’s throat. “So you thought the suffering could end with a little of nightshade and wolf’s bane?” When the woman gasped in surprise at the knowledge, Regina let her mouth quirk into her famous grin, instantly bringing the veneer of the Evil Queen onto her face. Grabbing the woman’s chin, she leaned down. “Oh, yes, my dear, I knew exactly what you gave me.” The icy mocking edge in her voice chilled the adults in the room, aware of the Queen’s abilities and deeds. “I have thwarted much better attempts of assassination, as your Queen can testify.”

“I am not afraid to die,” the woman spoke, and Regina laughed, chilling the room even further.

“Who mentioned anything about dying?” Regina spoke, her voice piercing the air. “That would just take the fun out of things, don’t you think, Martha?” Releasing the woman, Regina stepped back, looking at Henry. When he cautiously looked into her eyes, she winked, cluing him in her performance. She saw his instant relaxation, and his raised brow, in a gesture so much like her own, gave her his permission to continue.

“Wait!” Aurora said, moving aside from Phillip. “I am aware that as she tried to kill you, you want retribution, but…”

“Do not presume to know what I want, Princess,” Regina spoke with a hard edge. Turning to the young woman her eyes flashed violet for a second, but quickly they turned back into the color of dark chocolate. “I don’t want retribution or anything of the sort.”

“You don’t?” Aurora asked, surprised with the answer. “But, why?”

_ People can change for the better, even you, Regina. One step and one choice at the time, accepting that you won’t be perfect and you will have setbacks. But, you will continue as best as you can and it will be enough. You’ll see _ .

Emma’s words, spoken in the dark hours of the night, when Regina had lost all the hope of atoning for her crimes, were heard in her mind, reminding her why she spared the woman’s life. “I made a promise.” She turned to her son, looking into the green eyes that were so alike his mother’s. With a gentle smile, she continued. “The one I intend to keep.”

To all it seemed that Regina meant her son, as she had made a promise to Henry to do better, to be better. But, Snow had an inkling that her former stepmother did not think of Henry, or not entirely of him, but of the woman who was lying cursed in the Captain’s Cabin on Jolly Roger. The promise, made to Emma, because she had been the one to understand and comfort her.

“I am not under spell or controlled by Regina,” Snow said to the still kneeling woman. “She is the mother of my grandson, and that makes her my family. And she is under my protection.” At the stunned expression, and the darting eyes going between Snow and the former Evil Queen, Snow gestured to the woman to rise. “Spread the word,” she dismissed her former servant and watched the woman rush out of the room, no doubt to tell everyone the tale of how she had survived the Evil Queen. Turning to Regina, who had sat back in her place, she watched the older woman with interest. “If you knew the ale was poisoned, why did you take it?”

Regina looked at Henry, ignoring the rest of the intrigued faces, willing to know the answer. “I didn’t want to make a scene.” Henry took her hand, and sat by her side, leaning into her side. “The ale would have done nothing to me, as I have neutralized the poisons. There was no need for such actions, although I appreciate the valiant effort greatly.” She looked up at Snow and David, seeing that they had taken their former places as well. “Thank you.”

As everyone settled they talked about the village, the fortifications Phillip had helped make, and the Ogres attacks. “Now, we all know you didn’t just stop by to chat. You mentioned you were looking for someone?” Phillip said after the small talk. As Snow was preparing to answer, Aurora jumped in, asking where Emma was. The silence meeting her made her look at Henry, her face taking the look of sympathy.

“Oh, she is not dead,” Henry spoke, correctly reading the expression of the princess. “But, she is cursed. And the person we are looking for can help with that.”

“There is one man, who might be who you are looking for.” Mulan rose, ready to lead them to the man in question, assuming that he was the answer, as he was the only out-world person she had seen since Emma and Snow had left for Storybrooke. “He is with the healer. But be warned, the outcome is not as good as he is suffering from fever for two days now.”

“Fever?” Henry asked, as the group rose to follow Mulan. The warrior woman glanced toward the boy and nodded grimly.

“The wound he has got infected.” Leading them toward the healer’s house, she explained how she and the ruling couple found the man on the shore, dressed in clothes similar to what the newcomers were wearing. Having lost a lot of blood, the man had been unconscious, lying in the sand as the tide was coming up. They had brought him up to the healer of the village, but the man had been steadily getting worse each day. Lastly, the infection had set in, despite the best efforts of the healer and his apprentice to prevent it, causing a variety of new problems for the stranger.

Opening the door of the healer’s house, Mulan let them enter before her, as she called out for the small and frail man who was dressed in the traditional garb of the village healer, announcing his station. As he welcomed in, he asked his apprentice to guide Regina and Henry to one of the back rooms, where the man was placed.

“We did all we could, Your Majesty.” The young man inclined his head in supplication, leading them toward the patient. “But, it is a wound we have not encountered before, and it appears that there is still a fragment of the weapon inside, but Master Bryce could not take it out without making the wounds worse.” Taking them into the room, the young man showed them the man dressed only in his underwear and covered with a light sheet. Regina instantly recognized Neal and held Henry to her side, not letting him near the unconscious man just yet. Dismissing the apprentice she uncovered the patient and saw the bandage over the infected wound. Reaching the bed, she knelt beside it, taking a look at the bandage.

“Henry, fill that basin with water from that pitcher and bring it over here,” she spoke, taking off her jacket and blazer. Placing her clothes carefully over the back of the only chair in the room, she gestured to Henry where she wanted the basin. Pushing her turtleneck sleeves up, she showed Henry the blood soaked bandage. “Go to the other side.”

She waited until Henry knelt beside the bed on the other side taking one of his father’s hands, holding it tight. With a worried frown she unwrapped the bandage and peeled the dressing off the wound. She heard Henry gasp at the raw and diseased wound, covered with yellow puss and the skin colored red from the infection. She looked at her son and saw him lose his color, his skin turning pale and his forehead clammy. “Out,” she spoke gently, giving him a nod toward the door, but Henry just shook his head, his jaw clenching.

“I want to stay,” he spoke through his teeth, refusing to move. But, he had never seen something so disgusting and terrible and it wasn’t glamorous at all to be wounded. “I am OK,” he replied to his mother’s inquisitive look. Nodding at his resolution, she continued to examine the wound.

Covering the angry injury with her hand she closed her eyes focusing on her magic. She needed to pull the bullet out without causing more damage to the surrounding tissue and just making it vanish was not the answer, because it could move deeper into the flesh, making everything worse. Gently, she guided the projectile out of the wound, clenching her teeth at the fresh blood seeping from the entrance hole. After several seconds, she reached for the small piece of lead that had been capable of making such horrific damage. Making sure that there were no remaining fragments in the flesh, she gave Henry the bullet. Again, focusing her magic, she healed the wound, making it disappear as if it had never been there. Soaking the rag into the basin Henry had brought, she wiped the skin where the wound had been, cleaning it from blood and puss, further destroying the evidence of the existence of the injury. Washing her hands, she smiled at Henry, seeing that his color was back.

“He is going to be fine.” She said covering him up. “But, he needs rest and uninterrupted sleep. You can stay here, as long as you don’t wake him up.” When he nodded in acceptance, she rose picking her things up. “I’ll be downstairs. If anything happens, come and get me.” She was loath to leave him, but she needed to inform Rumplestiltskin and to give an update to the Charmings. With the last look toward her son, she left the room, closing the door behind her.

“Is it him?” David asked the moment Regina stepped back into the receiving area of the house. When she nodded, he rose from his seat and walked to her, taking the things out of her hands. As he watched her pull the sleeves down, smoothing the creases made in the fabric he continued his inquiry. “Were you able to heal him?”

She pierced him with a sharp look, scoffing at his question. Taking the blazer out of his hands and putting it on, she looked at Snow. Seeing that the woman was smiling at the two of them, she just gave up even trying to muster up the strength to feel outraged at the insult. She sat beside the pixie haired woman, leaning back, having left David with her coat in his hands. “He is going to be fine.” Closing her eyes, she pushed the cloud of purple fog through the walls of the healer’s house, knowing that Rumplestiltskin would get the message, and in time, he would reach them, perhaps just as his son would be waking up. “Now, Gold knows that too.” Not daring to call him by his name where certainly the interested ears listened to every word they spoke, she used the identity Rumplestiltskin had in Storybrooke. “It will take time for him to rest, as he was weakened by the fever, but he is OK.”

“I am surprised you left Henry alone with him,” Snow whispered gently, leaning beside Regina’s head.

“I did place warning spells on the door,” Regina answered causing Snow to smile at the older woman. Reaching for her hand, Snow offered silent comfort. It must have been harrowing, healing the man who had turned out to be her half-brother, and the father of her son, at the same time, the danger to her because he threatened her position as the parent to Henry and Emma’s whatever she was. Snow looked at the dark eyes staring straight in front of them but seeing nothing. Regina was lost inside her mind, probably doing her own share of thinking heavy thoughts.

If it wasn’t for Henry sitting in Neal’s room, Regina would have already left the village, retreating onto the ship, away from the happy family reunion. She had nothing against the man in person, but the idea of him. It had surprised her when she had realized that she had been and still was jealous of the man lying unconscious in the room down the hall. Not daring to qualify even for herself of what exactly had she been jealous of, she avoided the thoughts of her emotions. But, it was impossible to ignore the turmoil Regina was feeling, having seen the man. He was her half-brother! She had healed him because it had been expected of her, as the hero of the story, but honestly she didn’t know what she would have done if Henry hadn’t been in the room with her. Most likely, she would have stared at the man, confused by the emotions swirling in her.

The hours passed seemingly in silence. After the first hour of waiting, Snow had left for the ship, to check on the children and make them something to eat, believing that Neal would not wake up for several more hours. As it turned out, she had been right. Right before she had left for the ship, Rumplestiltskin had come to the healer’s house, gaining entrance, not recognized by the local folk. As David addressed him as Gold in front of the locals, he was sure to remain undiscovered. After a couple of hours, Snow rejoined them, explaining in hushed whisper that she had brought the children to the village and left them in Aurora’s care for the time being, as Hook was anxious to leave the ship for a bit of exploring. As he would return in the evening, David volunteered to spend his time on Jolly Roger, acting as the safeguard for Emma and the vessel itself. All the while Regina stared at the wood paneled wall, ignoring the world around her, waiting for Henry to leave the room.

Finally, the boy came to her, announcing that his father was awake and talking with Rumplestiltskin. Henry walked to his mother, seeing her desolate outlook, and hugged her, climbing into her lap. “He asked for Emma. Grandfather had to explain to him what happened.” Looking into her tired eyes, he placed his palm on her cheek, in a gesture of affection he had learned from her. “I love you.”

Soon, Neal left the room, dressed in the clothes he had been found in, washed and mended by the local seamstress. As they all prepared to go to the ship, where Emma was, Regina pulled Henry aside. “Do you mind if I stayed here for a while?” she asked him, not really looking him in the eyes, fearing the question he might ask her: why. She didn’t know how to explain to him that she dreaded the fuss of awakening the Savior. And she did not want to be there for the immediate aftermath. Therefore, before he could ask her, she pressed on. “I thought to keep the children here, out of the way while…” she left the sentence hanging, knowing Henry would get the point.

He frowned at her shifty look, but not seeing any reason for her not to stay behind, as Regina had clearly demonstrated that she was capable of defending herself, and with children, the rulers of the village wouldn’t let anything happen to her. He wanted her to come along, to be right by his side when Emma waked, however he understood her need to be away from so many people. So, he just nodded, saddened by the obvious feeling of abandonment Regina had been dealing with. As he watched her put her coat on, he came to her, hugging her firmly, not knowing how to prove to her that she had a permanent place in his heart. The last year proved to have such a devastating effect on his mother, as his denial of her position as a mother destroyed her confidence that he loved her. As she leaned down, touching his head with her cheek, she held him tight to her body. With the pat on his shoulder she left him in care of his grandmother, leaving the house without looking back.

“What happened?” Snow asked the obviously distressed boy, as they watched Regina join Aurora and the children in the walk through the village.

“She doesn’t believe that I won’t leave her alone,” Henry spoke, feeling his eyes filling with tears at the shame and sorrow he felt at the realization of how much he had actually hurt the woman that had raised him. “She lied to me about her being the Evil Queen to protect the curse, and, well, it did sound really crazy. But, what I did was much worse, and even when Emma warned me that I was wrong, I continued to punish her for everything in the cruelest of ways for her.” Henry said, looking up at the patient and kind eyes of his grandmother.

“You denied her love, the one thing she wanted most,” Snow replied, understanding Henry’s point perfectly. “She had forgiven you for it, a long time ago.” But, that wasn’t what Henry wanted to hear. He knew that she had, she had told him so herself. “For everything else, she would need time to heal. As we all do.” Snow debated with herself whether she should tell the boy about her suspicions but it wasn’t her place to do so. And, there were more important things to deal with. “It has been a very rough week for her, and everybody else. It overwhelms the person, and sometimes the only way to deal with it is to step back and away for a short period of time.” Pulling the boy to herself, she left her arm on his shoulders. “Give her time.”

They went back to the ship, meeting with David on board. As Neal was taken to the Captain’s Cabin, although he still remembered the layout of the ship, Snow pulled the boy aside, asking for a moment of his time, before he would run off to the cabin, following his father.

“Henry, I don’t want you to be surprised if it doesn’t work out.” At her words he looked at her with a frown on his face, his confusion evident. “He may not be her True Love.”

“He has to be,” Henry spoke vehemently, his posture adamant. With nothing else coming from his grandmother, he dashed below deck, after Neal, wanting to be there when his mother opened her eyes. He knew he had been harsh with Snow, but he could not imagine Neal not being Emma’s True Love. The repercussions of such a situation would be devastating. Regina’s protective spell could not keep Emma safe for much longer, he knew. He was a child, but he wasn’t stupid, and definitely not blind. He had noticed the worried looks Regina would have after inspecting the containment magic, and he had interpreted it as worry over the eventual failure of the spell. Emma did not have time for them to search for someone who could be her True Love. Refusing to even consider the possibility, he did not realize he was just like his adoptive mother on the subject.

Henry entered the room he had slept in, and saw his father sitting on the mattress, looking at the Savior. Staying by the door, he gave Neal the space.

The man slowly leaned down, gently touching Emma’s hair with his hand, passing through the gold tresses with his fingers. Leaning his head down he lowered his lips on hers, closing his own eyes, expecting the pulse of magic to explode over him. But, as seconds passed, nothing had changed. The absence of magic Henry was intimately familiar with, made him enter the room, coming closer to the bed. Neal reached down and lifted the lifeless body of Emma Swan into his arms, kissing her lips again, closing his eyes in desperation, replicating the stories he had heard in his childhood about the True Love.

“I don’t understand,” Neal whispered, looking down at the unchanged body.

“Try again,” Henry spoke, startling his father. As the man turned toward him, Henry reached the bed, and knelt beside it, just like he had been kneeling beside his father’s bed just several hours before. “Try again, only this time think about your love for her.”

Neal nodded and gently lifted Emma’s upper body, cradling her head with one of his hands, he looked into her face, focusing onto his love for her, love he had tried to forget for thirteen long years. With all the memories of their time spent together, he lowered his head once more, kissing the mother of his son with all the love he had for the woman in his arms. But, nothing happened…


	4. Chapter 4

It was Snow that entered the room several minutes later, with a feeling that her suspicions and inklings had been confirmed. As she saw that her daughter’s condition was unchanged as Neal sat beside her, with his head in his hands, and Henry on the other side of the bed, silently crying over his mother, she rushed toward her grandson, trying to comfort him. Looking up she saw Neal’s sad expression and startled realization that he had not been the one for Emma seeped into his eyes, making his grimace of anguish even more heart wrenching.

“Your father would like to speak to you,” Snow spoke softly, holding Henry in her arms. “It seems important,” she added when Neal looked reluctant to leave. “Go, I’ll stay with them.”

At the subtle push, Neal rose looking at Emma with regret. Leaving the room without a word, the man went into the search for his father. Snow gently lifted the boy up off the floor, letting him hide into her chest. She had tried to warn him not to put so much hope in Neal, but he had ignored her, adamantly claiming that Baelfire was the solution, the salvation for Emma. Emma had mentioned that Henry’s particular flaw, that bullheaded belief that he was always right. Seeing it from a different angle, Snow could understand Regina’s scoffing remarks regarding David’s and her belief that they were doing in the service of good.

At the soft footsteps at the door, Snow looked up and saw the teary face of her husband watching them, his gaze switching between them on the floor, and Emma on the mattress. As his eyes connected with Snow’s, he walked in, and knelt before them, joining in the comforting of the boy. David and his wife shared a look, exchanging so many thoughts with a simple look, knowing they would have to act soon.

The tears on David’s face had been caused by a strange mixture of fear, apprehension and relief, and Snow could understand that perfectly. It was all jumbled together, the cautious expectancy that Regina was indeed Emma’s True Love, for it seemed that Regina had been the only one to connect with the Savior on so many different levels, and the fear of the following task of convincing the former Evil Queen of the fact. Even when they had been still in Storybrooke, Regina would make direct contact with Emma, avoiding the Charmings and the others. Emma had been the only one who had gotten an apology from the Mayor. There was much underlying respect that they shared for each other, giving them just another connection that no one had with the women in question. Neal had not believed in Emma, thinking she had been jealous of his fiancée, just like Snow had believed that Emma had been in love with Neal.

The convincing part would fall on Snow, for she was the only one, after Henry and Emma, who could reach Regina. Henry was just a child and the idea of his mothers being together had not occurred to him, and Snow did not want to be the one to tell him that, because it was not her place. And, Emma… Emma could not reach her at the moment for obvious reasons. However, Snow knew that if anyone would have the thrilling success in convincing Regina of anything, it would be the Savior. But, she would have to do, for the moment.

As Snow considered how she was to approach the accomplished sorceress, David brought Henry up and with tender directions, they rearranged Emma’s limp body into the previous position. Henry sat beside his mother and leaned onto her chest, trying to hear her heart beats but only silence greeted him, making his eyes water once more. He had indeed convinced himself that it would be over soon, as his father would wake his mother, and they all would live happily ever after. But, now, as he lay on his mother’s silent chest, he thought about the situation. If he had been right, then in his happily ever after, his other mother was superfluous. With stark realization he righted himself, and gasped at the flash of understanding. His mother had known his hopes and still had said nothing to dissuade him from it, regardless of the pain the choice had given her. With another bout of tears, he contemplated his actions, regretting hurting Regina once more.

Mary Margaret had been right, and it meant that she knew something he didn’t. She had warned him, and as kind as she had been with the subject, he couldn’t hear her for all the hope in his heart. Now that the hope had been squashed, he heard the words his grandmother had spoken before. “Mary Margaret?” his voice startled the Charmings, as the silence had not been broken since Neal had left. “How did you know?”

Snow rose from the floor and looked at David, asking for help, not knowing how to answer the question. “I…” she started, but Henry just closed his eyes in surrender and gripped his mother’s body closer.

“You need to find Regina,” David spoke quietly, helping Snow off the floor. “I’ll take care of them.” With reluctance, Snow stepped away from the bed, looking at the boy, devastated by the turn of the situation, and her daughter, still suffering under the curse. Yes, she had to find Regina. “Go, we will be OK.” Not lifting her eyes from the listless body of the Savior, Snow nodded and with a last glance toward her husband and grandson, she left the room, sprinting through the corridors of the lower deck. As she passed the Crew Quarters, she heard Neal arguing with Rumplestiltskin about something, but as she rushed by, she could not understand the snippets she caught. Climbing onto the deck, she contemplated the hard boat ride to the shore, as she was to row by herself. Not a stranger to hard work, she jumped into the small vessel and grabbing the oars, she set for the close by shore line.

* * *

After a long but cheerful walk that took her mind off things, Regina sat down on one of the logs at the beach. In her arms was the baby, Kyle, blubbering about something no one could understand. Farther down the beach were the other children, running and screaming in joy up and down the sand dunes of the shore line. As they were closely watched and sometimes joined by Aurora and another woman who had decided to follow them, Regina did not watch the rescued children closely, trusting the villagers to take care of them. Her only duty at the moment was to entertain Kyle and she did it with pleasure. However, the baby evoked a lot of bittersweet memories for her, all of Henry at that age.

“What did you say, cutie?” Regina spoke to the baby, noticing that the child was getting progressively cranky. “A time for a nap, is it?” As she did not want to move from the peaceful place on the beach, where she could watch the children play and enjoy the tranquil sounds of waves trailing over the sand, she just adjusted her hold of the boy, cradling him to her shoulder. As his tiny head leaned on her neck, Regina started humming gently the tune of an old lullaby of the Enchanted Forest.

She heard soft footsteps of light feet over the sand, bringing someone close to her. Ready to defend herself, Regina let the magic rise up, but as she caught a glimpse of the red armor of the woman warrior, she relaxed, knowing that Mulan would not do anything that would bring dishonor to her friends, and attacking one of the guests without direct provocation was such a thing. Mulan walked around the log and sat beside the older woman, careful not to jostle the log or to make noise. She glanced at the sleeping child in the witch’s arms and nodded in salutation.

After some time spent in silence, Regina shifted, smiling when Kyle gurgled in sleep. She looked at the warrior and found the dark piercing eyes directed at her, watching her carefully, monitoring her every move. Shifting in her seat, she turned to the woman. “I am not going to go all evil and destroy the village, if that is what you are waiting for.” She spoke softly, cautious not to wake the child sleeping in her arms.

Mulan shrugged and crossed her arms at the chest, her armor shining in the midday Sun. “The thought did cross my mind.” Calmly, she looked away, watching the princess chasing one of the younger boys around a fallen log. “But, then it makes no sense to finish the job your curse started, and at the same time ensure that the Savior is saved.” The level voice Mulan spoke in gave the impression that she did not think Regina would attack any time soon.

“Then, why are you here?”

The warrior chuckled softly, her scoff almost not heard in the sounds of the beach. Mulan glanced toward the older woman, shaking her head before focusing her eyes on the princess once more. “I am not here for you.”

Regina followed the warrior’s look and saw Aurora giggling, caught in a childish dance with Robert as Elias minded Samuel and Damian. “You love her,” she whispered with understanding. She turned to the warrior and saw the dark eyes hardening. But before she could say anything more, to appease her companion or to delve deeper into the subject of Aurora, the warrior woman looked away.

“She is not hard to love.” As she saw that Regina was not in the mood to explore the revealed weakness, Mulan relaxed her stance, however she remained vigilant. “Such an untouched and innocent soul is hard to come by,” Mulan added, directing her look at the former Queen, her voice pointedly raising the subject of Snow, and Regina was very well aware of the underlying warning and message. But Regina decided not to interrupt or even disagree, knowing as far as the world was concerned, Snow had been the picture of perfection. “She had never faced the choices of war and the sacrifices of fighters, and I want to make sure that she remains unsullied as long as she lives, for she is the gift to…” Breaking off in the middle of the sentence, Mulan shifted in place, startled with the amount of information she had let slip out of her.

“Does she know?” was the only question that followed the slip. Regina watched the warrior rise, suddenly feeling anxious at the woman’s imminent departure. As much as she didn’t want to be under supervision, being alone in the village full of angry people wanting revenge did not pose an attractive option.

As Mulan shook her head in sad but accepting denial, she sat back in her place. Unknown to Regina, her move just might have saved the former Queen of unwanted argument and display of power. Several villagers were not far away, with their farming tools waiting for an opportunity to attack. Having risen and looked straight at the leader of the group, she had shown herself to them and announced herself as the self-appointed guardian to the former Evil Queen. “I am honor-bound to Phillip and it would be an action of ultimate betrayal to announce my feelings for his chosen. And it is beyond hopeless, either way as he is her True Love.” Looking at the woman beside her and smiling with tolerant content, borne in letting go of one’s desires. “They are perfect together, and I have great friends in both of them. What more could I ask of life?”

The rhetorical question made Regina frown, with the introspective direction her thoughts had taken. What more, indeed…

The silence fell on them, each one lost in their own thoughts. Only when Kyle announced his waking up, several minutes later did they return to the present.

“I did wonder whatever happened to Maleficent.” Mulan said in a barely interested voice, her calm manner of talking making Regina smile. It was a signature for the woman warrior, she realized. The calm, unshakable exterior hiding sharp and deadly interior, much like the charmed blade on her hip, but Regina was not fooled with the mask. After all, she was an expert in subterfuge.

“My friend met her untimely, or perhaps from your point, timely death.” Regina tickled the child on her lap, making it coo in pleasure, as she looked at the warrior. “Hook killed her just recently…” Smiling at the child’s antics, as Kyle grabbed the lapel of her jacket, pulling it to himself, Regina added absently. “Well, Emma did kill her first, when she was in a dragon form, no less, but I had placed the restoration spell on the place she was kept at.”

“Emma did mention slaying a dragon when she was here,” Mulan spoke, remembering the brash behavior of the blonde, hiding the ‘out of the depth’ feeling. “A lot of good it did her against an Ogre, in the forest. If Snow hadn’t killed it, the Savior would be nothing but a human pancake.” The warrior remarked, making Regina laugh at the matter of fact deliverance.

Just as Regina wanted to reply, Aurora joined them with the children, dropping beside Regina in a tired fashion, breathing heavily, with her face glowing in happiness. She sent the children away to keep playing, but she warned them to stay close. Then she turned to the women, looking at their quickly sobered faces, where only seconds before had been unrestrained smiles. “What is going on?” she asked breathlessly.

“Maleficent is dead,” Mulan spoke in her matter of fact way. At the news, Aurora gasped and looked at Regina to confirm the truth in those words. When the former Evil Queen nodded, the princess closed her eyes in relief.

“I always thought she was around here, biding her time, waiting to strike again.” Aurora spoke after a moment of silence.

“Well, now you can lay your worries to rest, as you are beyond her grasp now,” Regina spoke, a bit uncomfortable talking about her once upon a time friend with the friend’s sworn enemy and bane of existence. Not that she felt any kind of loyalty toward the fellow witch, as they had betrayed each other more times than she could count, but the blonde conceited witch was the closest thing she had to an equal, and a friend, and as such, there were some underlying feelings.

“Emma did it,” Mulan added, drawing Aurora’s attention away from Regina. She purposely avoided mentioning Hook as he had been the one to take Aurora’s heart, and as such the young princess loathed to hear the pirate’s name. And, it suited everyone on the side of good to think that the Savior was solely responsible for deposing one of the witches that had terrorized the territories of Aurora’s former kingdom. Additionally, as she did end Regina’s curse, the Savior would be well welcomed at the Safe Haven, when she was awakened.

“The dragon she bragged about? That was Maleficent?” Aurora asked, remembering the precise moment when Emma had told Mulan about the dragon, because it had been the moment when she had decided to kill the woman that had caused her beloved Phillip to suffer the wraith’s attack. Leaving the village, she had followed the small company into the dangerous forest, looking for the best opportunity to strike, waiting for the moment when Snow had been alone gathering the kindle wood. Mulan had told her later about Emma and Snow, also telling her about the dragon.

The sound of children yelling forced the women to look away from each other, turning their heads toward the distraction. Mulan relaxed instantly when she saw the reason for the vigorous outburst of the children, having started drawing her sword out of the scabbard. But when Regina saw the woman approaching them, her face soured and the restrained magic, summoned to help the children if needed, fled, as her gut sank hard.

Turning to the young princess, she transferred the baby boy into her arms, gently lowering the cooing boy onto the lap of the surprised woman. “Can you take him?” Regina asked, her voice imbued with a soft plea that made Aurora nod without questions. “And the others? Take them somewhere else?” The soft request was met with silent compliance. As Aurora rose from the log, she let the boy play with the dark tresses of the witch for a moment more, seeing the Evil Queen in a completely different light.

“We will be at the village hall,” Aurora notified Regina softly, as the older woman smiled at the boy grasping at her. “Come by later.”

Regina hummed noncommittally, waving them off. As soon as they stepped away, and Aurora called the children to her, the older woman turned to the newcomer, dreading the next words that would come out of the pixie haired woman’s mouth. She watched Snow traipse over fallen logs, and shifty sand, her direction clear. Sensing her defenses rise, Regina crossed her arms over her chest, feeling the absence of the boy acutely, but not letting herself dwell on something that could not be, she directed her attention to the approaching woman. Mulan remained by her side, but if Snow asked her to leave, there was no doubt the warrior would leave them and rush to the princess and the children. And, with no one around, Regina had to be extra careful with her temper and she knew that the upcoming conversation would test her to the limits.

“I need to talk to you,” Snow spoke as soon as she reached the piece of driftwood Regina was sitting on. Turning to Mulan, and just as Regina had predicted, Snow asked, “Can you give us a moment?” And, again, just as Regina knew it would happen, Mulan rose without a word, casting a last glance toward the women and deciding that it wasn’t her place to interfere and that she was needed elsewhere. With an acquiescing nod, she turned and walked away.

“Does the Savior want to see me?” Regina said coldly, not waiting for Snow to continue. Perhaps if she hurried it along, it would be less of the torture. “Am I summoned, Snow?”

Snow stood for a moment, taken aback at the sudden harshness of the woman in front of her. But, deciding to ignore it for the moment, she walked to the older woman, looking at her defensive posture. The crossed arms and hands hidden under her armpits, and the head slightly bowed, slightly tucked into her shoulders were the signs that Regina expected a major blow, whether she knew it or not. Well, she would be relieved, Snow remarked to herself mirthlessly, knowing that it would be an uphill battle to force Regina into the position to help Emma.

“No,” Snow spoke softly, having an inkling, more of a hunch that her former stepmother would misinterpret her answer. But, she saw it as an opportunity to overcome her ridiculous defensive mechanisms and reach the frightened woman beneath all the bravado and contempt.

“She doesn’t?” Regina said, her throat clenching in loss she didn’t want to accept. But the slight shaking of her voice was a sign enough for Snow that Regina had indeed taken her word the wrong way, feeling hurt by it. So there was still hope, Snow sighed silently.

“You are not summoned,” the younger woman said, coming closer to the seated woman, but steering clear out of the reach of her hands. “As for her wanting to see you, I believe she does, but even if she did it would do no good, as she is still under the curse.”

Regina’s neck snapped with the speed her head lifted at the surprising news. “What?” As surprise was evident in her voice and on her face, Snow expected a relief to follow. “I would have thought the man would have already kissed her by now. What does he need? The Court approved invitation? Or, perhaps a dwarf leading him to her room?” The bitter tone exploded out of the older woman, making the younger one step back. Regina rose, keeping her arms crossed, feeling the need to move, run away, but deciding just to get a bit more space, for the moment. “Henry would’ve pushed him onto the damn bed by now.”

Snow felt her lips quirk at the apt description of her grandson’s behavior at the ship. “He almost did.” Seeing that Regina waited for the rest of her sentence, keeping her back to the younger woman, Snow pressed on. “And Neal did kiss her.” The slight straightening of the older woman’s spine was noticed, but Snow did not draw attention to it. “Several times, in fact, but it didn’t work.”

Regina turned to Snow, her face betraying the disbelief she had tried to hide. “It…?”

“Didn’t work,” Snow confirmed, waiting for the proverbial light to hit the woman in front of her. But instead of expected relief and acceptance, Regina closed off, her eyes becoming hard and her face smoothed into the mask of indifference, suggesting that the woman had retreated into the protective shell once more. The familiar move pissed the young woman, having already faced the closed off Regina, introducing the Evil Queen to the world. But, this time, her daughter’s life was at stake and she would be damned if she let it go on like that for much longer.

“Damn it, Regina!” Snow shouted, her anger exploding. She rushed forward, grabbing the stunned witch by her upper arms, and shaking her, deciding to get some sense into her any way possible. “How can you ignore this?!” She saw Regina’s eyes flash purple but she held her ground, knowing that if Regina wished for it, she was dead. And, she would accept death if it helped Emma.

Regina untangled her hands and pushed the younger woman away, still holding on to the reins of her magic, not unleashing it upon the offending party, no matter how much her body wished it, called on it. “Will you stop with that nonsense already?” Regina said to the woman regaining her balance a few steps away from her. “I am not what you are asking for!”

“I am not the one who is asking, Regina.” Snow said, watching the shaking hands carefully. “You know that.” Inching slowly to the woman, Snow directed her eyes away from the clenched fists and gazed into the dark eyes. “Deep inside, you know it is the truth, no matter how hard you fight against it.”

“It can’t be!” Regina replied, her voice rising in volume.

“Why?” Snow shouted against the rising wind, having a feeling that the swirling air was caused by Regina’s turmoil. “Why do you think it is impossible?” Reaching again for the woman, Snow braced for another push or blow. But as her palms closed over Regina’s upper arm muscles, the young woman felt the ground tremble beneath her feet. Not daring to look away from the eyes that darted around, not focusing on anything in particular, Snow held on.

“It just is!” Regina spoke, but her voice lost some of her volume. Finally looking at her once nemesis, into the green eyes that seemed to haunt her entire adult life, she sighed and the former Queen repeated it once again. “It is.”

“Whom are you trying to convince?” Snow spoke softly, seeing her chance to dismantle the defenses her step mother had built over the years. The simple question drove out the fight out of the Queen, and the magic dissipated from the air, the wind slowing down. “For, you are not succeeding.” Still having a firm grip onto the woman’s upper arms, she held her gaze into the dark eyes, swirling with emotions. “It is not just your fate you are holding in your hands.” Not willing to squander the moment of Regina’s stunned silence, Snow pushed. “She needs you, Regina. We all know it, now more than ever.”

“It’s not me she needs,” Regina whispered desperately, her obstinate insistence on the matter reminding Snow so much of Henry that she had to smile. “I am not the…” Regina started, but she broke off before she spoke the words that had chased her since she had lost Daniel.

“How do you know?” Trying to be the voice of reason for her former stepmother, Snow continued. “How do you know beyond any doubt? Have you tried to wake her?” At the older woman’s head shaking, Snow pressed on. “Then, can you just try? And then you will know, for sure. What do you stand to lose?”

Regina blinked and focused once more unto the green eyes of the woman in front of her, the eyes she had passed on to her daughter, and she then to her son. It seemed that almost every person she loved in her life had those particular green eyes. As she imagined the Savior in front of her, her eyes softened. “Everything,” she whispered, the image of the blonde disappearing as her eyes watered, and the reality of Snow standing before her returned.

Snow felt her breath catch at the raw pain in that one word Regina had managed to push through her teeth. And at the sight of tears of the woman she always had imagined to be the strongest of the people she had known, her heart squeezed painfully, for the first time earnestly hoping that she had not been wrong, because if it proved that Regina was not Emma’s True Love, it would destroy the woman in front of her completely, too far beyond any possibility of healing. Not really understanding the twisted hope Regina had surrounded herself with as the shield around her heart, she had gathered the outlines – either way it went, Regina was to be devastated, for different reasons and with different results.

“She is dying,” Snow said, knowing it was another blow to the already damaged woman. “How much longer until the curse destroys whatever the barrier you have placed? How long before Henry loses one of his parents? How much longer before I lose my daughter? How long before you lose the only person willing to stand by your side unconditionally, or before you lose the only person who understood you perfectly?” Snow carefully asked each question, seeing the effects of each word she had spoken. Never had she done something as hard as this, and she hoped she would not have to do it once more.

Regina felt her eyes fill with tears, clouding her vision. She had known the barrier had been failing, but she hadn’t noticed anyone else knew. “A day, maybe two,” she managed to whisper, her throat feeling like she had swallowed hot glass, pushing Snow away once more. As she turned her back to the insistent woman, she brought her hands to her face, wiping it from tears, but as her eyes continued to fill she gave up on the futile task. Taking a deep breath, trying to calm herself down, uncomfortable being so exposed in front of Snow of all of the people, she took a step forward, putting a greater distance between her and her former step daughter.

“So that’s it?” Snow felt the anger in her rise once more, when she saw Regina stepping away from her. Not accepting defeat, refusing to let it finish there, she rushed after the woman, grabbing her by the shoulder and turning her around, bringing her face to face. Her eyes glared in anger piercing the older woman with cold fury, making her skin erupt in goose bumps. “I am to go and tell my grandson that he would never see his mother open her eyes?!” Invoking Henry was a low blow but she was tired of losing this battle, and she would use every trick and underhanded blow she had at her disposal. She would even use the stable boy’s name, if it gave her what she needed. Yes, it was cruel and far from good, but she had lost her daughter once before, and she was damned to the gates of Hell if she was to let Fate take Emma away from her again. And, she supposed, as her heart was already darkened with her actions regarding Cora’s death, one more spot was the agreeable price to pay. “You are willing to let her die, and for what?” she let her voice turn into the whisper, filled with contempt and disgust. “Because you are afraid to accept your happy ending?”

Lifting her arm in abhorrence from Regina’s shoulder, she scoffed at the woman before her and decided to give one more try, one last shot in the dark, the cruelest one of all. “If you don’t try, I am going to tell everyone who is willing to listen, and believe me when I say everyone, that you had the cure for the Savior all this time, but you refused to give it to her, not willing to let her live.” The surprised disbelief showed in Regina’s eyes, quickly replaced by fear, the one Regina was especially susceptible to – that she would lose her son. Not enjoying the effect she had on the older woman, Snow added the last part, her heart already broken with the amount of pain she had caused the woman she once called her mother. With all hope that it worked, and that Regina would have a heart to forgive her one day, Snow closed her eyes and whispered her final words. “And I am going to tell it to Henry first!”

At those words, something snapped in Regina and she reached for Snow’s throat, growling as her eyes flashed purple and her hands had electricity sparks run over them. But Snow did not put up the fight, not even to fight off the hands burning her skin. As Regina focused onto the eyes, the green eyes that were losing their light quickly, she was immediately reminded of another pair that was losing their light, and if she did not do anything, the light, that bluish white glow of magic would never graze the green eyes again. Releasing Snow in a self-disgusted move, she sat beside the kneeling woman, trying to quell the magic inside her, calling for blood.

“Just bring her back,” Snow whispered, her voice breaking with the tears choking her, kneeling before the woman who held her daughter’s life in her hands. “Please…”

“Fine!” Regina said, pulling the other woman up, in one move healing her as well. With a resigned look she turned away and started walking toward the boat, expecting Snow to follow. She would try, and when she proved to everyone that she had been right from the start, Snow would not be able to blame her for this. _But, you yourself do not believe you are right, why would anyone else? The evidence is overwhelming, and yet you fight, out of a sense of duty and loyalty, even though it had never brought you peace._ However, she refused to give in to the annoying voice in her head, cloaking herself in the indignation.

The rest of the journey to the ship passed in silence, for there was nothing else to be said. As they had reached the boat, Regina propelled it to the ship with her magic, not deigning to look at the younger woman, her arms crossed in front of her, as she seethed in the quiet. Having climbed onto the deck of the ship, she passed everyone without a word, directing herself to the Captain’s Cabin. As soon as she reached the threshold of the room she felt her anger and hatred toward Snow leave her body immediately.

The moment she saw Emma lying on the mattress, there was nothing else for her. Passing by Henry, not even noticing him or his heart-broken look, she walked to the bed, she saw that the protective spell was failing sooner than anticipated, and that it would dissipate in the next hour or so. She sat onto the mattress, placing her hand over one of Emma’s, left on the bed, not placed onto her chest as the other one had been.

Bringing the loose hand to her chest, she placed her other hand onto Emma’s face, feeling the cool skin beneath her fingertips. “You may be the Savior, Emma, but you always had the power to destroy me,” Regina whispered, as her heart filled with such powerful yearning to see the mischievous green of Emma’s eyes once more. Surrendering to the Fate, she closed her eyes, feeling her magic envelop her without her permission, and leaned down, slowly bringing her mouth to the Savior’s face. Not ready for ‘The Kiss’ she leaned her lips onto Emma’s forehead, replicating the kiss Emma had bestowed on her in what seemed an eternity away, but was only several days before.

The pulse of white magic lifted from the blonde woman, spreading outwards in a whooshing wave, passing through the walls of the cabin. And a second after that, Emma gasped, taking in air into the oxygen starved lungs. She opened her eyes, smiling into the stunned chocolate ones. “My Queen,” Emma spoke with a soft smile before she promptly passed out, sinking into a deep sleep, this time a non-enchanted one.

* * *

Still shock frozen, Regina watched the blonde woman sleep, her chest moving with each breath the Savior took. The soft color filled Emma’s up to then pale face, and the comforting heat returned to the blonde’s skin, and as each moment passed, the Savior looked more and more like a person sleeping, unconcerned with the world. Feeling the strong pulsing beneath her hand, she looked at her palm, placed right below Emma’s left shoulder, a bit away from her heart. As she took away the hand, a sound pierced through her stunned consciousness. Turning into the direction, she saw her son sitting by the Cabin door, on the floor, with his knees pulled up to his chest.

His face was covered in tear marks, but at the second she was drawn to his eyes, looking at her with wonder and confusion at the events preceding the very moment. “Mom?” he whispered, his eyes darting between Regina and Emma, still not believing what he had witnessed only seconds before. The surprise, so apparent in his youthful and innocent face brought Regina back to her senses.

With overwhelming urgency and need to leave, she rose from the bed and walked to the door, stopping only for a moment by her son’s side, reaching for his face. Touching his cheek tenderly, she smiled down at him, although it felt like an uncomfortable mask on her face. “Go to her,” she whispered to Henry, caressing the ridge of his cheek bone, before she left the room in a hurry.

As she came to the hatch to the deck, she leaned onto the wood paneled wall, breathing deeply, as she tried to dispel the panic trying to overpower her. Whenever she closed her eyes, she saw the moment Emma had awakened, looking straight at her, with no surprise in her eyes at the revelation. Feeling the walls closing in on her, Regina moved, climbing up the stairs, reaching the deck of the ship.

But as she cleared the hatch she saw people standing close, waiting for her to return. Snow waited, watching the passage with hope in her eyes, and as their eyes connected, Regina just nodded, her gesture going unnoticed by everyone else. At the grateful and pleased smile, the former Evil Queen moved away, not able to stand the triumph in the woman’s behavior. Not willing to deal with any of them at the moment, least of all her newly discovered brother, she summoned her magic.

“Regina!” Neal called after her, having not noticed her until she moved away from the hatch, running toward her but before he could reach her she disappeared in the swirl of purple mist. As he turned around, he saw David’s and also his father’s relief evident on their faces. But the reaction that puzzled him the most was of the pixie haired woman before him. Snow was trying to suppress her smile, as she came to him, watching the place where Regina had been only moments before. “How can this be?” he whispered, outrage noticeable in his manner. But when Snow took his forearm gently, the cold wave of misery passed through him, making him accept his loss. He realized that his arrogant belief that he had been still Emma’s love of her life, even after the way he had abandoned her and doubted her had gotten the better of him. Shaking his head he looked toward his father, now a mortal man, feeling overwhelmed by the truths he had learned in the past several hours.

“It just is,” Snow said quietly, still holding his arm in her gentle grasp, glancing up toward his face, her sympathy evident in her kind smile.

“But she is the Evil Queen!” Neal whispered without fire in his words, knowing already that the moniker would get him nowhere, especially after he had learned all the facts of their journey, including his family relations.

“Is she?” Snow asked, not really expecting an answer. If anyone had told her that she would become a staunch defender of her former stepmother just a month before they had set out to find Henry she would have told them that they had lost their mind. Turning away from Neal, she looked at the spot where Regina had stood before the mist had taken her away. “She is a woman who was abandoned by Fate just because of who her parents were, causing her a great deal of pain. She is also the woman who raised your son into the wonderful and brave young man he is.” In that moment, Snow realized she sounded just like Emma had, when they had had their talk about Regina. “She is your kin. And she is Henry’s mother.” As much as Snow’s voice was gentle and her touch kind, Neal could hear the underlying warning and threat issued with a tender smile and blaze in her eyes.

Neal nodded, defeated. Not only did the Savior have her True Love in the Queen, but the dark woman was openly accepted in the Charming family, her position as his son’s mother firm and unyielding. There was not much he could do after all that had been done. Rumplestiltskin had told him everything, and he did think that the old man had not kept anything back for the sake of transparency, hoping for forgiveness in return. If anything, the stories of his manipulations of Regina in the past made Neal feel a bit of admiration for the woman, for she had lived through it with her head held high, no matter the blows she had received and dealt, in return. If he had been in her place, he would have given up a long time ago, broken and damaged beyond recognition and recovery. Walking away from Snow, he glanced upon the spot where his sister, the idea he needed time to get used to, had been the last time he had seen her. Stepping slowly, he walked to the helm, nodding to Hook in greeting. He turned around and looked out at the sea, leaning on the railing, knowing that Hook would give him the time he needed for himself, to sort all things out.

* * *

Emma felt her consciousness seep into her mind, bringing the sense of her body along. The feeling of heaviness was leaving her limbs, receding slowly as she sensed her body awaken. But, the heaviness refused to leave her upper body, pressing down onto her. Opening her eyes, she reached for her chest and came across a shaggy mop of hair she recognized instantly. Going through it with tenderness she lifted her head a bit, finding her son locking his happy eyes with hers, not moving from his spot on her body.

“Hey, kid,” she murmured, letting her head fall back onto the pillow she had been lying on. She felt worried for a moment as she had not expected to feel so weak after waking up. “What are you doing?” Her voice, still weak from misuse, was barely audible in the small room, but as Henry still had his ear pressed on his mother’s chest he heard her well enough.

“Listening to your heart.” Henry spoke easily, refusing to lift his head. “It is good to finally hear it beat again.”

Hearing his reply, Emma frowned. Finally? Just, how long had she been under, she was wondering. She was not pleased with the idea of her son witnessing her ‘death’ albeit it had been only temporary. If she had been under the curse for a long time, then Henry and the others definitely were very worried about her.

Gently tapping Henry’s back, she gestured him to move a bit so she could rise. Moving gingerly, she tested her limbs before she attempted to move them. Sitting up, she glanced down, seeing herself in the fresh clothes, the color tones being somewhat darker than she usually wore. Smiling, she imagined that she was glad that Regina had picked up the things for her to wear, not Mary Margaret. At the thought of the older woman, her mind immediately summoned the last memory she had of Regina, remembering her chocolate brown eyes looking down at her in stupefied panic. She had called the woman her queen, remembering how she liked to tease the older woman with her title.

Again, as she straightened out, she glanced at her clothes, dusting them out, even as she knew there would not be a speck of dust on her, due to Regina’s protective barriers, whose remains she could still feel in the air around her. She tried to account for the lost time but all she knew was that she had been away for a second, or eternity, and that to her it was all the same. She looked up, and saw Henry, who had risen from the bed while she had been ruminating of her cursed sleep, eyeing her expectantly. Reaching for him, she transferred her weight onto her legs, standing up in what seemed forever. Along with the blood rushing through her veins, she felt her magic simmering right beneath the surface, waiting for her to summon it. Smiling at her boy, she threw her arm around his shoulders and step by step, walked out of the room feeling her energy return with each new step. By the time they reached the stairs, she felt as good as new.

Climbing up on her own, closely followed by her son, she reached the deck, exiting the belly of the ship, her a bit ungracious move drawing the attention of every person present. She scanned the crowd, seeing some new faces, mostly young ones, some old ones, the ones she had traveled with, some unexpected ones, but never the one she yearned for. Finally, her gaze settled on Snow, the instinct telling the Savior that her mother would have the answers she needed. Stepping closer to her, she felt the boy stay close to her, gripping her hand in his, as if he was afraid of her disappearing on him, or dying again.

Before she reached her mother, however, Emma was intercepted by the man she had not thought she would see any time soon. Neal stood before her, alive and well, looking at her like she was a mirage of some kind. His dark eyes looked her over, searching for something desperately, but she knew he would not find what he was looking for. Placing a hand to his shoulder, she focused onto his eyes, drawing his gaze to her own eyes. “I am glad that you live,” she spoke quietly, her voice calm and uninterested, as her face held such impassivity that it frightened him – for Emma’s face was never passive, it always had some movement on it, whether it was a nervous twitch of the muscle of her jaw, a worried frown on her forehead, or mischievous smirk on her lips – her face never stood still. But now it did. Not even her eyes showed recognition or any emotion when they looked at him. Feeling the loss more keenly than he ever would have guessed he would, he let himself be pushed aside by her insistent hand.

Reaching her intended goal, she stood before the pixie haired woman. Letting herself be hugged by her mother, she brought her arms up, patting the back of the woman gently. She saw her father’s blue eyes fill with happy tears, but he only nodded at her, knowing her deep need to be done with the greetings and celebrations, as she had more important things to get to.

Pulling back from the hug she looked into her mother’s eyes, gleaming with wetness. As she reached for her mother’s cheek, she placed her other hand onto Snow’s shoulder. “Where is she?” Although the question had been asked without any emotion, Snow could see them swirling in her eyes. The love mixed in with apprehension and concern shone brightly out of the green eyes, making it almost painful to be submitted to her gaze.

“I don’t know,” Snow spoke softly, sorry that she could not help. “She seemed really shaken when she let her mist take her away.” Gesturing toward the spot where Regina had been there last, she shrugged, before she turned to Emma once more. “I may have been a little too harsh on her to make her understand,” she added in a soft whisper, almost too low for Emma to hear. But the blonde woman did anyways, and she pierced her mother with a stony glare before her countenance changed into a softer one.

“I am sure it was necessary, with her being hard headed and all…” Emma spoke, her voice taking a tinge of humor as she smiled gently at her mother. She looked at the spot, still feeling the remnants of the magic Regina had left behind. “I need to go,” she said, glancing toward the pixie haired woman, her voice growing soft. Snow took Henry to her side and nodded, with an understanding smile.

Keeping the boy to her side, Snow watched Emma walk away. Seeing her daughter spread her arms wide, the white and blue light seeping out of her closed fists, she smiled. As Emma glanced over them once more in goodbyes, she decided to speak. “Bring her back. We’ll wait here.” There were so many meanings in her shaking voice, each speaking of a different thing, but Emma had heard everything hidden beneath the words understanding each plea perfectly – as if it had been put in utterance. Emma kept her gaze to her mother, smiling at her son and nodded. Winking at him, she allowed her magic to envelop her and to whisk her away, to a place she had not seen in person but in another’s memories.

She had a feeling she would find the older woman there. It was the place where it all had begun. Regina’s need for vengeance, at least.

Emma looked around and smiled. Although she had not been there before, she had been in its counterpart in Storybrooke many times, as Henry had wanted to show off with his knowledge of horses. The building had the same shape, but it was different in coloring and style. Where the Storybrooke stable was modern and freshly painted, with modern appliances, the building in front of her was old and abandoned, although it seemed it had been well cared for once upon a time.

Walking on the path to the front door, she took stock of her own body. Sluggishness she had felt aboard the Jolly Roger was gone, and the magic was brimming in her, ready for anything. Last time she had been off to the wilderness in the Enchanted Forest, she had an encounter with an ogre. Who knew what could be out there this time, Emma thought while she regarded the shadows around her.

Pushing the wide door open, she winced at the loud groan of unused hinges of the heavy oak door. She peered inside, searching for the familiar outline of her friend, and now - so much more. When she had entered completely into the old building, and her eyes had gotten used to the darkness, she saw what she was looking for several feet away, on the floor.

Regina was kneeling on the floor, her head bowed, and her hand touching a spot on the floor. Emma gasped when the scene caused her mind to superimpose it with another one, this one from her memory, seeing Regina holding Daniel in her arms, desperately trying to kiss him alive but failing. The pain of the memory, the suffering Regina had suffused to the image by her own experience of it, shook Emma, bringing her down to her knees. She watched the dark haired woman sob in anguish, unable to move, to comfort her. Finally, as the shock of the grief had let go of her limbs, Emma raised her hand, reaching toward the other woman.

She placed her hand on Regina’s shaking shoulder, tenderly caressing it with her thumb. Only a reminder that the brunette was not alone in her nightmare, but it had to be enough for now. Emma knew that if she pushed too hard, inserted herself in Regina’s space too much, it would end badly. The raging Evil Queen badly and Emma didn’t think the world was ready for it. Honestly, she didn’t think she was. So, she just waited.

After a while, when the sobs stopped, Regina turned slowly to the blonde woman behind her, the recognition sparkling slowly in her dark watery eyes. When she realized who was before her, Regina blinked with surprise, brought back to present instantly. Instead of her father, as she indeed had expected because he had been the one who had found her in the stables that day long before, when she had cradled Daniel’s head on her lap, crying inconsolably, there was the Savior, watching her with those understanding and kind eyes she had inherited from her mother. Anger surged in her, such immense power rose at her bidding, making the air around her crackle with electricity. Pushing away the consoling hand with a violent smack, Regina came to her feet quickly, aided by the force of magic. “What are you doing here?” the older woman spoke with such malice and hate in her voice that the Savior had no words against it.

Emma felt her heart speed up. The storm was coming, and she was not sure if she would survive the amassing gale, because Regina was in a mood for damage. Rising slowly to her feet, keeping her hands in plain sight, she stood her ground bravely, hoping that she would reach Regina before the older woman did something to hurt herself.

“You are not allowed to be here!” Regina whispered angrily, her eyes flashing. In that moment, Emma realized that it wasn’t her Regina was raging against. It was Snow. But before she could do anything about it, Regina extended her hand and the stream of fire came rushing right at her. Instinctively, Emma deflected the attack coming closer to the woman, silently thanking her for merciless training Regina had given her only several days before. It also had given her the insight in the older woman’s fighting style, and she somewhat knew what to expect next. And, as she had thought, Emma remarked to herself with a smirk, the stream of ice came at her. Not giving it more than a thought, Emma dismissed the cold magic and came so close to Regina that she could touch her. Without hesitation, she reached out, grabbing Regina’s wrists, pulling them up. However, as she had expected more resistance, her sudden move brought them to the edge of one of the stalls, Regina’s back hitting the division panel. As the older woman released a muffled groan, Emma held her hands tight, but not hard enough to hurt the brunette.

“Regina!” Emma spoke harshly, expecting her captive to fight. And, as if reminded by Emma’s thoughts, Regina started wriggling, trying to push her captor away. “Look at me,” Emma urged, resisting the hits Regina was giving out with her knees. “Look at me, Regina,” Emma said with a groan, as Regina managed to strike a painful blow. “Damn it, Regina, stop that!” Emma growled, as she pulled Regina’s hands up, high above their heads, using one hand to keep them in place and the other to grab the woman’s chin, pulling her face toward her. The sudden violence of the move startled Regina and she looked into the eyes of her captor, forced by the insistent hand under her chin. The concerned green eyes darted over her face, searching for something. But, the eyes, as much as they were similar to Snow’s, were not the eyes of her once nemesis. Focusing on the face of her captor she saw who it really was with her in the stables.

“Emma?” Regina whispered, her voice trembling tremulously.

Emma sighed in relief. “Hey,” she breathed out, releasing Regina from her hold, but still keeping her hand on Regina’s chin. But instead of firm grip, it was a tender hold, keeping their eyes connected. But as soon as she spoke Regina’s eyes changed, the fear passing through them. Surprised with the development, Emma could not react in time to catch the older woman as Regina pushed away and disappeared in the swirling magic. Emma was so fiercely reminded of another event, this time from her own memory. It had been when she had accused Regina of killing Archie. The same look of desolation and distress passed through Regina’s eyes then.

Lowering her head down into her hands, Emma closed her eyes. It didn’t go as well as she had hoped, but at least they were both alive. Passing fingers through her hair, the blonde woman looked around. With one hand, she scratched the back of her hand, while her other hand fell to her hip. Where would Regina go next?

With all the knowledge Emma had of Regina, gathered painstakingly by listening and reading other people’s stories and learning about the woman from the source itself, the answer was easy. She would go to the place where she had been the most powerful. But, where was that place? Was it the former White Castle, the seat of her kingdom? Or perhaps the Charming’s Castle, where she had spent the last moment in this realm, with Snow brought down on her knees at her feet? Or maybe the jagged cliffs where the curse had been enacted?

With an exasperated chuckle, Emma shook her head. Of course Regina would make it difficult. It would not be like Regina if it was not. Leaving the stables, Emma made a decision to start first with the White Castle, but she would check every place she could think of if need be. Remembering the position of the castle from Regina’s memories, she closed her eyes, once more letting her magic engulf her.

She appeared in front of the massive castle placed in the valley among the hills. Surrounded by what once appeared to be lush and teeming forest, the castle itself was on a small plateau rising above the water level. On three sides it was protected by hills and mountains, while on the one side it had access to the small bay, hidden by the hillocks. A good strategic place for defense, Emma remarked as she looked around. The castle itself was grandiose and opulent, its strangely shaped buildings presenting an intricate design. For some reason it was not as damaged by the violent passage of the curse as the Charming’s castle had been. Feeling the magic in the stone around her, she understood that it had been protected and that the magic was the only reason it was still standing.

Pushing the gates open, Emma rushed inside, guided by her instinct, or as she observed to herself, Regina’s memories. Each sculpture, each turn of the path, each new door she passed brought out new images in her mind, driving the feelings of loss, entrapment and helpless anger into Emma, making her feel more and more understanding of Regina's plight.

Steeling herself for the onslaught of new memories, Emma entered the heart of the castle, passing by the gardens. Unable to stop the tears, she saw the shadows of the past run around, telling her stories of passing days Regina had spent in the captivity of her own grandfather. She pressed on, her quick step turned into running as she went by luxurious rooms, all nothing but the gilded cages to her mind. She did not question herself where she was going, but followed the directions that her heart had given her. It had been often said that Emma did things impulsively, sometimes to her own detriment. But now, after all that had happened, she learned to trust her instincts. So, she followed the directions, running hard up the stairs, going to the place where she knew, with absolute certainty, that Regina would be at.

She disregarded the pain in her legs, as she dashed over the landing of the floor she was looking for. Entering the hallway she stopped in place. The hallway was actually the terrace, going all the way across the side of the castle, showing the majesty of the kingdom from that side, as the various towns and villages could be seen from that place. Emma shook her head, knowing that it was only the memory, for there were none of the villages remaining after the curse. Continuing down the passage, she allowed herself to catch her breath from all the running. Finally, she reached the place she was looking for. The place she was guided to.

The Royal Chambers.

She pushed the gilded doors open, and entered the room, ready for anything. But, what she found was not what she had expected. Regina stood on the terrace, looking out. But it wasn’t the pose that was surprising, it was the clothes. Regina was wearing a dark overcoat covering her black leather breeches and knee high riding boots. The air around the woman was simmering with the aura of malice. Emma smiled at the presentation, knowing that the Evil Queen had been resurrected for this moment, as the final defense. Knowing that it would irk Regina, she quirked her mouth in her insolent grin, and with a quick prayer to whoever listened, she forced on.

“I thought I might find you here,” Emma spoke, startling the Queen. As she walked to the other woman, Emma looked around, seeing the room for the first time with her own eyes. Untroubled by memories, she could see the elegance the room was decorated with. Much like the Mayor’s Mansion in Storybrooke. As she lined up with the other woman, she noticed the frown on her face. “Enjoying the view?” Emma asked, leaning on the railing of the balcony. She glanced at the woman, as she crossed her arms nonchalantly.

“How did you find me?” Regina whispered softly, looking at Emma with something like wonder in her dark eyes, breaking through the Evil Queen’s façade. Her hands were clenching the railings hard, the fact Emma did not miss.

“I will always…” Emma started, but before she could continue she watched the woman beside her explode.

“Don’t you dare!” Regina yelled vehemently, as she pierced Emma with a cold and hard look. After a moment, she turned around and strode out of the room without another word. The hard clack of her heels reverberated in the halls of the huge and empty castle.

Rushing after Regina, Emma managed to catch up to her at the corner of the terraced hall. Falling into the step, she followed Regina silently until they reached a small meeting room. Emma glanced around, recognizing the place and shiver passed through her, at the memories of the place. Regina smiled haughtily at the cold understanding that Emma’s face showed.

“Yes, this is the place,” Regina spoke, her voice strong and demanding, filled with condescending sneer Emma had witnessed only when Regina had been in a particularly vicious mood in Storybrooke. “This is the place where I took poor Graham’s heart.” The malice in Regina’s voice overwhelmed Emma, as she stood frozen in place. “This is where I ordered him to kill your mother. Where I had killed many others, took countless hearts and planned and ordered many deaths around.” As she spoke, Regina circled Emma, letting all the almost forgotten behavior of the Evil Queen rise to the surface, as she played with her victim. “Here, I orchestrated the death of the good king Leopold. Oh, it was one of my better works, you know. How the Genie ate every word I fed him, not once questioning anything. And he, in his brave rush to save his dear beloved, killed the only man who had been upfront and friends with him.” The mocking filled Regina’s voice, the harsh edge of the powerful monarch heard in the tone. Emma closed her eyes at the sorrow she felt, letting her tears fall.

When Regina saw the tears, she aimed for the kill. “This is where I ruled.” The strong and clear enunciation of the I sent a clear message. Regina was once more assuming the title of the Evil Queen, seemingly destroying all the good work she had done in the name of redemption and recovery.

But, Emma knew better.

She had seen it once before. And she thanked the lucky star that had given her the experience for she knew now what to do. Internally, she shrugged at her own comment, because the experience she had gained had been gotten in foster care, in one of the youth housing centers where the kids had been forced to attend psych sessions. There, she had met a girl, a bit younger than her, Sarah. Abused from an early age, Sarah had major issues with trust and love, unable to form attachments. In the group sessions she had shared her history with other girls, Emma included, telling how whenever she would grow close to someone that someone would turn on her one way or the other, hurting her worse than the one before. Eventually, she had been brought to the point when she would rather destroy anything resembling happiness to her than allow another chance, or the slightest opportunity to be hurt. The behavior explained away by the center’s resident psych made Emma realize that she had been one of the lucky ones in the system.

“I know,” Emma whispered, following Regina with her eyes, turning slightly when she would walk out of her line of sight.

Regina saw something in Emma’s eyes, and decided to try again. “This is where I planned every step of the hunt for your mother.”

“I know.” The soft voice carried strength in it that unnerved Regina.

“I killed thousands with my bare hands!” Regina raised her voice, her temper rising as well.

“I know,” Emma said, looking Regina directly in the eyes. The defiant posture the Savior had taken served its purpose, irking the Queen beyond her façade. Regina turned away to leave, but the passage filled with the white mist, cutting her way. Furiously, the brunette tried to break through it with magic, but the mist did not yield. Feeling trapped she turned to Emma, grabbing her lapels roughly.

“You will leave this place!” Regina managed angrily through her clenched jaw. “Now!”

Although the grip hurt, and the urge to push away offending hands was almost overwhelming, Emma stood motionlessly. Her only answer was softly spoken No.

“Leave me alone!” Regina screamed into the air, still holding to Emma’s lapels.

Emma placed her hands over Regina’s and smiled gently. “You forget, we have shared our memories. I know everything there is to know about you. As you know everything about me.” Emma held Regina closely as she spoke, not allowing the Queen to step away. “And, I am still here, with you.”

Regina managed to pull out one of her hands out of the firm grip, using it immediately to free herself completely, pushing Emma back with her magic. She sneered at the understanding look on the Savior’s face. “I don’t need your pity.” Regina spat, as she stepped away. “You were always a persistent fool, Swan. Just like your father.”

Emma nodded slowly. “Perhaps.” Crossing her hands on her chest, she looked at the brunette circling the room, trapped with the magical mist. “But, for some reason it worked for me…” she added casually, shrugging her shoulders.

“Get out of my way,” Regina yelled, attacking Emma with the purple swirl of magic, but Emma was ready for it, and just shrugged it away, prepared for another volley of raging power directed at her. “Now!”

The room filled with magical fire, heating up the air, but not damaging the things around them. The fire was meant for Emma, to hurt her but never to kill her, and the blonde woman knew that. With a simple wave of her hand, Emma extinguished the blaze, smirking at Regina. “You may be the powerful Evil Queen,” Emma spoke, blocking Regina’s magic the same way she had blocked Rumplestiltskin, “but I am the Savior!” She gestured at her magical supremacy, keeping her voice calm and far from gloating. It was never about overpowering her, but about showing her the way.

With the angry snarl, the Queen raised her hands up in helpless rage. Coming to the mist obstacle in the way, Regina turned back and with another scornful scowl on her face she spoke. “Leave, or I will destroy you!”

At those words, Emma leaned her head to a side, watching the other woman inspect the barrier carefully. Oddly, it did not sound like a threat. It sounded more like a statement. It sounded like a warning, a promise of regret. With that thought, it hit her. “Is that it?” Emma spoke, still thinking about Regina’s previous words. Disregarding the frantic but confused look directed at her, she stepped closer to the former Queen. “Is that what this is all about? You are afraid for me?”

“Believe what you will, just leave.” Regina spoke, keeping her back to the blonde woman.

Emma reached Regina and held her from behind, leaning her head onto the brunette’s shoulder, pulling her tight against her own body when the brunette tried to wriggle out of the forced hug. “I am not leaving you,” Emma whispered gently. She felt the fight drain out of the older woman, and for a moment she wondered if it was a trick to lower her guard down. “I know you are in a lot of pain, and that this is the only way you know how to dull the edges of it. But, hey, I am still here.” With a soft nuzzle of her cheek, Emma moved Regina’s hair off her face. “Let me help,” she whispered so softly it was almost inaudible.

“Why do you keep on coming after me?” Regina asked, her voice soft.

“Because, I know you. I understand you, all of you.” Emma tightened her hold gently. “Because, I love you.”

At the words, Regina tensed but before she could fight out of the embrace, Emma continued in her soft voice, knowing the fear Regina was feeling. “I am not here to claim you, or to force you into something you don’t want.” She slowly released her grip around the brunette, turning her gently around. “I am here as a friend.” She took Regina’s hands and leaned them to her own chest, keeping Regina close, but not in the crowding manner, giving her the illusion of space. “I am here to not let you drown, and pull you to safety.”

Regina felt her eyes water at the soft voice and the conviction Emma had in her salvation. But the doubts and fears were still too strong in her. She glanced up into the kind eyes of the blonde woman, the tears running freely. A gentle finger passed across her cheek wiping away the tears, the close movement of the hand making her eyes close. “Please,” she begged, like she had begged only once before, her voice shaking with tears and sorrow. “Let me go…”

“I am not holding you as a prisoner. I will let you go if that is what you really want.” Emma spoke, still holding one of Regina’s hands, but the hand on Regina’s face fell down to her side. “If you honestly want me away, then I will honor your wish. But, not if the demand is made in fear or in some odd need to protect me from yourself.” At the stipulation, Regina’s eyes opened, shining with surprise. Emma released her hand and stepped away, making the mist in the hallway disappear. When Regina started toward the hall, Emma nodded in defeat, her shoulders slumping but she did not move to stop the other woman, honoring her word.

Emma turned away, not willing to watch Regina walk out of the room. The soft buzzing of the headache brought on by tears filled Emma’s head making it impossible to hear the clicks of Regina's boots on the hard stone. In a way, she was thankful, because she knew that the ringing sound of the heels would have haunted her till the end of her days. Dropping herself on the small sofa in the corner of the room, away from the door, she curled into herself, feeling her heart break. She could not force Regina into acceptance. Well, she could but it would make her no different than any other authority in Regina’s life, making the decisions for her. Emma refused to be equated with Cora or Rumplestiltskin, or even Leopold, if only by her own mind. She would not keep Regina against her will, no matter the reasons why Regina was running away. But, the choice hurt, nonetheless. She let her tears come, as she was alone in the room.

“Why won’t you let yourself be happy?” Emma murmured into the room, hiding her head beneath her forearms, as her forehead was on her knees. The pain she felt coursing through her made it hard for her to breathe or to even think.

“Because the price might be too high,” a soft voice replied, close to her. Emma jerked, lifting her head and looked at the person who had spoken. It had been Regina’s voice but she dared not to believe. She saw the woman the voice belonged to kneeling on the floor beside the sofa, only an arm’s length away, looking up at her with tears in her eyes, brimming with pain. As Emma could not speak, Regina forced on, knowing she would have to put her fears in words, perhaps for the first time in a long while. “There is the fear that you being my True Love, what I did for Daniel cannot be justified, because he was not. And, the fear that you were not, and if I let myself hope that you were… But those fears are irrelevant now.” Regina picked the seam line of her coat, not knowing what to do with her hands, as she had never felt so unnerved before. “What if you die? Like you could have died from that curse… What if you die and I go back to destroying the world? Who would pull me back, this time? Who would be able to stop me? I killed so many before…” Her voice shook with emotions, but she still did not dare to stop or to look up. “And worse, what is being with me corrupts you that your heart starts to blacken? What if I destroy you?” She had lowered her voice to the whisper, not able to prevent it from breaking. “I cannot bear the thought of a world without you as a Savior in it,” she mumbled into the chin.

Emma smiled at the muttered statement. It was the biggest compliment Regina could have ever given her, and as well it was the closest Regina had ever come to proclaiming her feelings for Emma. During Regina’s speech, she had calmed herself down, listening to the words and underlying emotions. It appeared that Regina had never left the room, turning back at the last moment, but Emma had already been in a different position and she had not seen her stay.

As the older woman was still sitting on her heels in front of her, Emma decided to move. Unlocking her limbs, she lowered herself onto the floor and pulled Regina’s head onto her shoulder, pulling her into an embrace. “I am sorry,” Regina mumbled into her shoulder, the tears seeping into her jacket. “I am sorry,” she repeated the words over and over as she clung to Emma. The blonde woman soothed her gently, feeling her own tears glide down her cheeks, into Regina’s hair.

When they calmed down enough to breathe in an easy rhythm of relaxation, Emma shifted gently, lifting Regina’s head, guiding it a bit away, so she could see the chocolate eyes. “I can’t promise that I will not die, but I can promise I will fight against that outcome with all that I have, and I promise to be more careful in the future.” When Regina nodded in acceptance, she smiled gently and leaned their foreheads together. “As for destroying me, I think it’s you who is in danger of corruption.” As she spoke, Emma wickedly smiled and started tickling the older woman making her scream in delight, as she tried to wiggle away.

“I surrender! I surrender!” Regina squealed in between bouts of laughter, trying to push the insistent hands away. “I give up!” she said breathlessly, hitting Emma’s shoulder in play.

“So soon, my dear?” Emma imitated the haughty tone of the Evil Queen, to Regina’s surprise. But, before Emma could ask what was wrong, Regina burst into another bout of laughter, pointing at Emma.

“I am much better at that,” Regina pointed out as she was able to get some air into her lungs.

“Oh, I have no doubt that you are,” Emma spoke, dropping down beside Regina on the floor. Leaning on her elbow, she looked at the smiling brunette lying down, stretched out on the ground. Her gaze had drawn Regina’s attention and at her frown, Emma just took the closest Regina’s hand and held it in her palm. “Seriously, though. I have grown up on the streets of major cities. There is not much that can corrupt me.”

Regina gently turned her hand, intertwining her fingers with Emma’s. “After all that I have learned, and from where I am from, I cannot help but be concerned.” Even though she spoke calmly, the underlying worry was clear. Emma kissed the back of her palm and smiled.

“And that is all right, until it overwhelms you and you start making stupid choices.” Even though the words themselves held the slight sting of reprimand, the tone was gentle and patient. Emma locked her eyes with Regina’s. “Remember, you are not alone in this. There is the whole clan of Charmings out there to help out, as well as the other side of the family. Not to forget the entire cluster of friends we have, wanting or not. And I want you to know,” Emma released the hand in favor of the face, caressing the cheek below her. “Whenever you feel your fears rising up, tell me – no matter how silly they might be for you. Please, don’t keep them away from me.” At Regina's soft nod, Emma wiped the errant tear of the brunette’s cheek, smiling at her companion. The blonde woman lowered herself down on the floor, pleased that she had made her point, easing Regina’s fears, for the time being.

After some time had passed, Emma jumped up, startling Regina. Offering her hands to help the brunette rise, Emma smirked irresistibly at the older woman, making her smile. “I think a tour of this place is in order,” Emma spoke, nudging Regina with her elbow, her gleeful mood infectious. Offering her elbow with a sharp gentlemanly bow, Emma smiled when Regina did indeed place her arm through the hook of her elbow, guiding them toward the stairs.

“And after all of that is over, I guess you will take me to bed?” Emma spoke not thinking about what she said. When Regina faltered in her step, Emma looked at the other woman and saw the blanched face of the former Queen. “No, I mean, to sleep, we will find ourselves a place to sleep. I guess there is a bed in this castle? I don’t feel like going back to the ship just yet, and it will be dark then. I didn’t mean to insinuate anything, well unless you want to, but it is OK if you…” At the soft clearing of the throat beside her, Emma flushed, feeling the heat suffuse her face up to the hair roots, closing her mouth before anything else escaped. She peered through her eyelashes at the brunette, seeing only the amused smile on her face.

“There is indeed a place where we can sleep,” Regina spoke kindly choosing not to tease the poor woman. “If you want to stay here, I can find us a bed.” But then she just smirked at the still blushing woman. “And I will keep your offer in mind,” Regina added in a lascivious whisper, laughing out loud at the gaping younger woman, leaving her behind.

“Regina!” Emma yelled in not quite mustered outrage. “It’s not funny,” she complained as she quickened her pace to catch up with her guide…

* * *

As Snow watched her daughter disappear in the blue-white mist of her magic, she patted her grandson’s shoulder with a soothing and kind gesture. “Come on,” she spoke to him softly, glancing up to David. “We need to get off this ship.” Leading the boy toward the boat, she leaned her head onto David’s shoulder when he stepped right next to her. No one stopped them and with David’s powerful muscles, they were on the shore quickly.

Going to the village hall where Snow expected the other children of the ship to be, she let Henry explore the village for the first time they were there. Without worrying about Regina’s safety, Henry could allow himself to look around taking in the sights and all the interesting things he could see in the village. “He looks alright,” David whispered to Snow while they were watching him talk to a blacksmith.

“It hasn’t hit him yet.” Snow crossed her arms on her chest. “And when it does…” She looked up to her husband’s kind blue eyes, her worry evident in her green ones.

“Hey there,” another voice joined them there. The couple turned to see the newcomer and smiled in welcome when they saw that it was Princess Aurora, carrying the little one in her arms. “I was starting to get worried. It has been hours since you left the children in our care.” She looked over to Henry, searching for something. “I hoped Regina would be with you,” she spoke when she saw that the older woman was nowhere in sight. “This little one was getting fussy…”

Snow shared a look with David and took Kyle out of Aurora’s hands. The princess smiled at the young one recognizing the pixie haired woman. As the baby calmed down and started playing with the buttons on Snow’s coat, Aurora saw Henry talk to Elias, interested in what he had to show him. Glancing sideways she noticed the ever vigilant eyes of the Prince Charming follow the boy wherever he went. Looking up at the cloudy sky, she nodded to herself. It was near supper time. “Will you stay for the meal? There is enough room for everyone to sleep here, if you wish.”

“It is kind of you to offer,” Snow started, but before she could continue Aurora’s blue eyes filled with a fierce look. “We left our people on the ship…” Snow tried again, but she was met with a pleased smile.

“A runner will be sent, and your shipmates will be invited. Come along, Snow, I bet you have grown tired of the constant movement of the deck. Enjoy the opportunity to sleep on the hard ground.” Aurora spoke, leading them inside, as the boys came running to them. “Hot meals, warm beds, and enough privacy… How can you say no?”

“Apparently, I can’t.” Snow said with a hard edge to her tone, before she smiled and entered the village hall. Entering from another side than before, she noticed a stairwell hidden in the shadows, leading to the upper floor.

Aurora led Snow and David to the central room, and as Snow passed her by, she took her arm, careful not to disturb Kyle in Snow’s other one. “I have had the rooms upstairs prepared for you and the children. Even the pirate is welcome to a warm bed and good ale.” The woman guided them to take their seats in the room they had been before, only now there were two tables set for dining. Although they were prepared in simple and, well, poor fashion Snow could feel the welcome beyond the gesture. Walking to the table meant for adults, Snow took her seat beside Aurora, gently lowering herself, minding the baby. David sat beside her, leaving one seat at their side. Across them was meant for Neal and Rumplestiltskin, leaving Hook to sit beside Mulan across the rulers of the village. The idea of the dark pirate beside the warrior woman made Snow snicker silently.

They ate, talking about various things, Phillip and Mulan describing their travels while they had searched for Aurora, Neal sharing some of his adventures, with others joining in with anecdotes or questions. They had left the children to amuse themselves at the table just aside theirs, apart from Kyle who had been tucked in, under Martha’s careful watch. Often, Snow or Aurora would rise to check on them.

On one such trip, Aurora joined Snow, smiling at Henry who kept the rest of the children at the table animated by a story of the Savior. “I would have thought that Regina would have joined us,” Aurora said as an introduction, as they moved away from the children’s table. Snow gently shook her head, walking to the corner of the great room, staying in sight, but far enough not to be heard by the others. With a soft sigh she sat on a low seat at the wall, crossing her ankles. Aurora joined her, interested in what Snow had to say. “Does it have to do anything with _your_ talk today?” Aurora spoke softly.

Snow smiled in chagrin and nodded. “I had to make her accept some things and I was unsuccessful right up to the end.”

“We were too far to hear anything, but it seemed intense,” the Princess added gently.

“You could say that. I honestly still cannot believe she has let me live, even after all the things I have said to her.” Snow looked down at her hands, feeling them shake at the memory of the day’s event.

“What was it that she had to accept?” Aurora asked, her mind deciding that she already knew. Snow had forced Regina away for the good of the family.

“That she is Emma’s True Love,” Snow said, her voice barely heard over the joyous laughter booming from the adult table. Aurora blinked and frowned in confusion.

“I think I’ve just heard you say that Regina was Emma’s True Love,” she said with the obvious disbelief in her voice, as her eyebrows almost reached her hairline.

“That _is_ what I said,” Snow replied, looking at the younger woman, the seriousness of her words apparent in her eyes. “And, she is,” she added before Aurora could say anything. “Emma has been awakened this afternoon by none other than Regina.”

“But, I thought that man, Baelfire, was Emma’s True Love. That is why you came here, isn’t it?”

“Because Henry and Regina insisted, and Rumplestiltskin was all for finding his son. But, the rest of us, Gold included, thought Regina would see the truth for what it was and act on it. It didn’t work that way…”

“So Emma’s awake? And, you have left the couple…”

“No.” Snow interrupted before Aurora could say anything suggestive or outright crude. “Regina has fled after the kiss. Emma is looking for her.”

“You aren’t helping?”

“I am the last person Regina wants to see right now.” Snow placed her hands on her knees in resignation. “And, they left using magic.”

“What? Emma has magic?” At Snow’s pointed look, Aurora nodded. “Of course she has. Go on.”

“Because of all the damage I have caused, Emma might take a while to find her, and then to convince her to come back. I don’t expect her to return alone, and she knows that. And, maybe it would do them good to be alone for a while…” Snow discontinued that line of thought, refusing to think about her daughter _that_ way.

After Aurora realized Snow would not say anything more on the subject, and seeing that the people were getting tired, children especially, so she took it upon herself to be a good hostess and guide the youngest ones to the room upstairs, set specifically for them. After they had settled in, she came down and explained to the others where their rooms were. Then, she came to Henry and Elias. Stooping down a bit, she smiled at them, telling them that they can share the room with the rest of the boys, or go into a different one, just the two of them. With delight of freedom, they scampered off to the upper floor, taking the offered room for them. As everyone was situated, the Royals of the village bid them good night and left, followed by Mulan.

As the tables were cleared by the villagers, the men left upstairs rather quickly, deciding to go to bed early as they overindulged in the ale and wine, leaving Snow and Rumplestiltskin beside the fire in the great room.

Snow smiled lovingly at the antics of her husband, who was obviously worried about their daughter, and in the company of other ‘tough’ men he had decided that the merriment and drinking would take his mind off Emma.

“It seems that we have been abandoned for warm sheets, Miss Blanchard,” Rumplestiltskin said, walking to Snow, as he carried a large pitcher of fresh water. He sat beside the fire, placing his cane beside his seat, as he lowered the pitcher down carefully. Leaning back, he spread his aching leg, pulling out a hidden woven basket from beneath his seat.

“I guess that Neal and David decided to drown their worries and sorrow in the wine,” Snow remarked, looking at the older man. “And, the good Captain just wanted to drown himself in the good drink.” Rumplestiltskin chuckled at the humor in the woman’s voice but he sensed something beyond it, something other than worry.

“Something on your mind, dearie?” he asked, his trademark condescending high pitched tone that usually accompanied the word gone.

Snow looked around to see if anyone but them remained in the room. The villagers had cleared the tables, putting them away, and now the guests were alone in the village hall. “You mentioned before that Henry was to bring about your doom.” Snow looked at the old man, as he looked around the woven basket. “And, in Neverland, it was said that he would have helped Peter because he was the boy from the prophecy.” She sighed. “What does it all mean?”

“Ah,” Rumplestiltskin said, taking out a copper kettle and pouring water in it. “You cannot put much stock in prophecies. They are often not what they seem. They come true in unexpected ways.” He looked toward Snow and seeing her confused frown he continued. “When I was still young, I was drafted to fight in the Ogre Wars.” With a slight smirk as he remembered his delight when he had learned about it. Having placed the kettle over the fire, he leaned back. “At the soldier camp I came across a child seer. She had foreseen that the very next day, my actions on the battlefield would leave my son fatherless.” Rumplestiltskin saw that he had the young woman’s complete attention. “So, guided by her words I made a choice. I didn’t want to leave my, as I thought then, unborn child without a father. You see, I had grown up without one, and I didn’t want my son to suffer so, therefore I concocted a plan to escape. The morning of the supposed battle I broke my ankle on purpose, this making myself unfit to fight. Dismissed from the army, I hobbled home to see my newborn son.” As he talked, Snow could see that he remembered those moments that had happened centuries before as they had happened only a day before. “But, because of the choices I made I was branded a coward and it started a chain reaction that ended with my own boy leaving me…” He patted his damaged leg. “So my actions had indeed left my son fatherless…” As the water started boiling in the kettle, the old man took it out of the fire, pouring the water in another kettle, used for steaming the tea leaves. “At the other instance, I had been foretold that a boy would lead me to my son, but also to my destruction,” Rumplestiltskin started speaking again, as he took out two cups, as well as the container of tea herbs he wanted. Placing the leaves in the steaming pot, he looked at Snow. “So, when I heard it, I decided I would simply eliminate the boy. But only recently I have learned that he is my own grandson and that my destruction was, again, my choice, to protect and save him.” As he finished tinkering with the pot, he leaned back again. “Fate and Destiny are peculiar things, dearie, and knowing them can be, and often is more damaging than going blindly through life.”

At that moment, Elias came down the stairs. After the boy had seen Snow and Rumplestiltskin sitting by the fire, he came to the woman, taking his seat beside her feet. The woman gently ruffled his hair, watching his tired face. “What is it, Elias?”

“I cannot sleep, Your Ma…” Elias started but stopped himself at the look Snow directed at him. “Erm, Snow,” the boy said, keeping his head down in respect.

“Then you can join us for a cup of tea, young man,” Rumplestiltskin spoke before Snow would say a word. The woman in question nodded in approval when the boy looked at her for direction, his eyes asking for permission.

“So, Elias, what keeps you up?” the old man asked, his voice unusually gentle, as he took out another cup out of the basket. The boy just shrugged his shoulders, leaning onto Snow’s knees, using them to stay upright. For several minutes, they engaged in mindless chatting, involving the boy as much as they could in their conversation, but it slowly came to a lull, as they run out of the topics Elias could join in.

“Why is Prince Henry so special?” Elias suddenly asked, interrupting the silence that had fallen on them. At Snow’s startled glance he blushed. “I am sorry…” he started, but the woman waved his apology away with a smile, while she placed the cup into her lap.

“What do you mean?” she asked him, instead.

“Well,” he looked at her, still blushing. “When we were brought to the island, one of the lost ones would check our faces against the one drawn on a parchment. One of the men said that he was the Realms’ Walker and that he had the power of crossing Realms at his command, not needing anything else. That is why Peter wanted him, to take that power for himself. It was foretold.” Elias worried his hands when he saw both of them staring at him with surprise and interest. With hurried moves, he drank the tea at once. “That is what I heard,” he added, embarrassed by the continuing looks he was getting.

“Prince Henry is the Savior’s son, and perhaps he inherited more than just his eyes and manners from her,” Rumplestiltskin spoke kindly, patting the boy gently on his back, easing his discomfort. “Until that is proven, he is just a boy who had the fortune, or possibly misfortune to be born into this family,” he added with an amused glance toward Snow. With soft encouraging moves, he sent off the boy to bed, Elias obeying with eagerness, after he had said his goodnights.

“A Realms’ Walker?” Snow whispered with awe, after the soft thuds of Elias’s footsteps could not be heard any more on the stairs and on the boards above them. As the second floor had an inner railing that looked down on to the central room, providing more space for the people, enabling everyone in the village to attend the village meetings in the village hall, Snow had waited for the footsteps to move away from the room.

“It doesn’t have to mean anything. We haven’t heard the original prophecy, only someone’s interpretation of it. And, even so, Henry has walked through various Realms already, hasn’t he?” The pointed tone of the man’s voice drew Snow’s attention. “His world, the Nether world, Neverland, and the Enchanted Forest.”

“But, the same could be said about me,” Snow said in disappointment, drinking the rest of her tea.

“That is why prophecies should not be taken lightly. There are many ways they can come about, and it is almost impossible to predict how something is to come to be.”

The silence fell on them, as Snow couldn’t find an opposing argument. With another batch of soothing tea, they watched the fire, the sounds of the tranquil night, accompanied by the cracking of the burning logs heard in the great room. Snow sipped the tea, thinking…

Suddenly, something came to her, and unwilling to let the opportunity go, Snow turned to the older man beside her. “Did you father Regina only to have her cast the curse?”

“Well, no.” Rumplestiltskin looked at the woman beside him and with a strange feeling of release he started talking about his past. “I needed someone powerful to cast it. Someone who would be desperate enough to do it, no matter what the cost.” He glanced upon Snow. “And, it was a great cost.” Pouring another cup of his concoction for himself, he continued on. “So, I approached a poor miller’s daughter after she had forced herself in the proverbial corner with her own arrogance and scorn for others. As I said once to Miss Swan, I had a talent of finding desperate souls, so I appeared to Cora, offering her a deal: I would turn the straw into the gold, thus making her seem more than she was, and in return she would give me her firstborn. I thought, a woman that power hungry would do anything to gain influence, even give their own child away. However, she surprised me as she wanted to change the deal. If I taught her how to use magic, if I taught her how to spin straw into gold, she would give me her firstborn. And, as time passed my fondness of her grew. She was an eager student, learning quickly. Finally, she changed the deal for the last time – it would be my own progeny she would give me, as we would be together. I agreed. But, her thirst for power and arrogance were stronger than any affection she might have had for me, so she ripped her own heart out to prevent it from influencing her on her way to power and the throne. Up to that moment, I honestly considered finding someone else for casting the curse as I was unwilling to let the child of the woman I cared for be part of something devious. However, my desire to have someone else fulfill that part disappeared the moment Cora betrayed me, leaving me with Regina. So, I used her as it was planned in the beginning as a revenge for her mother’s sins against me.”

Snow blinked at the story she unexpectedly got from once the most mysterious and most feared creature in the land. “She suffered a lot because of it,” she said softly. Rumplestiltskin chuckled as if he knew something she did not. And, knowing who he had used to be, Snow concluded, that just might be the case.

“Through great suffering comes greatness,” Rumplestiltskin said after a moment of silence. “It is the challenges in life that make us who we are, Miss Blanchard; that shape us into the people we are.”

Snow frowned, unable to deny his claim, as often it had been happening that night.

“Let’s take you, for example. Snow White, the much celebrated daughter of Leopold and Eva, the just Royals… If your mother had lived, there would have been no need for you to set the example for the Kingdom, thus learning the responsibilities of a Royal the hard way at such a young age. You would have grown up into a kind and fair ruler under her guidance, but not the paragon of good you have been for the people of the Enchanted Forest.” Rumplestiltskin took her cup, filling it with fresh tea. Offering it back, he continued. “Because she died, Eva remained a saint in your memory, as you did not have a chance to see that she was just another human being. And, as she was a saint for you, her ideals and rules for a good person and Royal were your laws that you abided by to a fault. And, when Cora poisoned your mother, the choice you made defined you. A choice that caused you a lot of pain, no doubt, but the choice your mother was proud of you for it. And, so it became her legacy…”

Leaning back, the old man sighed. “And, the loss you suffered made you try to protect another one from losing their mother, even though it was a mistake, but it was for the right reasons.”

“She begged me not to tell, especially not to Cora.”

“And with the Evil Queen in your life, you met your Prince Charming… And, the rest is, as they say, history. But, consider this. If she hadn’t hunted you, you would have never turned into a road thief, and never would have met David. And, if your love had not been tested on every step of the way, how would you know it is the True Love that you have?”

“But, why is it necessary for one to suffer so to be great?”

“Ah, Your Majesty, it is not one’s suffering that ensures greatness. It is what the person does while they are suffering. The choices they make while in pain. The sacrifices they offer.”

“The heroes…” Snow whispered, remembering one of Henry’s rants about the duties of a hero.

“Yes. And, I have yet to meet a person who has the luck to have a True Love, and not to suffer greatly in life. I think it is a trade, of sorts, a reward. And, also, it is a gift that only people who know how to treasure it get.”

“So you would say that Regina deserves True Love?” Snow asked with interest.

“It is not important what I think. She has one, and it speaks for itself.” Rumplestiltskin shifted in his chair. “But, I would say that she does. After all that had been done to her, yes.” He looked at Snow with his eyebrow raised. “Don’t you?”

The pixie haired woman just nodded, lifting her cup up to her mouth. Rumplestiltskin was right, it did not matter what they thought, the fact was that Regina had her True Love, and that it was Emma. It was written in stone, and nothing could change it. And, she was the last person to try to get in between the two bonded in such a way. But, for some odd reason she did not mind that fact at all. It was a bit strange to see Regina as her daughter’s True Love, when she had been Snow’s step mother, but wasn’t anything she wouldn’t deal with.

“If she is your daughter,” Snow started after a while, an idea coming to her mind. “Shouldn’t Regina be more powerful?” she asked, looking at the man, whose countenance had changed a bit when the Queen’s name had been mentioned.

“She is,” Rumplestiltskin answered with strange gentleness in his voice. “She just doesn’t know it yet.” The soft smile of pride came to his lips, for a moment making him look younger. “Regina always used her magic as a tool, a way to get things done, but she never tried to delve deeper into the core of her power. She learned that offhand approach from her mother’s behavior.” He steepled his fingers in front of him, leaning back with an amused smile. “It is good that she had not discovered her true power before she cast the curse. If she had, we all would have been burned to cinders,” he said with a chuckle, surprising Snow with his callous behavior. “But, it won’t remain a secret for long. Miss Swan has a penchant for unearthing and solving mysteries and being Regina’s True Love, she could already know about it. After all, they had shared their minds and magic, I doubt there is much Emma doesn’t know about Regina.” He spoke with interest. But, when Snow moved in confusion, he smiled at her, feeling the patience he had been blessed that evening last even longer. “What is it that you know of the True Love couples?”

Snow blanched at his question, surprised by his line of conversation. “Not much. I can only draw from my experience. But, what does it have to do with Regina’s powers?”

“Everything…” Rumplestiltskin gathered the cups and the kettle and the pot, placing them beside the fireplace. “The main trait of the couples is that they are equals. They are the presentation of the balance, and as such one cannot be more than the other.” With a smile, he took his cane, leaning his chin against the hand hold. “You and David are equals as Royals, equals as fighters; all in all you complement each other perfectly, and you understand each other completely. He might be a bit rash, but you balance it out with your foresight. It is the same about our hosts. Phillip and Aurora are equals, as well.”

“So, Emma could have only a very powerful witch, or a magical being for her True Love? One that would be able to understand her past…” Snow added, comprehension dawning on her face. It was obvious.

“And how many people fit that bill?” Rumplestiltskin said knowingly, rising up from his seat, sighing when he leaned onto his injured leg. With a respectful inclination of his head, he bid Snow good night, leaving her to her own thoughts. While he climbed up, he felt eyes upon him, but as he was tired and unused to not having his power, he disregarded the feeling, leaving for the room he shared with his son.

Henry sat on the floor of the inner balcony, hidden in the shadows, right above where Snow and Rumplestiltskin had been sitting the whole evening. His position had given him a perfect opportunity to listen to his grandmother and grandfather talk, as the stone hearth helped the sound travel upstairs. Shocked with the knowledge he had gained with eavesdropping, he slowly and carefully moved over the boards to his room, aware that Snow was bound to come checking upon him and Elias any minute. He sneaked into the room he shared with the other boy, not a moment too soon, for as soon as he covered himself with a blanket, the door opened and a head peaked inside. Pretending to sleep, he waited for the door to close before he opened his eyes, wide awake.

He had heard Snow say the word understand and it sparkled something in his memory, something that someone else had told him. _Only one is her own salvation, and it is born not only of love but of understanding and forgiveness, as well_. It was the pixie that had told him, and Snow was the only one beside him who could understand the words. She had known because she had heard the words and understood them, but he hadn’t. He had been warned that the solution had been a lot closer that he had thought, but he had pressed on with finding Neal. Emma had never forgiven Baelfire for choosing the fabled prophecy over her, no matter how cool she pretended to be about it. And, she was the only one who showed any kind of forgiveness for the Evil Queen, even if she had been doing it for his sake.

But the fact that Rumplestiltskin was Regina’s father was something he could not wrap his mind around. Hearing him speak that evening about Regina and her destiny only sparked anger in him, for he had been under the belief that Regina had chosen to be evil, because of all the bad things that had happened. But to hear that she had been meant for it from the start was the last drop in his already overwhelmed cup. No one had told him any of that! Still bristling, he closed his eyes, willing himself to sleep.

In the morning, he rose early, and after sneaking to the kitchens and taking a small fresh loaf of bread, he walked out, directing himself to the beach front. Picking up a stick along the way, he waved it in front of himself, breaking the grass and small bushes in his way. After several minutes, undisturbed, he reached the beach Elias had told him about the night before. Finding a good place for hiding, he sat, leaning his back on the driftwood that was taller than him in seated position, masking his position. Pulling his knees to his chest, he placed his forearms on them, looking at the waves, coming to the shore.

The tranquil rhythm of the sea calmed his wild thoughts. The waves of foamy water crashed upon the shore with the endless hum. Tired, he leaned his head to the wood behind him. His sleep was often interrupted with his memories of his mother sharing something with him, or his adoptive mother telling him about Emma. The final memory that had kept him awake since the dawn had been the moment before Regina had woken Emma with the kiss. The words he had not been supposed to hear ringed in his ears even now. _You may be the Savior, Emma, but you always had the power to destroy me_. The words Regina had whispered looking down at the pale face of the blonde had made such an impression on Henry. And after the events of the day before, he understood some of the things his brunette mother had meant. It had been Emma who had protected Regina from the wraith, and also it was Emma who accused her for killing Archie. She was the only one who had sat down with him and had told him that he had been wrong about his mother, even telling him why the Madam Mayor had behaved in such a way.

It hadn’t been just about the curse that Regina had spoken of. There were things at work that even he understood that he was too young to understand. But all the little details that his brain catalogued for the future came in full force, helping him create a picture, a picture he would never think of seeing before the True Love’s connection his mothers had shared.

The shirt he had stolen for Emma had mysteriously found its way back to his mother, and she had worn it while Emma and Snow had been lost in the Enchanted Forest. At the time he had thought it weird, but as he had been worried about Emma he hadn’t given it much thought. And, Regina’s insecure congeniality toward Emma after she had gotten back was shown in a different light. He had noticed that whenever there had been a fight between the Charmings and his mother, Regina would almost always look only at Emma.

It hadn’t been only Regina that had behaved weird. Emma, also, had some unexplainable moments. Inviting Regina for her welcome home party, giving her a warning about leaving, saving her at all the right moments… And, Snow had told him that they had been friendly on the ship. They even had shared the cabin without killing each other. His mother herself had been telling him the stories of their training together, with the gentle light in her eyes he had used to see only when she had been talking to him. After all, he had seen them interact with his own eyes, and he had witnessed the seamless communication they had exhibited while saving him from the dungeons of Neverland.

So, if he really thought about it, it made perfect sense. But, it did not change the fact that Regina had not told him about Rumplestiltskin. Neal hadn’t either. Emma couldn’t have. However, even that wasn’t what was troubling him in the early cold morning.

_We came here to destroy magic, Henry, but then we found something more important… Something that changed everything. You._

Peter Pan had been taking the children from various worlds to find him, because of prophecy. So many boys, ripped away from their homes, never to be found again. He had been the reason Elias and others would never be able to go home. He was the reason they were all stuck in the Enchanted Forest. He had known that he had been captured to be used by Peter for something bad, but to hear it from Elias was an unexpected blow. He had listened carefully to Rumplestiltskin when he had explained the thing about prophecies, but even his sure tones had done nothing to ease his guilt that had been troubling him since Greg had kidnapped him.

But as he sat at the beach, he realized that the guilt that he had felt hadn’t been only about the kidnapped children, but about his part in Emma suffering the curse of darkness. If she hadn’t taken off the mail to give it to him, she wouldn’t have been affected by the curse. The fact that he would have been dead frightened him but not as much the fact that he could have lost both of his mothers that day. And he had forgotten about the stupid dagger Emma had given him, until he had given it to David to free himself. If Peter had succeeded, then he would have been responsible for the deaths of many.

“There you are,” David spoke from behind the driftwood. “I found him! He is alright.” He yelled to someone behind before he walked around the wood and took his place beside his grandson. He just glanced upon the boy, not asking anything, knowing that Henry would say when he was ready to talk.

They sat in silence, watching the sea for a long time. But, after a while, Henry looked up at his grandfather with a frown on his face. “Why did no one tell me that Rumplestiltskin was my mom’s father?” Henry started, anger evident in his tone. “No one tells me anything, anymore!” He picked up the stick and threw it away from himself. “And, what is keeping them so long?”

“You miss them.” David said softly, compassion in his voice as he placed his arm around the boy’s shoulders. Henry shrugged him off, leaning onto his knees. David exhaled. “You know your mother is stubborn. And, you remember how she is like about Daniel. I believe that it is hard for her to accept that she has another chance at this, and with Emma of all people. But, Emma will find her and bring her to us, no matter what. It may take a little bit of time, but they will come to you.” Again, David placed his hand on Henry’s back but this time he wasn’t rejected. “You have been eavesdropping?” he asked carefully.

Henry looked at him with an angry scowl. “It is the only way I learn anything around you!” But at David’s patient look he calmed down. “Elias had woken me last night, and I followed him out, but when he asked Snow about me, I had to hear.” He bowed his head in apology, knowing that he had been rude to his grandfather. “So, it’s true? He is her dad?”

David pulled the boy to him, embracing him. Even he didn’t know how he was feeling about the information Snow and Emma had shared with him about Regina’s origins, and he couldn’t imagine how confusing it must have been for Henry. “It’s the truth that he is her biological father. But he is not her dad.” David spoke gently, rubbing the boy’s back. “Prince Henry was Regina’s father, and nothing can change that, not even the biology. Just like Regina is your mother, no matter what.”

Henry nodded in understanding. “I am the reason she ran away,” he mumbled into David’s chest, burrowing himself deeper into the hug.

“What do you mean?” David asked, reaching for Henry’s chin to look into his eyes.

“If I hadn’t pushed for finding Neal, she wouldn’t feel rejected and she wouldn’t run. It’s my fault.” The boy’s green eyes filled with tears, as he sniffled.

“Henry, no!” David said firmly, as he forced the boy to look into his caring blue eyes. “There are too many reasons for Regina’s run to take blame for them. You may have been a bit rude and pushy, but Regina had her own reasons. It is not your fault. At least, the majority of it is not your fault.” Pressing the brown head against his chest, he sighed. “Whatever the reasons, Emma will get her back. Regina would never leave you. She just needs some time to work some things out. She learned about Rumplestiltskin on the ship herself. And, she hadn’t had time to deal with it before we found you. Emma had been a great help to your mother, but when she was cursed, Regina was left without support – for she wasn’t going to come to us to talk. And, I think she wanted to wait for Emma to wake up to help her tell you.”

The words his grandfather spoke had sense in them, and Henry could agree with them, but still it did not diminish the guilt that had gripped him. He had shunned his mother, and now he was paying for it. But, as soon as that thought passed through his mind he shook it away. He was being selfish, thinking only about himself and the consequences that concerned him. However, both of his mothers had many more things to deal with, regardless of him. One of those things being the True Love they shared.

Henry smirked with approval as he thought of Emma’s and Regina’s animosity toward each other while they had been in Storybrooke before the curse had been broken. It was certainly a way to make them be civil to each other, and to attempt in being one family, however functional. With a gentle nod, he decided to let them be, and to come to him whenever they decided, if it meant that Regina would stay.

He looked into his grandfather’s inquisitive eyes and nodded at the unasked question. He was alright, and he would be patient. It is time to stop behaving like a child, he firmly decided, somewhat ashamed with his outburst. And, he wanted to talk about prophecy with Regina and Emma, perhaps they knew something more.

He started asking David questions about the Enchanted Forest, how it had looked before the curse, enjoying the descriptions his grandfather was sharing with him. But, after an hour of incessant talk about the past in that place, the strange rumbling passed through the air, and the light close to the two turned greenish. David rose, reaching for his sword, but Henry only stepped forward to the point where the rumbling was coming from.

“It’s a portal!” Henry yelled over the noise, instantly recognizing the electric currents of the air, as he had experienced them before. David stood beside him, ready to defend the child with his sword. He glanced toward the village and saw Mulan and Phillip rush toward them with a group of armed people.

The hole in the air opened and spit two people out, throwing them to the ground hard. In a second, the air regained its previous color, and the rumbling stopped. Henry exclaimed with glee when he recognized one of the newcomers by the noticeable red coat. “Ruby!” he said, rushing toward the women, as he knew the other one as well. “Belle!” Throwing himself onto his knees beside his often times sitter and guardian, he placed his palm onto Ruby’s face.

The woman groaned and opened her eyes, recognizing the boy instantly. With a squeal she threw her hands around him and hugged him tightly in greeting, as she rose to a sitting position. Turning to her side, she looked at the other woman. Belle had lifted herself onto her elbows, smiling at the boy with her gentle smile. David helped her up, hugging her. By the time they all settled, Phillip and Mulan reached them. When Phillip saw who the newcomers were he dismissed the guard and came to the kind woman he once upon a time called a friend.

“It is good to see you again, Belle!” he spoke, taking her hand, covering it with both of his. “Welcome,” he said with a smile, his look encompassing both women. As he saw Henry still holding the other woman, he concluded that she had been a family friend, and as such she also was welcome. After Mulan murmured a quiet greeting to the women, they all started toward the village, the only one talking was Henry as he was shooting out his questions about the people left behind in Storybrooke.

They reached the village hall, and as David had thought, they were led right into it. The commotion of the armed people already alerted everyone that they had visitors, and the return of the guard told that it was friends who were coming. Therefore, Aurora was already in the village hall, commanding the kitchens, as she wanted to offer the guests something warm and filling, as it was nearly time for lunch.

Snow rushed in, with children, and as she saw who it was, she gave Kyle to Elias to hold and rushed into the arms of the woman with the red coat, mindful of Henry, who had just moved out of the way. “Red!” Snow said with happiness, hugging her dearest friend. Then, she turned to the other woman, offering another friendly hug. “Belle,” she spoke gently. “I know someone will be very happy to see you,” she said, noting with glee as the kind eyes lit with happiness and expectance.

“How did you come here?” Henry asked finally, as all the greetings were exchanged. He missed the commotion at the door, but when he saw Belle’s teary gaze, he turned to see his grandfather frozen by the entrance into the great room. Blinking the tears away, Belle stepped toward the man, snapping him out of his stupor and hugged him desperately.

“I told you I would see you again,” she whispered to her love, making him chuckle with elation. Then she turned to the room. “Anton salvaged some of the beans from the field and washed them in the water from the well.”

“Water of the Lake Nostos,” Rumplestiltskin whispered with understanding. As Belle nodded, he took her to take a seat, he sitting beside her. The others joined them, spreading around, Phillip and Mulan taking the outer edge, not wanting to intrude. “But, how did you know we were here?” he asked, surprised. But, it wasn’t Belle who answered.

“We didn’t.” Ruby spoke, taking up the storytelling as she saw that her friend was too shaken by seeing her love alive to talk. “We went to Neverland, first. There, a pixie, a friend of yours, I believe,” Ruby said with a smile, turning to Henry, “told us that you had already moved on, to the Enchanted Forest.” Reaching out to the boy, she patted his head. “She also told me what had happened there. And, she said that she hoped that you understood her message.”

Seeing the boy’s smile and nod, she went on. “So, we came here right away. You told me about the Safe Haven, and I thought it would be the perfect place to start looking for you.” Ruby said, looking at Snow. “And, here we are, all together.” But, as she looked around, she noticed people missing and Neal, standing beside the door. Nodding to him in greeting, she glanced over the people in the room one more time. “Almost all.” She turned to Snow, her look containing sympathy but before she could speak, Snow smiled, shaking her head.

“She is awake, and Regina is with her. We just don’t know where…” The pixie haired woman said softly to her friend, explaining as she saw the confused look. The intense look they shared afterwards told the guest everything she needed to know, as she had been informed that Emma had been under the curse of darkness by the little fairy, and that only True Love’s Kiss would save her. And, if Emma was away with Regina…

“Well, I’ll be damned, I was right!” Ruby exclaimed before she placed her hand over her mouth, looking slightly abashed, as much as Ruby could look abashed. The young woman smirked at her friend and grinning, she leaned back.

“So, how many beans do you have?” David asked, interrupting the pregnant silence.

“Just one more. But, Anton is growing more back in Storybrooke with the dwarves’ help.” Belle answered, avoiding Rumplestiltskin’s look. “We can go back to Storybrooke.”

“But, the spell…” Rumplestiltskin started, but suddenly his countenance changed. “You didn’t cast it. Belle…” he started, with worry but the young woman placed her hand onto his cheek.

“I gave it to Mother Superior and she found a way to change it, so we can go back. It is casted.”

“Belle, it is a powerful spell, it is not meant to be trifled with.” Rumplestiltskin said. “Magic always has a price.”

“She understands that. She managed to change it, to keep its cloaking properties, adding some protective and repelling charms and she also found a way to bind it to people of the town.” Belle spoke softly, urging the man to settle down. She would not say that she had begged the woman to find a way for them to return to the town. “It is all very complicated and long, and I didn’t understand most of it. The point is there is a special chant that can enable people to come into the town, and only specific people, invited by the protectors of it. And a consensus has to be made.”

“Who are the protectors?” David asked, pleased that the young woman had found a way to circumvent Rumplestiltskin’s wishes and still protect the town from another Greg or Tamara.

Ruby looked at Snow with an unexplainable look and then she glanced upon David, frowning. “Blue, Emma and…” she stopped, but then she looked at Henry and with a gentle smile she continued, “Regina.” The moment she spoke the name, she flexed her muscles, expecting a roar of outrage but the silent acceptance surprised her. Obviously, they had missed a lot. Even with Regina being Emma’s True Love, she did not expect Snow to accept the fact so calmly. It seemed that the impossible had happened. The truce was called. She shared a look with Belle, and with a smile she winked at the boy who glowed at the news.

“I am surprised, though, that the town picked Regina as one of the protectors,” Snow spoke with interest, placing her hand over Henry’s shoulders, pulling him toward her. She was glad that the woman was part of the defenses, it meant that she wouldn’t be run out of town the moment they got back, and Henry finally can relax and start living his life, along with the woman who had suffered greatly in her life. Regina could finally be a part of something greater than her, a family, an accepted part of the town, a protector… Snow was glad for the woman, and her entire family.

“She did save the town,” Belle answered. “And, the people thought that as she was already familiar with the bureaucracy of the town policy, she would be a welcome asset in Storybrooke. She is even reinstated as a Mayor.” 

With that Henry frowned, as he thought that the town would be invisible to the rest of the world. “I thought no one would know that Storybrooke existed. Why would it need a Mayor if that is true?”

“It’s complicated but the town exists; only no one would feel the need or desire to see it, or even look for it,” Belle said, frowning as she searched for an example that Henry would understand. “It’s like repellent spells in Harry Potter. They would know it’s there but they would need to go somewhere else…” When she saw comprehension in his eyes, she smiled gently in success.

As the main reasons for them being there, Belle and Ruby asked to be filled in on the adventures of the small group. They talked into the late afternoon, breaking their conversations only to eat a light meal. During the break Phillip reached for Belle’s hand and introduced her to Aurora and with remembrance of the adventure when Mulan and Phillip had met Belle, they talked.

Soon, the people of the group were reminiscing about the particular parts of their pasts, enjoying the simple meal with friends. Even the younglings joined them, listening to the stories that adults told. Henry climbed into his father’s lap and enjoyed the time surrounded by the people he loved, missing the two most important women in his life fiercely, but the company of his family and the knowledge that they would return to him soothed him.

As the evening came, the women excused themselves to the others, retiring to sleep, as they had a very exhausting day. Hook only stopped by to eat something, keeping himself away from Mulan and Aurora. As he had explained to Snow, he felt much more comfortable on the ship, than in the village. As he turned to leave, Neal joined him, deciding that he too would be more comfortable on the ship, leaving Rumplestiltskin and Belle with a room for themselves. One by one, the others went to their sleeping rooms, as it was already getting late. Henry followed Elias without a complaint, listening to the other boy tell him about Red, who had been a member of the war council with Snow. Although he already had known that, it was interesting to hear someone else’s point of view.

As he changed into pajamas, he looked out the window and wished for a safe journey to his mothers. With a smile, he said good night to the other boy, and blowing out a candle, he settled into his bed. Closing his eyes, he thought of Emma and his mother, hoping they were alright, wherever they were. He fell asleep quite quickly, as he had not slept much the night before. When Snow came later in the night to check upon him, she saw him blissfully unaware of the world around him, bundled into the soft blanket.

She sat on his bed, careful not to wake him. David had told her about his night excursion and that he had heard them talk about him and Regina. He had also told her that Henry seemed to come to a decision there on the beach, and by his polite excitement with which he interrogated Red and Belle, she could see what his decision had been. Not once had he asked about his mothers’ unless it was to clarify something someone else said. Pleased with his patience, she leaned down and kissed his forehead, pulling the covers over his shoulders, tucking him in. She turned to tuck Elias in as well, smiling at the boy, as he had thrown his leg over the blanket and stuffed his head under the pillow. Gently, she corrected his position and turned to leave, when a small cloud of purple mist drew her attention.

On the floor beside Henry’s bed was a parchment, still surrounded by the remnant purple mist. As she crouched to take it, she noticed the sharp elegant letters spelling Henry’s name with a flourish. Recognizing Regina’s handwriting, she picked the parchment of the floor and placed it beside Henry’s pillow, where she was sure that he would see it first thing in the morning. As much as she was burning to read it, to see if Emma had joined her, she abstained because it was meant for the boy and she would not meddle in their communication. With a smile she welcomed the sign from the other woman, and left the room, closing the door behind her slowly, soundlessly.

She went to the room where David was waiting for her, and smiled at her husband. “He is alright and in his bed. I expect he will be ecstatic in the morning.” She spoke softly, refusing to explain as she saw a perplexed look in the blue eyes she adored. Lying down, she settled and in the arms of her own True Love she fell asleep. 

The morning came with cheerful chatter of the villagers, waking Henry up. When he opened his eyes, he noticed that he was alone in the room and that something was bothering him, as it rustled under his cheek. Moving away he saw that he had been lying on a piece of twice folded paper with his name on the top. Instantly recognizing his mother’s cursive he opened it, an excited squeal passing his lips. With a mortified look around, he checked if anyone witnessed his behavior. Satisfied that he was alone, and that the door was closed, he directed his attention to the letter.

 _Dearest Henry_ , his mother wrote, her elegant handwriting flowing on the paper, but he could see the traces of blotted ink on parchment as she had written with an old style quill. Disregarding his thoughts on the whole process of writing and dipping in the inkwell, he returned to the letter itself.

> _Dearest Henry,_
> 
> _As I write these words, Emma sleeps close by, so you can tell your worried grandmother that she had found me. She would get a charge out of the thought, as it seems it is the Charmings’ most annoying trait…_
> 
> _After Emma had found me and poured some sense into me, I decided to see what the curse had done to the land and in order to do so, I’d instigated a hike that Emma agreed with, to the Safe Haven. It should take us another day’s worth of hike, two at the most. So, we should be there in the evening of the second day, or the morning of the third. But, my dear son, we are coming. Do not doubt that for a second._
> 
> _Your mother had met the trolls for the first time this evening, and she was magnificent against them. Now, we are camping under the stars in the forest, safe and warm._
> 
> _I hope you are well and that your grandparents, all of them, are keeping you safe. And, Neal, as well. But, remember, no sweets in the evenings and brush your teeth regularly. And, no ale for you, young mister, no matter what anybody says._
> 
> _With all my love,_
> 
> _Regina_

Henry smiled at the weak lettering of the word all in the last line of the parchment, as if his mother hadn’t known what to put there. And he hadn’t missed that Regina had addressed Emma as his mother, and as well she had called him her own son. Glad that things were finally working out, he left the warmth of the bed and dressed. He rushed out of his room, running to find his grandmother to show her the letter, rather than to tell her the news.

Elated with the information he had, he spent the whole day playing with other kids, or talking with Red, as she showed him how to use a bow. The other boys watched with pleasure, trying out the small bows David had fashioned for them, as he watched over them. Snow and Aurora shared the duties regarding Kyle, often both joining the other boys, enjoying their cheering laughter.

After Snow had read the letter she smiled. Regina had been right - she did have a kick out of finding out that Emma had found her. As once Regina had said, that should be the family motto. But, the thing that warmed her heart mostly was the offhand mention of Emma as Henry’s mother, and the obvious pride when she had written about the trolls. As she was sure that the women would keep each other safe, she relaxed and enjoyed the day with her grandson and the other children, the constant chatter of prepubescent people reminding her of her time as a teacher.

Too quickly, it seemed to the children and people around them, the day passed. Another evening spent in the village hall, only this one was a quiet one as they sat together, chatting about their day unobtrusively. They joined their hosts for supper, the tables placed in the great room once more. 


	5. Chapter 5

It was a lovely day in Storybrooke forest. The Sun shone, the beams of light piercing the crowns of the trees, making the play of dark contours and brightness all the more interesting. The birds were chirping high in the trees, while a small squirrel passed on the ground, looking for something, as it skittered across the forest floor. As it heard a branch snap, it lifted its head and frighteningly sniffed the air. With a small shriek it hopped on a low branch of the nearby tree and scampered up, in the safety of the leaves.

Emma walked on, enjoying the intertwining shadows and shafts of light on her face, as she went through the woods. It was peaceful, this forest. She was glad that Henry had made her take a walk to clear her head. It seemed to work. She couldn’t even remember why she had been so short with everyone of late. Only that something had made her feel so angry, so willing to be violent toward others.

She shook her head and continued strolling, looking around the place she had found herself in. It wasn’t far from the trail, and it was only a mile south west to the wishing well, but it was far enough to be sure that she would not come upon anyone in her cool down walk. Unless someone was specifically looking for her, but most knew to steer clear of her when she was in one of her moods. Even Leroy…

Suddenly, the birds fell silent and an unearthly quiet lowered onto the forest. Emma froze, searching the dim spaces around her, her eyes darting in her scrutinizing gaze. Releasing the snap on her holster, she held her hand over the handle of her pistol, still searching for the cause of fear in the forest.

A shadow moved in her peripheral view making her turn in that direction. Again, something dashed in between the trees to her side, attracting her attention. But, then it all stopped. For a time nothing moved. A gentle breeze started up, shaking the leaves, making the light flicker and silhouettes stir. Sighing, Emma relaxed and lowered her hand, shaking her head, thinking herself silly to jump at nothing. She turned to go, still shaking her head when she felt someone in front of her. At a speed of sound her hand pulled out the gun out of the holster and placed it in front of her. Then, she saw who it was.

“You already killed me,” a young man spoke, showing the bloody gash across his middle. Emma knew who he was. He was one of the Lost Boys she had fought off in the Hall at the Island in Neverland. Apparently, she had killed him, even though she had thought that she had started killing in the camp, not before then. But what did it matter? She had killed him and many others.

As soon as she thought of the others, they all appeared before her, surrounding her, each proudly showing his wounds. Emma blanched at the number of them, for the first time faced with the reality of what she had done. They advanced toward her, reaching for her. As the hands touched her, she fought them off, pushing away the limbs, but there were too many. The insistent hands pulled her down and covered her with the bodies of the men she killed. The reeking of the fetid, rotting bodies overwhelmed her, and her already disturbed stomach rebelled. Feeling the acid in her mouth, she grimaced, trying to push off the heavy burden of the flesh. Finally, after what seemed hours under the foul creatures, she managed to slither away, crawling on the ground. As she was able to straighten out and take a deep breath of fresh air, she started running, away from the pile of decomposing bodies.

As she ran, the young man from before appeared right beside her, moving with her, although he was not running. Pushing harder, Emma could feel her energy draining. “There is nowhere to run,” the man spoke from beside her, his voice taunting her. “You cannot escape us.” As soon as he spoke those words, he spread his arms wide in the air and started toward her. Reaching for her neck, he followed her every pivot, every move she tried to use to get away unsuccessfully. “You belong to us, now.” The cold hands tightened around her neck, stopping her in place. Emma froze with terror as the ice filled her veins. She was going to die.

And, then, there was nothing. The Lost Boys disappeared, and she found herself in the forest, gasping, her lungs unable to pull in the air because of her panic. Forcefully, she managed to calm down enough to breathe. She was on her knees and hands, shaking, her limbs weak with fear and exhaustion. Breathing deeply, she counted in her mind, knowing the dangers of hyperventilation… Rising to her feet, she leaned onto the closest tree, unable to stand on her own for a moment. She needed to get home. The only thought that repeated in her mind was to get to the safety of home. There were people who knew how to deal with these things: Gold, Blue, even Regina, and she needed to get to them.

As she pushed away from the tree, steady enough to start back home, shadows converged and moved to her. The black mist rose from the ground, circling her legs. Emma hastened her steps, feeling the cold and despair of the mist seeping into her skin. Before she could move more than ten steps, the mist surrounded her and started climbing up her body, covering inch by inch of her, turning solid. She could not move, not one inch. Stuck in the mist, she watched helplessly as it came up her tights. Trying to push it away with her hands, she cursed at the ineffectiveness of the action. As the darkness claimed more and more of her form, she felt the coldness and anguish overwhelming her, and she knew that it was the mist’s doing. Her hands, then her shoulders were encased in the cursed fog, pressing onto her, making it impossible for her to take in a deeper breath. Making do with short ones, she was furiously thinking of a way out, but the desolation of the mist made it hard for her to think. All she wanted to do now was to give up, to surrender to the darkness, but something in her kept fighting, kept struggling. Her muscles strained with the effort but she could not move. The darkness covered her whole, the blackness engulfing her senses. Her eyes stilled, the lids open, as she stared into the mist, the endless night, not able to blink. Her lungs burned with her inability to breathe, her ears rang with the deafening silence, and all she could smell and taste was death.

There was nothing she could do, but she refused to give up, even though every cell in her body begged for mercy of surrender, her every thought called for the peace of eternal night. The pain of the empty air in her lungs would have made her scream if she could have moved. The fear of the dark, the constant panic edged her heart to beat in a frantic rhythm, but even it started slowing down, the time in between the beats growing longer and longer. Each space of quiet was filled with tremendous grief and anguish, despair, pain and silence, on its own the most terrifying of all. At last, as it sputtered the final pulse, Emma’s heart stopped. Everything stopped, leaving only nothingness in the dark.

Emma pulled herself up into the seating position, gasping for air as her hands lit with magic on their own. Shaking, drenched in her undershirt, she looked around, her eyes darting from object to object, the faint glow of her magic giving enough light for her to recognize where she was. A dream, she sighed silently with relief flooding her body. Only a dream. But, as soon as she closed her eyes in sighing relief, the pictures from her nightmare came alive, the terror racing through her blood again. “No more sleeping tonight, I guess,” Emma murmured into the room, rising from the bed she had been in. Drying herself with a quick swipe of her hand, she put on her clothes and, having pulled a blanket of the bed, she walked out of the room, putting it around her shoulders, to warm up her still chilled limbs.

The room she had been in was the closest one to the Queen’s chambers. As Emma had declared that she had been exhausted by the time they had finished with the tour, having eaten as they had walked around the empty halls, Regina had decided to give her a room of her own, to get some rest. The older woman had said she was to look into something as she hadn’t felt the need for sleep just yet. Agreeing, Emma had enjoyed the soft bed, right up to the moment when that nightmare started.

Seeing that it was still dark outside, Emma quietly passed the closed doors of the Queen’s chambers and walked on into the gardens. Not familiar with the night sky, and with no clock around, Emma could not guess the time, but as there was no sign of dawn yet, it was safe to say that it was too early to be up. Walking around the ravaged plants, Emma could see what the gardens used to look like. She thought back to earlier in the evening.

_ “How is it that this castle looks only abandoned, while the other one looked destroyed?” Emma asked, walking a step behind Regina, taking in the sights and seeing in the memories what it had looked like before the curse. Regina turned to her, and with a small hand gesture, invited her into a huge garden that sloped in several terraces down, each connected with the stairs and paved paths. Stepping down the steps, Regina kept silent until she reached a stone circle with earth in it. Emma knew it was a place where a tree had used to be there. The older woman sat on the stone wall, waiting for the blonde to join her. _

_ “This castle belonged to the White family for more than five generations,” Regina started when Emma sat close to her. She looked around with a look lost in the past. “As they were always prominent as fair rulers and beacons of good, they always could claim friendship with fairies and other magical folk that was on the side of the good. Blue Fairy, the fairy godmother, or the mother superior as you have known her, was a family friend for decades, even centuries. Sometime before even Leopold was born, she had placed protective spells around this place, spelling every stone, every grain of sand, every bit of glass used in the construction of the castle, making it impervious to the magical attacks. When Leopold decided to remodel, I guess it could be said, Blue came and repeated the process with additions. That alone would have helped to keep the castle protected from the curse.” Regina was looking around while she spoke, her eyes moving from place to place, never lingering too long. “When my mother came to the palace, she insisted on adding a few spells of her own. And when I took the castle for myself, I cast several spells into the mix.” She sighed and looked down at her hands, placed on her crossed knee. “All in all, this was the safest place to be when the curse hit. But, people didn’t know, and when they saw me go into the carriage that took me far away from the castle, they ran.” She kept her head lowered, as she played with her fingers. “You see, I didn’t care if they lived or died. All I cared about was to be in the Snow’s castle on time, to see her face as I exacted my revenge.” _

_ Emma could hear the contrition in Regina’s voice. Placing her hand over the restless ones in Regina’s lap, she spoke. “You care now. That is what is important.” Knowing that the brunette would not see it that way, she pressed on, bringing herself closer and using her other hand to lift Regina’s chin, looking into her eyes. “You feel the pain of your actions, however late. And, that pain guarantees that you will not forget the others if you find yourself in the same situation as before.” With a gentle squeeze of her hand, Emma warned Regina to keep quiet. “I can kill you on this spot right now. I can bring your head to all the people demanding justice. But, it will not bring the people you killed back. It will not turn back time, and make up for everything that was lost. So, what is the purpose of killing you? Satisfying the need of the hurt people for blood, for vengeance? You lose your head for being the Evil Queen, Rumple for being the Dark One, then who is next? Snow, for killing your and King George’s soldiers? David, for impersonating the Royal Heir? Where does it end?” Emma argued with passion, refusing to lose her temper at the repeating of the situation, where Regina gets overpowered with guilt and Emma pointing out the reasons to go on, and the reasons for her forgiveness. She was willing to argue till the end of their time, if it meant she would eventually convince Regina to see herself as someone worthy of forgiveness. “This pardon people may see as a clean slate. But forget what other people think, their opinions do not matter on the subject. This pardon is your chance to do some good in the world. But, no matter what you do, it will always be remembered what you have done here. No amount of good can undo the bad, as well as no amount of bad can undo the good. Well, generally speaking, I am not talking about the magic. However, you can decide to tip the scales in your favor, and be remembered as a paragon of good, with the dark past. You can be the paragon of good because of your dark past. You know how evil works, how it seduces and you can help us fight it.” Emma smiled at the older woman with an encouraging smile. “As you said before, it is all about the balance…” _

_ Deciding to change the subject, Emma looked behind her and pondered at the empty space, where the tree used to be. Giving Regina time to gather herself, she rose from the wall and circled it, watching the earth inside. There had been a tree, she was sure of it, but there was not a trace of it now. “Where is the tree from here?” Emma asked after a while. _

_ “You should know, since you tried to chop it down with a chainsaw,” Regina said pointedly with the raised eyebrow. Emma nodded sheepishly, placing her hands onto her back, before she remembered she did not have any back pockets. _

_ “Oh, right.” Emma’s guilty expression forced an amused chuckle out of Regina. Going with her fingers through her hair, the blonde looked at the hole in the ground where the tree had been. “Sorry about that.” Emma retook her seat beside Regina and smiled apologetically at the other woman. “After your little speech about the attributes of a HoneyCrisp tree, I guessed it meant a lot to you, so I thought to hit where it hurt…” _

_ “Ah…” Regina sighed in understanding. “If it is any consolation, you did scare the hell out of me when I heard that blasted thing start up. And, even more so when I saw what you were doing to my tree.” Remembering their first war, Regina smiled. And, to think the Huntsman had been right all along about their spats. “It had started badly for me. I had been reading the book and then I had seen the torn pages. When I asked Henry about it, he denied any knowledge of it, and you know he cannot bluff very well.” Regina then glanced upon Emma. “Then he told me I was not his mother. And the stupid clock started working again…” _

_ “Then you came to my room with the basket of apples,” Emma interrupted with a playful smirk on her lips. “If I had taken Henry seriously, I would’ve known that you were threatening me from the moment I opened the door. I mean, the Evil Queen with the apples…” Emma shrugged, her eyes telling Regina that Emma had not meant any harm with her words. “I never got to try one of them. As I was to bite into one, Henry knocked it out my hand and threw it away. And, after all that praise, my mouth watered for one.” Emma smirked at the memory of their son throwing the apple behind his back in the middle of the sidewalk on the main street of Storybrooke. “By the way, who uses the word vigorous for an apple tree?” _

_ “You remember the exact words?” Regina asked, surprised that Emma still recalled the conversation they had almost two years before. _

_ “I tend to remember what people I consider a threat to me say to me, or around me. It helped me a lot in the past.” _

_ “Do you still consider me a threat, Miss Swan?” Regina asked, smirking, her voice taking on the haughty teasing tone Emma had been in position to hear from her before, during their time sharing on the ship. _

_ “A threat, no. But danger, yes, absolutely.” Emma looked into Regina’s eyes, her green ones glinting mischievously in the evening light. “However, that is not why I remember our conversations now. I am your friend, Regina, and as a friend, I want to learn about you, as much as you are willing to share. And, also, it would be inconsiderate of me, as a friend, to forget what you have told me in confidence.” Emma finished with a serious expression on her face. _

_ It wasn't long after that the night fell, and soon after that they parted their ways, Emma barely able to walk up to her designated room as she fought to keep her eyes open. Regina graciously escorted her to the door, leaving her to get much needed rest. _

Emma looked at the stone wall made specifically to be a home to a tree from Prince Henry’s apple orchards. A gift from the King, to ease the pain of leaving home, she thought in the quiet of her mind, focusing her attention to it, waiting for the shakes caused by her terrors to quell. Rooting around in the earth, she found a small, almost petrified seed, lying forgotten in the ground. With the gentle care, Emma took the seed into her palm and started feeding it with her magic. She did not know what she was doing, or exactly for what reason, but she followed her instincts, and they were telling her to do this. As the seed started glowing with Emma’s magic, she tilted her palm and watched as it slid back into the dirt in the stone circle. Next time, if ever Regina decided to come back to this place, there would be a HoneyCrisp apple tree waiting for her. If not, well, it seemed to be a shame for the circle to be empty. Stepping away, she walked to the edge of the garden, her eyes reaching to the sea under the light of stars in the clear night. There was no Moon, but Emma didn’t know if it hadn’t risen yet, or it had passed its rotation. Then, this being the magic realm, and as it really did not matter, she shrugged her self-inquiry away. Leaning against a pillar, she pulled the blanket tighter around herself, as the night grew colder. It was beautiful there, even after the curse had ravaged the land. And her mother had grown up looking at that beauty every day. Feeling like the stranger she was in the Enchanted Forest, she wished for at least a bit of sense of belonging in this world, seeing that they were stuck in it. But, at least, the family was all accounted for and in one place.

“For someone who could not speak a word without yawning, and who stumbled to her bed only three hours ago, you seem unreasonably awake for this time of night,” Regina spoke from behind the blonde, her steps having been unheard by the tired woman. When Emma looked over her shoulder at the brunette with the shadowed and exhausted green eyes, Regina frowned in concern. “Or, maybe not.” Seeing that the Savior was still very much tired, but as Emma looked unwilling to let herself sleep, Regina concluded that it could be only one thing that would prevent the blonde from a well-deserved and much needed rest. As she had learned with Henry, the people who were awakened from various curses usually suffered lasting effects. For Henry it had been the fiery room of the Netherworld. For Emma, it might be something entirely different, but, it seemed that they both suffered the same end results. Nightmares. Regina had seen that shadowed look before, with the same tired green peering into her own eyes, but that time it had been her son, after he had woken from the dreams about the Netherworld.

“Come, there is a warm seat in front of the fireplace in my room,” Regina said, gently taking Emma’s shoulders, pulling her off the pillar. “It’s cold out here,” Regina murmured, shivering, as she was not prepared for the brisk air of the night. Pulling the reluctant woman with her, Regina climbed the stairs, and walked to her chambers. Opening the door, she ushered the blonde woman in front of herself.

Emma saw the fire blazing in the hearth, and a lounge turned to it, with a small table accompanying it, several books and scrolls on it. Across the lounge was a comfortable looking chair with high back, wide seat and soft looking arm rests. At Regina’s insistence, she picked the chair, loath to disturb what seemed Regina’s work. Taking her boots off, she climbed into it.

Having situated herself in the chair, folding her legs beneath her, Emma leaned her head to a side of the back, looking into the fire. Regina had not spoken since entering the room, trusting Emma to talk if she wanted to, or to ask anything she needed. Having continued her reading, she would throw a glance from time to time, checking upon the blonde woman. Emma was aware of the scrutiny, but she didn’t want to talk about her dreams, and honestly she was too tired to even speak. Staring at the dancing flames helped her keep her mind empty, the hypnotic moves of the blaze taking most of her attention. But the warmth of the fire, as well as the peaceful cracks of wood, with the rhythmic page turning, lulled Emma to sleep and she closed her eyes.

Regina noticed when Emma dozed off, glad that the younger woman would get some rest. However, she debated with herself whether she should leave her to sleep in the chair, as it may turn out to be an uncomfortable position to be in after a while. As the side arguing for a proper bed won, Regina came to the chair and crouched in front of it, placing her palm onto Emma’s knee.

Emma only opened her eyes, looking at the disturbance. Seeing Regina in front of her, she frowned in question. “Come to bed,” Regina whispered gently, offering her hand. After Emma nodded in acquiescence, Regina rose and helped the other woman out of the chair. Leading Emma to her bed, she watched the other woman drop herself onto it face down. Smiling at the childish behavior, she covered the woman, and coming to the other side, she took off her blazer and pants, having taken her boots before she had retaken her place on the lounge chair. Going under the covers, she snuffed the candles with her magic, leaving the fire burning. It would burn through the night, giving out just enough light to keep the darkness away, and still faint enough not to bother her sleep. As she turned to the side, Emma moved her head, not opening her eyes.

“If this is how you understood my offer, I am sorely disappointed,” Emma murmured, the teasing strong in her sleep addled voice. As Regina snorted at the bantering innuendo, Emma smiled, peering through her eyelashes on one eye.

“Sleep,” Regina admonished gently, as she made herself comfortable on the side of her large bed. “The exhaustion has taken that little sense you had,” she added before Emma could say something else. “Now, sleep. We have a long day before us tomorrow, and dawn is not far away.”

Emma murmured something unintelligible as she fell asleep once more, her breathing leveling almost instantly. Regina closed her eyes, and dropped into a dreamless sleep not long after Emma.

The morning came with the Sun peering through the windows of the chambers, bathing the room in a soft glow of white and pale pink. When the rays of light came upon the bed, across the pillows, the glare woke Emma, as she turned away from the intrusion, squinting in defense. As she opened her eyes, she saw that the glare was from the daylight and feeling the coldness of the sheets beside her, Emma jumped out of the bed, looking around for any sign of Regina. As she saw a plate with dry meat and a pitcher of water on the table in the middle of the room, she relaxed and put her boots on. She shook out her hair, using her fingers to untangle it and pulled it in a quick tail.

Beside the pitcher of water was a message written in Regina’s slanted and sharp precise cursive, telling her only to eat and then join her in the main courtyard. Grabbing all the meat, Emma drank water at one go, and rushed to the stairs. As she briskly walked down, she put on her jacket, chewing on one of the pieces she held in her hand. The message had been carefully folded and placed in the inner pocket of the jacket.

She ran into the wide space, she remembered from the day before. There she found a woman crouched in front of something, turned with her back to her. As she stepped on the gravel the yard was covered with, the woman rose and turned toward her. Regina straightened up and as she turned the long, almost to the ground, a green coat fluttered around her legs uncovering her black leather pants and knee high riding boots. However the coat was not buttoned and underneath it, Regina had a shirt and a vest, neither doing much to cover her neck and upper part of her chest. Breaking a dozen of decency laws, the vest drew attention to the brunette’s ample bosom, hiding it just so, making the view all the more enticing.

“Holy…” Emma mumbled before she caught herself. Swallowing uneasily, she took another bite of dried meat to stall for time, all the while she glanced up and down the other woman’s clothes. “Is that what you used to wear while you were here?” Emma said after she had finished with the food.

“What?” Regina asked with such innocence in her voice, that if it had been anyone else, Emma would have honestly thought they were speaking with truthful ignorance of the subject. “You don’t like it?”

Emma narrowed her eyes at the obvious play, and disregarding the words, for it would only lead to her placing her foot in the mouth, she raised her eyebrow in question. When Regina only smirked back, the Savior looked behind the brunette and saw the things Regina had been busy with. There were two backpacks on the ground, filled to the brim, with two rolls of blankets attached to them.

At Emma’s pointed look, Regina led their way to the packs. “I want to look around, so I thought we would travel the regular way for a while.” As she spoke she glanced at the other woman, looking for approval of her plan, her eyes betraying her need to do as she planned. Emma turned her gaze to the brunette with a thoughtful look on her face.

“Why?” Emma asked carefully, her voice calm and without inflections. She could see Regina wanting to do this, but something that to her seemed silly and took a lot of time had to have a good reason for it.

“I…” Regina started before she turned her head away, her shoulders slumping only for a brief second, but Emma had seen in nonetheless. “Forget it,” she suddenly said, shrugging off her previous countenance. “Are you ready?” asked the brunette, her tone sharp and pointed, Madam Mayor appearing right before Emma’s eyes.

“No,” Emma spoke, but before Regina could react, she took the other woman’s hands into her own. “I only wanted to hear the reason for an expedition that could take days to finish, and reach our destination. It seems important and I am interested in knowing about it.” The blonde focused on Regina’s face. “So, I am asking again, why? But, if you really have changed your mind, then yes, I am ready.”

Regina blinked rapidly before she nodded. “How do you do that?” she whispered softly, but before Emma could answer her hypothetical question, Regina took one of the packs. “I want to see the damage.” This time around her voice was strong. It was apparent what damage she spoke of.

Emma picked the other pack up and shrugged it on, without question. As Regina started, Emma followed, something coming up in her mind. “You do know there are Ogres out there? And Chimeras? And, who knows what else…” Emma spoke, as Regina led them to a hard wooden door close to the main gate. Opening the door with her magic, Regina glanced at the Savior and smiled indulgently.

“That is why we are taking some of these with us…” she said as she lit the torch right beside the door. The light of the torch showed metal rack after metal rack, seven of them, stacked in one row filled with swords, crossbows, lances and many other kinds of weaponry. Emma entered the hidden room glancing toward Regina, as she picked out a sword similar in style to the one Regina had picked for her. She also took a leather belt for the scabbard, intending to use it to fix the sword on her back, beside the pack. In the meanwhile, Regina inspected the various offerings in bow racks. “Did you, by any chance, inherit your mother’s aptitude for archery?” she asked, her eyes darting toward Emma. Seeing her shake her head in negation, she looked back at her quarry. “All right, then. A crossbow it is,” she said, taking one of them and an accompanying quiver filled with arrows.

“Do you even know how to use that thing?” Emma remarked, as she took several daggers from the shelf behind Regina.

“It’s quite easy.” Regina demonstrated as she was speaking, proving her point. “You load, aim and shoot.” With a smirk, she turned to Emma. “Much like the things you like to carry around.”

“If you hadn’t noticed, those things proved quite handy these past two weeks,” the blonde woman replied, placing two of the daggers in the side straps of her boots. “And, I guess they are the reason you haven’t yet yelled at me for taking that black thing off,” she added quietly, while she was kneeling down on one knee, her hand fiddling with the straps on her other leg.

Regina came to Emma and reached gently for her face, placing her palm on the pale cheek in front of her. When the green eyes found her own she twisted her lips into an expression of sympathy. “I am not going to say much on the subject, except this: you made the choice, and I am very glad and thankful you did, but I am sorry you have suffered for it.”

“He is alive because of it,” Emma whispered quietly.

“And that was the only thing that mattered at the time,” Regina replied knowingly. Removing her hand from Emma's face, she offered it to the other woman to help her up. Feeling that the subject was still uneasy for her companion, Regina silently helped her up, and then led the way out of the castle, following the unkempt road toward the forest, and later the hills surrounding the castle.

When she moved several dozen steps away from the gate, Regina turned and sealed the place with her magic, making it impossible to open without a magic intervention. Emma looked at her with a frown on her face but said nothing. Regina continued walking as if she hadn’t stopped at all, Emma beside her, matching her stride for stride.

They trekked in silence, Emma following Regina’s lead, as they went through the forest, occasionally passing by a ruined cottage or an overgrown road. Nature had taken its course, and rather quickly too, and the presence of people had been almost erased from the area. However, the sporadic camp site, or trace of clothing spoke of at least someone roaming those parts of the forest Emma and Regina were passing through. From time to time, Regina would look around, usually by the road or a destroyed village and have a faraway look on her face Emma had learned to be remorse. After passing yet another abandoned group of houses, Emma had had enough of silence and with aplomb she entered one of the houses and sat down on a log beside an overturned table. Her sudden move startled Regina, who had moved further down the road.

As Emma took out a canteen of water from her pack, she glanced around the ruined home. A piece of paper had been stuck on a wooden cover for the window, and the wind must have blown it in, Emma regarded it thoughtfully. As she sipped the water, she carefully reached for the paper.  _ Head South – East, Safe Haven there  _ was written in block hand writing with coal that had seeped into the paper, barely recognizable as the parchment had suffered the weather. Obviously someone was scouting the area for the survivors, sending them to the village into the sanctuary.

Sensing the movement behind her, Emma just took another sip from the canteen. As she placed the water holder onto her knee she offered the paper to the woman still standing behind her.

Regina took the piece of paper and after reading it she nodded. With a move of her hand the paper became new, the letters written anew, this time with ink. With another flick she affixed it to the door. Then she stepped around Emma and took her seat on another log in the room. “What is wrong?”

“You are taking us deeper into land,” Emma spoke, certain of her deduction. After her statement, she looked at the other woman, some part of her expecting to hear an explanation or a denial, but what came next surprised her.

“If you want to leave, you can,” Regina spoke, her voice soft as she looked away, covering her move with removing her pack of her back. “I can do this on my own.” Although her tone was calm and measured, her hands shook as she opened the flap. Taking out the only food she had found in the castle, the dried strips of meat, she took one as she was hungry.

“I am not leaving you alone,” Emma said suddenly, as she leaned onto her knees.

“I do know how to take care of myself!” Regina bristled at the Savior’s attitude. But, as she was going to rise in her anger, Emma caught her hand and pulled her down.

“That is not an issue,” Emma replied, her eyes blazing with annoyance. However, she released Regina and took a breath, closing her eyes as she sighed. “I know you do. That is the reason I don’t want to leave you by yourself.” At Regina’s confused frown, Emma once again took the brunette’s hand, holding it gently in her own. “If I let you go, I am not sure you would ever come to us. And I am under strict orders to bring you back. No matter what.” Even though her voice was kind and soft, the statement was firm and unyielding.

Regina gasped softly at the connotation of Emma’s words, for there were only two people who would dare to tell Emma to bring her back, and only one person who would make it an order that Emma would obey. Snow, who had always been such an ardent supporter of second chances, and who passionately believed that she was Emma’s True Love, had offered her a white flag of truce in a shape of the White Knight. “She asked you to take me back?” Regina whispered, surprised at Snow’s actions.

”She didn’t ask,” Emma said, her meaning clear. She had said she had had orders… “She also knew it might take some time for you to forgive her and be willing to come back, so I am to stay with you until you do.”

“But, Henry…” Regina started, before a gentle squeeze of her hand stopped her.

“He has his father, and his grandparents with him. He is not alone.”

It was the end of discussion. Regina could not think of anything else to add, and if she were honest with herself, the Savior’s insistence to stay by her side pleased her in a way she could not explain neither did she want to. As she chewed on the strap of meat, she rose from the log, gesturing to Emma to follow her suit, and leave the house before her. As they walked away from the village, Regina led them deeper into the forest, her mind unwilling to see another destroyed human habitat. Several hours passed before they came upon a small stream in a clearing that was bordered with boulders on one side, and the trees on the other. The brunette looked up, and noticed the Sun was close to the horizon in the West. It was a time for a night stop anyway, she concluded, lowering her pack on the ground. With her magic, she summoned several small rocks out of the stream and made a fireplace, close to the boulders that would give them natural protection from wind. Emma silently scanned the makeshift camp place and nodded in approval. Not that she had been an expert on outdoor camping, but it seemed sound to her.

Emma dropped her pack and coat to the corner she concluded was to be their sleeping place, and with tired puff, she went in search of kindling and wood. Mindful of Snow’s warnings from the last time she was in the Forest, she kept herself within the voice distance from the camp, as she gathered the wood. She came back with her arms full, not sure if it was enough to last the night. However, as she was exhausted, she couldn’t bring herself to care. Dropping her armload beside the fireplace, she glanced around looking for Regina.

The older woman was washing something in the stream, having filled the canteens already, the soft humming spreading from her lips into the air. Beside her was a small pot or better said, a cauldron, and occasionally, Regina would put something in, her melodious humming uninterrupted. As Emma heard the brunette, she smiled at the tune, recognizing the one Snow used to whistle while doing her chores in Storybrooke. Before she was caught with a silly grin on her face, Emma decided to make herself useful and started building a fire, along with shaping two prong-like twigs, that would be used as a carrier for the cauldron. As she finished with the making of the necessary parts, Emma blew gently onto the logs, her magic making the wood catch the blaze instantly, without much smoke.

Moving away from the fire, Emma unbuttoned her jacket and a few buttons of her shirt, cooling herself down. Deciding to wash up before supper, she rose to her feet heavily, and shuffled toward the water. As she drew near, she saw that Regina was cutting up dried vegetables into the cauldron. At the promise of the warm and tasty soup, Emma mumbled in satisfaction, as she lowered herself down gracelessly. Before she could even say anything to Regina, a big yawn interrupted her.

A soft snigger came to her from Regina, as the older woman glanced upon her, her hands not stopping their work. “Hi to you too,” she said, humor in her voice and her eyes.

“Sorry,” Emma spoke with some embarrassment as she submerged her hands into the creek. Hissing at the coldness of the water, she quickly splashed her face. As she turned to rise, Regina’s voice stopped her.

“Could you put this on fire? I’ll be a minute.” At Emma’s nod, Regina graciously lifted herself up and hopped over the water, going into the woods. Following her with her eyes, Emma picked the cauldron and as Regina disappeared from her line of sight the Savior walked to the fire, fixing their supper atop of it, her eyes darting around, scanning the forest around the camp.

Suddenly a cackle came from behind her, from the direction of the boulders. Emma took out her sword, moving slowly to the source of noise. As she stepped out from the shelter of the stone she saw three hideous creatures hiding in the shadows. Each of the louts had a club that they brandished with malice. Seeing the hateful grins on the creatures she placed her sword in front of her, ready to defend herself, not knowing what to expect.

“What have we got here?” one of them spoke in a growl, pulling out a long curved blade from beneath his cloak. The beastly face peered at her from the darkness of the shadows. “We haven’t had meat in ages,” he added and grunted in rhythm. Emma felt her stomach drop as she realized the creature was laughing. “Get her,” came the order and the remaining two came at her, brandishing clubs and similar blades as their leader.

Emma placed herself into the position suitable for receiving an attack, her sword in front of her in one hand, as the other started glowing with magic, making the shadows recede a bit. At the display of magic, the creatures stopped their attack, still too close to Emma’s comfort. But, after a second of deliberation they attacked again, their weapons aimed for Emma. But before they reached her, Emma pushed them back in a sudden burst of fire shooting from her hand. The blazing trail changed into the thick chain as soon as the attackers were pushed several feet away and it swirled around them, tying them together into one bunch. With a pleased smirk upon her face, Emma summoned several balls of light and left them floating in the air above the monsters she had subdued. Sheathing her sword, she came closer to them, seeing their faces for the first time, as they tried to escape the glare of light.

“What am I to do with you?” Emma asked, walking around her captives, one of her hands on her hip, and the other one on her chin. Now, in the light she knew what those creatures were. As she remembered the story of her mother meeting ‘Prince Charming’ the descriptions of trolls came vividly to her mind. And these things fitted the portrayals to their teeth.

She had no doubt that she would have been harmed or worse if she had not defended herself, but she was loath to kill them. And, it would be foolish to release them as they still posed a threat. There was an idea, to leave them tied up during the night, but as tired as she was, she really wanted to catch some real sleep, not worry about someone getting free and slitting her throat in the middle of the night.

“May I offer a suggestion?” Regina asked from behind her, leaning on the boulder. Emma turned and frowned at the deferential tone Regina had spoken in. As Regina made herself known, the three captives started grumbling in fear, having recognized the Queen.

Emma nodded carefully, interested in what Regina had to say. She watched the former Queen walk to them, her gate elegant and provocative announcing the Queen this realm had known. The familiar smirk appeared on the brunette’s face as she looked at Emma, having walked an entire circle around the captives. If she did not know any better, Emma would shudder with the malicious power presented in the whole ‘Evil Queen’ behavior. But, Emma noticed the mischievous glint in the dark eyes, and she liked when Regina was having fun without harming anyone.

“You could turn them into something more…” Regina spoke, breaking off in a dramatic pause as she looked into the scared faces of the prisoners. “Manageable,” she added with the threat suffusing her voice as she made the crushing gesture with her hand. For a moment, Emma could see her squashing hearts in her hand with the same expression of power and destruction. Quickly, she shook off the image, as she saw that the show was not over. As the prisoners whimpered in dread, recognizing the motion of her hand, Regina continued. “Or you could just… You know…” Regina made a sweeping gesture with her hand, as if she would send someone away, followed by the exhalation of air. Emma had to place her hand over her mouth to stop herself from laughing out loud at the frightened and pale faces of the trolls.

“What do you prefer?” Regina asked, again with her deferential tone. “Your Grace?”

The title made the captives fall silent in surprise. If the Queen called someone by the title, it would mean that someone was much more powerful than the Queen herself, and as they knew there had been only one person more powerful than the Queen before the curse, and he had been captured a long time ago, never to be heard of again. And, now in the light of the Queen’s victory – with her curse doing what she had promised to do, if she considered the blonde more powerful than herself, the woman must have been someone terrible indeed.

At the startled gasp of the hostages, Emma understood the tone and the title. It was the power game.

“I don’t think I am feeling merciful for giving them an easy death,” Emma spoke, adopting the coldest attitude she could. “Maybe we should leave them around for Ogres… There are Ogres around here, right?”

“Please, Your Majesties, there are no Ogres here,” the leader spoke in his grumble, trying to move from underneath the chains. But, as Emma smiled at his obvious lie, he stopped struggling.

“Then you wouldn’t mind being left here on your own, would you?” Emma added, coming closer to the leader using magic to make him look into her face. The night had already fallen and the only sources of light in the shade of boulders were the floating orbs of light. “And I can even yell, and you wouldn’t mind.”

Regina came to her and gently insinuated herself in between Emma and the trolls, before Emma could do anything stupid, like summon the Ogres. “Your Grace, I suggest you be lenient with them unless you don’t want to kill them by pure fear. If that is the case, then you are doing well.” Placing her hand onto Emma’s back, Regina guided the Savior away from the captives, taking them to a safe distance. “You don’t want them roaming around while we sleep, and you don’t want to kill them,” Regina said softly, as Emma nodded, summarizing the blonde’s quandary. She looked into the troubled eyes and smiled gently, her face hidden from the prisoners by her own body. “Why don’t we send them away?”

“What do you mean?” Emma asked, turning her head as she looked into the dark eyes in front of her filled with understanding and comfort. “I thought you could only transport yourself with the poofing magic? Well, Cora did it, but…” she whispered, confused.

“Oh, no, one can move anything or anyone, if they have enough magic, and you, my dear, have more than enough,” Regina answered with patience and pride she had often showed on the ship while they had been training. “If you are unsure, I could guide you?” It was the unsure tone of the brunette’s voice that got through to Emma. The subject of joining their magics together was still touchy for the older woman.

Emma nodded but as she raised her hand, letting her magic rise up within her, she turned to Regina. “Why can’t you do it?”

Regina smiled softly, as she leaned her head to a side in an expression of dismay at her failing, before her lips turned back to her soft smile that only two people had seen so far. “If it was one of them, or even two, I would have been able to do so, but three is beyond even me…” Regina offered an explanation unobtrusively.

Emma nodded, and lifted her hand once more, her magic showing as it sparked off her fingertips. “Regina,” Emma said quietly, her eyes showing the unnerved and unsure Savior. Regina placed her hands on Emma’s shoulders as she came from behind her. Pulling herself up with the blonde woman, Regina placed her mouth next to Emma’s left ear.

“Let your magic flow as if you are to transport yourself but do not let yourself move,” Regina instructed gently, feeling the magic fill up the woman in front of her. “See the place you want to send them in your mind, just like you did for yourself.” As Emma did what she said, Regina could feel her own magic react to Emma’s, rising from within her to join with its companion. She tried to suppress it, focusing on telling Emma the last part. “Send your magic to them, like you are attacking them, only this time it is the transportation spell. Can you do that?”

Not a second after she finished speaking, Regina felt a surge in the air and with a loud pop the trolls were gone. Emma sighed happily, having seen what she had done. But, too quickly the exertion of magic caught up with her, and Emma felt weak, especially after the trek of the day and the poorly slept night. Before she could step away from Regina, her legs started shaking and suddenly there was an arm around her middle holding her close to the woman behind her.

“Lean on me for a moment,” Regina whispered gently, holding the Savior to herself. It was normal for a spell of that magnitude used for the first time to force the practitioner to rest. When she had done the transportation for the first time, sending a message to her father while he had been travelling, she had to rest for a whole day, suffering headaches and weakness. That Emma was still on her feet, albeit with help, meant that Emma was indeed very powerful.

Emma placed her hand onto the gentle one on her belly as she turned slowly, coming to Regina’s left side. Letting the arm slide around the small of her back, she moved slowly toward the camp, pulling Regina along. With another yawn Emma reached the blanket that apparently Regina had placed when she had gotten back. Lowering herself gingerly with the other woman’s help, she smiled into the worried face, her smirk easing Regina’s nerves. The dark haired woman knelt beside the Savior, looking into her eyes, checking for signs of magical exhaustion. Happy with her exam, she turned to the soup simmering in the cauldron. Taking out some of it in a small metal bowl, she offered it to Emma carefully holding it in her hand, as the soup was hot.

“It’s not as good as Snow’s but it is manageable,” Regina said after she took a portion for herself. She glanced at Emma eating without pause and smiled. They had been walking for leagues and leagues that day, Emma following Regina’s lead without a word, without asking for a break or even a moment to catch her breath and the Savior hadn’t slept much the night before, as her sleep was often troubled with uneasy dreams. Regina had been aware of it as she had slept lightly, in the bed beside her.

“It’s good,” Emma mumbled, not even swallowing her mouthful. With eager moves, she lifted herself up on her knees and shuffled to the cauldron, taking more of the soup. She started eating right away, ignoring the slight burn of the hot liquid. She finished her meal, and watched Regina eat with slow and measured moves that belonged in the finest dining rooms not the forest floor.

Not willing to interrupt the brunette eating, Emma just took in the details of the other woman. Regina was sitting on her heels by the fire, her back straight as she held the bowl with one hand in front of her, and the other held a spoon she was lifting to her mouth. The black leather pants were tight on her, as it probably had been the plan, showing Regina’s sculpted legs in a different, more powerful light. The woman had stamina to walk all the way she had, without a complaint, after twenty eight, well now it’s more like twenty nine, years spent as a bureaucrat, sitting behind a desk. It must have been all those ankle breaking heels she had used to wear all day long, Emma thought, as her eyes followed the seam of the pants down to the boot. The black leather boot had a heel but it was a moderate one, only two inches and it went well with the whole style.

But what really caught her attention was the vest. The intricate braiding of the leather straps that went down vertically after an inch of glossy black leather, giving out the look of stripes, was drawing her eyes. Emma followed the lines upward as she considered the choice of colors for the former Mayor. Since the day she had met Regina, Emma noticed that the woman favored dark colors, mostly gray and black, with some splash of white, purple or dark blue. Even the décor of her home and office showed the particular pattern of black and white, with the emphasis on the black details. Except the white horse statue on the mantle in her office, Emma remembered. She knew now it was a memory of time from before she had met Leopold White, when she was still pure and unsullied by the machinations of her parents. The battle of identities, Emma concluded, had been always present. With a blink Emma focused on the present, her eyes finding her view of the upper part of the vest, and the white shirt underneath it unobstructed. She narrowed her eyes not knowing what was different from just a moment ago.

“Found something interesting, dear?” Regina’s amused voice pierced her confusion. Emma’s eyes darted upwards to Regina’s smirking face, with realization of what had been different. Regina had finished eating and lowered the bowl down.

“Yeah…” Emma mumbled before she cleared her throat. “Let me get those, I’ll wash them.” She rose on her feet, picking the bowls and the now empty cauldron and walked to the stream. Regina watched Emma move away, chuckling silently at the flustered Savior. She had noticed the intense stare she had been subjected to, but as she had looked at Emma to rebuke her for her blatant ogling, she had seen the look in the green eyes. Emma had been lost to memories, and she could see the moment the blonde had returned to the present time with the slight change in her eyes. The intense focus had come back into the gaze, followed by confusion. Regina could not resist the quip, flattered by the attention she had been receiving from the other woman.

While Emma was taking care of the dishes, Regina checked the fire and then got up to place several warning and protecting spells around their camp site. The wandering trolls and various other things in the night made camping dangerous. Soon she returned to the fire, making a place for her to sleep. She heard Emma return, her moves slow and tired as she lowered the cauldron and bowls on the rock beside the fire, careful not to get dirt and dust onto them.

“Were you really going to summon the Ogres?” Regina asked, as she fussed with her blanket, glancing at Emma, who had dropped on the ground and stretched out on her cover.

“Why? It worked for me before…” Emma answered placing her hands below her head, sighing as several joints popped as she tensed her spine.

“What exactly worked for you before? The way I heard it, the Ogre would have made pancakes out of you if Snow was not there to save you?” Regina said as she took her seat.

Emma looked toward her and narrowed her eyes in recognition as she realized where Regina had gotten the information. “You’ve been talking to Mulan…” she said as she looked away, her eyes focusing on the starry sky. “She didn’t tell you how my trick with Ogres made Hook tell the truth,” Emma added.

“Your trick? You mean, terrifying the people by attracting the angry giant monsters that incidentally eat people?” Regina teased, her voice gentle. But then her countenance grew serious. “You do know you cannot fight an Ogre with magic, don’t you?” At that Emma looked at the brunette with surprise on her face, so Regina decided to continue. “It has something to do with their skin, makes it tough to kill them. If the magic was the answer the old Dark One would have destroyed them in the Ogre Wars centuries ago.”

“Huh,” Emma huffed in disappointment. “Good to know. Is there something else?” She lifted herself onto her elbow, looking at Regina with the interest in her eyes.

“Well, there is one thing…” Regina started. Seeing Emma’s encouraging look she sighed and continued. “While within the borders of my kingdom, the wolves are protected by the Royal Decree. They cannot be hunted or killed.” Emma raised her eyebrow in question at the strange law. But then she remembered the story she had read in the book. The Huntsman had asked the Queen to protect the wolves as the payment for his services. As understanding came to her eyes, Emma looked into Regina’s eyes, shaded by the angle she had placed herself at, away from the fire. “Yes, I promised to Graham.”

The silence fell onto the campsite, the tranquil night air interrupted only by the solemn cracking of the fire and breathing of the two women who did not know what to say to each other after the mention of the old Sheriff of Storybrooke. Emma lied back onto her blanket, using the lower half as the ground cover and the upper part as the blanket. Her coat was bundled into a makeshift pillow. Turning away from the fire, and Regina, Emma covered herself and closed her eyes, forcing herself to sleep.

Regina looked at the back turned to her and sighed softly, suddenly feeling cold regardless of her proximity to the fire. Slowly, she placed herself onto the blanket covered ground, the back pack serving as her pillow. Shrugging her coat over herself, she looked up into the sky. It had had been years, even before the curse had been casted, since she had spent the night outside, in a simple camp. The last time she had done it had been when Snow had rescued her from her own soldiers. And before that, it had been with Daniel when she had snuck out to see him. Now, she was with the Savior…

The memories of her time with Daniel were heavy on her mind. She still loved him, but she had realized in the previous days that her love for him had changed during the years she had spent avenging his death. He had a special place in her heart and he always would, but she now realized he was more of an ideal to her rather than a real person. And she herself had changed in the time, and she was sure that if Daniel had been restored with Whale’s science that he would not be able to reconcile her and her actions of the Evil Queen with the kind good hearted girl he once had known.

A tear glided down her cheek as she looked up to the stars. She would rage against Fate and Destiny with all her power if it would have gotten her anywhere, for it hardly seemed fair to be doomed for the decisions of her parents. Sins of the fathers, an errant thought came, and Regina sighed. It did not matter, for what was done was done. She might have been the daughter of Cora and Rumplestiltskin, doomed to suffer for their choices, but she had made some choices of her own and they had gotten her into this mess in the first place. She had chosen to become the Evil Queen, and reasons were not as important as the consequences.

Shaking away the grim and pointless thoughts, Regina closed her eyes. It would be so much easier to leave everything, everyone and go to a place where no one heard of the Evil Queen or Madam Mayor. What would be better than forgetting everything? With a half a mind she considered the idea that if she ever got back to Storybrooke she could pass the barrier and just keep going, away from all the heartache and disappointment. And, if she forgot everything in the process, all the better.

As she sighed at her own thoughts and the gloomy ways they took, she felt something move beside her. As the protective spells were not triggered she decided to keep her eyes closed not willing to talk to the Savior. But her pretense only lasted a moment as she felt a gentle touch wipe the tear tracks off her cheeks. She opened her eyes and saw Emma leaning over her. Her eyes held an apology but there was something else in them, something that shadowed them, making them appear cold and flat in the fire light. As Emma’s eyes kept darting around, scanning the woods, Regina took hold of one of her hands. The rapid pulse she felt under her fingers made her rise with concern, looking into Emma’s face. The Savior looked pale. When she sat up, she saw that Emma had moved her blanket closer to her, lining it up with her own. It had been done in complete silence and care to not disturb her, Regina realized, her heart squeezing at the thought that the Savior had already suffered a nightmare powerful enough to make the tough woman search comfort, and that Emma refused to wake her for it, probably out of some feeling of gallantry or some other nonsense.

With care, Regina gently pulled the younger woman into her arms, leading the blonde head onto her shoulder. Only then she felt the shudders shaking the other woman, and she squeezed her arms, pulling Emma closer, warming her chilled body with her own. She felt Emma’s hands grip at her back, burying her head into Regina’s neck. Suddenly, Regina felt something wet drip onto her skin and with comfort brought out of understanding she placed her hand into Emma’s hair, holding the crying woman close. With a quiet voice she murmured softly the comforting words, and as Emma’s shivering stopped and her breathing eased, she started humming an old song, as it came to her mind. The words shaped instantly in her mind, and she crooned them to the still awake but calmed Savior. The song was one of many that minstrels in Leopold’s court favored. It spoke of love and endurance of it in the face of many dangers and foes, and in the end the two met, having conquered every obstacle…

Emma gently released her hands, as she moved away from Regina when she had stopped murmuring. With care she untangled herself from Regina’s grasp and leaned her head onto her palm, as she leaned onto her elbow, looking down at the brunette. The woman had accepted her without question and comforted her with ease, even though Emma had shut her out only hours before. As the fire still burned, she could see the faint salty tear tracks on her face, and she remembered the guilt that had attacked her as soon as she had seen them when she had pulled the blanket closer. With infinite care she placed her palm onto Regina’s cheek, her thumb rubbing the mark of tears. At the gentle touch, the older woman closed her eyes. “I am sorry,” she heard Emma whisper softly. Blinking her eyes open, she saw the regret in the green eyes above her. “For earlier…”

“Emma…”

“I just didn’t know what…”

“Emma,” Regina started again, when Emma broke her words.

“I know what you did to him. I mean, I knew it all along, and it was confirmed with the sharing, but it was still…” Emma struggled with her words, not knowing how to express what she had felt and was still feeling. “I had forgiven you. Never doubt that. It just…”

“Emma,” Regina said gently as one more time Emma couldn’t finish the sentence. Regina reached up and placed her fingers over Emma’s lips, stilling them. “You don’t need or have to apologize. I know.” With a gentle look she moved her head, leaning it a bit to the side so their eyes would be perfectly lined. “It is I who should apologize for…” Regina said but before she could finish Emma moved her hand slightly off her cheek and placed her thumb over Regina’s still moving lips. The surprise of having her own gesture used against her kept Regina silent.

Emma kissed the fingers on her lips and gently moved her head, dislodging them of their position. “No. No more apologies for the past. There are too many things we should ask for forgiveness for and if we continued with it, for months nothing else would leave our mouths but ‘I am sorry’.” Emma sighed as her finger traced the scar on Regina’s upper lip. Her eyes focused onto the thin line that had tickled her imagination since the day she had met the Madam Mayor. She felt the pull of the soft lips and lowering her head slowly, her eyes darted to the dark ones who watched her carefully, with interest. “And, I can think of so many other ways to keep our mouths busy,” Emma whispered with an edge of seduction creeping into her voice, as she got so close that she felt Regina’s breathing on her own skin. Inching her head a bit lower, she connected their lips, moving her finger away, but keeping the hand on Regina’s face, gently keeping it in place. As the lips touched Emma felt electricity run through her as it burned every cell in her body. The magic rose in her making her skin glow white in the dimness of the night.

Regina lied frozen as she realized what Emma had intended to do, unable to stop the blonde as she was not ready. But, the moment her lips felt another pair the immense swirl of power and emotions rose from within her, taking her breath, along with her reason. The tendrils of her magic passed through her blood, rushing to the surface. All too soon Emma moved away, lifting her head, as she looked into her eyes. Regina saw the power glow in Emma’s eyes, and as she was close enough, the brunette could see the purple reflection in Emma’s eyes as well. Breathing heavily she took stock of her body, surprised to see that her arm was on Emma’s back, and the hand of the other was on the blonde’s face, mirroring the one on her own. With a light pull she brought Emma’s head back, this time returning the kiss. Again, the surge of magic and emotions was overpowering.

It wasn’t the kiss that took her breath away. As the kisses went, those two were alright. Good, but not earth shattering. It was the acceptance and love beyond the kiss that shook Regina to the core. And the magic that reacted to Emma’s touch in the most unexpected ways was not helping her find her footing.

Once more, Emma lifted her head, and with a gentle smile, looked into Regina’s eyes. After several seconds of just breathing and watching each other, Regina felt the magic ease and saw that the glow was disappearing from Emma’s eyes, the green of them becoming prominent once again. With a silly grin on her face, she pulled Emma into a hug, burying her head into Emma’s shoulder. The suddenness of her reaction made Emma explode in deep joyous laughter that shook her frame. Regina only giggled in answer, enjoying the closeness.

After several minutes, they settled for sleep, sharing several more kisses, each provoking the same reaction, although it was only the lips melding. Exhausted, Emma fell asleep first. Regina watched the Savior sleep, using the time to catch her breath, before she lifted herself and pulled a piece of paper and a quill with an inkwell out of her backpack. Casting glances toward Emma, she composed a letter, muttering softly when the ink would run and ruin her precise handwriting. With magic she fixed most of the letter, and she folded it, willing it away to Henry. After she was finished, she packed her bag, and lowered herself down. Emma had turned to her in her sleep and with soft sigh Regina lowered her head onto the blonde’s shoulder, placing her arm around Emma’s middle, immeasurably comfortable with the position. Deciding to let go of her reservations and fears, as Emma would rampage through them with her bullhead approach, she closed her eyes, feeling absolute peace after a very long time.

As the first light of the day reached her face, Regina became aware of a hand gently passing over her back, the soft caress tracing unrecognizable traces over her vest. Opening her eyes she smiled at the position. The very first morning on the ship found them in the same position with Regina’s hand over Emma’s heart. Covered with her cloak, Regina was warm as Emma’s arms held her underneath it. She wriggled her fingers over Emma’s chest making the blonde woman chuckle, as she too remembered the conversation of the first morning on Jolly Roger.

“Hey,” Emma spoke gently. “Good morning.”

Regina only pushed herself closer to the other woman in the answer. Emma chuckled softly and kissed the forehead in front of her lips. They spent several minutes in silence, relishing the comfort of each other.

However, they knew that they could not stay forever. With quick moves they rose and packed up the camp, eating the last bits of the meat strips for breakfast. Every time they would come close to each other, one would reach the other, establishing a connection with a simple hand hold or a soft brush of their shoulders. Finally, as they were set to leave, Regina offered her hand in silence, sighing with relief when Emma took it.

The brunette guided them through the forest, noting that there were Ogres nearby and gesturing to Emma to keep quiet she led them carefully toward the general direction of the Safe Haven. But, as they had to walk slowly, they didn’t cover much ground. Close to evening, Regina found another brook and followed it to a small waterfall, deciding it would be a good place for camping.

Sending Emma to find wood for the fire, Regina started searching for a rabbit that she had seen flee the small clearing. They had no meat left and there were not enough of the vegetables for another broth, so she was going hunting. With a small flick of her wrist, the hare flew into her hand.

While Emma was building fire, and later setting the camp, Regina prepared the meat for baking. As she had seen Emma watch her carefully several times during the evening, she knew that everything she needed for making supper would be ready the moment she came to the fire. And as she had thought, the four poles were buried into the ground at the edge of the fire, their ends split to hold the two barbecue sticks with meat on them. As she sat by the fire to monitor the meat, she gave Emma some paper and her quill with ink.

“What do you need this for?” Emma asked as she looked at the quill in her hand.

“I thought you wanted to write to Henry…” Regina spoke absently, turning one of the twigs.

“With this?” Emma said, as she looked at Regina with consternation. “I have problem writing with a fountain pen, and you want me to use the actual quill?” But, as Regina only raised her eyebrow in her cocky fashion, Emma gritted her teeth and started composing a note for her son, often swearing when an ink blot would cover a part of the parchment, or she would smear the words she wrote. But at last she managed to put together a small letter. With pride, she showed it to Regina. The brunette read it with tender look in her eyes and she showed Emma how to clear the blots. Again, with guidance, she directed the blonde woman how to send it to Henry and as she watched the letter disappear in the soft swirl of bluish white mist, she heard Emma sigh in triumph.

Emma kissed her cheek in exuberant move, before she left to wash her hands in the pool beneath the waterfall. Regina watched her in the growing darkness, enticed by the careless walk Emma exhibited. She was happy - Regina realized with surprise, feeling pleased with the knowledge. Emma was happy and almost skipping toward the fire, as Regina’s eyes traveled across her face. Feeling the scrutiny, Emma smiled at the woman, dropping herself beside her companion, stretching her legs in front of her. With a wide grin she looked at Regina, making the other woman smile in response to her antics.

When the meat was roasted enough, Emma moved them closer to the small cliff, leaning against it with her back. Inviting Regina to sit in between her legs, she took the meat and welcomed the woman. Regina leaned onto Emma’s front with her side, placing her arm around Emma’s shoulders. With surprise she noticed that Emma arranged their weapons close, within the reach of both of them. At her questioning look, Emma shrugged. “There is something in the forest. It was watching me while I gathered the wood.”

Even though she herself had been in the forest, scouring the brush for their supper and had not felt the presence, she did not discount Emma’s senses. It was quite possible that there was something waiting, but she had placed the warning spells and several others around their camp site, just like the evening before. However, for Emma’s peace of mind she would remain cautious. They ate in relative silence, occasionally interrupting the quiet meal with an observation or a question. When they finished, Emma nuzzled into Regina’s neck, humming in fulfillment. Quickly, they rearranged themselves onto one of the blankets, covering with the other, as they held each other. With a kiss goodnight they both surrendered to sleep quite soon.

A soft cry roused Regina from her light sleep. The moment she opened her eyes she did not know why she was awake, what had been that disturbed her slumber but again a quiet moan came from beside her, making her alert right away. Rising to her elbow, she leaned toward the woman beside her, and she saw the distress on the Savior’s face. Emma was whimpering in her sleep, obviously tortured by another instance of her nightmares. As the blonde had been exhausted by the lack of sleep and the hard pace they had been using for the past two days, Regina was loath to wake her, and yet she did not want to let her suffer her dreams anymore. She sidled close to the other woman and with utmost care she took her into her arms, moving Emma’s body just so that the blonde’s head would rest on Regina’s shoulder while the rest of her figure would lie almost on top of the older woman. Cradling the Savior in her arms, Regina gently passed her fingers through Emma’s hair, sighing with relief as she felt the blonde’s turmoil ease with the soft caress. Covering them both with the blanket, Regina kissed Emma’s forehead in affection and concern, wishing for the Savior to have better dreams. With the soft and rhythmic breathing on top of her, the brunette was soon lulled back to the light sleep, confident that she would be awakened with any change in Emma’s breath, or by any move.

The Sun slowly came up from the east, lighting the small clearing with a soft pinkish glow. It was a brisk morning, cold enough so the air leaving the two sleeping women was turned to mist. As the fire had burned out just minutes before, the warmth of the camp rapidly dissipated. Emma, still sleeping, burrowed deeper into the heat surrounding her, seeking more warmth. The muffled groan that sounded after her move awakened her, and she frowned in surprise. How had she gotten there? But, then her innate mischievousness took her over, and she burrowed her face into Regina’s neck, kissing the soft skin under her lips. At the soft moan, she realized that the brunette hadn’t woken yet, but with the stimulation she was about to, any second now. A hand climbed up her back, and Emma took it as a sign to up the stakes. Lifting herself on to her elbow she looked at the still sleepy Regina’s face, and smiled gently at the woman. She lowered her lips onto the enticing mouth in front of her, and murmuring softly she wished Regina a good morning before kissing the woman again, this time with more passion in it.

Still in the haze of her sleep, Regina replied to the kiss with passion of her own, pulling Emma toward her. The magic rose from within her and spread out through her body along with heat. She could feel her magic seep into Emma through her hands, as well as Emma’s came to her with every touch the blonde initiated. The feeling was overwhelming; it was like she was high on the best drugs all the worlds could offer, and she would know because magic was one of those drugs. Her pulse raced, her heart was pumping so hard she thought that it wished to join Emma’s, by jumping out of her chest. Regina felt tingly all over, and atop it all she was getting aroused, and it felt better than good. But before she could summon the strength of will to stop Emma from taking them to the levels she wasn’t ready yet, Emma moved her head away, breathing heavily. The blonde leaned her forehead onto Regina’s cheek, her eyes glowing.

“Is this going to happen every time we kiss?” Emma asked softly, her body shaking with the restrained magic overflowing from her. With a grunt she raised her head a bit, to look into Regina’s eyes that still held the purplish hue. “Not that I mind,” she continued with a sassy grin. “The  _ more _ will be mind-blowing.” Her remark, followed by the lewd smirk made Regina punch Emma’s shoulder lightly, chuckling softly at the grumbled complaint. “Seriously, though.” Emma started, moving slightly away, allowing Regina to rise, as she sat on her feet. She gestured toward her hands with concern. The light crackled off Emma’s palms, as small sparks were flying off in the air from them. “I cannot suppress it further than this,” she said, looking into Regina’s confused eyes. “And, if I didn’t suppress it at all, I don’t know what it would have done.” The concern, tinged with fear, was obvious in Emma’s voice.

Regina knelt beside the other woman, taking her hands into her own. The moment she did so, the magic flew into her, mixing with her own, making her gasp. Worried, Emma tried to take away her hands but Regina held on, intertwining their fingers. “It’s okay. I can do this.” While their palms were pressed against each other firmly, Regina was looking into Emma’s eyes. “You are an amazingly powerful woman, Emma,” Regina spoke, as she discerned that Emma needed encouragement and reassurance. “And your body is not used to it completely. It will, in time and practice, and then, there would be no one to be your equal regarding magic.” As she was speaking, Emma felt the power draining out of her, and she watched carefully for any sign of trouble in Regina’s eyes. Not understanding how it was possible for Regina who was weaker in power than Emma to withstand so much of the magic. Her wonder must have shown in her eyes because Regina smiled softly at the Savior. “The Death curse I absorbed was the preparation I needed for this.” For a moment Emma did not know what Regina had meant but then she saw the memories, realizing for the first time what the brunette had gone through to bring them back. The Death curse had been powerful enough to kill Cora, but when Regina had taken it, with Regina’s knowledge of magic, it had worked its way through Regina’s system making it more resistant to future magic.

“I didn’t know,” Emma said softly in apology.

“I didn’t want you to know,” Regina replied, her gentle smile explanation enough for the Savior. With the knowledge she had of the older woman, she could see all the reasons why Regina hadn’t told her about it. Only seconds more passed before Regina released the hold on Emma’s hands. But, before she could pull out her palms away, Emma gripped them tightly though gently, and kissed each hand in her own on the knuckles in gratitude for the help.

After several more minutes spent in silence, just being close to each other, Regina rose up, looking at the sky. The Sun had risen above the horizon a while before, heating the air with its mellow warmth, usual for the autumn. But, there were heavy stormy clouds, rolling in from the West and they promised rain in the afternoon. Therefore, she wanted to get moving on before long, and she also wanted a good meal before the temperature dropped with the inevitable downpour…

Emma followed her lead and started packing up the camp, leaving the dishes out for breakfast, all the while teasing the other woman gently for her reluctance to be out in the rain. For God's sake, they had lived in Maine! The magically preserved remains of the hare they had the evening before were placed onto the newly built fire. Emma sat next to the fire, with a simple task of minding the meat, but the view she had of the woman was much more enticing. With her white shirt sleeves rolled up to her upper arms, the cuffs neatly folded and refolded up, and in her black pants and vest, Regina was a breathtaking sight. The way her hips sashayed while she walked around the camp, taking care of mundane things, drew Emma’s eyes to a shapely behind.

“Stop ogling me and watch the meat,” Regina spoke, not turning around. Although the rebuke sounded sharp in Emma’s ears, Regina was smiling, unseen by the Savior while she packed the blankets away. She joined the blonde, chuckling at the blushing woman as she offered the slightly charred breakfast. “Well, I guess it’s my fault. I don’t know what I was thinking by putting you in charge of the food?!” Regina spoke with a slight tease, shaking her head.

“It is your fault!” Emma replied quickly, before she gulped. “Erm… You were… You should be honored by the attention,” Emma tried to defend herself, but before she even finished talking she realized how stupid was what she had said.

“Where I come from, a subpar meal served to a Royalty is a ground for a capital punishment,” Regina said, keeping her face straight. “And, I may not be the Queen any more, but I am still a Royal,” she added, her voice gaining the threatening edge. Emma stopped eating in shock, her face still wearing the trace of the previous embarrassment. At the gaping, Regina could not fight herself anymore and burst out laughing.

When Emma groused at Regina’s mirth, the brunette calmed herself down, and placed her palm on the blonde’s upper arm. “Well, thank you for the compliment,” she said as a peace offering. After Emma shyly smiled at her, Regina continued eating.

Suddenly, Emma jumped to her feet, reaching for her sword, her eyes looking around. Regina followed her up, taking her crossbow with her. As she saw nothing around them that could be threatening, she looked at the blonde with question in her eyes. Emma shook her head, lowering her sword, rubbing her forehead with her free hand. “I could have sworn something was posing to attack.” She looked toward Regina and shrugged. “I don’t know, maybe I am on edge…” she said, placing the sword back into the scabbard with a dismissive move. But before the brunette could reach the Savior, something swooped in from the shadows of the trees, the massive wings flapping in the air, jumping right at Regina, throwing her down on the ground.

Reacting instinctively, Emma drew her sword again and created a ball of light in her free hand. She did not dare attack while Regina was still under the beast, and she knew that if she tried to pull the monster off the woman, by magic or physically, she might injure Regina. And, to prove her point, the beast flew off in the air, thrown away with a powerful blast of magic from the brunette. But it did not keep it away for long. It ran toward Emma, skillfully avoiding the balls of energy the blonde was throwing at it, and jumped at the Savior. However, Emma was ready and she pushed it away, even further than Regina had.

“Let me guess,” Emma said, breathing heavily while she watched the creature growl two dozen feet away, circling them. It looked like a lion, but it was bigger than any lion Emma had seen. And it was red, with wings spanning out of its back. But, what was the weirdest of all - it had a human face on the head of a lion, a beautiful face of a man, ruggedly handsome, with piercing ice blue eyes. However, when it growled, Emma saw row after row of jagged sharp teeth in its mouth. “It’s a chimera.”

“No,” Regina whispered, as she watched the creature glare at them, ready to strike at a moment’s notice. “Even worse. It’s a manticore. I didn’t know there were any left.” She grabbed Emma’s shoulder, giving the blonde the warning. “Keep away from its tail. Don’t let it touch you. It is poisonous.” She underlined the importance of her words by squeezing the shoulder. Emma glanced toward the other woman with a worried look and nodded.

As it seemed that the women were busy, the creature flew up in the air and initiated an attack from above, reaching out with its deadly paws. It focused on Emma, but it dodged the bolts and fireballs Regina kept firing at it. In a mighty crash that reverberated over the small clearing the beast collided with the barrier that Emma had erected at the last second. Quickly lounging to finish the dazed monster, Emma moved in, slashing and hacking with her sword, agilely avoiding the rabid stinger that was the tail of the creature. Finally, she managed to cut its head off, ducking the mighty wings and the tail. As the creature collapsed on the ground, Emma turned with a grin to Regina, ready to celebrate. However, the roused grumbling from the forest told her of another danger travelling to them. The Ogres had been alerted by the sounds of the fight and now they were on them, leaving the forest and joining them on the clearing.

Regina stringed a bolt in her crossbow and sent it flying into the first greenish giant that emerged from the cover of the trees. The bolt was true, finding its target in the eye of the huge monster, killing it on the spot. She loaded quickly another one, downing the next one the same way. But, she wasn’t quick enough to manage to kill the next two that came out of the forest, one coming from one side of the camp, and the other from the opposite, making the women split. Before Regina could defend herself, the monstrous arm came flailing at her, and hitting her hard it pushed her back several yards. Regina rolled on the ground helplessly with the force of the impact, feeling the hurt everywhere on her body. But, she had to react quickly as her assailant was going toward her, his steps echoing over the ground.

When Emma saw Regina fly through the air, she angrily threw her sword at her opponent, guiding it with her magic into the head of the Ogre. Not even stopping to see if she had indeed killed it, she rushed toward Regina, her fear, adrenalin and worry giving her such burst of power that she teleported without a conscious thought and appeared right in front of the woman, her hand quickly reaching for the dagger in her booth and sending it flying toward the gigantic creature, before she even completely materialized before Regina. Still in motion she knelt beside the downed woman and using the surge of magic, she started healing cuts and bruises, along with fractured ribs. With relief she watched the brown eyes she had grown to care for focus on her face, and when Regina smiled at her, she helped the tussled woman sit up.

“My hero,” Regina spoke with gratitude, intentionally giving her words the tone of sneer that she knew Emma would disregard. Leaning onto the offered shoulder she sighed, feeling strangely unwell, even though Emma had healed her. Lifting her arm to place it on Emma’s neck on the other side, she noticed a slight blistered patch on her skin, right on her forearm. She muttered several curses with such vicious quality that Emma froze, before she took Regina’s shoulders and gently moved her away, the gesture allowing her to see the woman’s face.

Regina was pale, and her eyes were focused on her arm. When Emma glanced down, she saw the bubbled skin, and moved to heal it, unsure how it escaped her the first time. But, even the second time, it did not go away. “It’s no use.” Regina spoke with defeat. “The tail must’ve grazed me when it knocked me down.” Regina looked up into Emma’s eyes and she let all the emotions seep into her own brown eyes.

Emma felt the skin under her hands warm up, even though Regina still remained pale. The fear, desperation and resignation were evident in the dark chocolate of Regina’s look, making her eyes seem almost black. It did not help that Regina was already feeling the effects of the poison. “No,” Emma said firmly, reaching for Regina’s face. “No, there has to be a cure!” The blonde felt the other woman lose her strength, as she leaned limply against her. Lowering her gently onto the ground, Emma felt her eyes fill with tears. “Damn it, Regina, you are not doing this to me!” she said, trying again to heal her. “Not now, please.”

“Don’t cry,” Regina whispered, reaching up to Emma’s face, wiping the freely falling tears. “Maybe it’s better this way,” she said, doubt filling her voice. “Maybe it was about giving me absolution before I died,” Regina added softly, speaking more to herself than Emma.

“Don’t talk like that!” The Savior could see that her healing did not improve Regina’s condition, but it didn’t make it worse, so she kept at it. “I refuse to believe that.” She placed her hand against Regina’s chest, attempting to at least slow down the symptoms. “Think, and tell me what to do.”

“Emma…”

“No.” Emma grabbed Regina’s hand, pressing it against her heart. “Do you believe Fate would punish me so?” she yelled at the woman, raging against everything she could think of, as she was watching the woman who was her soulmate perish right before her eyes. “Do you want me to live on in pain of the loss of you?” she added, willing to fight dirty, as long as it made Regina find the solution. “Fight this!” Anger turned into desperate pleas. “Fight it, for me!” Letting the sobs overwhelm her for a moment she peered down into the pain hazed dark eyes. “Please… Don’t leave me…”

“Henry…” Regina whispered but the sharp look she received in answer made her stop in her track.

“You will tell him yourself!” Emma made herself send another gust of magic into Regina, seeing that it eased some of the pain, but not enough. Never enough.

Suddenly, Regina looked up in the sky as the thunder rumbled over them, announcing rain. Lightning surged through the heavens, splitting the clouds and the heavy downpour started, chilling down an already shivering woman, and her companion. Something flashed in Regina’s memory, something that might help. She lifted her hand and reached for Emma’s collar, pulling her close. “Take the body…” she whispered, in the gasping gushes of air. When Emma was about to complain, Regina only squeezed the collar tighter. “Gold…”

In understanding Emma nodded. At that moment the woman on the ground dropped her hand, having no strength to keep it up anymore. “Hold on,” Emma yelled over the roar of the rain. The sudden hope that followed Regina’s words fueled Emma beyond her imagination. With the power she had never even dreamed of before, she enveloped herself, Regina, and the manticore’s body, along with its head in the transporting fog, directing herself to the Safe Haven, where she knew that the others were. Not even thinking about the possible consequences of attempting such an arduous move by herself, she tried one more thing. Along the way, she wished for the old man, making him appear right beside their side, his cane dropping onto the stone floor, the sound reverberating of the wooden walls, from wherever he had been.

Without any preamble, she pushed him over to Regina, explaining what had happened quickly and in a succinct manner, hoping that he would know what to do. She ignored the shouts and callings of her name, her eyes only seeing the woman that was already unconscious and fading fast.

* * *

It was a chilly morning. Although the Sun was brightly shining upon the earth, the winds from the inlands were bringing the rainy clouds that promised a cold and windy storm in the afternoon. And, with that in mind, Snow decided to take a long walk to clear her mind before the rains hit.

Pulling her coat tighter around her, Snow glanced down, watching the path carefully to avoid being tripped by an errant log or weed that had been pulled by the waves on the shore during the night. At the same time she let her mind wander. It had been a strange night for her, and she couldn’t shake the feeling that something bad was about to happen.

Right after she had sent Henry to bed, he had come running to her, skipping in delight waving a piece of parchment in his hand happily. Giving it to her, he had hugged her and dashed off to change for bed. Smiling at his childish antics, Snow had watched him go upstairs. David had leaned over her shoulder to see what she had been holding. And, recognizing his daughter’s messy handwriting he had leaned his head onto Snow’ shoulder, holding her from behind, as they had read the message. It had been a short missive telling them that they would be home in the evening the next day, and that Emma and Regina both had been well, and that they had been missing Henry. Emma had added her greetings to her parents in the post scriptum.

Pleased to hear from her daughter after two days, Snow had felt elated. But, during the night that had changed. She had most confusing dreams of Emma, standing on a small pier watching them all leave on Jolly Roger, or going into a dark cave. With those, she also had dreamt of Regina dying in Emma’s arms. After each instance, she would wake up with a gasp, waking David up each time. And her wonderful husband had done everything to try to soothe her, but it had not helped much.

And, now, she was walking on the beach, trying to shake off the feeling of impending doom. Even as she argued with herself that she had never had prophetic dreams and that her nightmares were only the consequence of her anxiety, something in her rebelled against the notion, convinced that her feelings were true.

“Mary Margaret!” someone called her from behind, interrupting her inner debate. Startled, she glanced over her shoulder and saw Neal walking briskly toward her. Waiting for him to catch up, she started walking again as he had reached her. Matching her stride, Neal pushed his hands into his pockets. “Are you OK?”

Snow looked at him with confusion, still stepping forward. “Yes, why do you ask?”

“I called you several times before you turned.” He glanced toward her and shrugged, his gesture seeming out of place on his frame. It was a move of a child, the one Henry had been using before the curse had been broken. “You seemed… I don’t know, worried…”

“There are many things to be worried about, Neal.” Snow closed her eyes at her own sharp tone but the damage had been done, and she didn’t feel like apologizing. With a minute shake of her head, she continued on. “Is there something you wanted?” she asked the man beside him. “I mean, there had to be a reason why you are chasing after me, and not spending the day with your son.”

Neal stopped walking at the rebuke in Snow’s voice. “He is with other children…” But when he saw Snow narrow her eyes he raised his hands in the air in front of him. “I wanted to ask you about Emma.”

“What about her?”

“When is she coming back?”

“If you have been with Henry this morning you would know the answer to that question.” Snow walked a few steps away from him, but then she stopped and turned. “You do know she is not coming back alone?” She saw him grimace at her words, as the pain passed through his eyes. “I hope you will not cause further strife in this family,” came the warning.

“Why her?” Neal asked suddenly.

“Why not?” At the silence, Snow came closer to Neal, feeling compassion toward the man at his broken heart, but she could see Emma’s point of view as well, especially after their talks on the ship. “As weird as it sounds, Regina always took Emma seriously. And one way or the other she never disregarded her. Yes, she considered her a threat for the better part of two years, but you hadn’t been here to see them together.”

“So, it’s over.”

“Neal, it has been over for twelve years.”

With those parting words, Snow turned away and continued walking down the beach, leaving the heartbroken man behind. In her mind, it was no one’s fault, but the Fate that Emma and Regina were meant for each other. As she had heard Regina say once, it was all about balance.

She strolled over to the patch of solid ground leading to the village, deciding to join David, Phillip and Aurora at their home, for David had promised them to see their plans for the village, and perhaps give some ideas of improvement.

“Ah, Miss Blanchard,” Rumplestiltskin spoke softly, when Snow nearly ran into him and Belle. “Something troubling you, dear?” he said, holding her arm as she slid a bit, startled by his voice.

Snow looked at him and Belle, surprised to see them there. She must have lost herself in her thoughts again, she concluded. “Thank you, Mister Gold” she replied softly. She smiled at the young woman by his side. “Belle,” she said in the form of greeting.

“What is it, Snow?” the young woman asked, taking the pixie haired woman’s arm and linking it with her own. The gentle countenance of the kind souled Belle pulled a smile from Snow. So, she let the woman lead her to the village, Rumplestiltskin by her other side. They were already on the fringes of it, when Snow answered.

“Just some dreams troubling me.” But, before she could go into it deeper, Rumplestiltskin froze.

As the women looked at him, he looked down on his body, seeing the tiny swirls of mist forming around him. Recognizing the color and the taste of magic surrounding him, he looked at Snow. “Emma is summoning me,” he spoke, disappearing in front of their eyes even before he said his last word.

However, when Snow looked at Belle in confusion, they heard the commotion coming from the village hall. Supposing that the answer was to be found in the biggest building of the village, Snow and Belle hurried toward the Hall, watching several people run out of it, yelling of a monster and magic. Meeting with the children, Mulan and Red along the way, Snow rushed in, her feeling of dread increasing by the second.

* * *

Rumplestiltskin appeared in the village hall, the force of the transportation making him lose his grip on his cane, and it cluttered on the stone tiles of the floor as he grasped the picture in front of him. Too quickly for him to complain, a hand grabbed his arm and pulled him toward his daughter, lying down on the floor, pale and lifeless.

Taking a moment to gather himself, Rumplestiltskin listened to Emma explain to him the events that had led to the injury that his daughter was suffering from. When he heard the word manticore, he looked up and for the first time noticed the fearsome beast, lying dead on the floor, close to Regina, its head beside it. As the woman before him was fading fast, he jumped right into it, barking out orders he knew the servants of the house would listen. The ones that had stayed after Emma had appeared with the monster, and had not left running in fear.

“I need a cauldron with fresh cow milk!” he yelled as he lowered himself down with Emma’s help. With relief he heard hurried footsteps go toward the kitchen, no doubt to fulfill his order. Grasping Regina’s injured arm he saw the blistered skin on her forearm and the reddish tinge to her veins, making them stand out on her arm, and the color travelled up to her chest even as he watched. With renewed rush, he felt the pulse of the woman before him. “Emma, I need you to reach into her in order to save her.”

At the blonde’s confused look, he quickly explained the principles of taking one’s heart, and without further objection Emma stuck her hand into the brunette’s chest, ignoring the gasps of the crowd that had gathered quickly. Once she even recognized her son’s voice, but she ignored it, completely focused on Regina. As she felt the heart pulse in her hand, she looked up at the old man, waiting for further instruction.

In the meanwhile, he had taken a dagger and with great care not to touch the vile tail, he had cut it off from the carcass. In that moment, one of the women had brought the cauldron with milk and at Rumplestiltskin’s direction she had placed it into the hearth. It had been prepared for the fire early in the morning, the wood stacked, but there was no flame.

“Focus on her heart beat and with each pulse send out your healing magic from your hand around the heart. Before you do that, I need you to light this quickly.” He gestured toward the hearth, holding a dagger in his hand. Emma just glanced upon the logs of wood and they burst into flames. Only moments after, she started focusing on the pulse of the heart in her hand. With care not to squish it, she timed her healing power with each beat, synchronizing almost perfectly her magic with Regina’s heart’s beats. With her other hand, she touched the drenched forehead, pushing back the wet tendrils of the dark hair, her movements so obviously tender and loving. Glancing up to the old man, she saw him cut the tail into very small bits, having pulled on his leather gloves first. As he dropped the flesh into the boiling milk, he turned to the woman still standing around in case he needed something else.

“I need some of White Oleander I saw in the shrubbery back by the spring. Also, I would need some of Monkshood and White Snakeroot as well.” At the woman’s surprised look he raised his eyebrow in question. “Problem, dearie?”

“But, those are poisons!” the woman spoke, as she was confused.

Finally, one of the spectators decided to join them, surrendering the boy she had held in her arms to her husband. “Martha! Go, take them from the apothecary, while I find the Oleander,” Snow spoke, her voice breaking the stalemate. At her Queen’s voice, the woman snapped into action, while Snow left the building in order to bring the needed plant.

Emma was almost oblivious to the commotion around her, as she counted the thumps against her hand, her fear fueling her magic to new heights. Suddenly, she saw the movement on the face that she had been looking into. The weak flutter of Regina’s eyelids announced the next. The brunette opened her eyes slowly, her gaze unfocused. Emma leaned a bit more forward, coming closer to Regina’s face.

“Emma,” Regina whispered with relief, her eyes clouded with pain. But, for a moment they cleared, and she saw where one of Emma’s hands had been. “Emma, no,” she complained weakly, afraid that one of her greatest fears was coming to reality. After all, her descent into darkness had started the same way.

“It’s helping you,” Emma spoke firmly, making it clear that it was the only thing that mattered. “We are in the village hall,” she added when she saw the dark eyes wander around, trying to see where they were. The pallor of Regina’s face did not recede, but the redness of the veins had slowed down a bit, perhaps giving them enough time to do what was needed to save Regina.

Emma linked her eyes with Regina’s, willing the strength and will to endure into the woman, hoping it would help. Weakly, the brunette reached for a hand that was not in her chest and sent out a pulse of her own magic, linking them the same way as they had been once before, using the magic itself to tell all the things she needed to share with Emma.

Immersed into Regina’s mind and power, Emma gasped as the pain surrounded. But, before she instinctively pulled away from it, she willed herself to accept it as a way of taking it away from Regina. At the same moment, she sent out her healing and soothing magic, finally feeling some betterment.

Again surrounded by the memories, some hers, some Regina’s, Emma found herself standing in a small meadow, near the apple orchards of Regina’s childhood home. The woman herself showed to her, still wearing her black leather pants and white shirt with the vest. Placing her hand on Emma’s tear tracked cheek, she looked into the green eyes with compassion and sympathy. “Thank you.” Kissing the other cheek, she smiled sadly as she felt gentle arms hold her close to Emma. “But the poison will eat through your magic soon.”

“How is it so immune to the magic, and acting so quickly?” Emma asked, unable to fight the dread that filled her at Regina’s words.

“It is a magical potion, as manticores are magical beings. They are among the most deadly creatures of this world, apart from humans.” She placed her other hand onto Emma’s remaining cheek, fixing her head in place. “We don’t have much time,” she whispered gently, her words ominous. “I wanted to tell you so many things…” the brunette spoke with regret that she would not be able to share her life with the amazing woman in front of her. “But, you need to hear me say this,” she said, her voice taking on the firmness she often displayed when speaking of the absolutes in her life. “I love you.”

“I love you, too.” Emma whispered back, letting her eyes close at the kiss that Regina initiated, feeling their tears mix on their cheeks. This time they were not assaulted by magic, feeling only their emotions in the kiss. The desperate merging of their lips signaled their goodbyes, and Emma could not let that happen. She moved away, her face still close to Regina’s. “You know that it doesn’t count, right?” Emma tried to smile, her mouth twisting into a disfigured line. “Given under duress, it is not valid.”

Regina chuckled sadly. “It is only in case you don’t get the proper confession, the unpressured one.” At Emma’s jaw clenching, Regina felt Emma’s thoughts as they were her own. The angry retort of her giving up sparked a fire in the brown eyes. “I am fighting this with all that I have!”

“Are you?” Emma said back, her voice raspy from all the emotions and pain, but the sharp edge in it was undeniable. At those words Regina pushed herself away, her face turning into a scowl. But, the moment she stepped away her countenance changed, and the scowl disappeared, replaced by a sad grimace of pain.

“Do you really believe I would give up now?” Regina spoke after a moment. “After all of this…” she said brokenly, gesturing to the space between them. Slowly, she reached for the blonde’s hand, willing Emma to trust her. “I want to live.” The second she whispered those words, she found herself in the fierce embrace of the familiar strong arms. “With you, with Henry, even with all the extended family,” she added softly while Emma held her face gently, cradling it in her hands. “I am trying the best I can to resist.” Again, Emma looked into her eyes, and Regina saw the faith and trust in the green eyes. But, there was something else, some spark of understanding. Right after that, Emma’s face sported a gentle victorious grin, barely hidden under all the strain clearly visible on her features. Focusing her attention on the Savior, Regina was suddenly overwhelmed by Emma’s newest terrifying memories, including her dreams. At the startled gasp, Emma looked at the frozen brunette and saw compassion brewing in the depths of her chocolate eyes. “Oh, Emma.”

“It doesn’t matter now,” Emma shrugged Regina’s concern away, knowing what the other woman had learned. “Look beyond that,” the blonde spoke out of nowhere, getting an idea. She took Regina’s hands in hers. “See what I see when I look at you.”

Regina did as Emma demanded, focusing on the picture of herself the Savior had in her head. The last time they had joined, Regina only glimpsed at just some of Emma’s memories and only some of the feelings. At the time she had attributed it to the fact that she had been frightened to participate in the merge, expecting death as a certain result of such union. But now, she could see everything out in the open. Every event that had shaped Emma into the person she was, every instant she had thought of Regina, good and bad memories and thoughts. Her arguments with Henry on Regina’s behalf, her internal debates, even the scathing remark Emma had made to Snow on the deck of Jolly Roger about killing the Charming.

However, what really took her by surprise was the fact that Emma had always been drawn to her, since the moment they had met, and that unresolved desire fueled most of Emma’s outbursts in their war for Henry. Perhaps it was the very reason Emma had accepted the fact that they were bound by the magic of True Love much easier that the former Mayor. And now, that desire manifested itself differently. Regina smiled when she saw the memory of the main courtyard from Emma’s perspective.

But, there was something beneath all of memories, thoughts and emotions. Emma was a very intuitive person and her ‘feel’ of Regina was buried deep under all the almost overwhelming feelings of love and faith, and the memories of them together. Finally knowing what she was looking for, Regina mentally reached for it, for the first time seeing and feeling herself from another’s point of view.

She saw herself as someone who was kind and gentle, self-sacrificing and redeemed, with innate goodness that had been darkened by circumstances and choices. However, it wasn’t all positive and good. She saw the edges of evil darkness swirl around the good. She saw the marks of her past on her soul. Regina was surprised by the amazingly real picture in front of her. When Emma had said that she had seen her, really seen her for who she had been and was, Regina realized that the Savior had been telling the absolute truth.

But, under all the aspects of herself she saw, she felt something different. She sensed power in herself, an immeasurable might of magic, just out of her reach, locked and hidden safely away, inside of her. That amount of power was no doubt near Emma’s, if not equal with hers. All she had to do was to concentrate and reach for it, now that she knew she had it. And that magic was different from her own, it was a part of her, not learned. The surprising find left her speechless, leaning against Emma, as she tried to comprehend the facts.

“You are the daughter of the Dark One. It is only natural to have some magic of your own.” Emma’s gentle voice drew Regina out of the stupor. When the dark eyes focused back on her face, Emma smiled with encouragement. “Use it.” Bringing her close, she leaned her forehead on Regina’s. “Help me heal you.” The Savior directed her piercing and demanding gaze to Regina’s face, her lips twitching in satisfaction when the brunette nodded. “I should go,” she added softly, kissing Regina on the lips gently, before she stepped away.

But before she could break their meld, Regina called after Emma. “Emma, I …” she started, unable to formulate her thoughts. All the confusing questions and ideas swiveled in her mind. But when she finally managed to put her words in wanted order, Emma touched her cheek, grazing it with the soft pads of her fingers.

“I know.” And, Emma did know how terrifying it was for the other woman to learn something like that. How confusing and troubling all the reaction thoughts were. She also knew that Regina had firmly decided to fight, this time with truly everything she had. And, of course, there was the unspoken devotion present.

Breaking their connection, Emma blinked and found herself in the reality outside their minds, and it seemed only a moment had passed for everyone else. Pleased that she had not wasted so much time, she looked down onto the woman on the floor. The woman was almost unconscious, slipping under, but with her renewed faith, Emma knew that Regina would do everything to survive. The Savior smiled when she sensed an additional burst of magic fill Regina’s body, the taste and feel of it different and new, but still as compatible to Emma’s as Regina’s learned magic had been, perhaps even more.

Rumplestiltskin saw something was happening with his daughter, but as Emma was smiling, he judged it was nothing to be concerned about at the time. As Martha had brought him the needed ingredients, soon followed by Snow with the leaves of the Oleander, he prepared the brew to the best of his ability, but he knew that soon it would all depend on Emma, as the only magic–able conscious person around.

Cutting the tongue out of the severed head of the beast, he started on the next step of the potion preparation. Regarding the gathered crowd, he minced the meat into the cauldron. The mass of people had thinned out after the first wave of interested parties dispersed, leaving only the family members and closest friends. Presently, the people watched him with mild case of disgust and overpowering worry. His grandson watched his every move, glancing toward his mothers, terrified, while held in David’s consoling arms. Neal was standing right beside him, his comforting palm on the boy’s shoulder.

Moving away from the boiling cauldron, he lowered his head to Emma’s, drawing her attention without touching her, as she was still distributing the power through Regina, by the subtle glow of her skin in the dimness of the village hall.

“Next part is very hard, even for experienced practitioners,” Rumplestiltskin warned Emma softly, carefully hiding his mouth from others in the hall. The Savior looked up at the old man, not letting her attention to Regina’s heartbeats lapse, nor her responding pulses stop. “You will have to continue what you are doing, and also do what I tell you with this potion.”

Emma glanced toward the cauldron, nodding almost imperceptibly after a moment of deliberation. “Tell me,” she said, mindful to keep her tone low.

“I have boiled all the ingredients needed but it is highly poisonous. In order to change it, Miss Swan, you need to transform it magically in such a way that it would gain certain properties, and lose the toxic effect without destroying its curative abilities.” Rumplestiltskin quickly explained to the woman what she was to do, making it certain that the procedure would work. At last, Emma was ready to try.

In a brief moment of consideration, the old man asked the gathered people to leave the hall telling them that Emma’s concentration was to be completely undisturbed during the process, thus relieving Emma of the additional source of stress. After the grumbling crowd left the place, with a lot of dissatisfied comments and looks from Snow and Henry, Rumplestiltskin came to Emma and lowered himself by her side, kneeling down. Gently guiding Emma through the process, he was giving her the instructions and encouragement. He noticed that she had approached the task with such innate grate and acceptance that was so unusual for one Emma Swan. Her instinctual flow of magic and understanding what she needed to do showed the influence of the brunette on the floor in Emma’s attitude toward the magic itself.

With relief they saw the purplish brown liquid turned into the gentle pink potion, signaling that what Rumplestiltskin had Emma do actually worked.

He removed the cauldron of the fire with utmost care, stirring the strange mix to cool it a bit down. When he judged it just properly warm he poured a portion of it in a cup and gave it to Emma to somehow make Regina drink it. As his part in Regina’s healing was done, he grabbed for his cane and straightened up, wincing as his back cracked, after the time he had been suffering from bending over the cauldron and kneeling.

“She needs to take a whole cup every two hours until her body is completely healed,” he said to Emma as she stopped sending the pulses through the brunette’s heart. Slowly she pulled out her hand out of Regina’s chest and leaned her palm against the shirt lapel over her heart. With the old man’s help, she managed to provoke the unconscious woman’s swallowing reflex, as she made the woman drink the whole cup, swallow at the time. “I will see to your room,” he spoke gently, patting Emma’s shoulder, in a way of announcing his leave.

But before he left the room he turned back to ask something. Glancing back, he smiled at the scene in front of him, keeping his question unspoken. The young, often brash woman was having his daughter in her arms, holding her with such care and love. The gentle concerned smile the blonde Savior sported while cradling Regina’s tortured body as she caressed the face of the unconscious woman brought on a slight burning sensation in Rumplestiltskin’s eyes. The moment he had finished his part, he had ceased to exist for the blonde woman, her attention directed only to the woman in her arms. With a firm belief that Regina was in excellent hands, he went on out, going to search for the others who no doubt were waiting for any kind of an update.

“How is she?” came Belle’s worried question, even before he had closed the door behind himself. At his startled look, she smiled with light chagrin, and she took his arm, leading him toward the Charmings and his son, the small group waiting on the small porch of the village hall, staying out of the hard autumn rain. He had seen the village Royals and the werewolf keep them company, the young shifter doing her best to animate his grandson, drawing his attention away from the dire situation of his mother. 

Waiting with his answer to Belle until he reached all the interested parties, he inclined his head in greeting. But before he could even say a word, he was engulfed in such an explosion of sound – when everyone present started talking at the same time.

“Hold it,” David’s booming voice suddenly was heard over the noise, startling everyone into the silence. Then he looked at Rumplestiltskin and gestured to him with his hand to say what he wanted.

“Thank you.” The former Dark One said, turning first to David. Then he looked into the young boy’s face, leaning on his cane. “Everything that could have been done, we did.” Still looking at Henry, he addressed everyone else. “Now, we wait.” With a soft pat on the boy’s head, he moved away, going toward the village Royals. “They need privacy and commodities of a room,” he spoke to Aurora, his tone making it clear that he would consider it a favor if she accommodated them. With an acknowledging nod, the princess smiled at others and went to arrange a room for the Savior and her True Love.

“Is she going to be alright?” Henry asked weakly, as he came to his grandfather.

“I don’t know,” the old man spoke honestly. The manticore poison had always been one of the most deadly ones in nature and curing it had always been uncertain. “But, I know that your mother is not giving up that easily, and Emma is there to save her. And we all know Miss Swan is the Savior.” Rumplestiltskin pulled the boy toward himself and lifted his head by his chin. “If there is anyone who could save Regina it’s your mother.”

The old man joined the people on the porch, sitting down on the bench where Snow left him and Belle a bit of space by moving slightly out of the way. Unusually tired, he leaned against Belle, his body sagging with exhaustion. Knowing that he had a little bit of time, he closed his eyes, trusting his love to wake him if he was needed. The others were silent in their vigil for the woman fighting for her life.

Emma glanced up as she heard soft steps coming in her direction. Seeing the princess walking toward her and the unconscious woman in her arms, she assumed that Aurora was there to lead her to a room. Carefully, she took the whole weight of the brunette on her arms and shifted, managing to rise slowly, not jostling her precious cargo. Wincing as the circulation upped in her stiff legs, making her lower extremities tingle unpleasantly. But, she decided to ignore it, and with a small head move she gestured to Aurora to go ahead.

The young princess did not speak, not willing to interrupt the silence. She had seen Emma place her hand into the former Queen’s chest and she had seen the glow that magic had all over the blonde Savior. Although now the glow was absent, she did not want to risk breaking Emma’s focus. And as she turned she blinked in surprise. The cauldron moved on its own behind the blonde woman, following them. Obviously, Emma was using magic to take it with her. Turning back to leading them to the room she had prepared for Emma, Aurora took the stairs to the upper level, closely followed by the Savior.

“I hope it is satisfying,” Aurora spoke, as she opened the door of the room. She went in and stepped aside, letting the blonde pass freely. Emma entered and smiled at the simple room having only a wide single’s bed and a night table beside it. The room itself was bare.

Emma walked to the bed, and gently she lowered Regina down, placing her head onto the one pillow on the bed. Then she turned to Aurora and with a kind smile she placed her hand onto the princess’s shoulder, ignoring the cauldron that passed beside them and lowered itself on the floor right next to the bed. “Thank you, it is perfect.” With a tired smile she winked at the young woman, giving her a polite dismissal. Aurora replied with a smile of her own and left, closing the door behind her.

Emma turned to the bed, and with sluggish movements she took off her boots. With gentle touch she divested Regina out of her leather boots and vest, hesitating at the pants. After several moments spent on deliberation what she was to do in the situation, she shrugged her shoulders and unlaced the pants, easing them over Regina’s hips with magic, afterwards covering her with the quilt that was on the bed. Deciding that it was enough she came to her side of the bed and threw another glance around the room, checking it out. And as she turned around, she realized that she had left their things in their camp site in a hurry to get Regina to Rumplestiltskin. Jumping into her boots again, she closed her eyes, not really thinking about the consequences of transporting while exhausted.

Within a blink of an eye, she was back in the clearing. It was undisturbed, apart from the rain that still was falling down on Emma really hard. It only took her moments to locate the things that they had left behind and gathering them quickly Emma closed her eyes again, letting the image of Regina fill her mind. In a flash, she was back, dripping wet on the wooden boards of the floor. Again, it only took a moment to come back, but the time that she had been gone had made its mark on Regina. Cold and alone, Regina was gripping the pillow and sheets, whimpering.

Emma peeled off her wet clothes in a second and rushed toward the other woman, quickly throwing on a t-shirt and underwear she had in her pack. She dove in bed, covering herself with the soft quilt, and she took the suffering woman into her arms, holding her close. It only took a minute or two, but Regina calmed down. Unwilling to let her out of her arms, Emma settled herself to lean on the headboard of the bed, half sitting up, with Regina propped against her. The blonde woman closed her eyes, letting her exhaustion overwhelm her, but the worry did not let her sink into sleep. So she only rested, waiting for the time for another dose of the potion. While her hand absently drew lines over Regina’s back, Emma kept her eyes closed.

Every two hours she would rise and take a cup of the pinkish liquid and bring it back to bed. With care, she would pour it down Regina’s throat, watching for any sign of improvement or further trouble. Only after the seventh cup, the brunette’s breathing eased and the blistered skin reduced. Deciding to try healing one more time, Emma took Regina’s injured arm and held it in both of her hands, sending a strong wave of healing magic through the limb in her hold. At her glee, the skin turned into a healthy layer, the signs of a painful wound disappearing without a trace. It was a moment Emma could finally relax as the cure had worked and Regina was well, only asleep.

However, until she saw the chocolate eyes look into her own, she would not rest, for she did not want to miss the first waking moment of the woman in her arms. As the peace at the thought of Regina’s healed condition enveloped Emma’s mind, the blonde woman kept herself calm and motionless, holding the brunette’s body close, with the head tucked in her neck. She could feel the steady heart beat pounding so close to her own heart. And with the soothing rhythm of Regina’s breathing, she let her mind wander.

At first, her thoughts went back to the beginning of their adventure, the first turbulent ride on the pirate ship. All the talks and emotional exchanges she had with the woman in her arms passed through her memory, bringing a soft smile on her lips. It had only been a week, or ten days, if that, but the things that had happened to them would have to be enough for a lifetime. However, Emma knew deep down that the Fates were not that generous and that something would happen, if not soon, then in the future. It was the curse of the True Love, she thought, smiling at her own inside voice, the need to save each other often, overcoming the impossible odds again and again.

It was then that she remembered seeing two women in the crowd when she had been preoccupied with Regina. It was only a glimpse of the women’s faces, but Emma was sure that it had been Ruby and Belle with her family. And, if that was true, then the girls had brought them the means to find a way home for them. Otherwise, they would not be here, or the whole population of Storybrooke would be in the vicinity. Sure in her conclusion Emma sighed, wary of the implications.

When the woman she was holding was well and recovered there would be a talk of going home, a talk Emma dreaded for the reason, because she knew how her mother and father felt about this place, even though it was ravaged by time and the curse. With no beans left, if her parents decided to stay behind, she would be the one who would have to move through Realms to see them again. The thought of distance and of something happening to the beans, like it had happened when Regina had scorched the field of them, caused a painful pang in her chest. And, it wasn’t only her parents that liked this place, Henry did as well. But, she did not belong here, this wasn’t her world. And the same was true for Regina. Even though the former Queen would easily adapt to being in the Enchanted Forest, she did not feel comfortable here, where painful memories resided on every corner of the Realm.

And, in all honesty, even though she could follow and even excel at the pace this adventure had put her through, she missed the time she had been able to sit down on a couch or a lounge chair and relax, watching TV or listening to music. She missed electricity and the noise of the civilization. All the information of magic and the realm was wearing on her nerves, always expecting something new and dangerous around the corner. With a heavy sigh, she leaned her head back and focused on the flickering flame of candles she had lit on one of her trips to the cauldron. The night had fallen and the village was quiet. Not really wanting to fall asleep, Emma kept her eyes open, while her left hand was unconsciously gliding up and down Regina’s back, tenderly holding her close. Her other hand was above and beyond her head, used as a cushion. It was a somewhat uncomfortable position Emma regarded knowing that the slight twinge of her arm would keep her annoyed enough to keep her awake.

* * *

The first thing she felt as she sluggishly came awake was the incredible warmth, opposed to the coldness that had enveloped her as the poison had passed through her blood. It was comforting and safe, like a cocoon. Then came the scent of Emma, so strong and yet so soothing. Most likely, Regina thought, the Savior kept her close, holding her in the gentle embrace. That thought was extremely satisfying and pleasing to the older woman, filling her with warmth of affection and love toward her personal hero. And her assumption was proven when she recognized the feeling of a hand on her back. Next on the list of things she became aware of was the soft thumping under her ear and the light breathing over her head. Apart from Emma’s breath and heartbeat she could hear nothing else. But, then the other sounds came. The flicker of the wick of the candle, the creaking of the outer boards under the wind, the soft murmur of rain were the sounds that created the soft symphony.

Deciding to announce her wakefulness to Emma, Regina placed her arms around the woman, keeping her close, while she burrowed deeper into the shoulder. With a chuckling murmur, Emma only unfolded her free arm and placed it on Regina’s head, treading her fingers through the soft strands of hair.

“I thought you would take more time before moving…” Emma whispered softly, as she guided Regina’s head up. At the furrowed brows Emma smiled and kissed the burrows, flattening them out. “Your breathing changed.”

Regina grinned in acknowledgement and lifted her head a bit, inviting Emma closer. The request did not pass unnoticed and Emma lowered her lips onto Regina’s, initiating a gentle greeting. The soft kiss soon escalated as the magic levels in women increased, and as the passion rose, threatening to overcome them. As Emma lowered her hand to go under Regina’s shirt, wanting to feel the skin, the brunette gasped. Still in tune with her every sound, Emma pulled up and looked at the woman, worry flooding her features.

“You OK?” Emma asked, breathing heavily as her eyes glowed in the darkness of the poorly lit room. She looked down into the purple-pink eyes and frowned. That was new. It was logical that as Regina had come in touch with her natural magic that her signature would change, but Emma was not used to seeing the difference just yet.

Regina lifted her hand to Emma’s face and with caressing fingers, she assuaged the worry. She smiled and nodded, pulling the other woman down on top of her, starting another kiss. “I love you,” she murmured, placing gentle kisses along Emma’s jaw. Coming to her earlobe, she kissed under it, and whispered one more time. “I love you.”

Emma embraced her firmly and lowered her head next to Regina’s. “I love you too.”

They fell silent, for there was no need to say anything else.

Lying there, in Emma’s firm hold, Regina looked up and saw the other woman watching her tenderly. But, as she had learned to read every look and every change in the shade of the green eyes, Regina knew something was wrong. Perhaps, not outright wrong but something was troubling Emma. Lifting herself on her elbow, she gently pushed the unruly curls off Emma’s face, leaving her hand on the cheek, directing Emma’s eyes toward her. As she could see almost nothing in the weak light of the candles, Regina summoned several balls of light above them.

And as the light fell on Emma, Regina gasped at the exhausted face in front of her, bruised under eyes, and slightly gaunt. She knew that the dreams had been torturing Emma, but this level of damage was not only caused by nightmares. “What happened to you?” she murmured, but apparently loud enough for Emma to hear her and frown. It must have been that the poison had damaged her brain as she had known that approach wouldn’t have worked on Emma.

“How long was I out?” she asked, not knowing any other way to make Emma talk.

“Sixteen, seventeen hours…” Emma answered softly, glad that Regina had moved away from the topic of her. But, she knew the woman above her, and Regina was nothing if not tenacious.

“Did you have another of your nightmares?” Regina asked softly, holding Emma’s gaze.

“You need to sleep to have dreams…” The reply came. And, Emma was too tired to avoid the subject, and she did not want to argue with Regina. So, she surrendered, knowing that she was safe and that it would not be seen as a weakness. However, it was hard to go against a lifetime of practice of keeping one to oneself. “I think I overdid it with the magic,” she spoke, tiredly blinking. The chocolate eyes filled with renewed worry, but Emma smirked in response. “I will be fine.”

“What did you do?” Regina asked gently, needing to know if Emma would indeed be fine after some rest.

“Fought off the manticore and ogres, transported you, me, manticore and Gold to the village hall, was healing you for an hour at least continuously, linked with you, transformed the potion, went back to the campsite to pick the things I had forgotten behind, came here and waited for you to wake. Then I healed your arm, after the potion worked.” Emma knew that Regina would want every detail and that she would needle it out of the reluctant blonde any way possible, so she just said it all at once, shortening the process considerably, and leaving Regina gobsmacked.

“And I assume, you haven’t had anything to eat in the meantime?” the brunette asked after she had regained some of her composure back. At the younger woman’s nod, her temper flared and she moved to leave the warmth of the bed, but strong arms kept her in place.

“I know you only want the best for me and that you are about to go find me some food,” Emma started softly, blocking Regina only with her strength knowing that any further use of magic would set Regina off. “But, it is four in the morning, and I can wait till breakfast.” She released the woman but looked her in the eyes, trying to enforce her point. “Alright?”

It was indeed pointless to go into the kitchens before there was anyone there, Regina concluded, acquiescing. And, Emma needed sleep more than food. With gentle moves, she placed herself back in the previous position, leaning on her elbow above Emma. With the devilish smirk, she placed her palm on Emma’s chest, right in between her breasts making Emma gasp in surprise. Lowering her head down, Regina kissed the woman below her right on the expectant lips, grinning as she felt the hands climbing up her back, in the teasing caress. But, before Emma could instigate anything further, Regina sent out a pulse of power throughout her palm on the woman’s breast bone, making the Savior groan in surprise. Startled with the sudden energy filling her body, Emma looked up at the smirking face of the former Queen. “That is not funny.” Emma groused flipping Regina over, coming on top of her, holding both of her hands in the firm but gentle grip. “That is not funny at all,” she said again, her tone sinking into the lower register.

Although it was the position that had brought on very hard memories for Regina, she knew that she was absolutely safe, even though Emma’s eyes glinted dangerously and her voice made her hair stand on its end. She was only to show discomfort and Emma would cease immediately. But, she did not mind the play, not for the moment. Regina let Emma keep her hands above her head, as she slowly wiggled out one of her legs, using it as a leverage, as she bucked, dislodging Emma of her, laughing as they rolled in the bed. It was a great way of breaking the tension that Emma had been feeling, first brought on by her dreams, then by Regina’s wound.

“I have an idea,” Regina spoke suddenly.

“Uh, should I be scared?” Emma replied as she played with the brunette’s fingers. But, as no answer came, she looked up at Regina’s grin. At her inquisitive eyebrow lift, Regina’s grin only grew wider. “What do you have in mind?”

“A massage.” Regina rose to her knees, gesturing Emma to lie on her belly. “You need to relax, and to get some rest. And I will be here to keep the dreams away.” When Emma opened her mouth to retort declining the offer, Regina placed her finger over the enticing lips. “You need to sleep. And this will make it easier. Trust me.” When Emma nodded, Regina smiled encouragingly, letting Emma assume the position. She lowered herself on the small of Emma’s back, pulling up the t-shirt Emma had on. After she had divested Emma out of the clothes, with surprisingly little complaint from the blonde, Regina warmed up her hands and got to work. She had been right to make Emma do this, Regina thought as she used her skill to dissolve the knots in Emma’s shoulders and neck. From time to time, Emma would flinch in pain, but not once did she move away from Regina’s hands. Soon, Regina got no reaction from the blonde even as she was breaking what must have been painful build up in Emma’s lower back. With a smile, Regina realized that the Savior was soundly asleep, having surrendered herself completely to Regina’s mercy.

Finishing up with the massage, Regina used magic to put the shirt back on Emma, and lowering herself by the sleeping woman, she covered them both with the soft and warm quilt. As she settled, Emma moved in her sleep, throwing her arm over Regina’s middle pulling her closer. With the soft murmur of the brunette’s name, Emma burrowed into the pillow right beside Regina’s head. Enjoying the soft affirmation of their connection, Regina closed her eyes, falling into a light slumber. 


	6. Chapter 6

Emma woke up with a strange feeling of being watched. But, as it did not raise any of her internal alarms, she remained motionless, keeping her eyes closed. Mentally, she took stock of her body, realizing that she had been lying on her belly, with her head buried deep into the pillow. As it had been the same position she had fallen asleep in, and Emma had always been an active sleeper as Snow had called it, because she tended to twist and turn too many times during the night, she concluded that she must have been too tired to even flex a muscle. And, now, for the first time in many days, she felt actually rested. And, apparently, all the muscle pain and strain had eased after the massage and the deep slumber. It was a bit of a strange feeling, not to feel the constant twinge of various body parts complaining to the rhythm she had endured.

Emma flexed her shoulders, humming with lazy satisfaction, aware of the other person in bed. Most likely, it is Regina’s stare that had woken her in the first place, so she just continued with her ruse, keeping her eyes closed. A warm palm landed on her upper arm and glided up to her shoulder, as Regina shifted to a side, wriggling her other arm beneath Emma. Eventually, both wandering hands found themselves on Emma’s back, gliding up and down over her t-shirt. The blonde smiled and leaned onto Regina’s neck, sighing with content.

They did not need to break the silence, as they enjoyed the peace and quiet of just being together. And, just for a few more moments they could pretend that the world outside did not wait for them. However, reality decided to intrude, no matter what they wanted. A soft but persistent knock could be heard from the door. At the sound, Emma groaned disgruntledly and lifted her head, looking into the glimmering dark chocolate ones, watching her back.

“Couldn’t you summon another curse?” Emma asked in a whisper, her face scrunched in displeasure. Regina just chuckled in answer and lifted her hand to Emma’s cheek. With gentle caress, she just looked into Emma’s green eyes, her love and patience evident in the soft gaze. Drawn with the powerful look, Emma came closer to the other woman, lowering her head, intending to kiss the gentle smirk of the teasing lips in front of her. But another round of knocks came, louder this time. “Alright!” Emma yelled to the door before her head fell down onto the pillow in exasperation. “I am coming!”

Jumping out of the bed, she grabbed her pants and hopping toward the door, she put them on. “What?” she said, opening the door, ready to strangle whomever was on the other side. But, there was a woman she had seen somewhere before, startled with the sudden opening of the door. In her hands was a platter filled with food and a pitcher that was in danger of toppling over from her shaking hands. “Who are you?” Emma asked, surprised with the stranger in front of her door. She honestly expected Snow, Mulan or Henry to be the first ones to come. Perhaps not Snow, though, as Emma had seen what had been done on the beach that day. But, this woman was also familiar, again from Regina’s memory. It was Martha, the woman who had helped Rumplestiltskin search the herbs for the potion, but, as well it was the woman who had tried to poison Regina. Even though it had been done in loyalty to Snow, it still troubled Emma. Frowning at the woman, she saw Martha go even paler. Some of her feelings must have been visible, because the guest moved back a step.

“Yo-your Ma-ma-majesty, I-I-I was told to bring you bre-breakfast.” The woman spoke in a frightened whisper, breathing quickly. Not that she enjoyed inspiring fear in people, but this time Emma would accept this benefit, if only to take it as the only revenge on the poor woman. And, as most of the ordinary folk, Martha was afraid of magic. So, being in the presence of not one, but two extremely powerful creatures must have been very unnerving for the simple woman.

“Thank you,” Emma said, her voice devoid of emotions. She stepped forward and took the platter, and turned to go into the room. But before she could leave, the woman spoke again.

“Your family wishes to speak with you, Your Highness.”

“I will see them when I come down.” With no further explanation, Emma went into the room and closed the door into the still standing woman’s face. She knew she was short with the intruder for no good reason, but she couldn’t find it in her to be sorry for it.

Bringing the platter to bed, Emma placed it on Regina’s lap, while she carefully climbed on top of the covers, beside her. The moment she sat down, her belly rumbled in hunger, as Emma had not eaten in more than a day. Looking at Regina bashfully, she took one of the plates with scrambled eggs and went about decimating the food without a word of complaint. Emma knew that her grousing about interrupting would now fall on deaf ears, as Regina had been no doubt reminded of Emma’s fragile state from the night before.

Soon, they finished with their breakfast. Although it was a quiet affair, it was passed in random looks and tender smiles, with one of them offering a piece of bread or something else to the other, from time to time.

“What is so heavy on your mind?” Regina spoke, after they had finished their meal, lowering the platter on the bedside table. She had noticed Emma’s growing sullenness that doused her movements, although it was covered well with her natural cocky manner and brazen behavior. However, the former Mayor could claim that she was quite familiar with the blonde’s moods.

Emma just shook her head, and rose from the bed. Having walked to the window, she unlatched the wooden shutters and pushed them open, letting the daylight in. It was her hope that Regina would not notice the trouble for a bit more, but she had known that the brunette was knowledgeable of her frames of mind, as she was with hers. Leaning against the sill with her hands, Emma let her eyes wander over the village, not really seeing anything. With heaviness in her shoulders, she released the hold she had on her mood, allowing Regina to see the full extent of her trouble. Sighing, she dropped her head, her hair covering her face, but the move itself was a dead giveaway of the seriousness of Emma’s somber thoughts.

“Emma?” Regina whispered, as she stood beside the other woman, leaning on the wall beside the window with her side.

“Belle and Ruby are here.” Emma spoke with resigned heaviness. Waiting for a moment to let Regina comprehend the full meaning of the women being in the Enchanted Forest, the blonde directed her eyes upward into the sky, watching the clouds go by. After an understanding sigh could be heard from the older woman, Emma continued. “It appears that they have come to bring us home.” Shaking her head, the Savior chuckled mirthlessly, before lifting her shoulders and straightening her back. “The moment we leave this room, we will be expected to make a choice.” Even though her voice was nothing more than a whisper, Emma’s words carried a resentful edge in them. Turning her head to Regina, Emma looked at the woman she loved. “This place is my parents’ home. And yours, as well. I am pretty sure Henry loves it here, too.”

“But, you don’t?”

“It wasn’t very kind to me, but my world is just that. Mine.” Pushing away from the window, Emma started pacing the small room, passing her fingers through her wild mane of blonde hair. “I don’t belong here,” she said with such sadness in her voice that it broke Regina’s heart. “Don’t get me wrong, it’s beautiful, and all the adventures were, well, fun. But…” Wriggling her hands, Emma tried to think of a way to explain herself to the other woman, however she could not come up with anything that made sense.

“It feels wrong…” Regina supplied when Emma stopped, unable to continue. When Emma just nodded, Regina took her hands and held them in her own, drawing herself near to the other woman, catching her eyes. “Emma, I cannot speak for your mother and father, but as I am concerned, this realm can disappear. When you go to Maine, I will be by your side.”

Emma leaned her forehead to Regina’s, pleased that she had resolved one part of her problem. But the others remained quite in the front of her mind. She was not ready to leave her parents behind. And, looking into dark eyes, she understood that Regina knew that, and that her statement of staying by her side encompassed even the possibility of them staying in the Enchanted Forest. Regina had understood her perfectly, but also she had known not to voice such problems before the talk with the Charmings.

She watched the Savior mount the burden of the reality of divided family, and the solemn silence did nothing to ease it. So she did the only thing she could. “Look at me,” Regina said, grabbing Emma’s face with her palms. “Whatever happens,” she started, her eyes darting from and to Emma’s green eyes. “Whatever happens, I am here to help you with anything you need. And, I do mean anything.” Her eyes softened a bit, as she saw that the blonde woman believed her. “Even, destroying this realm one more time.”

Emma chuckled at the humor in Regina’s tone. “I might take you up on that.” And, just like that, the heavy atmosphere broke, leaving them with the ease of their silent communication. Regina kissed Emma’s cheek briefly, still holding on to her hands, squeezing them gently. Then, she moved away to fix her clothes. Using magic, she enveloped the shirt she had been wearing into the purple pinkish mist, making it clean and pressed again. With the same procedure she took care of her pants and vest, finishing up with her boots. Walking up to a small hanging mirror on the wall opposite to the bed, she smiled at the Savior as she passed her.

“Why do you think they sent Martha up? I mean, why her specifically?” Emma asked, after she had changed into a more appropriate shirt and pants. She looked up from her boots and saw Regina fuss with her hair in the mirror.

“I think it is Snow’s peace offering.” Looking at the Savior in the mirror, she smiled. “Knowing the woman was terrified of me the last time, and now you are the powerful magic user as well, the Queen’s own daughter, Snow definitely knew that Martha would be scared to death even to knock on our door. But, she wouldn’t dare disobey her Queen, not after the previous debacle.” Turning to the other woman, she walked to the bed and stood in between Emma’s knees, sliding her fingers into Emma’s unruly locks, sending out a small pulse of magic, trying to tame the curls just a little bit. “And, anyone interrupting us could have expected to be burned to cinders, and perhaps no one who knows us wanted to risk it…”

“So, it is like a punishment and a joke for you in one act…” Emma said lifting her hands to Regina’s hips, fiddling with the leather twines of the vest.

“Precisely.” Forcing Emma to lift her head, Regina bestowed a gentle kiss on the blonde’s lips. “Now, we should go, they have been waiting long enough.”

* * *

Henry paced in front of the stairs, glancing up every few seconds. The only thing stopping him from rushing upstairs was the ever watching guardians that made him stay on the lower level. He looked toward the crowd of people that had gathered in the large center room of the village hall. It reminded him of the meetings in the City Hall when his mother had been the Mayor.

There were no tables, just like the first time he had been in the Hall. But there were many more chairs, for all the people present. His grandparents and Belle were sitting in one corner; Princess Aurora, Prince Phillip, Mulan and Ruby were right next to them, sitting only a small way apart. Aurora was holding the youngest of the boys in her lap, trying to soothe him unsuccessfully. Henry had noticed that Kyle was getting more and more restless as the days passed, ever since his mother had left. In his mind he had already accepted the fact of the connection Regina had with the tyke without much thought on the subject. Now, when he thought about that, he was surprised not to feel jealousy or fear of abandonment, but when he looked at the baby fussing in the Princess’s lap, he felt the need to help him, to take him in. It was clear to him that Kyle had no home, and his home was as good as any, especially when his mother, both mothers, could give so much to the baby. And, he did want a brother or a sister…

Henry looked on, around the room, until his eyes fell on his father pacing in front of the fireplace. Ever since Neal had learned that Regina had been his sister and that she was Emma’s True Love he started behaving strangely. Angry and miserable, he had heard Snow describe his behavior to David. But, Henry knew the real problem. His father was jealous. Only he didn’t know why.

Suddenly, a door opened upstairs and two pairs of steps could be heard on the upper floor. Henry turned to the stairs and waited for his mothers to appear. When the women had descended down the steps, he flew into them almost bowling them over. Even though he had expected a reprimand, he couldn’t wait to see them again. But, instead of telling him off, Regina and Emma held him close, enveloping him in a tight hug, almost suffocating him, but he did not mind. The worry he had been carrying around since he had brought Emma into Storybrooke eased off him, as he felt their love for him mixed with acceptance of the new situation. It certainly did make things easier for him, because no longer he had to choose between them, or to beg one to spare or save the other. Grinning from ear to ear he sighed happily into Regina’s chest, feeling Emma’s hands on his shoulders.

“Missed you,” he mumbled into the soft hold. Regina pulled his face away, holding it gently in between her palms and kissed his forehead, smiling tremulously.

“I missed you, too,” she spoke to him, before she took him into a fierce embrace once more.

Very quickly, he was pushed into Emma’s arms and he laughed when she tickled him in the familiar way. “Hey, kid,” she greeted him in her short way, ruffling his hair. Then, she placed her arm around his shoulders, pulling him to her side, and turned around to meet the others. Slowly she walked to her parents, followed closely by Regina. When Snow rose to stand in front of her daughter, Henry stepped back taking Regina’s hand.

Not knowing what to do with her hands, Emma placed them at her hips, hooking her thumbs through the belt loops on the pants. Glancing up the teary face of her mother, she shrugged. “I brought her back,” Emma whispered instead of greeting, when the pixie haired woman stood in front of her. Snow chortled a laugh while tears streamed down her face.

Lifting a hand to Emma’s face, she tenderly placed it on her cheek, looking into her daughter’s eyes with the gentle smile. “Yes, you did,” she whispered back with approval and pulled her daughter close into a hug, Emma’s arms going around her almost instantly. After several moments they were both enveloped into strong arms of Emma’s father. But, after a while, Snow gently extricated herself out of the warm hold and turned to the brunette watching her every move with careful look in her eyes, while she held onto Henry.

“I hope you can forgive me,” Snow said softly.

Regina’s eyes took on a dangerous glint and her face darkened. She sent Henry to Emma before she drew herself to her full height, taking advantage of her heels. Coming almost nose to nose to her former nemesis, Regina smirked with malice. “I definitely will not,” she said, her voice dipping into the famous Evil Queen key. But, in a second her whole countenance changed and she put her hand on Snow’s face, just like she had done several times too long in the past, her gesture reminiscent of all the motherly moments she had shared with Snow. “There is nothing to forgive,” Regina added softly. Taking Regina’s whispered sentence as absolution, Snow threw herself on the woman, holding her close.

“I have always known you were there underneath Her,” Snow whispered back, directly into Regina’s ear, while she held her firmly. “And, I missed you so much,” she added, her emotions almost choking her. Regina only accepted the hug gracefully, still unwilling to discuss the years of her rule.

David watched his wife and her former stepmother hold each other, Regina having a mild panic in her eyes at the display of affection from the younger woman. Then he directed his look to his daughter. Emma had a gentle smile on her face as she watched the two women. Henry was leaning into her side, looking at his other mother with a grin. Emma was dressed in a green shirt with her black t-shirt visible underneath. The dark jeans and black boots completed the ensemble perfectly, giving her outdoorsy but elegant look. There were no visible weapons on her, but he knew his daughter, and Emma would never be without a means to defend her and others in the places she didn’t feel safe. And with a smirk, he noticed a slight disfiguration of the left boot, realization making his smirk grow. There was a knife, or a dagger, inside the boot.

However the hug between the once enemies was interrupted when the youngest member of the group started complaining, rather loudly. Regina looked toward the source, and pushed away from Snow, reaching Aurora in moments. With a tender smile she picked up the baby, cooing to him softly, and placed him in her arms. The second he had found himself in Regina’s hands, Kyle stopped fussing, and soon his countenance changed into happiness. When he reached for Regina’s nose, the woman wriggled it, making the boy laugh. He placed his chubby hands on her face with glee, chuckling whenever Regina would blow her cheeks.

“Emma?” Regina spoke softly, not moving her eyes from the small person in her arms. The only answer she received was the arms sneaking around her middle from behind, and the blonde’s cheek on her shoulder. “I want you to meet Kyle.” She noticed when the baby saw the newcomer over her shoulder, and his widened eyes soon turned into chuckling glee when he reached for the golden tresses. With care, she turned slightly toward Emma, giving her the child. Even though Emma was uncomfortable with the sudden weight of the wriggly bundle in her arms, she smiled at the tyke, making faces at him.

Emma had been aware of the unexpected connection Regina had made with the boy via their melding. And, knowing that the boy had no home or family left, for apparently too many years had passed, she felt her heart pulling her toward him as well. Glancing toward her son, she saw him smiling as he watched both of his mothers entertain the youngling. When he noticed her looking at him, he grinned and as she inclined her head in invitation, he rushed to them, tickling the tyke on his foot. With smiling eyes, Emma turned to look at her beloved and saw the emotion playing out on her face, bringing tears into her dark eyes. Holding Kyle with one hand, she pressed Henry to Regina, and he understood immediately what she wanted, throwing his arms around his mother. Next, Emma placed her free arm around Regina’s shoulders, and kissed her cheek, unintentionally giving Kyle the opportunity to place a slobbering kiss on her other cheek, making her laugh, as she was engulfed in her loved ones. The glinting in Emma’s eyes told her more than words ever could and she was glad that the Savior did not even try to put the thoughts into words for it would have ruined them. The acceptance of the new family member was so apparent, and it was followed with wistful eagerness for Regina had known Emma was a bit envious of her dark haired love for her years with Henry. But, there in the green eyes was also something that was so rare to be seen so obvious in Emma’s eyes. The utter happiness, unmarred by worries and dangers.

After several minutes of uninterrupted embrace, Snow cleared her throat, making her daughter glance toward her sheepishly. With an embarrassed smile, Emma guided the rest of them onto the nearby chairs, making sure that Regina was in the middle, her son on one side and her on the other. But, before she could sit down she was pulled into a bone crushing hug by a chuckling young woman. Ruby almost tackled her down, and only Regina’s supporting wave of magic prevented them from falling down on the stone floor. The werewolf laughed as Emma returned the hug as soon as she had gathered her wits. Soon, she was passed on to Belle who was much gentler with her. Then, Emma found herself in front of the young Royal couple, accompanied with Mulan, as always.

“First, I want to welcome you and congratulate you on your recovery,” Aurora spoke with a teasing smirk. But, her face turned serious with tender quality. “Emma, this is Phillip.” As they had talked about him, the first time Emma had been in the Enchanted Forest, Aurora knew the blonde didn’t need further explanation.

“Ah, Prince Phillip, it is a pleasure,” Emma spoke, glad that the young princess had found the way to counter the wraith’s damage.

“Princess Emma, I can say the same.” But when he saw Emma freeze, he frowned and looked first at his chosen, then at Snow looking for an explanation. The people from the other world all had the same expression on their faces, kind amusement. Looking back to the blonde he saw that Emma had regained her previous composure.

“Just Emma, please.” Although her tone was gentle and cordial, the steel flashing in her eyes told him that he was never to call her princess ever again. He nodded and stepped aside, letting his friend take his place.

Mulan took Emma’s hand and patted her shoulder. “Not such a stumbling hero, are you, Savior?” The warrior woman spoke. “Manticore, huh? Any more beasts you took care of?”

“A couple of Ogres…” Emma spoke, with nonchalance but Regina’s voice interrupted her.

“And three trolls, as well.” The brunette smirked at the Savior, holding Kyle in her lap. The beaming smile she directed at the blonde was visible to all present, making Emma blush with the attention. “And of course there was the whole part of rescuing Henry…”

“Ah, so you have grown into your title, Savior.” Mulan smiled at the woman she still held close and nodded with admiration and respect. Emma nodded back silently, aware that such a gesture from a mostly silent woman was speaking tons. Finally releasing the blonde, Mulan stepped away to stand behind the Royal couple who had taken their seats while Emma and Mulan had conversed.

Emma took her seat beside Regina and winked at Henry, as she tickled the tyke in Regina’s lap. Then, she looked at her mother because it seemed Snow would be in charge of this meeting. Acknowledging the permission, Snow nodded and took a breath.

“While you were away, Red and Belle came to us. I think it is fair to let them tell you what they told us.” The former Queen gestured to her friend to continue, leaning back into the shoulder of her husband.

The young woman launched into the story, from time to time interrupted by Belle making clarifications along the way. Ruby explained the spell cast on the town, Regina’s reinstating and Anton’s plan to grow more beans. Eventually, Ruby explained the time spent in Neverland and how they had reached the Enchanted Forest. All the while the women spoke, Emma and Regina kept quiet, sharing a glance here and there at the important parts of the story. When Ruby finished the telling, she checked with Belle if she had missed anything.

“So, there is only one bean left?” Emma asked after the silence continued. “What were you going to do if you haven’t found us here?”

“Well, go back and wait for more to grow before going on in search for you,” Ruby said, looking at Emma, her countenance suddenly seeming unsure. “It would be a two month wait, but with no beans left…” Emma understood the girl’s point of view. Without a spare bean for going home, they would be stuck, even if they had found them and that would not help anyone. Even waiting for another batch was better than getting stranded, although the possibility of getting on their track after two months would be beyond small.

“Yes, that makes sense,” Emma spoke rising from the chair. “So, I presume we are soon to set for home?” she spoke, not missing the wince on the faces of her parents, and the impassive expression on Rumplestiltskin’s.

“Well, as soon as you are ready,” Ruby said, feeling the growing uneasiness around her. She had known that Snow and David wanted to go back, and that Belle missed her world as well, but she also knew that Emma had not liked it the first time and by the always scanning move of her eyes, she assumed that remained the case. She herself sometimes missed the wilderness of her forest, but she was alright with Storybrooke, and Regina seemed that it did not matter either way, as long Emma was near. Would this be another test for this family?

“Can’t we just make a portal?” Henry spoke suddenly, looking at Rumplestiltskin with hope.

“Henry, the bean is a portal,” Snow said gently, taking his hand and leading him outside, and Emma could hear his defeated ‘Yes, but..’ trailing off as they walked out of the hall. Soon everyone followed, leaving Emma with Regina and Kyle, Neal skulking near the fireplace. Sharing a look with her True Love, she nodded.

“Go on, I’ll meet you outside.” Emma wanted to say that she would find her, but she thought better of that changing her mind in the middle of her sentence. She did need to talk to Neal, even if only to make sure that he was not going to be the disrupting presence in the family. After Regina had pulled her close and kissed her cheek in goodbye, she left with Kyle in her arms, shooting a warning glance toward the man.

“Emma,” Neal spoke when the door closed after Regina. Walking toward her, he took her hands. “I missed you so much,” he whispered and leaned in to kiss her but instead of her warm skin he met nothing. Blinking, he saw that she had moved out of his reach and stood across the room, her arms crossed and her eyes shooting daggers at him.

“What was that?” she spoke slowly, her voice sharp with anger.

“A welcome back kiss?” He had known it was a bad move, but he still could not accept that Emma was not his anymore.

“And, that seemed like a good idea because?” She was brash and unconcerned of anyone hearing them, just as Emma always had been. He shrugged his shoulders, placing one of his hands on his neck.

“You told me you loved me!” he said, almost yelling. All the anger and misery made him boil at her moving away from him.

“I did.” Emma stepped away, turning her back to him for a moment. “I do.” But, she realized it was the absolute worst thing to say when his eyes glowed in triumph. “You have to understand that what I feel for Regina trumps my love for you a thousand times.”

“How can you say that? She wanted to kill you!”

“To curse me, there is a difference.” But, her correction only made things even worse. She saw him flex his fists in anger and she instantly came on guard. He had never been violent, but she was aware that people changed and that often times it is for worse.

“I love you,” he spoke with anger coming close to Emma.

“Perhaps you do. But, not long ago you were in love with Tamara. She may have planned the whole thing, but you still loved her. And, even though you love me, and always had, you still doubted me when I told you she was not who you thought she was.” She carefully moved out of his reach, loath to use her defensive moves or magic on him. “And, before, you put me in jail, just because August told you to. You abandoned me, just like that.” She felt herself get more agitated with every minute spent reminiscing about all the bad things, and she was afraid that the things would escalate if she did not end this soon. “Is that act of love?” The bitter edge in her voice made him flinch like she had physically hit him. “You just left.”

“You had a destiny.” Neal tried to defend himself, but even as he spoke he understood the futility of his action. Destiny was the one that decided that he was not for her. He had hoped that it was all a lie, but his own words undid all the false hope he had built. It was destiny that brought Emma and Regina together, first with Henry then with everything else. Then, all the entanglement with magic only sealed the deal. He had been only a footnote in her history, a father to her child that was only biologically needed. And, judging for the looks he had gotten from Snow and Regina, he should consider himself lucky that he was even allowed to spend time with Henry. Snow even expected that of him, but she had warned him against causing strife in her family. Now, as he had seen the same look in Emma’s eyes, so similar to her mother’s, to Henry’s, he had to admit his defeat completely and absolutely. And Emma was right. He had loved Tamara, perhaps the same way he loved Emma. And, as he had been too easily swayed away from Tamara, maybe he would recover just as easily from Emma. The only thing that was left to bother him was the jealousy he was feeling toward his sister. Even though she had been the ‘bad guy’ she managed to get the family and happy end he had always desired. It probably had to do with fighting for it, where he had run.

“Yes, I did.” Emma saw the change in his eyes. She would never presume to know without a doubt what he had decided in those short moments, but her gut was telling her that it was going to be alright. She stepped closer to him and placed her hand on his shoulder in consolation. He looked into her face as a changed man and nodded, taking her hand and kissing it on the knuckles.

“Henry?” he asked tremulously. Emma’s eyes softened as she had witnessed his insecurity.

“He will always be your son.” Emma eased his fear, but she had to make something clear. “But, I and Regina will also always be his mothers.”

“I know.” He smiled at Emma, lightness returning into his boyish smile. “You know, if we take Henry into account, then she seems to be the best parent out of three of us.” He mentioned, placing his arm around Emma’s shoulders, leading her outside.

Emma snorted at his remark, absolutely aware that he was right. “But, we can get better.”

“Yes, we can.” At the door, he nodded to her, and walked away, directing himself toward the woman in question.

Emma leaned against the door, watching the two interact, pleased that there were no impending blood baths. Taking Henry into account, Regina was the only one who knew what to do regarding upbringing children, because she had to learn it the hard way with Henry, with no one around to help her or give her advice. But, now things would be very different, with all the extended family ready to jump in at a moment’s notice. Emma watched Kyle in Regina’s hands, and firmly decided to be there every step of the way.

Thinking of Henry, she considered his outburst earlier. Make a portal, he had said. Not create a portal as the bean would do, or use a portal. The specific wording of his question made her think more carefully. She needed some answers and there was only one person who would be able to give them to her. So, she pushed off the wall, and jogging up to Regina she looked around for the old man who had the knowledge of plenty of magical properties and objects in his head. She wanted to talk to Rumplestiltskin, but without Regina and the others knowing too much. For now, she would keep quiet, until the moment presented itself, or until she would corner the man in the evening. Smiling at the raised chubby hand reaching for her hair, she kissed Regina’s cheek and hugged her from behind. Lunch time was drawing near, and she only had time till the evening, because it was a consensus that they would set for Maine in the morning.

* * *

With a smile, he looked at his family, lounging on the checkered woolen blanket in the meadow. The past three hours had been spent in talking, touching all the subjects he had wanted to ask them about, and they in turn would tell him about their experiences and adventures, sharing their thoughts and opinions at some points. An ease had fallen on him, as he had watched his mothers interact with each other and with him, together and apart. The unfamiliar feeling of peace enveloped him, as he had finally been hit with the understanding and acceptance of the situation. Of course, he had known that the war between his mothers had been over, but he hadn’t felt it until the moment he had seen them share a chaste kiss in front of him. And, of course he had to complain about it in a typical childish fashion (“Uhh, that is gross!”). For a moment he had been afraid that his outburst had somehow insulted or hurt his mother, who he had yet considered to have a bit low self-esteem in regards to him. But, her smirking and the teasing glint in her eyes had told him a different story. And, he had been proven wrong. Instead of moving away from Emma, Regina had initiated another kiss, this one more passionate, to provoke him just a bit more.

_ “Children present!” he screeched, jokingly reaching for Kyle and placing his hand over his face, careful not to obstruct his nose. The adults sniggered at his reaction, and still holding each other, looked at him and Emma opened her arms to invite him in the hug. So, with care not to jostle Kyle in Regina’s gentle hold, he clambered in between them and sat. _

They had commandeered a blanket from the village hall and with Aurora’s directions, they had found a small restricted part of the grassy meadow, sheltered from winds with the forest around it. It was away from all the well-traveled paths and it was considered a private property of the Royals of the village. Graciously, Aurora had offered it to them, in order to have uninterrupted family time. So, they had picked an uncovered part of the meadow, where a large log had been placed, and they had put the blanket beside it, using the wood as a backrest. After they had settled on the woolen covering, they had enjoyed the random shafts of light from the Sun that had fought the grey clouds to bring warmth and light to earth.

_ “We’ll try not to traumatize you too much, kid,” Emma spoke, ruffling his hair. When he glanced toward her, she grinned unrepentantly at him, And at his pout, she laughed with such ease, immediately joined by Regina’s more controlled chuckle. _

That had been another thing that had warmed his heart. Never before had he seen his adoptive mother laugh and smile this much. Of course, she still had been Regina, and it had been somewhat controlled, but the smiles had been real and warm. And, even though she had been holding and playing with the baby, she had often offered a smile just for him, or gone through his hair affectionately. The mother he had grown up with had been returned to him.

_ They had been talking for a while, Henry leaning against Regina’s shoulder, his back against Emma’s side. He spoke softly with Regina, letting Kyle sleep undisturbed on his mother’s lap. But, with interest he had noticed that Emma had not joined their talk for more than ten minutes. Carefully glancing over his shoulder, he frowned when he saw his birth mother. With her arms crossed on her chest, and her head leaned against the trunk of the log, Emma had her eyes closed. _

_ “Let her sleep,” Regina spoke softly to him. Turning toward his adopted mother, he could see the worry in her eyes. _

_ “Is she OK?” he asked, as a frown appeared on his forehead. She had seemed fine, but he knew that sometimes Emma had hidden things from others, especially if it had been about her health. And, his mother’s worried glance only served to increase his concern. _

_ “She has exhausted herself, both physically and magically,” Regina said to him, her eyes still glued to the sleeping form of the Savior. Then she turned to him. “And, she has nightmares.” Regina had lied to Henry too many times before, and she did not want to discount him that, or any other, way again. He deserved to know, maybe not everything – but the basics. _

_ “From the curse?” Henry spoke, already knowing the answer. _

_ “And, from before…” With a soft whisper, Regina smiled sadly at her son. “Your mother is not used to all these things in our lives as the rest of us. Magic, monsters, portals… And, she has not had time to rest and get her balance back.” Seeing his confused look, Regina placed her soothing palm against his cheek. Caressing his cheekbone, she kissed his forehead and pulled him back onto her shoulder, going gently through his hair. She had used to do that whenever he had been ill or scared. “Let’s take magic for example. I had years to learn and practice it, and even then, it would sometimes overwhelm me. But, she had only weeks to learn how to control it, and even then she had to get used to the amount of energy she needed to use. Where I could go with easier steps and slowly work up to the harder tasks, she has been thrown into the deep end.” Her soft voice, accompanied with gentle rumble in her chest, as Henry could hear her from both sides, managed to ease his worry somewhat. _

_ “But, she did it,” he said with typical childish arrogance, characteristic of Henry’s previous statements. _

_ “Yes, she did, magnificently,” Regina spoke and he could hear the pride in her voice. He glanced up and saw the tender smile on her lips. “However, instead of having time to get used to it, she was pushed into another adventure. And, yet another.” _

_ “She is the Savior.” This time his words were not arrogant, but hopeful that Emma being the hero would be the protection enough for her. _

_ “That she is. But even the Savior needs rest from time to time.” _

_ “That is where the former Evil Queen comes in,” the boy added with a smile, rising from his mother’s shoulder. “She will be alright, because you are here,” he said with confidence. _

_ “I really hope so,” Regina whispered back, glancing toward the blonde hero. _

_ “I believe in you, mom,” Henry said, raising his hand to her cheek, wiping away the errant tear gliding down. “In both of you.” She smiled at him tremulously, and hugged him closely, chuckling when Kyle started babbling in complaint of sudden move. _

Now, he was sitting at the edge of the blanket, playing with crawling Kyle, while Regina watched them with gentle smiles lighting up her features. Emma was still sleeping.

Suddenly, Emma flinched in her sleep as her breathing grew more labored, drawing the attention of both Henry and Regina to herself. Regina moved quickly, kneeling beside the Savior. “Henry, take Kyle and go into the village. We’ll be shortly.” The urgency in her tone made him move fast, and with a good reason as he could see a bit later, when he picked Kyle up. Emma’s hands were glowing with magic. With a rush, he moved away with the child in his hands. When he reached the path to the village he turned to see if his adoptive mother had managed to wake Emma. As the blonde woman was sitting, shaking her head, he had his answer. With a sigh of relief, he walked on to the village with Kyle in his careful hold, deciding to let his mothers have a bit of time for themselves.

* * *

“Emma,” Regina spoke, placing her palms over Emma’s. Henry still wasn’t at the safe distance to let the magic unchecked. As soon as she saw that the boys were far enough, she released the hands and started shaking the woman in the grips of the nightmare. “Emma, come on.”

The blonde moved up so suddenly that she almost collided with Regina. Luckily, the brunette had anticipated the action and easily moved out of the way. Emma sat up, breathing heavily and shaking, while her skin was clammy and pale. Trying to dislodge the images that were engraved in her memory, she shook her head but immediately stopped, as it was making her sick.

Arms came around her shoulders and she surrendered to the healing warmth of the loving embrace. Breathing in the scent of the woman beside her, she felt her galloping heart ease its rhythm. Still shivering, with a heavy sigh Emma leaned her head onto Regina’s neck.

“Can you tell me?” Regina asked softly, using small pulses of magic out of her hands to keep the Savior warm. Emma’s skin had been ice cold, and now it was only a bit warmer.

“Darkness. Emptiness.” Emma spoke, her voice was breaking with the shudders still running through her body. She knew she didn’t have to explain it further to her beloved, as Regina had seen and felt it in their shared memories. “I hate this,” she murmured into Regina’s neck, swallowing the bile that had risen.

“I know.” Regina kissed the clammy forehead before her. She knew Emma, she knew that all the words of comfort and encouragement would fall on deaf ears, so she stayed quiet, keeping Emma in her arms. Only after several minutes did the shaking stop and Emma’s skin reach its normal temperature.

“Where…?” Emma started, but her voice was still weak.

Regina gently moved Emma’s head away from her shoulder, for a moment reminded of a previous instant with her son. She looked into the clouded green eyes. “I have sent them on to the village. It is lunch time.” Still looking into Emma’s eyes, she noticed a flicker of understanding followed with shame. It was amazing how not a muscle on Emma’s face had moved and only because she had known the woman and had watched her eyes closely, Regina could recognize the self-reproach.

“No,” she spoke sharply, startling the Savior. “It is not your fault.” As Emma could only move her eyes, because her face was firmly held in Regina’s hands, she lowered her eyes down, avoiding to look at the other woman, her hazy mind already swirling in shame and guilt, Regina did something her instinct was telling her to do. She lounged at the Savior, kissing her deeply, her passion at first freezing the blonde, but then, almost reluctantly, Emma responded. Soon, all the thoughts fled the Savior’s mind and her only goal was to continue what she was doing, as she was pulled into a different kind of haze.

When the incessant burning in her lungs became almost unbearable, Regina moved only slightly away, keeping her mouth close to Emma’s lips, feeling the blonde’s sharp exhales on her skin. The green eyes were glazed with lust, and the Savior’s skin was flushed, losing the unhealthy pallor.

“Look at me,” Regina whispered, still not completely recovered from the force of the kiss. Her words were heeded immediately, and she gasped when she was faced with the intensity of Emma’s gaze. The hunger in it was making her skin tingle and her body grow uncomfortably warm. If there wasn’t a more important thing to deal with, and if people did not wait upon them, Regina would have transported them to the nearest room with a locking door and bed. Oh, how she yearned to do just that. But, unfortunately, people were expecting them, and there was Emma’s guilt to deal with.

“Emma, it’s not your fault.” Suddenly, Emma’s eyes cleared. She tried to move away, reaching for the brunette’s hands, but Regina held on. “No, Emma, listen to me. There is nothing to be ashamed of.” Keeping the tortured woman’s face in her grip, Regina repeated the words with variations several times until she saw the surrender in those green eyes. Pleased with her result, she kissed Emma one more time, just as passionately as before, but this time she pulled away sooner, not willing to tempt herself or Emma any further.

“Wow,” Emma mumbled, dazed. “What was that for?”

“Positive reinforcement, my Knight,” Regina answered, a teasing tone in her voice, rising up gracefully. She helped Emma up and gathered the blanket.

“You think you can train me?” Emma replied, her hands on her hips, mock-glaring at the former queen.

“Of course I can,” Regina said smirking, folding the blanket up. Then she walked to the frowning woman. “I already have,” she added seductively, as she leaned against the mildly confused Savior. Having the blanket in one hand, she hugged the blonde with her free arm, pulling her into another kiss. “I did train you in magic and sword fighting,” she spoke against Emma’s lips, kissing them after every word with a gentle teasing peck. She smiled when Emma placed her hands on her back, keeping her close, as she leaned her forehead against hers. Looking into the revealing green eyes, Regina noticed that something was still troubling Emma, but deciding not to push, she let it go. Growing serious, she gripped Emma’s back. “Are you ready? All of them are going to be there.”

Emma moved only an inch away, keeping their eyes connected and nodded. “I can handle it,” she said softly. As Regina was about to comment, Emma continued. “I know I don’t seem like it, but if I don’t show up, I will bet anything that we will have my mother hounding us the whole afternoon.” She sighed with resignation, as she looked away for a moment, a flicker of something dark rushing through her eyes. “And, maybe the crowd will…”

_ Help _ . Yes, Regina could understand the logic behind Emma’s statement. And, having her arm around her, she could feel the tenseness in Emma’s body. Even as they had kissed, the magic did not react just as strong as it usually did. Emma was still tired, the short rest not enough to make up for the days of interrupted sleep and magical expenditure. So, Regina nodded in acquiescence. And, Emma was right, she was not in the mood to let Emma deal with Snow in her mothering mode, or god forbid endure it too.

Having received the nod from Regina, Emma closed her eyes and leaned in the older woman, waiting for the tingling feel of teleportation. As she felt magic rise in Regina, she also felt soft lips on her own helping her keep her focus. Only a second later she found herself in the center room of the village hall with every one of her party looking at her and Regina with surprise.

It was quite a family affair. Again, the tables were brought in, but this time the children were supposed to sit with the adults. So in order to create a cozier environment the tables were pushed together, making a large rectangle, capable of seating eighteen people. And, already, everyone apart from Regina and Emma was seated.

Emma saw the Charmings, along with Ruby, one of the rescued children, Bobbie – Regina’s memory supplied and, to Emma’s surprise Captain Hook, on one side of the set tables. On the opposite side were Belle, Rumplestiltskin, Neal, and the remaining three of the children. On the head of the table were Aurora, Phillip, and Mulan. Emma had to chuckle at the careful placement of the people, because all the possible enemies were separated with either children or a friend. What was the most funny, Mulan had brought her enchanted blade to the table, and every time she would look at Killian, who was sitting right beside her, she would finger the hilt with a malicious look on her face.

And, on the last side was Henry, holding Kyle in his arms. He had sat in the middle, leaving them with the edge seats.

“There you are,” Snow spoke slowly, a welcoming smile pulling on her mouth. Waving them over, she reached for Emma’s hand and squeezed it in support, not saying a word, but Emma knew that Henry must have told his grandparents about the event in the forest. Taking her place beside Snow, she looked at Henry with a raised eyebrow, her eyes sharp. Henry shrugged sheepishly, but she saw his worry ease. Putting her hand on his shoulder, she only winked at him, the gesture being enough to make him smile. Above his head, Emma saw gentle eyes following her every move, the concern barely hidden under the tender gaze. Slightly leaning her head to a side, she smiled at the woman. With that, she turned to the copious amounts of food in front of her and blinked. The last time she had been in the Enchanted Forest, food had been scarce. But now, it seemed not to be the case. There was a huge roasted animal, at the center of the table, surrounded with various vegetable dishes and bowls of broth.

“Let me guess, turducken?” Emma spoke with amusement to Snow, her stomach rolling with disgust at the memory of the vile beast turned bitter barely edible food. At first, her mother frowned in confusion, but then she remembered their meal the first time in the village.

“Well, something similar,” Snow answered, avoiding Emma’s eyes as she ate the soup. Emma didn’t notice Regina’s sudden dropping of the spoon, or the snapping of her head, but she did feel ripples in the air coming from brunette’s magic bristling.

“You OK?” Emma asked, turning to the woman, surprised by the sudden outburst.

“Mhm,” Regina spoke nonchalantly, as if nothing was wrong, gathering control back quickly. But, as Emma narrowed her eyes, the former queen lowered her voice and leaned to Emma, ignoring Henry’s attentive look. “But, I would suggest you indulge only in the broth, vegetables and bread today.”

Reminded of her queasy stomach, Emma only nodded and reached for a bowl with the vegetable broth. Helping herself with several servings of it, along with several small loaves of bread and boiled carrots, the blonde ate slowly, enjoying the easygoing atmosphere. She did not feel the need to join in, but she listened to the stories around the table with half an ear, while she thought about Henry’s outburst. Unbidden, the plan formed in her head, and the moment she imagined it, she felt the sick feeling in her belly return, but, nevertheless, she kept eating, aware of the pair of intent brown eyes still watching over her.

She would have to sneak out of the ship and go to the place where her father had killed the dragon for King Midas. And, she would have to do it alone. The idea of the dark, narrow tunnels was enough for cold sweat to break out on her skin. Luckily, it was hot in the room… But, what would be the hardest part was waiting for someone to return for her. Two months, alone, in the place she didn’t know. Hell, whenever she ended up here, she was attacked within the day… And, she was supposed to stay alive and sane for two months.

“Emma?” a voice interrupted her inner monologue. She blinked and turned to her son, recognizing his voice. “You kinda spaced out.”

“Sorry, kid. Just thinking.”

“Uh uh.” He looked into her face and nodded, not entirely convinced. “Pass the potato, please.”

Emma reached out and brought the plate with boiled potatoes on it to Henry, while she focused on picking up the snippets of conversations around her.

“Well, the bastard is tasty,” she heard Neal say, chewing a piece of meat in his mouth, as he looked at David and Ruby.

_ Manners, Neal, close your mouth while you chew. Wait, I did not just think that! Damn it, Regina was right. _

“What did you do with the head?” Rumplestiltskin asked Phillip, interested for some reason. “It is, after all, such a rare specimen.”

_ Must be something magical, because he was interested… _

“The winged monster is just another one that Emma has killed. We should honor her as the hunter of the day, for she did bring the food to the table.” Mulan’s soft tone reached Emma, as she was talking with Hook.

_ What? _

“You know, Regina, I also had some troubling dreams lately,” Snow spoke leaning over her plate, as Regina was looking at her. When the pixie haired woman saw that she had the former Queen’s attention, she continued. “Last night I dreamt that Emma was staying behind on a pier, abandoned while the ship was sailing away.” Snow took a bite of her meal and, after she swallowed it, she glanced at Emma who was almost absentmindedly bringing the plate with boiled potatoes to Henry, not even looking at Snow. “And, what was most weird, she did not even try to get on it. She just turned away and left.”

_ WHAT? _

Emma dropped the plate with the potatoes on the table while Henry was still in the process of picking one. The sudden noise ringing out stopped all the conversations making everyone look into her direction. “I apologize,” Emma said suddenly, and pushed away from the table, her chair falling over on the stone floor, the thud of the wood heard loudly in the hall. In that moment, Kyle decided to voice his disapproval, piercingly. With another quickly mumbled apology to Regina, she rushed out of the village hall, needing air.

She was panting, her breaths short as she was engulfed in a strange feeling of annoying, unnerving tenseness and apprehension. Her steps brisk, she walked out to the center of the village and stood. She was near the upper entrance to the prison cave where she had met Cora for the first time.

Could it be that Snow dreamt of her leaving? And, to share it only moments after she had thought about it… How was it possible? Emma looked down at her hands and saw them shaking with nervous energy, slightly glowing with magic. She took in a deep breath, forcing herself to calm down, as she looked around.

“Emma?”

Even though the voice was soft and familiar, it still startled her. Emma closed her eyes, before she turned to Regina. Before the woman could ask her anything, Emma decided to ask a question of her own. “They are eating the manticore?”

“That is what upset you?” Surprise was obvious in Regina’s tone. But, then the woman nodded in reluctant acquiescence and came closer to Emma. “Only the tail is poisonous, and I already took it. The rest was quite edible, especially for those who lived on chimeras’ meat for months.” Regina took Emma’s hands and stilled them gently, as she inched closer, careful not to crowd obviously distraught Savior.

“Then, why did you stop me?”

“You would be able to feel the magic in it…” The former Queen looked into Emma’s eyes and frowned at the agitation and uneasiness she could feel in Emma’s body. The secret she had sensed before was obviously bigger than she had assumed, but still she did not want to press. However, she had concluded that it was Snow’s dream that startled Emma, not the realization that the others were eating her kill. She had known that Emma herself wanted to punish the beast even more for hurting Regina, and being eaten was one of the ways to do it. Additionally, Emma knew the value of not discarding anything that could be used. And, so far, Emma had not lied to her, so she would respect the blonde’s desire to keep her out of it, for now.

“I am all over the place…” Emma whispered, looking down at her now calm hands. “I never thought I would be the one to suffer from any stress disorder. Not after all the things that I had lived through…” With ease, she pulled out her hands and turned away from Regina, walking toward the outer table and benches. She dropped herself to one of the benches, incidentally the same one she had sat on the first time in the village. Looking up at the concerned brunette, she shrugged helplessly. “I am sorry,” Emma whispered, looking down at the muddy patch of the earth her legs were on, as she leaned onto her knees with her elbows.

She heard the soft crunching of the boots on the uneven ground and the rustling of Regina’s clothes as the brunette sat beside her. “You know, I liked you a lot better when you were cursing me,” the former Queen spoke gently, bumping Emma with her shoulder.

“I thought that was your specialty, Your Majesty?” Emma replied with a smile. She knew what the woman beside was trying to do. And, she was right, all the apologizing was leaving a bitter taste in Emma’s mouth.

“It would seem so, Sheriff Swan. As it would seem that yours is to save everyone and to constantly aggravate me.” Regina placed her hand onto Emma’s forearm. “But, for some reason, you neglected your job. You have not managed to annoy me in the past few days…”

“It does seem weird, doesn’t it? Us, not arguing about everything.” Emma looked at the woman beside her and placed her palm over Regina’s. “I guess this is an unknown territory for both of us, and we are being careful with each other.” She leaned her shoulder against Regina’s and looked in front of herself. “It is strange. Usually, by this time, I feel an intense need to disappear, and protect myself from being hurt.”

“By this time, I usually already completely control people around me, their hearts in a box somewhere.” It was the self-deprecating tone that made Emma look back at the woman beside her. The sad smile that welcomed her made her insides tighten painfully, and Emma placed her arm around Regina’s shoulder, pulling her close, enjoying the additional warmth, as she kissed the temple closest to her.

“Emma?” the soft tone of Regina’s voice broke the comfortable silence after several minutes of enjoying the quiet. The blonde only hummed in reply, so Regina continued. “I want to ask you about the curse.” The careful tone only helped Emma understand that Regina would not push, by only informing her of her wish, leaving it to her to grant it or not. Any other person would ask about it, but not Regina. She would state clearly, or order around, keeping the modicum of control in her hands. However, the gentle way of saying it told Emma that Emma was the only one left with the choice and that choice would be respected.

“OK?” Emma said softly, not trusting her voice to be strong enough to speak in a normal tone.

“What is it about it that frightens you the most?” In surprise Emma moved inches away in order to see Regina’s eyes. She had thought that everything was clear from their shared memories. “You forget, I can only feel what you felt and see what you see, but I cannot sense your thinking behind it,” the gentle reminder cleared the confusion for her. “I only felt your increasing fear. I would like to understand why.”

Emma nodded, swallowing hardly and clenched her jaw. She had hoped that with the connection, she wouldn’t have to talk about feelings and stuff, as she was unused to sharing such things. But, it was Regina, her True Love. If she didn’t do it for her, for whom else would she do it…?

As the brunette returned to her previous position of leaning her head on Emma’s shoulder, Emma closed her eyes in preparation. In a way, it was easier to share this now, because her emotional walls were already cracked with all the stress and nightmares. “I think it is the combination of many things,” Emma started softly. “The absence of everything, meaning I was alone with nothing around. Not being able to move, the helplessness I feel every time I see that dark fog creeping over to me. The sense of loss… But, most I think I am afraid of dying just when I have found my family, making it a thousand fold worse.” The Savior spoke softly, pushing out the words with some difficulty, looking in front of herself.

“Thank you,” Regina spoke when it was clear that Emma would not say anything else. She had assumed it was related to the helplessness and immobility, as the Savior was the picture of the Hero. But, the additional things did not come as a surprise to her. “How do you feel?”

Emma just shook her head, unable to say. She felt a hand pass through her hair, pushing it off her face and tucking it behind her ear. The gesture was oddly soothing. Emma closed her eyes, relaxing in Regina’s embrace, humming softly when the warm lips kissed her cheek. “We’re missing lunch,” she said quietly.

“And?” Regina’s reply came, the warm air passing next to Emma’s ear. “Are you hungry?” The seductively whispered words made Emma uncomfortably warm and her neck hairs stand on their ends. When the searing lips touched her neck, the last thing on her mind was food.

_ Oh, God, yes! _ Emma’s mind supplied the answer, as she turned in Regina’s hug and kissed the inviting lips before her. She felt the magic rise in her, increasing the warmth she felt in her body. She needed the woman before her, needed her in so many ways, overwhelmed by the sudden desire flashing to life. Her hands went to Regina’s back, pressing her soft and lithe figure hard against her own body. But, just as she was to activate her magic to transport them into their room, a sharp pain flooded through her, spreading along her body, freezing her up as she gasped in agony, her eyes turning bluish white. “Fuck!” she managed to squeeze out through her locked jaw.

Just as it came, the pain left, leaving behind a thrumming soreness in her muscles. Emma found herself on the ground, her head on Regina’s lap, while the concerned chocolate eyes studied her carefully, lighting up in relief when Emma focused on the brunette’s face. Then, the blonde felt magic pulsing into her, and glancing down her body, she saw Regina’s hand under her shirt, over her heart. Regina was feeding her magic, and with every pulse the soreness receded. But, even after she finished with the magical infusion, Regina left her hand there, her palm on Emma’s chest.

“No magic for you, not until you stabilize,” the former Queen spoke sharply but Emma knew it was due to fear and worry Regina was feeling, not anger. Nodding slowly, she looked up to the brunette’s face. It was immensely softer, as Regina used her other hand to caress her forehead. “And, that means us, too.” Emma understood that Regina was trying to protect her from herself and her own exhaustion, but she could not help but feel disappointment and frustration. After her displeased sigh, Emma closed her eyes when soft lips kissed on the forehead, lightly enough not to provoke the response from Emma’s magic. “Me, too…” Regina whispered, telling Emma that her True Love shared her frustration.

“Then, you need to move your hand,” Emma murmured, as she felt the caress on her chest. Seeing the confused look, she placed her own palm over Regina’s stilling the tender fingers. “It’s hard enough as it is,” the blonde whispered gently.

Pulling out her hand, Regina smirked at the lying Savior, and placed it on Emma’s face. “I love you.”

“Yeah, what’s not to love,” Emma said flippantly, before she pulled herself up, still holding Regina’s hand on her face. Then she turned to the brunette and smiled. “I love you.” Then, she jumped to her feet, groaning when the muscles complained, and helped the former Queen up. Taking her hand, Emma pulled Regina to the village hall, seeing others come outside. As Snow and David only waved to them when they saw the two women, leading Henry and Kyle away, Emma changed her direction, taking them to a different couple.

* * *

All in all it had been a strange day. And it had not been over yet. The morning meeting with the Savior and Regina had passed rather quickly for his taste for it had left him with little time to think of all the things he wanted to say to his daughter. And, lunch had been quite an uncommon affair, with Regina following the bolting Savior out. But, in the end it had not mattered, for it had been Miss Swan herself who had led the reluctant woman toward him in order to get them to talk. With a flimsy excuse, she had taken Belle away, leaving them alone, as alone they could have been in the middle of the village. Aware that there had been people watching, Regina gestured to him to commence walking and that this conversation would be conducted in such matters, not that he had minded.

She had kept her hands beside her hips, and she had looked straight ahead, and the only thing that had shown that she indeed had been there with him had been her conscious slow gait, allowing him to follow her without much trouble with his cane.

_ “Are there any remaining troubles from the poison?” he asked, not knowing how differently to break the silent stalemate. _

_ Regina glanced down toward her covered arm and shook her head in answer. “No, there aren’t.” She glanced toward the old man. “I suppose I should thank you.” There was no need to say that it was for saving her life. They both knew what she was talking about. _

_ “There is no need.” Stopping for a moment, he leaned onto the cane and looked into the woman’s face. “I am sure Miss Swan would have splattered the walls of the halls with my entrails had I refused or botched the potion.” As he was speaking, a respectful quirk appeared on his lips. “Quite a spitfire, that one,” he added softly for his benefit, but he was pleased to see Regina smile at his wit. “However, I am serious. I have no doubt that our esteemed Savior would destroy me in a second had I said anything resembling the word ‘NO’. She was so focused on helping you that she did not react when Henry rushed into the Hall, intent on making me help you.” He continued on walking, with desire to step out of the village where everyone was watching the woman with him with sometimes unhidden hate and fear. _

_ “Did you want to help me?” _

_ It was an unexpected question, not one he thought Regina would ask, but rather it had all the markings of the Savior. It was only one of the signs of their connection, Regina and Emma’s, making him shake his head. But, before Regina could construe that as his answer he pressed on. “I did.” His glance showed him the question in her dark eyes. Why? Focusing on the eyes so similar to his own and Cora’s, he noticed the one quality both Rumplestiltskin and the Queen of Hearts had not had. The chocolate browns were warm and kind, even now as they were piercing him with inquisitive gaze, they lacked the coldness and hatred. “You have suffered enough, and most of it by my own hand.” He looked away and nodded to the guard who had opened the gate for them. “It would have been too cruel to let you die only days after finding your True Love.” Not wanting to hear her impending scoff, he hurried ahead, leaving her stunned by the village gate. _

_ “Your Majesty?” the guard asked the frozen woman, wary of approaching the famous Evil Queen. However, the woman in front of him did not look evil at all. As she did not respond to him, he came closer and repeated his words, hoping that she would not curse him. The second time yielded more results as she turned toward him and blinked in surprise. _

_ As Regina glanced around the gate, she looked toward the guard with understanding. She was standing right in the middle of the passage, blocking the gate. “Ah, thank you…” she spoke softly, her look inquiring for his name. _

_ “Gareth, Your Majesty.” _

_ “Thank you, Gareth. I’ll be on my way.” She inclined her head in greeting and went on forward with grace and purpose in her steps. The guard watched after her, smiling. She certainly did not seem evil, but the queen part was obvious in her every move. And, the clothes she was wearing only made her body more attractive. With a quick glance around, he looked if anyone had seen him lose focus, and rushed to close the gate. _

_ Regina quickened her step, reaching Rumplestiltskin just as he came upon a beach. After several moments of walking side by side, Regina looked into the old man’s face. “If I have not found Emma, you would have let me die?” Even though her tone was quiet, Rumplestiltskin could hear the edge of irritation in the voice. _

_ “No. No matter what, I would have tried to save you.” The old man walked onto the sandy beach and leaned against the driftwood log tall enough to let him sit on it without much bending of his knees. “You have to understand, I have no desire to see you suffer. Not anymore.” _

_ “Why the sudden change of heart?” The disbelief was so evident in her tone that he had to chuckle. If he hadn’t lived through it he wouldn’t have believed it either. _

_ “Despite what you might think, it is not so sudden. You are the mother of my grandson, and my daughter. I had been angry with you for the whole Asylum and Lacy debacles but you have settled those scores many times over. You did heal my son, and save the town from the trigger.” Rumplestiltskin looked into his daughter’s face with something similar to chagrin. “And, you did have a certain flair for one-upmanship.” After seeing her eyes flash with shame, he placed his hand on top of one of hers. “I have forgiven you everything you have done to me and Belle. And, I doubt it would ever come close to what I have done to you.” Releasing her hand before it became uncomfortable for both of them, he looked in front of him at the waves pounding upon the shore. “In the later years, I grew to respect your cunning mind. But, also I had been afraid what would become of us if you ever managed to unlock the power that was in you all this time.” _

_ “You have known?” _

_ “Of course I have. That is the only reason I tried to stop Miss Swan from getting too close to you on the ship. She would have been able to see it and help you reach it, letting you become very powerful and if guided with your vengeance and anger, a very deadly person.” _

_ Regina nodded, finally understanding his side of the encounter on the ship, when Emma had managed to block his powers completely. She continued to listen to him tell her his side of the story and his constant fear that she would discover her true power. He even talked about the conversation he had had with Snow. Then they talked about the potion and Emma’s magical abilities. Rumplestiltskin was patient as he explained all aspects of True Love that he had known. Then she asked him a very pointed question. “If all members of the True Love couples are equals, how come Belle is not a magical entity?” _

_ “Am I?” Rumplestiltskin offered instead of the answer. When Regina looked at him, she realized that Belle was meant for him after the Dark One had been destroyed. Then he told her how Belle was always bringing his human side in him, and only now he was able to appreciate it. _

But, it had not been the end to the strange conversations of the day. Later, when he had returned to the village with Regina by his side, Belle and Snow, followed by all the children, had pulled his flabbergasted daughter away, leaving him with the Savior who had walked to him with intent in her stride. With a firm grip upon his arm, she’d pulled him away from prying eyes, going into a small cottage at the edge of the village. Guiding the man to a seat, she’d started pacing the small space, Rumplestiltskin watching her every move. The nervous energy the blonde had been giving off was palpable in the small space, and the woman herself had looked somewhat haggard, and dangerously close to the edge.

_ “We need to talk,” Emma spoke with purpose, showing him to take a seat. As soon as he took his seat, Emma pierced him with her green eyes. “What do you know about portals?” _

_ He looked into her sharp eyes and leaned back, gathering his thoughts. “They are often tied to objects of immense power, used to transcend the boundaries of the Realms.” But, as she frowned at his answer, he continued on. “Usually, they are created with powerful magic, and in such cases the expenditure for making such objects is beyond reason to make them. However, they can sometimes be found in nature, and no one is sure why they are created.” _

_ “When you wanted to cross Realms you made a curse. Why not a portal?” Emma asked further, wringing her hands, still pacing around, obviously thinking about something, while she talked to him. _

_ “The only portals that I know capable of crossing into the Realm without magic were the Hat and the beans. However, Jefferson ensured me that without the location of the desired Realm the Hat would be worthless. And, he has been proved right in time. And, as much as I searched, I could not find even one bean.” Rumplestiltskin watched Emma while she was considering his words, and he slowly started to understand where she was going with this interrogation. “Later, I was told that I would create a curse to cross, therefore I spent all my efforts on making such a curse. It took me centuries to finish it, and all I needed was the final ingredient.” _

_ “Regina,” Emma said, knowingly, not challenging him for his callousness. He had paid the price with his power and a bigger part of his identity. There was no need to punish him further, not by her hands anyway. _

_ “No, Miss Swan.” Rumplestiltskin’s interruption made Emma lean her head to the side a bit in askance. She had been so sure that it was Regina. Understanding her confusion, the old man intertwined his fingers, leaning them against the hand hold of his cane. “Indeed, the Evil Queen was the most important element for the curse, as its caster; however it was not her that I needed at that moment, for finishing the curse.” At Emma’s raised eyebrow, the green eyes narrowed, he gulped softly. “Your parents.” Rumplestiltskin sighed heavily and waved his hand in front of him while continuing on. “Or, more to the point, their True Love.” _

_ Deciding to ignore that line of questioning for the moment, or ever, Emma nodded and brought back their previous subject to the front. “But, Storybrooke now has magic. Wouldn’t it make it easier to create a portal?” _

_ “Yes, but you still need too many magical ingredients, powerful spells and something to guide you to Maine. And, such an endeavor is most definitely perilous.” Then, the old man looked around the cottage and frowned. “You do know that my daughter would be on a warpath if something happens to you?” _

_ “We are just talking.” Emma walked around the table and took a seat, placing her elbows on the rough wooden surface, her face suddenly portraying the uneasiness she had felt since the beginning of this conversation.  _

_ “About making portals!” He was surprised by the strength of his anger. But, when she smirked from across the table he huffed in defiance. “You are a fool, Miss Swan,” he spoke, after calming himself down. _

_ “So I am often told.” Emma smirked and leaned on her elbows. In that moment, a sentimental grin passed her face, making him blink in surprise. The crass and instinctively powerful woman was in love with his daughter. Yes, they were each other’s True Love, but the Savior was in love with the former Evil Queen, and she probably had been all this time. And, he had not seen it… _

_ “Does Regina approve of this?” Rumplestiltskin asked suspiciously, and when Emma avoided his look, fiddling with a cuff of her shirt, he narrowed his eyes. “Does she even know of this?” _

_ The Savior lifted her head and directed such a cold look at his direction that it froze him in place. The anger, edginess, and the pain she had been wrestling with the whole afternoon were funneled into the vicious gaze that made it clear that she was not to be questioned. Keeping him locked in her gaze, she narrowed her eyes, and he felt the tiny droplets of his sweat appear on his forehead and his temples. Suddenly, she released him from the look and glancing down at her hands, she spoke. “Is there a way to make sure that the portal can be activated from either side? Is it even possible to make it a two way portal?” _

_ Giving up reasoning with the Savior, he decided to give her any and every piece of information he had, and later he would inform Regina of her foolish investigation. “Yes, you can make it bi-directional but it would take double the energy to create that kind of a portal, and it would need to be made from the Realms it would connect. So, specifically speaking, you would need someone here and in Storybrooke at the same time, making identical portals.” _

_ “So, it is possible?” _

_ “Yes, of course it is possible, but the question is – Is it plausible? And, is it worth the magic, as there would be more beans grown for those who want to visit.” He spoke with exasperation, wanting to make Emma understand that such an amount of magic may well prove to be lethal to the Savior. _

_ “Beans are too easily destroyed, as Regina has proven before. I want a more permanent solution.” _

_ “Miss Swan.” Unpleased with the distance his words created, he considered another way of entreating the blonde Savior. “Emma, there are few magical objects left in the worlds. And you need plenty. And even if you managed to gather enough material for the two portals, you need very powerful magic to activate them.” _

_ “The True Love potion brought magic to Storybrooke. Imagine what you can do with four…” Emma remarked, having steepled her fingers in front of him, her hands represented the four True Love couples. The casual mention of the potion he had extorted from them under the threat of Henry dying made him take a pause. There were four couples of True Love around, and one of them was comprised of the most powerful magical beings to walk this Realm. He hadn’t even considered it, and now with her reminder, it suddenly seemed very possible. With a change in his attitude he considered the additional needs for such an attempt. _

_ “Don’t you mean six?” Rumplestiltskin asked, suddenly remembering the so proclaimed True Loves in Storybrooke. Ella, Thomas, Princess Abigail and Frederick also fitted the bill. _

_ “No, Ashley and the others did not break any curses. I would rather not risk it.” _

_ “Belle and I…” _

_ “She once almost turned you human. That counts in my book.” The firm tone of the Savior’s voice made it clear to him that the subject was closed. There were four True Love couples that she would use. Scowling at her brash tone, he nodded and considered something else. _

_ “You will need objects with powerful magic in them.” _

_ “The Dragon Caves.” Emma replied shortly, her words the answer enough. Of course, the stone bathed in the blood of the dragons. “We can also use the beans for the mortar, it would add the kick.” Emma looked down at the rough patch on the table and started fiddling with it. “Along with the True Love potions, and something to guide the portals, I think it could really work.” Emma lifted her gaze from the slivering wood and saw Rumplestiltskin regarding her with a tender but proud smile. “What?” _

_ “You have really thought about this. Why?” _

_ “Many people want to stay here, or at least be able to visit. I think it is the only viable solution.” Emma might have had others in her mind, but there were only four people in her heart. Snow and David yearned for their home, but they were loath to say goodbye to their daughter. Henry wanted to stay here longer, but he would go where his mothers were. And Regina had once loved this place, and in time she might grow to love it again, and Emma wanted to give her the ability to come here whenever she wanted. _

_ Rumplestiltskin smiled in understanding and rose from his chair. “I need to think about the guides. And, I think that our disappearance will be noticed soon.” _

_ “One more thing,” Emma spoke, still seated. “I have thought that your power was bound to the dagger.” Even though she did not ask him directly, he knew what she wanted to know. With slow steps he walked over to her side of the table and leaned onto it at her side. Opening his jacket, he pulled out the very familiar hilt out of some hidden pocket. But the blade itself was broken off, leaving only the jagged part, an inch long, behind. _

_ “When the Lost Boys captured me, the blade nicked me. When you used your power to unchain me, the magic you used was so powerful that it managed to unbind the power of the dagger and it seeped into me through the wound I had suffered from my own dagger, making it useless.” He offered the hilt to the Savior, showing her the jagged blade piece. “Look at it, it is cracked. If you hit something with it, no doubt it would split into pieces.” While Emma scrutinized the dagger, Rumplestiltskin continued on with his explanation. “With the whole power of the Dark One in me, I was able to help you with Peter. I was prepared to die. And, I honestly did not expect you to save me.” _

_ “It is what I do, I have been told,” Emma spoke, offering the hilt back. “You were willing to die for us. That is why I saved you.” At her blunt statement he only nodded. _

_ “May I ask you something, Miss Swan?” Rumplestiltskin spoke gently, still standing beside her, after he had returned the dagger into its hiding place. _

_ “Sure,” Emma shrugged. _

_ “You don’t look so well. Is there anything I can do?” _

_ Emma only smiled at his offer and reached out to his hands on the cane. As if she deliberated if she was allowed to touch him, she reluctantly placed her palm over his. “I am in good hands.” _

_ In that moment the door to the cottage opened and a young woman entered, carrying a wine skin in her hand. But, when she saw Rumplestiltskin watching her with curious eyes, she stopped and glanced between him and Emma, not sure what to do. _

_ “Ah, Miss Lucas, please do come in. I do believe the Savior and I are finished.” With a nod he greeted the still seated blonde, and he pushed away from the table, walking out, his cane thumping rhythmically in his wake. “Have a good afternoon, Miss Swan. Miss Lucas.” He closed the door behind him, and left, his mind already swirling with all the possible ideas for the things necessary for the portals Miss Swan wanted to create. _

And, now he was with Belle, listening to her adventure with the Savior.

* * *

It was a quiet evening, as she sat next to the love of her life, drinking tea he had prepared while she had talked about her day. It was a ritual they had established in the Dark Castle, and the ease they had returned to it only suggested the comfort they felt around each other. She smiled at him and her heart fluttered as she saw his replying smirk. Leaning onto his shoulder, she looked into the fire, thinking about her day.

_ The Savior grabbed her arm, pulling her away, guiding her with gentle but insistent grip. “They need to talk,” Emma whispered into her ear, and with a huge grin turned to the surprised brunette that watched her with suspicion. “Belle and I need to talk about Ruby’s birthday party, so we’ll leave you for a bit.” Taking them to the next corner and ducking under the roof of a supposed porch, Emma glanced around the wall and watched the old man and his daughter walk toward the sea, passing the village gate. _

_ “You know, you didn’t have to pull me so hard,” Belle told Emma with slight reproach in her tone. But, before the edgy blonde could apologize, the young woman waved her off, and sat on one of two chairs on the porch. “Do you think they can work it out?” _

_ Emma grimaced when she saw the remaining chair and not trusting it to hold her weight she leaned against the wall. Then she turned to the famous beauty of fairy tales. “If you are asking me if they could establish a loving father-daughter relationship, then my answer is a firm no.” At the sad nod from the other woman, the blonde understood that was Belle’s conclusion as well. “But, I believe they can be civil, and even friendly toward each other, and perhaps in time…” _

_ “It would grow to be something more,” Belle finished for Emma. “I sure hope so.” When the Savior only hummed in agreement, Belle looked up at the woman, and with interest she scrutinized her, really seeing her for the first time since they had come back from New York. With all that had been going on, and all the running around, she hadn’t had the opportunity to talk with the blonde. So, there was her chance. Rising up from her chair, she walked carefully to where Emma was standing, watching her curiously, obviously waiting for her to come closer. But, before she could ask her questions a scream pierced the air, soon followed by bellows. Emma straightened and rushed toward the source of the noise, keeping her pace light for Belle to be able to keep up. _

_ “What happened here?” Emma asked with authority, looking at the gathered people, as Belle had seen her do in Storybrooke as the Sheriff. _

_ “Your Highness, two boys went in there,” one of the people spoke, showing a cave, almost hidden in the shrubbery. “A fissure opened in a wall and they fell in. We can’t see them, and they are not answering back.” While he was talking, Emma gestured to him to show her the crack. She glanced down and seeing only darkness she shook her head, placing one hand on her neck, trying to think of a solution. _

_ “Where does this cave lead?” she asked, while she waved Belle over. _

_ “It goes into the Pit, Your Highness.” _

_ The Pit being the prison she had met Cora in. And, as she remembered, the Pit had another entrance. “Go, fetch me a torch or something, and rope.” Pleased to see that the men dispersed immediately, all willing to help, she turned to one of the women still standing around. “What are the children’s names?” _

_ The woman shrugged, and curtsied when she realized that she might have disrespected a Royal. “They were with your party, Your Highness. The ten and eight year olds, I would guess, Your Highness.” Ah, Elias and Bobby, the memory supplied. _

_ “Thank you.” Then, Emma turned to Belle. “I need you to find Snow and Ruby, and anyone else. Tell Ruby I want her to go into the Pit and to try to sniff them out. I am going in this way.” At that minute she was given a long rope, she immediately started tying around herself. It was obvious why not one of the men tried to go in. The fissure in the wall of the cave was too small to let them through. Even for Emma it would be a tight fit, even after going down on all fours. “Oh, and Belle? Try not to alert them.” Emma spoke to the younger woman, meaning Regina. _

_ Belle stood flabbergasted as the Sheriff, or better yet, the Savior jumped into the action. As soon as Emma grabbed a lit gas lantern and started squeezing through the hole, Belle went in search of the people she needed. _

_ She found Snow quickly, and she explained what had happened. It was amazing that Ruby and Snow understood Emma’s plan perfectly after only three words in. With a rush, they organized a rescue party and not an hour passed when the children were found, safe and sound with the Savior as their protector in the dark caves. _

She had seen Emma leave the Pit followed closely by Snow and Ruby. The haunted look in the Savior’s darkened and burning eyes had shaken her to the core, and when the blonde had passed beside her, Belle had felt the terror radiating off her. Asking Ruby what had happened, she only had gotten a confused shake of the head.

Sometime later, Belle had been joined with Snow who had taken the duty of a babysitter for the children of their company. They had shared a light conversation, until Regina and Rumplestiltskin had returned from their talk. Immediately, Henry had rushed to his mother, giving her the smallest child with a pleased smile. Then, he had pulled her away from his grandfather, soon followed with Belle and Snow.

It had been a perfect afternoon with the children, where Belle had gotten an opportunity to see another Regina, as she had played with her son and the newest member of her family. Sitting beside Snow, she had heard the pixie haired woman sigh with contentment as they’d watched the children. It had been only at the end of their evening that she had learned that something had been wrong.

_ Regina walked to them with Kyle in her arms. With ease, she gracefully lowered herself on a free chair beside Snow, and joined them in the children watching. _

_ “Regina, is everything all right with my daughter?” Snow asked after a while. At the inquisitive look of the former Queen, Snow explained the situation from before. The Pit and the children rescuing, helped with Belle who provided the beginning for the story. “Only when we found her, she was very jumpy and her hands glowed in the dark. Elias told me later that she was almost wild when she found them.” _

_ “How dark was it in there?” Regina asked, worry evident on her face. _

_ “Very. If not for the torches and her magic we wouldn’t be able to see if our eyes were open or not.” Snow watched her former stepmother for a reaction, but when Regina looked at her she was surprised with the sadness shown in the former Queen’s features. “Regina, what is wrong?” _

_ “Emma is very emotionally fragile now, and these nightmares and excursions are not helping,” Regina spoke softly. “And, she was not supposed to use magic. Not until she was healed.” She rose slowly and gave the baby to Snow. “Can you watch them tonight?” When the younger woman only nodded, Regina walked away. _

* * *

“So, are you going to tell me what happened, Ems?” Ruby asked, after several minutes spent in silence. They had been drinking from the wineskin, but Emma was quiet and almost brooding.

_ She could feel the darkness suffocating her, but she had to try. Squeezing in the hole, she grunted when the rock wall stopped her from breathing in. The seconds ticked away, every one longer than the previous, while she pressed on, moving inch by inch deeper into the darkness. Emma closed her eyes against the panic that had gripped her, actually that had been present since her earlier dream, and already on edge, she fought with herself and pushed on, thinking of the boys. After a while, she felt the narrow passage widen and she breathed in with relief, taking deep breaths in order to stave off the full blown panic attack. She tugged on the rope three times, and almost in no time a gas lantern came to her, attached to the rope. Along with it came a small satchel filled with coal. Emma grimly hummed as she understood their purpose. Tying the satchel onto her hip, she pulled the rope and nodding in appreciation, she reached for the coil that had come from the fissure. Placing it over her shoulder, she grabbed the lantern and with a coal piece in her hand she marked the wall, placing arrows on every few steps as she travelled deeper into the cave. From time to time she would shout out the names of the boys, but she was greeted only with the reverberations of her own voice. _

_ She followed the tracks on the rough stone floor. The new scuff marks, and darkened palm prints told her that one of the boys had hurt his palm badly enough to make it bleed enough to leave blood marks. Careful not to miss anything, Emma almost crawled over the cave floor, following the direction of the boys, marking her progress after every four meters. For some reason, it seemed like a good and appropriate distance. For the past quarter of an hour she was going steadily up, she was sure of it, as she went on. _

_ Suddenly, Emma heard a rumble from beneath her feet, and small tremors shook the ground she was standing on. Before her mind could comprehend what was happening, the floor opened and she fell through, a yelp of surprise leaving her lips.  _ Oh, you’ve got to be fucking kidding me _ \- went through her mind before she was dropped onto another floor, the impact jostling her bones painfully, followed by the sound of glass breaking close to her. _

_ She opened her eyes and saw nothing. When she tried to move her arm to place her hand in front of her eyes, Emma realized that she could not move, her body still in shock from the fall, sending her fully into the so far barely contained panic. She started panting, trying to move, her mind screaming at the unfairness. “Shit!” she spit out, feeling the pain in her abused body. _

_ “No, no, no,” she repeated to herself, all the while the pictures of the curse and the nightmares danced in front of her eyes. Then, she moved. She felt her hand move and as if whatever that had held her immobile vanished, her whole body could move. Rising to her feet, she lifted her hands in front of her and started seeking for another wall, for anything really. But, there was nothing but the oppressive darkness and it was getting harder to breathe with each passing gasp. _

_ Emma froze in her panic. She could not move again, she could not see and soon she wouldn’t be able to breathe. She was going to die, and this time it was much worse because she knew with her whole heart that it was real. She was really in a cave, in darkness. _

_ Panting at the empty air, she tried to see something in the blackness, anything that might help her. And, it came to her. This was reality. She had magic. “Fuck it, Regina is not going to like this,” she said with an unhappy sigh, listening to her own echo and she let the magic flow through her, focusing in on her palms, making them glow in dark, giving just enough light for Emma to see where the walls were. But, along with the magic came the pain, making Emma grit her teeth to stop herself from whimpering. She moved, following the cave and after she had passed about twenty yards, she called the boys by their names. After several times of calling out she heard a faint reply, almost lost in the echoes. She narrowed her eyes in focus, and moved toward the new sound. She called again, and this time she was absolutely sure that there was the reply and now she could see a hand in the faint light moving over a small hillock of rocks. _

_ She rushed toward the boys, jumping over the loose rocks and slippery gravel. Knowing that she would need her hands, she spelled the light into several flying orbs that floated over her head as she lowered herself down beside the boys. The older one was kneeling, leaning on the rocks, covered in grit, and his forehead bleeding profusely. _

_ But the other one, Bobby, was in far worse shape. His leg bent in an unnatural position, with bone sticking out, tearing the muscle and flesh around the wound, bled in the very slow rhythm, and Emma assumed that the artery was damaged, or completely severed. The boy was unconscious, but the blonde could see the tear tracks on his dirty face. Quickly, she placed her hands on his neck, checking his pulse and at the same time assessing him magically. _

_ “When did Bobby fall asleep?” Emma asked, needing to focus on something else than the burning pain in her tendons. And something to keep her mind and eyes wandering back to the all-encompassing darkness that pressed on them. She glanced at the other boy, seeing in the dim light of her magic that he was more or less fine, except for the cut on his forehead and bloody hands. _

_ Elias lifted his eyes from the lying boy, and shrugged. “Don’t know, Your Majesty. But, it wasn’t long.” Emma looked at him and nodded, touching his shoulder in comfort. With rush, she placed Bobby completely on the floor, carefully arranging his limbs into the proper position, using magic to heal him as she went along. The burning sensation increased and spread to her bones, muscles, making her shake and breathe in gasps, unable to fight against the punishment of using magic, the stabbing and piercing throb spreading through her body, making her feel like her own blood was made of jagged razor sharp rocks, pushing through her vessels. Additionally, the injuries from the fall itself were compounding to the pain, making her vision turn hazy, filled with dancing black spots. Her forehead was clammy from abuse _

_ When she was finished with Robert, she turned to Elias and in one swipe of her hand, she healed his head. “Can you stand?” she asked him, while she turned to Bobby and gently lifted him up, cradling him in her arms. At Elias’s nod, she gestured to him to move on forward, as she pulled the light orbs into herself, letting her palms light up. The move made her pain a bit easier, because it lowered the amount of used power. But, the palm – light was not enough to prevent her newly discovered fear of dark from appearing. And, holding the boy in her arms with palms placed to the front was an awkward experience. Strangely, Elias’s company and the pain in her body were keeping her focused enough not to lose it completely. And, several minutes later, it was how they were found by the others. _

_ “Emma!” Snow shouted, rushing toward them, followed by David, Ruby and several other villagers. As soon as they reached the Savior and the children, David took the still unconscious boy into his hands and moved away, motioning to Elias to follow him out. Snow took one of Emma’s hands, her other occupied by the fiery torch. Emma sighed at the warmth of the flame in front of her face and the soft color of the fire. “Emma?” Snow spoke again, this time quieter, worried about her daughter who seemed entranced by the blaze. Her hands were ice cold and her look was the look of a tortured and haunted soul. _

_ Emma shook her head, bringing herself in the present and looked at her mother. “I am fine,” she said softly and moved away, going out of the cursed Pit and the surrounding caves. _

Sometime later she had found Henry and she had asked him to keep his mother busy, as she had to investigate something.

_ “Is it about the portals?” Henry asked, his eyes glinting with barely hidden hope. _

_ She passed her hand through his hair and nodded. “Yes, it is, but no one a word.” She placed her finger onto his nose and smiled when he nodded vigorously. _

_ “I knew that it was possible!” he spoke in an excited whisper. “What are we going to call it? Operation…” Henry started talking, and Emma had to chuckle at his enthusiasm. _

_ “Hey, I don’t know if it is possible, but I am going to find out. But, you cannot go around and jump with excitement. Everyone will know something is up.” When he grinned with embarrassment, she shook her head at him, holding him close by her arm over his shoulder. _

_ “Operation Gate!” Henry said suddenly. At Emma’s confused look, he rushed to explain. “You know, like Stargate…” Emma narrowed her eyes at him. How was it possible for him to know what she had in mind? _

_ “All right.” She said with a gentle smirk on her lips. “Gate it is.” _

_ “Oh, and Emma?” Henry said, pushing away from his birth mother. With a teasing grin he answered her inquisitive head nod. “You kinda stink,” he said, scrunching his nose. _

_ “Why, you son of…” she cut off herself, as she started for him, making him rush off in glee. It was true, though. She did stink. The sweat and the scent of fear, along with the dust of the caves clang to her. Looking around she used a small bit of magic to turn her clothes and herself into the previous state of cleanliness. She had a date with the former Dark One and she had to be her best, for she still did not trust the man. _

“No,” Emma said and drank deeply from the skin. Then she turned to Ruby and gave it back. She rose from the chair and moved to the wall with the window, looking out. It was almost dark out. And, she had made her decision after Rumplestiltskin had mentioned Regina going off the edge if something happened to her. Tonight, she was going to tell Regina everything. She would not even consider attempting to sneak out during the portal jump, as she had imagined before. Snow’s comment at lunch and her adventure at the caves changed her mind, bringing her to her senses. And, the idea of leaving Regina, even if it was only for several months was making her insides clench painfully, making it hard for her to breathe. Not only that she would not be able to bear the distance from her beloved, her sneaking off the ship would be such breaking of Regina’s trust. And, she did not want to join the countless people in the past that had hurt the brunette. Her chosen deserved better, and more than better from her. She was a fool. But, she hoped she was not too big of the fool.

“Ems, you look like hell. What is going on?” Ruby stepped up to her, placing her hand onto Emma’s shoulder. In Storybrooke they were friends, but since the curse had been broken, and Snow and Emma’s accidental journey to the Enchanted Forest, they did not spend much time together, almost acting as only acquaintances. And it hurt, the werewolf thought to herself.

Ruby felt the tension of Emma’s body, and her augmented senses could tell her that the woman in front of her was agitated and the scent of fear clung to her. But, she had also seen the Savior in the cave, her eyes darting around as if she had been waiting for something to jump out of the shadows. She remembered something that the former sheriff had told her about the overtaxed soldiers. Graham had told her that sometimes they suffered from PTSD. And all the symptoms he had told her fitted Emma perfectly. And because she did not know how to deal with it, she let it go. It was for Regina or Snow…

“So, you and Regina?” the young werewolf changed the subject. “I feel the need to tell you: I told you so!” Ruby said, patting Emma’s shoulder gently.

The Savior turned to her friend and grinned at the ribbing. “Go ahead.” With a flourish, Emma gestured to the younger woman to continue.

“How does it feel?” Ruby leaned against the wall and looked into the smiling face of her friend. “After all those scathing arguments and sizzling energy, how does it feel to finally use it in the proper setting?” At Emma’s snigger, she went on. “She must be a wildcat.”

The blonde laughed at the implications, and she shook her head.

“Oh, come on, tell me the deets! You used to share before…”

Emma gently smiled at her friend and nodded. “Before wasn’t really important to me.” Then she pushed of the wall and grabbed the wineskin and uncorked it, still looking at Ruby. “And, it’s not like we have done anything yet.” Pulling a long chug out, she sighed in pleasure when the spicy wine warmed her stomach. Deciding to share something with her friend, she sat down, throwing the skin toward the werewolf. “Every time we touch, the magic I and she have reacts and with more intense contact it gets stronger and stronger. And, now, I don’t think I will be able to withstand the power generated with something more than a few heated kisses. So, in a way, she is getting me used to the magic before…” Then, she pierced Ruby with her look. “And, that doesn’t mean I will tell you anything when it happens.”

“Oh, you are mean!”

“Think of it this way. If Regina ever finds out you know something, there will be a werewolf less running through the woods.” Emma smiled when Ruby blanched at the implication, and she rose, aware of the time.

“Emma?” Ruby asked after her timidly, also rising from the chair. When Emma turned to her, the younger woman hugged her firmly. “I am happy for you,” Ruby murmured into the blonde’s neck. Emma returned the hug, pleased with the blessing she had gotten from her friend. Ruby had been there for her, listening to her stories, and sometimes getting her home after a really long day, and the evening filled with stiff drinks and morose talks about Henry and Regina. Emma kissed Ruby’s cheek in gratitude, and with a smirk she nodded in salute, walking out of the cottage.

She went to the village hall, thinking that most of her family would be there anyways, and it would be a perfect spot to spend her time until she found Regina. Aware that she was stalling and avoiding the conversation she needed to have with the brunette, she sighed at her own cowardice and opened the door of the Hall. And she had been right, for as soon as she walked through the door, she was greeted with Henry and Kyle, her mother watching her carefully, inspecting her face for any trace of the previous look, she had encountered in the caves.

“Hey, Emma,” Henry said, holding out Kyle for her, his face almost split in two with the unrestrained grin he sported. When she took him into her hands, Henry hugged her middle, and led her to the others, pulling her slightly to the fireplace.

Emma looked around, but before she could ask, Snow spoke up. “She is upstairs.” Emma nodded and sat beside her mother, smiling when David placed his hand on her shoulder in greeting. She spent several minutes in small talk with her parents and Henry joined in with an observation or a question, while she held the toddler in her arms. It wasn’t the first baby she held in her hands, but it was the first one she had held for more than just a few times. She hadn’t even held Alexandra more than once or twice. Looking into the deep blue eyes of the child, she smiled at him trying to reach for her blonde hair.

“Miss Swan!” Regina’s voice pierced the easy atmosphere, and everyone flinched at the tone. It was a perfect mixture of the voices of Madam Mayor and the Evil Queen. Emma looked up and saw Regina looking at them, with her hands on her hips, a scowl on her face visible even from the distance.

“Oh, it seems you are in trouble,” Henry remarked with interest, glancing between his adoptive mother and his birth one.

“When am I not?” Emma asked with resignation, transferring Kyle to Snow, who had reached for him. At the worried glances of her parents, she just waved them off, kissing Snow in good night, and nodding to her father. As she moved to the stairs, where Regina was standing, her imperious and angry look directed at Emma.

“Is this about the Gate?” Henry spoke softly, going with Emma to the stairs, not willing to let his birth mother go to his other mother alone.

Emma looked down at him and shrugged. “Probably.” Placing her arm around the boy’s shoulders, she patted him in comfort, aware that he was prone to blaming himself for the angry tone his adoptive mother had. “And, I did something I shouldn’t have, so it’s probably that, as well,” Emma whispered to Henry, absolving him of any wrongdoings he might have perceived to have done.

“Henry, I am sorry but I need to talk to Emma in private and it will take time.” Regina spoke gently to her boy, kissing his forehead, when they had reached her. “Good night, my boy,” she whispered to him before she turned to Emma, her face suddenly devoid of emotions.

Emma ruffled Henry and sent him away, as she followed Regina upstairs and later into their room without a word. When they entered the room, Emma stopped in surprise, as every flat surface except floor and the bed was covered in lit candles, their soft light strong enough to mistake it for a daylight, and their warmth enough to heat up the air in the room.

“Oh, Regina,” Emma spoke with dismay at her own assumption that Regina had brought her there to be out of sight when she murdered her. Shaking her head at her own conscience and her own thoughts making her edgy, she looked at the brunette and smiled in appreciation, shuffling in place, not knowing what to do with herself.

Regina came to the blonde and sighed when she caught a scent of mulled wine. She had seen that werewolf girl leave the kitchens with a full skin of it earlier, but she thought nothing of it till now. “You’ve been drinking,” she said softly, the reproach barely evident in her tone. However it stemmed from worry not from disapproval. People tended to get lost in the haze of alcohol, escaping the pain of every day. It was a coping mechanism many broken souls chose, and she didn’t want Emma to fall down that rabbit hole.

“I needed to take the edge off. To dull the pain a bit, until I got to you…”

“Emma...” Regina started reaching for the other woman, but Emma just raised her hands in a sudden motion, slapping the soothing arms away. With a growl directed more at herself, the Savior reached for her own hair and gripped hard, feeling the tingling pain on her scalp.

“Fuck it, Regina, I don’t know what the shitting hell I am doing anymore!” Emma exclaimed, turning away from Regina, sounding broken and angry at the same time. “Shit!” she said, in one shuddering motion, when she realized what she had said in her outburst.

Regina stood there, a bit startled with the profanity leaving Emma’s mouth, before a smirk quirked her lips. Emma had been careful around her, watching her language and honestly, the brunette had missed the crass behavior of the woman in front of her. Closing her eyes, Emma turned her head away from Regina’s raised eyebrow in challenge, and opened them again, staring at the candlelit wall, letting a deep breath escape her lips.

The blonde felt Regina’s hands on her shoulders and as they slid down her front, taking off her light coat, and returned up to her chest, she shook off her surprise and turned around, keeping the tender arms around her. “You are not angry?” Emma whispered, looking into the face of her beloved.

Regina placed her palms on Emma’s chest and started undoing the first button so gently, that the Savior almost could not feel the hands on her chest. “Oh, I am beyond angry,” Regina spoke, her voice soft and gentle, but still with a hard edge Emma learned to recognize as frustrating irritation. One more button was open. “I am furious.” The next one popped open. “So furious, in fact, I wanted to walk up to you and whip you till you bleed in punishment.” Most of the buttons were undone, and Regina finished them quickly, still not looking at the Savior’s face. If she had, she would have seen the light blush covering Emma’s cheeks. “But, I know you had a very rough day,” the brunette spoke gently as she opened Emma’s shirt cuffs. With her tender hands she took Emma’s shirt off, leaving her in her t-shirt. Then, Regina waved her hand and a purple smoke appeared at the blonde’s feet, taking care of her boots.

“So, you know?” Emma said softly, closing her eyes, when Regina’s hands traveled to her neck. The soft ministrations of the woman in front of her caused the sharp pang of arousal to course through her, but it was more than tempered with the aching weariness and all-encompassing love she felt for the woman, along with her tempestuous feelings of guilt and heavy burden. “About the caves?” The hands on her neck fluttered a bit, and an errant thought about Regina choking her to death passed through her head, but what was amazing and not that surprising was that Emma felt no fear. She trusted Regina with her heart, her life and their son. The brunette could even plunge her hand into her chest for her heart, and Emma would not say a word, offering it to her willingly.

“I do,” came the terse reply. “And I know about you telling Henry to keep me busy. About the quest for a portal…” Regina said, forcing Emma to look at her. “And, I understand those things. I understand you, Emma and your need to find the best possible solution for everyone.” Then, an immensely sad look settled in Regina’s eyes, making them darker. “What I don’t understand is for what particular reason is Snow’s dream making you edgy? Is it going to come to pass?”

When Emma glanced away only for a second, unable to endure the intensity of the gaze, Regina felt her heart seize painfully. She moved away, fighting tears that were threatening, placing her arms around herself, as if protecting herself from the blow. There it was, the secret Emma had been wrestling with. After all the things they, she, had been through, Emma was considering leaving her. Her insecurities and wounds flared up, taking away her ability to breathe, to think, as the hurt enveloped her.

“The idea did cross my mind,” Emma spoke, her heart breaking at the image before her eyes. This was exactly what she had hoped to avoid. Then she came to the woman and held her from behind, even though Regina struggled against her hold. “I was coming here tonight to tell you all about it.” She leaned her head onto Regina’s shoulder and sighed. “As you said, I had a bad day and it threw me off.” Emma felt Regina turn around in her arms so she moved slightly away, to give her enough place, expecting retaliation - a well-deserved one, in her opinion. It seemed all she managed to do today was make a bad choice, one after another, their impact compounding into the mess she had created with her own impulsiveness. And, now Regina was in pain because of it. With an exhausted move, Emma placed her hands onto her face, rubbing her eyes as she felt her barriers lower. She had raised her shields and protective walls up during the day, reverting to her old self, so she could pretend to be invincible and indestructible, in her desperation to avoid the pain and the nervous breakdown from the dreams. But, in doing so, she reverted into a person who considered no one but herself, forgetting that she could share her troubles with her family, and the woman she loved. Now, she was feeling safe, and for the first time since their impromptu family picnic without the food, she let all her emotions and pain show, knowing that there was no longer need to pretend to be well, or even OK.

“Oh, Emma,” Regina gasped when she saw the Savior slump her shoulders, shaking with the exhaustion, looking at her with such desolation in her eyes. Quickly, she pulled the woman into her arms, and it seemed it was just in time, as the blonde sagged against her. With magic she placed both of them onto the bed, not willing to move away from the shaking Savior just yet, careful not to dislodge the platter filled with food she had placed there earlier.

Regina slightly moved away after a bit, stepping off the bed, leaving the Savior on it. Emma was awake, as tears glided from her opened eyes, and her breathing interrupted with shudders and painful sobs. Her green eyes were so dark and troubled, staring at the ceiling, lost in the haze of her agony, finally letting the tightly wound control over it snap. Giving herself permission to let go, Emma felt everything that she had forced away during the day.

“Emma, can you hear me?” Regina asked, leaning over the damaged Savior, her knuckles tenderly caressing the wet cheek. As she received no answer, Regina decided to do something drastic, and it needed time. So, she moved away and after some searching in her pack, she found a leaf of paper and a pen. Writing in her concise handwriting, she implored Snow to delay the return to Maine, as Emma was ill and she would need time and rest to recover. She would prefer to do it in person, but she was loath to leave the blonde alone. Sending the paper with the magic, she came back to the Savior and started undressing the woman, her gentle hands barely touching her skin, leaving her in her underwear, exposing her wounds and bruises to the concerned eyes and kind hands.

Not a minute later, the door to their room was opened and Snow sneaked in, glancing between Regina and Emma, trying to gouge out the situation. She had thought it had been a ploy for the new lovers to have more time with each other before returning to the hustle of the town. But, when she saw her daughter in near catatonic state, staring at the ceiling, not aware of her presence, Snow cringed and brought her hand to her mouth in sorrow.

“What the hell happened?” Snow whispered harshly, walking toward Regina. “She was fine five minutes ago.”

“No, she has not been fine for a while,” Regina whispered back, her eyes filling with tears again. But, she shook herself and wiped her eyes and with a look she directed Snow toward the farthest corner. Choosing a shortest way to explain the situation to the concerned mother, Regina directed her eyes to her former nemesis. “Do you remember when you were young, that I used to have headaches and various ailments from time to time?” She asked the woman, knowing that Snow did in fact remember those instances.

“Yes,” Snow replied quickly, careful not to raise her voice, glancing toward Emma with distress permeating her features. “I remember - the physicians didn’t know what was wrong with you.”

“It was magical exhaustion. Whenever I would do a bit too much in my exercise, I would suffer.” She glanced toward Snow and found her nodding in understanding. “Now, comprise all the times you know of into one short instant.”

Snow shuddered at the implication. Emma had not used her magic for twenty eight years, and then she started using it almost every day, and every day she would do things most people were incapable of. She had stopped the magically created storm, she had fought Peter Pan, she had slayed the manticore, healed Regina and many other things Snow probably did not know about. She knew what Regina was trying to tell her. Emma was suffering because she was the Savior.

“And, her nightmares are not making it easier. In fact, her suffering is now twofold.”

“Can you help her?” Snow asked, grabbing Regina’s hand. She pulled her former step mother and placed her other hand on her shoulder. “Can you do something?”

The desperate plea of Emma’s mother, of the child she once loved like her own, pierced through her heart. She placed her hand over Snow’s gently, and nodded. “I can help her with magic, but I don’t know if I could help with her fears. I can try.”

Snow nodded and smiled tremblingly in encouragement. Then, she placed her palm on Regina’s cheek, her eyes glinting with a strange light. “I trust you, Regina.” And then she placed a kiss on Regina’s forehead, pulling the older woman’s head down gently. The kiss was reminiscent of a motherly kiss to a child, but it also was a pardon granted by the Royals. It was the official gesture of forgiveness and acceptance. Understanding the meaning of such a gesture, Regina stood motionless, while her face was still held in the White Queen’s hands. “You are indeed good for each other. She is different with you around. And, you. I am so glad to finally see you, Regina. Don’t worry about the children, we will take care of them.” With a tender caress of the former Evil Queen’s cheek, Snow turned to leave. But, before she passed through the door, she glanced at the older woman. “You have all the time you need. And, if you need anything else, just ask, order or whatever… Help her. You are the only one that can. The only one she would let.” With those words, Snow left Regina flabbergasted in the room, looking after the closed door.

“She is right, you know,” a soft murmur came from the bed. Regina startled and rushed to her love. Emma was still not moving but her eyes followed Regina’s advance. “You  _ are _ the only one I would let,” the weary blonde whispered, barely moving her lips. Regina used her magic to lift Emma gently, and climbing onto the bed, she set Emma down into her arms, leaning the weak body against her own, with the blonde head on her upper arm. The position was somewhat reminiscent of a baby holding for feeding, but it was perfect for what Regina had in mind.

Placing her hand onto Emma’s pale cheek, Regina looked into the dark eyes, seeing them go in and out of focus. With magic, she pulled the cover from underneath them and used it to keep Emma warm, covering her completely. “I need you to try and eat something,” Regina spoke softly, her tone brooking no other choices. When Emma just blinked slowly in acceptance, the brunette had to blink hard against the tears that again threatened. Seeing the Savior so frail that she could not even nod seemed so wrong. She took the bowl with the clear vegetable soup and slowly, she helped Emma drink it down. Food was not going to solve everything, but it was a step in the right direction. Emma needed energy and one of the ways of getting it was from the food. So, she fed the Savior with various bits and pieces slowly, making sure that the blonde would not choke on her dinner.

After she was finished, she placed her hand over Emma's chest, just like she had done in the morning, sending out healing pulses of energy into the abused body. She had seen the bruises on the Savior’s body while she had taken off her clothes. Emma’s back had been covered in purple and black, her shoulders skinned slightly, with a nasty looking bruise over Emma’s ribs in the front, and it had been amazing to consider that Emma had walked up to the room with such pain in her body, with no one the wiser. Regina sent the healing and warming spells into the body in front of her, feeling the improvement right away. Emma wasn’t so listless in her arms, and she could feel the energy return to the limbs splayed over her.

“I need to talk to you,” Emma whispered, nuzzling into Regina’s chest. It didn’t bother her that she was naked under the quilt, or that Regina wasn’t. “I need you to know,” she added, her voice growing weaker. She slowly reached up and placed her hand over Regina’s chest, right over her heart. “Link us,” she breathed out, losing her battle with sleep.

Shaking her head, the former Queen reached for the hand and held it to her chest tenderly. “Let yourself sleep, Emma,” Regina whispered, kissing the blonde’s temple, as she held her close. At the mention of rest, Emma tensed, her muscles flexing, still too weak to move too much, but just enough to give Regina an idea how terrifying that was for the Savior.

“No,” Emma spoke, trying to infuse some of her authority in her voice, but utterly failing. “Dreams…”

“I am here, and I will be here the whole time. I’ll wake you at the first sign of trouble. But, you need to rest.” She was more than willing to watch over the wounded Sheriff in her arms. Yes, it was part of her True Love for the Savior that was making her do it, but it wasn’t just that. She had felt respect and envy for the blonde woman ever since she had driven into her town, no matter how much she had hated her then. It had often surprised her how similar they had been, and as Emma had kept saving her life, a gentle pride and affection had grown for the Savior, still hidden underneath annoyance and vitriol. However, Regina had been surprised to learn that she had not hated the blonde hero anymore. And, in time she had started to depend on the Sheriff’s belief in her, not only Henry’s but Emma’s. And, in some ways, Emma’s trust and belief had been more important to her, than Henry’s do-good attitude. It had been very painful when Emma had not believed her that she hadn’t killed the bug. But, as she had learned what her mother had done, she couldn’t blame the Savior. Not with the overwhelming evidence against her. However, it hurt.

When they had joined their memories, she had seen Emma’s feelings on the subject, the confusion, disbelief, crushed hope… She had felt the pain Emma had felt that day, the pain that had made her lash out and speak those hurtful words. But, she also had felt that Emma hadn’t meant them, not then, not ever. It had been such an irony - the one person who had been sent to destroy her had acted as her defender almost every step of the way.

“You need sleep, too,” Emma replied weakly, bringing Regina to present. The blonde’s fingers gripped her lapel to emphasize the point. Ever the White Knight, Regina smiled at the gallant gesture.

“You stood guard over me, my Knight. Let me do this for you.” But, before Emma could gather her strength to complain or remark that it wasn’t necessary, Regina kissed her deeply, shutting her up. “You would dare defy your Queen?” Startled with the sharp tone, reminiscent of the times Regina had been the Evil Queen, or even the Mayor, Emma opened her eyes. Then, Regina saw the woman move her head in answer, and kissed her in reward. As the kiss dazed the blonde, Regina felt Emma relax against her and tumble into much needed sleep.

The brunette leaned against the headboard of the bed, and exhaled. She had planned this evening to go quite differently but she had not expected the Savior to be that overwrought. Emma was a master in hiding pain, and using misdirection to hide her exhaustion. Regina knew it was a skill that Emma had learned her whole life, as exposing one’s weaknesses had been a sure way to get hurt in the world the blonde had grown up in. And it was an amazing and overwhelming experience to see that Emma had shown her the full extent of the pain she had been in, the full extent of the weakness she had been feeling. With no barriers and masks, Emma had let go of her defenses, knowing that she was safe with the brunette. Being shown that trust and faith made Regina’s heart flutter with warm loving affection toward the Savior, and that feeling fueled her need to be there, to be the safe haven Emma needed to recover, to be the strength to her weakness, hope to Emma’s despair, clarity to her confusion. Just as Emma had been strong for her, only several days before, when Regina needed to be shown a way to her happiness. Just as Emma had been the healing force for her in the previous days. Not only from the manticore attack but for every wrong that had been ever done to her in the past. The Savior was like a balm to the ravaged clefts in Regina’s heart, not able to return it to its previous condition for too much had happened, but mending the open wounds turning them into healed scars, no longer causing pain.

Regina looked down at the sleep relaxed face resting on her chest. Even now, there was a tense energy about the woman, barely noticeable but still there. Ever prepared, Regina thought about the woman. With everything that had happened, it seemed perfectly normal that Emma would develop such a defense mechanism, but Regina was aware that as long as Emma was subconsciously expecting an attack, she would not get the needed rest. So with her palm she gently caressed Emma’s back, her warm hand passing over the prominent spine and ribs, knowing that the motion would only serve to soothe Emma further, allowing her to relax even more.

Her fingertips would pass over marks and instantly she would ‘remember’ the origin of each one, their stories brought forward with specific interest. Although she had Emma’s memories, it did not mean that she remembered everything all the time. It only meant that the memories were available to be called forward if something triggered them. Just like Emma had remembered the previous state of her castle, she now could see the events related to the scars on the blonde’s back. There were only two scars that drew Regina’s concern, as they were the most prominent ones. One from a broken window on her shoulder blade, and the other earned in a scuffle with a runaway criminal just over her right kidney. Her otherwise somewhat pristine back was a testament to the blonde’s ability to protect herself.

Lost in the blonde’s memories and her own ruminations, Regina was drawing an unconscious pattern on Emma’s hip, while her other hand was on the neck, softly scratching Emma’s back of the head in the soothing manner.

The first sign of a nightmare manifested as a firm grip of Regina’s lapel Emma had been holding while she had slept. The brunette felt a gentle tug and instantly was brought out of her contemplations, moving her hand from Emma’s neck to her cheek. “You are safe,” Regina spoke louder than the whisper, but not loud enough to startle the blonde awake. “I am here, love.” The gentle tone slowly brought Emma out of her sleep, her body not even registering the nightmare. Regina had noted that Emma’s heartbeat was only slightly elevated, signaling that she had reacted in good time. Then, as she looked into the sleepy eyes of her partner, she smiled because the hazy look Emma gave her was so much like their son’s. “Hey…” Regina breathed as Emma smiled back. Snuggling into the warmth of Regina’s neck, Emma kissed the exposed skin in appreciation.

But, then Emma started untying the laces of the leather vest, clumsily fumbling with the knots. At Regina’s smirking and raised eyebrow Emma frowned and making Regina take the vest off by pushing it off her, she commented. “That thing chafes.” As Regina chuckled in the answer, Emma pouted at her. “And it’s not fair that you are completely dressed.”

“You may have a point,” the brunette spoke, agreeing with the sulking Savior, her heart warmed by the blonde’s lightheartedness. In one flick of her wrist, she was left with only her shirt on, letting Emma settle over her more comfortably. “Go back to sleep.”

Emma laid her head back onto Regina’s neck, sighing in content as the woman underneath her hugged her close. The scent that was purely Regina did wonders to relax her and not a minute later she was back in the land of dreaming, enjoying her new pillow. Even though Emma seemed well enough to play and complain, she wasn’t much recovered, Regina thought, for it was a sure sign that something was still very wrong if Emma did not comment on their position in some lewd manner.

As Emma slept Regina was going through her blonde locks, enjoying the soft hair over her fingers. Looking around the room, the brunette noted that the candles were half in size, suggesting that they had been lit for more than half of the night. Oddly, she did not feel tired, or even bored. The soft breath caressing skin on her collarbone kept her very much awake, but instead of feeling the sharp edges of her arousal, she felt the tender adoration toward the woman in her arms, enjoying the soothing rhythm of Emma’s inhalation. She basked in the obvious trust the Savior had placed in her, and in the possessive hold the blonde had on her. Never before had she been held with such reverence and greed at the same time. Not one of the people she had taken into bed had been so willingly devoted to her. Looking down at her Savior, she let herself immerse in the love she had for the blonde, and then she pulled the memories of their connection, remembering the feel of Emma’s overwhelming love for her, letting the warmth of the joined feelings keep her company through the night, while she stood watch over the ailing hero.

Several more times Emma had been disturbed in her sleep, with Regina having managed to wake her up every time before it got too bad. And, in the morning, Emma woke by herself, snuggling into Regina’s warm arms. Appreciating the simple contact and connection, Emma lifted herself off Regina's chest and looked into the gentle brown eyes, smiling in the greeting. However, her own body reminded her of its needs, interrupting her pleasurable morning. Moving gingerly, the blonde rose from the bed, her legs still barely able to hold her, and looked around the room for her clothes. Just as she was about to falter, Regina’s hands came on her hips, holding her upright.

“I need to go,” Emma whispered, tucking her head down. Not wanting to explain where she needed to go, she so hoped that Regina was good at reading her mind. And, when she felt the brunette nod from behind her, she sighed in relief.

“Are you able to go down the stairs, to the outhouse and back up?” The tender voice only served to help Emma accept help, as she knew that Regina would not judge her. So, she shook her head in the negative. “Well, then, come on, I’ll help you,” Regina spoke, and transported them out of the room.

Several minutes later they returned, Emma having finished her ablutions. “Some hero, huh?” Emma said, while she was helped back into bed, her self-disgust apparent in the sarcastic tone she had spoken with.

Regina clasped her hand soothingly and grabbed Emma's face with the other, forcing the downed woman to look at her. "You are amazing!" the gentle but firm tone tried to pierce through Emma's downtrodden countenance. "You have been battered from all sides. Not only did you have to deal with the Savior business and the Evil Queen' curse being real, with all the saving you have been doing, the super intensive course in magic, all the new situations, but you had to deal with me, as well. Your mother's nemesis. Your enemy. It is not easy to adjust to one of these situations, let alone all at once. If I were you, I would be curled up and screaming my head off the moment Rumplestiltskin told us that there is Peter Pan and that he is the worst enemy I have ever faced." Regina kissed Emma deeply. "So, yes, you are amazing."

"Well, you're biased." Emma pursed her lips in disbelief.

"It doesn't mean I am not right." When Emma chose to accept her defeat, Regina smirked in victory, tickling the blonde Savior a bit with her gentle fingers on the ribs. At the chortled squeak the woman managed to produce, trying to evade insistent fingers, both Regina and Emma started laughing heartily. As Emma was reclined onto the bed in her jeans and t-shirt, which Regina had magically summoned onto her just before they had left the room, the brunette traced the revealed muscular arm closest to her with her soft pads of the fingers. Although they both knew that any touch between them was more than exciting both of them, the situation firmly locked down their passion. However, it did not prevent it from flashing through their eyes from time to time, just like now when Regina was looking into Emma’s face, her eyes turned into molten chocolate, simmering with heat – promising indescribable pleasure. Emma blushed under the intense look, smiling almost demurely at the other woman, enjoying being subjected to such passion and want.

Emma reached for Regina’s face, enclosing it gently into her palms and pulling it toward herself. Without hesitation or a thought about her magical ailment, she leaned in and kissed the enticing lips in front of her, allowing her own craving desire to manifest into the furious lip locking that she started, letting herself get awash with feelings toward the brunette. She felt the magic rise in her, potent and unstoppable, rushing out to meet its opposite. Along with magic, the heat permeated her every cell, lust flooding her in the ways she had never experienced before. Her hands gripped Regina’s head, holding her close, while she devoured her mouth, pleased that she was not alone in this, as slippery tongue joined her own, exploring her own orifice.

She felt a movement, but she did not want to stop what she was doing. It was all so intoxicating, enchanting, that she wanted to continue kissing Regina into eternity. But when insistent burning in her chest forced her to lift her head a bit, in order to draw a breath into her starved lungs, she noticed that Regina had straddled her during the kiss, her hands intertwined in the blonde tresses. Panting, she leaned her forehead against Regina’s, her hands falling down onto the brunette’s hips, helping her focus back into the present.

Gently, Regina pulled one of her hands out of Emma’s hair and placed it on the Savior’s face, her thumb caressing fondly the raised plane of the cheekbone. Her eyes were glowing with purplish pink light, as she focused her gaze onto Emma, while she inhaled heavily, trying to calm her frantic heart. The sentiment in her look, the unspoken truth and exclamation, pierced through Emma, setting her blood afire again, making her breath catch under the intensity. The passion, the need, interwoven with overshadowing love, enveloped Emma into a warm feeling that she had never felt before. Love, with all its aspects and facets. She felt her own body thrumming in accord, agreeing with Regina’s silent statement, and replying in kind. The gentle loving smile appearing on Regina’s kiss swollen lips told her that she was successful in her answer.

They were lost in each other, loath to move or speak. But their insulated bubble in time popped when a knock sounded from the door. “It’s me, with breakfast and children.” The voice of Emma’s mother came from the other side. Regina leaned in and placed a chaste kiss onto Emma’s lips, before she graciously moved off her and the bed, and opened the door, letting the guests in. Firstly, Henry rushed in, carrying Kyle in his arms, followed by Snow who held a tray filled with food, lifting it up a bit as a peace offering for interrupting them.

When Snow entered the room she saw that her daughter looked better already, her anguished look all but disappeared. However, the slight gauntness and the weary shadows remained, reminding the pixie haired woman that the recovery would be a lasting process. With gratitude, she turned to Regina and felt her own face shape into a smile when she saw the slightly embarrassed woman in front of her. She had no doubt that her arrival had interrupted them in something she chose not to dwell on. Lowering the tray onto the bedside table, Snow watched Emma talk to Henry as Regina had taken the baby out of his hands.

“She looks better,” Snow commented, standing close to Regina, using Kyle as a cover from Emma. As Regina was nuzzling the youngest one, she only hummed in agreement. “Do you need anything else?” the pixie haired woman asked, ready to fulfill any request Regina might have had. But when the other woman shook her head in the negative, Snow brought her palms together and walked to her daughter. She sat down onto the bed, kissing Emma’s forehead in purely motherly fashion, knowing it would embarrass the Savior who was not used to such expressions. And, Emma decided not to disappoint, moving slightly away from the still unexpected tender gesture that still made her uncomfortable. She looked into the gentle green eyes of her mother and shrugged her shoulders at the obvious question in them.

It was strange for Emma to see the same expression in two similar sets of eyes, one from each side of her. As her look furtively moved from her mother to her son, and back, she tried to ease their concern by letting a smile cover her face. But, she knew instantly that she did not fool anyone. Her son watched her carefully, his gaze reminiscent of Regina’s scrutinizing and intimidating look that he had copied perfectly. Unable to stand it anymore, she reached for the boy, pulling him into her exaggerated hug, despite his halfhearted protests. She did not want to burden him with her own failures, he had been through too much already. So, hiding his head into her shoulder, she turned her head towards Snow, looking into the eyes that she had inherited, letting her insecurities and pain regarding the situation become visible on her face for several moments, just enough so her mother would see. And, luckily, Snow knew her daughter well enough to understand the need for silence on such matters. When the pixie haired woman nodded in compliance and with understanding, Emma sighed, easing her grip around Henry.

The boy pushed gently away instantly, settling down more comfortably on the bed, leaving enough space for his other mother to sit, or lie down. He had made a promise to his grandmother that he would not be in the way, and that he would listen to Regina’s instructions to the letter, for Emma was ill. Although he had known about Emma’s problem before, the amount of worry he had seen in Snow’s face and behavior only made him more concerned about his mother. He had seen her the day before, soon after she had saved Elias and Robert, and he had noticed the shadows on her face, but he had not spent much time on them, because he had been too occupied with the possibility that Emma had been looking for a way to create a portal. Because he had wanted one.

A hand came onto his shoulder, just as the mattress dipped to one side as Regina lied down, with the small tyke in her arms. She looked into his eyes, her glare chastising and soothing at the same time, her frown indicative enough for Henry to know why he was being reprimanded. She was his mother in the full sense of the word, and as such, she had known his feelings and turmoil even before he experienced it. That had been how she had known he had been acting strangely the day before, making him confess in the matter of minutes, and how she knew now that he was troubled with Emma’s sickness.

“She would do it anyways,” Regina whispered softly into his ear, covering the move by kissing his temple. “That is just who she is. It’s not your fault.” The soothing tone of hushed words eased his burden, but when he glanced up into the kind chocolate eyes, she saw his reluctance to believe her. Glancing toward the blonde and her mother on the other side of the bed, she noticed the two women were lost in conversation of their own. Returning her gaze to the boy beside her, she smiled gently, shifting a bit to make herself more comfortable. “Isn’t that a hero’s duty?” she asked her son, imploring on his black and white sense of right and wrong. “To find a way for everyone to be happy?”

Henry knew she was right. He knew that Emma would have done everything in her power to appease everyone she loved, proving his point that she was a hero through and through. He nodded sadly, glancing toward his other mother. Looking back at Regina, he nodded again, and lowered his head onto the pillow, letting Emma’s voice wash over him.

Snow enjoyed the easy conversation with her daughter. It reminded her of the time when she was a friend to the blonde, in the shape of Mary Margaret, the town’s teacher. The effortlessness of their chatting was something she missed greatly since the curse broke, as every conversation henceforth was filled with uncomfortable silences and expectations from both sides, stilting them in their need to express themselves. But, now, this new happier Emma was much easier to enjoy talking with. However, for the past several moments a comfortable silence fell on them, as Emma was looking to her left, at the woman playing with the youngest one in the room. The tender and affectionate look in expressive green eyes, followed by a gentle happy glow on the blonde’s face, made Snow smile in response. The obvious adoration her daughter had for the brunette was heartwarming to see. But, the answering kind smirk on Regina’s lips and the fierce devotion unhidden in her eyes, when the former Evil Queen glanced toward the Savior, was what stole Snow’s heart away. Never had she seen so powerful emotion playing out on Regina’s face, not even when she had been gripped in the haze of revenge and hatred. Suddenly, she felt she was intruding on a very private moment, so she slowly rose from the bed, and sneaked out of the room, confident that the women had not noticed her exit, lost in their loving regard.

“Emma?” a soft voice of a nearly forgotten boy startled them, and blinking away at the interruption, the blonde looked down at her son, aware that her cheeks were slightly heated with blush. As she cleared her throat to gain more time, she noticed from the corner of her eye that Snow had left, and that Regina was turning away to bring the food onto the bed.

“Yeah?” she spoke, seeing his smirk playing around his lips. His mischievous look told her that he was well aware of what he had interrupted, and that he wanted their, well, her attention.

“If you are going to be all mushy and gross, I can leave.” Henry then looked at his other mother, grin splitting his face, hopeful glint showing in his eyes. “Elias wanted me to join them in an excursion.” At his earnest try to be an adult and a child at the same time made the blonde Savior chuckle with glee and embarrassment at the same time. There is nothing as humiliating as a child you are in charge of reprimanding you.

“You don’t want to spend your time with us?” Emma asked, acting affronted with his blatant choice to leave them alone. In all truth, she did not have her breakfast yet, and she was already feeling her limbs getting heavier with tiredness. She did want to be with Henry, and Kyle, and all the others, but she still felt drained.

“I am with you every day.” Henry carefully climbed over Emma and got off the bed, taking one of his blonde’s mother’s hands. “There are more interesting things out here.” He spoke with teasing smirk, his gaze encompassing his both mothers. Then, he came closer to Emma and leaned into her space, looking into her face, tracing her darkened skin under her eyes. “And, I know you still need to rest,” he spoke gently, his face turning all serious and worried, in such a perfect mixture of Regina’s and Snow’s mannerisms that Emma was left dumbfounded at his words. “I can take him, if you want,” he offered to his other mother, waving at the baby with a silly expression on his face.

“Would you?”

“Yeah, Grandma is already calling him a second grandson,” Henry spoke without thought, taking the peaceful child into his arms. Then he looked into Regina’s startled face and leaned his head to his shoulder, grinning at his adopted mother. “Mom? You know I am OK with it?”

“With what, dear?” Regina spoke automatically, still not seeing what he wanted to say.

“With him being my new brother.” With those words he turned, and after a wave that Kyle imitated clumsily he left the room, leaving his mothers alone.

“Did he just say what I think he said?” Emma mumbled watching the closed door, before her eyes darted toward the brunette.

“If you are asking if our son just gave us a blessing for adopting Kyle, then yes, I believe he did.”

“Oh, OK then, that is settled.” Emma said calmly, picking up a piece of cheese from the plate on Regina’s lap.

“What do you mean, it is settled? Emma, we didn’t talk about this.” Regina looked at her True Love with confusion. Yes, she wanted Kyle in her life, but she was not ready to enter into another bout of motherhood without Emma’s full support and presence. It may have been selfish, but she did not want to do it alone ever again. And, she would never force Emma into parenthood. So, in the true fashion of a former, and apparently reinstated, Mayor – she had been going to bring it up for discussion.

“What is there to talk about?” Emma looked at Regina and leaned toward the woman, snatching another bit of cheese. At the incredulous look that crossed the brunette’s face, Emma quickly abandoned her reckless approach and took one of Regina’s hands into her own. “I have seen you with him, Regina. I had felt your joy with him. I would never stand in the way of any moments of happiness you have, I hope you know that.” Her earnest look shook Regina to the core and she was unable to reply. “And, honestly, the little tyke had grown on me.” Squeezing the hand in one of hers, Emma came closer to the silent woman and smiled gently into the dark eyes. “It would be great to experience it from the beginning,” she whispered wistfully, as she revealed her desire to see a child grow up. Suddenly she straightened up, uncomfortable with the vulnerability she had shown and the envy she had expressed, and turned away from Regina, hiding her eyes from the other woman.

Regina noticed the abrupt change and frowned at it. During their melds, she could feel Emma’s jealousy of her for all the memories she had with Henry – his first step, first word, first scrape… Even with the shared memories, the blonde wanted to see it for herself and it was something that Regina could understand. What she could not understand was Emma’s sudden sensitivity to the topic. “Emma?” she inquired, sitting up on the bed, pushing the plate away, still having her fingers of one hand intertwined with the blonde’s. Leaning her head on Emma’s shoulder from behind, she felt the blonde exhale sharply. “I want that too,” she whispered softly, letting her breath pass over Emma’s skin, smiling with satisfaction as she saw the hairs stand out on their ends. “But, only if you are willing to be there every step of the way.” She kissed Emma’s shoulder blade just because it was there.

Emma turned her head toward Regina and leaned her lips onto the waiting ones with a soft moan, accepting the unsaid and much appreciated invite into their life together. They had not talked about them yet, not in the practical sense of what they were technically. Here, in the Enchanted Forest, they had been forced to react from situation to situation, but in Maine, they would need to make some definite choices.

“So, I guess I am moving in?” Emma spoke, her lips still on Regina’s. When the brunette chuckled in answer, Emma deepened the kiss, enjoying the slow burn it was igniting. Moments turned into minutes, and after a while Regina pulled away, going with her free hand through Emma’s hair.

“We need to talk,” she spoke seriously, noticing the sudden change in Emma’s eyes. Quickly, she reassured the blonde with another tender kiss, cursing herself for the wording of her request. “Not about us, I presume we are pretty clear on where we stand with that particular topic. But, we do need to talk.”

“I know,” Emma whispered back, her grimace almost painful. Yes, they needed to talk – about what they were to do about the portals, the two months until a fresh batch of beans was ready and many other things that meant a lot of serious chatting, plan devising, and probably many headaches and arguments. “But, not now. Not yet. Let us enjoy this time just a little bit more.”

At the pleading quality in Emma’s voice, Regina frowned with concern, nodding even before she considered her answer. She could give her blonde Savior one more day, especially when the proclaimed hero was apprehensive about their impending conversation. “Alright,” she voiced her agreement, and pulled the blonde down into her previous position and placed the plate with breakfast in between them, signaling that the particular conversation was over.


	7. Chapter 7

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The Warning for non-con in the second part of the chapter...

It was an extraordinary day. As if nature knew it needed to behave for just one day, so it was warm and sunny outside, without a cloud on the cheerfully blue sky. A breeze was bringing scents of the sea into the village and the leaves and branches moving lightly in it were creating a soft murmur, pleasant to the ear. All in all, it was a perfect day – weather wise.

Emma strolled about the village, stretching her legs, enjoying the fresh air and the Sun on her face. Here and there, she would be stopped by a villager who would congratulate her on killing the manticore, or saving the children, and such. Her personal favorite was a thank you for enchanting the Queen, making her almost benevolent. The blonde Savior chuckled to herself, remembering that particular moment when she had been told that she was celebrated as the bewitcher of the Evil Queens… Regina would throw a fit when she heard about it - Emma smiled to herself, unable to contain the ridiculous happiness bursting out of her.

The day before, the brunette ruler spent her entire time with the Savior, taking care of her, but also somewhat entertaining her with some details of the Enchanted Forest, or Storybrooke… They talked for hours, and it would seem that they had not breached any important subjects, but the action of talking itself brought them infinitely closer. Emma also enjoyed seeing Regina relaxed, perhaps for the first time ever. And, she felt that she had fallen in love with the beautiful Queen all over again.

“What are you grinning about?” a very familiar voice came from behind her, shaking Emma out of her thoughts. The Savior turned her head and smirked at the werewolf over her shoulder, slowing down to let the girl catch up.

“What’s not to grin about?” Emma replied flippantly. She raised her arms, and turned around with glee. “Birds are chirping, the Sun is shining, and the day is great!”

“By the Gods, you are following the true path of a Disney princess!” Ruby spoke through laughter, reaching for Emma. “I won’t be surprised if you start singing and dancing any minute now,” she added with conspiratorial smirk while patting the blonde’s shoulder.

Emma shrugged the hand off and looked toward the young werewolf with scowl. “I am not going to sing.” The sharp words reverberated around the small village. Emma looked around with a sheepish look on her face, waving off several people who looked up at her yelling. “And, isn’t it more of Snow’s thing?” the Savior added quietly, after Ruby joined her, still chuckling.

“No, she talks to animals…”

“Right.” She would never get used to all the truths and lies of fairy tales. “So, singing is Aurora’s and Belle’s thing?”

“I don’t know… I’ve got to admit, even some versions of Little Red Riding Hood have the girl singing in them…” Following Emma to a bench in the middle of the village square, she sat beside the blonde, watching her with care. Emma still looked a bit rundown, even though the forced rest had done her good. However, Ruby noticed that the Savior had lowered herself somewhat clumsily onto the wooden bench, suggesting her strength was already sapped.

“Quit it, Rubes.” Came the short tempered words. Emma did not look at her, but the frown on her face was apparent, even from Ruby’s position. “I already have minders - I don’t need you to join the club.” The reprimand was spoken softly, but the werewolf could hear it just as well due to her enhanced senses. In that moment Ruby followed Emma’s look and saw Mulan watching them back, nonchalantly leaning against a wall of one of the inner houses in the village. On the other side was Regina, walking with Henry and other children, telling them something, all the while she was throwing glances in their direction. Ah, the minders – as Emma said, were watching the Savior carefully, no doubt that they would move instantly the moment Emma would falter or grimace in pain.

“Sorry,” Ruby spoke softly, not looking at the blonde woman beside her. She heard Emma move on the bench, and glancing toward her, she saw that the woman leaned on the table behind them with her elbows, throwing her head back and enjoying the Sun on her face.

“I am fine. Maybe I cannot run a marathon or fight another manticore right now, but there is no need for people to walk on eggshells around me.” Emma’s voice was gentle and almost disappointed. Ruby knew that the woman hated being watched for whatever reason, and now it was irking her because everyone she had talked to in the past day had been scrutinizing her. The Savior sighed heavily. Great, now her mood was ruined.

She closed her eyes and sighed again, letting her memories bring her back into her happy place. The previous day had gone by too quickly for her comfort, but each moment she had enjoyed was treasured immensely.

_ Regina leaned her head on Emma’s shoulder after they had eaten breakfast. A small food fight Emma had instigated had ended with the brunette forcibly stuffing the other woman’s mouth with fresh bread, all the while Emma was giggling and squirming under her. Of course, Regina was careful not to choke the Savior, laughing when the blonde had darted her tongue at her, showing her that she had swallowed all the food successfully. In a simple yet effective move Emma had reached for Regina’s hips, turning them over on the bed, and gently placed the woman down, covering her with her own body. Quickly, Emma had moved to a side, pulling the prostrate woman along. _

_ The former Queen felt a hand gliding over her shirt, tracing an unknown pattern over her back. She snuggled into the warm shoulder, placing her hand on Emma’s collar bone, tracing the prominent edge of the hollow on top of the breast bone. “What are you thinking about?” Regina asked softly, her breath tickling Emma’s skin. _

_ “I wonder if someone is taking care of the Bug?” the blonde woman spoke absently. _

_ “I am quite sure Dr. Hopper can take care of himself,” Regina answered, confused by the random topic. But as soon as she spoke, she realized that it wasn’t what Emma had meant. _

_ The Savior lifted her head and peered down at the Mayor and chuckled a bit at her answer, before shaking her head. “I meant my car.” Kissing Regina’s forehead she missed the scowl on the brunette’s face. _

_ “Right. That thing.” _

_ “What do you have against it?” Emma spoke, turning to the side, leaning on her elbow. Her move had dislodged the former Queen from her shoulder and now, Regina was glowering up at Emma, irritated by the loss of her comfy pillow. _

_ “It is loud. And offensive.” When Emma frowned at her words, she plowed on. “It is unsafe, and you have not cleaned it in ages. It cannot take more than three people.” _

_ “I didn’t have more than two people around me.” _

_ “Well, you do now.” The sharp sentence was followed by a gentle palm on Emma’s face. When the blonde smiled down on her, her eyes lighting up with the answer, Regina pulled her gently toward herself, tasting the tender lips that spread into a grin as soon as her own reached them. “And, I won’t be caught in that death trap for the life of me,” Regina whispered against the other woman’s lips, making her snicker. _

_ “Oh, really?” Emma spoke, a mischievous glint showing in her eyes. “Is that a dare?” _

_ “Don’t be ridiculous.” When the cogs in the blonde’s head did not stop turning, Regina curved her eyebrow. “Emma, you better not be planning how to get me inside!” she threatened, hitting Emma’s shoulder lightly with her palm. _

_ “Oh, damn it, you ruined one of my schemes.” Emma spoke with mocking disappointment, placing her hand over her chest in an exaggerated move. _

_ “Well, dear, you should leave it to the professionals,” the brunette spoke with teasing obvious in her tone, humming with satisfaction when Emma lowered her head and attached her moist lips onto the very sensitive skin of her neck. Turning her head to a side, Regina encouraged the blonde to continue what she was doing. Drawing a sharp breath in when she felt the teeth scrape the skin at the juncture of her neck and shoulder, she felt the sensual haze muddle her thoughts. Suddenly, the Savior pulled away and hovered over the brunette who felt the absence of Emma’s mouth keenly. _

_ “Rumplestiltskin?” Emma said, wiggling her eyebrows pointedly at the woman who still had the lustful glaze over her dark eyes, chuckling when Regina frowned at the Savior’s non-sequitur. Emma watched as the brown eyes slowly focused on hers, regaining their sharpness. Only a moment passed before Regina connected the dots. The slight pout that appeared at Emma’s disregard of the Queen’s scheming abilities and the blonde just had to kiss it away. _

_ It didn’t take long for things to get heated, as Emma had her hands under the hem of Regina’s shirt, enjoying the silk feel of the woman’s back, while she was busy devouring the Queen’s neck, at the apparent pleasure of the brunette. Regina entrapped Emma’s legs with her thighs, as one of her hands was buried deep in Emma’s wild hair, while the other was pulling the woman closer, fisting the soft material of the blonde’s t-shirt. _

_ Reasserting her dominance, Regina flipped the blonde over, straddling her. The move startled Emma, and as she hit the pillow with the back of her head, she opened her eyes. Noticing the changed color of the irises, Regina placed her hands on Emma’s shoulders and leaned in slowly, feeling the heated gaze on her skin. Gently, she kissed the opened mouth in front of her, stealing a breath out of the already panting blonde. _

_ “Shhh,” Regina murmured, easing herself down, tenderly kissing the blonde, dispelling the lustful heat with affectionate touch on Emma’s face. The sight of the glowing eyes stopped her from continuing with their passion. It was a bit disconcerting to understand that the blonde was so intoxicating that Regina was almost willing to ignore Emma’s ailment and go on in sating the hunger. Well, almost. Fearing that Emma was still magically weak, Regina did not want to push the Savior too much, turning their pleasurable activities into painful torture. _

_ “Fuck,” Emma mumbled as soon as her breathing eased, while she stared at the ceiling. No one before had had the ability to make her forget everything, even her own well-being. _

_ “Not today,” Regina murmured against Emma’s throat, feeling the soft rumble under her as the blonde chuckled. Arms came around her, holding her close, and a tender kiss was placed on her forehead at the same time. _

“She is in her happy place,” Ruby’s soft voice reached Emma, pulling her back to the present. Keeping herself motionless, she listened carefully, wanting to figure out who was the person that joined them.

“It would seem that she didn’t need to think hard,” came the humorous reply with a slight accent. Emma recognized Belle’s pointedly teasing tone, and smiled in response, not able to keep up with the charade. She turned her head and looked at the young woman standing in front of Ruby, and with a large grin on her face, shook her head in reply. “Well, I am glad,” the spunky woman said and sat between the other two on the bench.

The three women sat in peace, enjoying the weather and chatting about Storybrooke, updating Emma on all the news. Some of them made Emma lift her eyebrows in surprise.

“Leroy? As in a town drunk Leroy?” she said with incredulity raising her voice. Sitting up, she looked at the two women beside her and narrowed her eyes. “He is in the Sheriff’s office?” When the young werewolf only nodded, a light blush covering her cheeks, Emma clucked her tongue and leaned back. “Huh, I guess I never saw that coming. Perhaps, it is true what Regina once said, the officers are chosen for their familiarity with the jail cell.”

“Don’t be like that,” Ruby spoke with a tinge of defensive pride in her tone. “Granny is with him.” Then she turned to Emma crossing her arms. “It’s not like anyone else wanted it. With you and David gone, I took up the mantle. But now…”

“Now that you are here, someone else has to do it.” Emma finished for the girl. “I understand. I don’t like it, and I don’t think it will end well, especially with Regina reinstated…”

“But, you will be there, Ems, won’t you? I mean, you are the Sheriff of Storybrooke. Even more than Graham ever had been.” Ruby said with hopeful pride, glancing toward Belle, asking silently for support.

“Right, Emma, even now the people of our town call you the Sheriff, even though you have been assigned many other titles.” The beauty added at the prompt. But, when Emma looked at her with a ribbing smile, she chuckled. “Yes, some of them had been unsavory ones, but still…” Belle reached for the Savior’s hand. “You were the only one capable of standing toe to toe with Regina, and people recognized that.”

“Even before the curse broke, Emma, you were always arguing with the Madam Mayor.” Ruby added smirking. “We know now what was under it, but then, it was a sign of things changing. And, I don’t know if you noticed, but I guarantee you our esteemed Queen liked clashing with you just as you did.” The werewolf spoke, making Belle chuckle at all the innuendo. But, Emma just smiled as she saw a person standing beside Ruby, unnoticed by the other two women.

“And, on what do you base such guarantees, Miss Lucas?” The crisp tone of the Madam Mayor reached the wolf and Emma almost lost her composure to laughter when she saw the girl lose all the color in her face with her eyes going wide at the voice of the subject of their conversation. Ruby turned her head slowly and opened her suddenly dry mouth, unable to speak. Regina was looking down at the woman, with aloof interest in her face and regal posture. The clothes that she wore only emphasized the effect of her majestic pose. It was an image that had instilled fear throughout the kingdoms. But, Emma could see the mischievous glint in the soft dark eyes, unnoticeable to everyone else. “You have my absolute attention, Miss Lucas. Let’s hear it.”

Emma would have jumped in if not for a slight warning glance Regina had thrown in her direction. It was amazing how they could communicate entire conversations with just a passing glance. Now, she understood how Mary Margaret and David could do it all the time. In that glance was also a promise to keep things friendly from the former Queen. And, honestly, Emma liked that the young werewolf was the center of a joke this time.

“I just… I just meant that…” Ruby swallowed hard and glanced toward Belle. At the encouraging nod from the other woman, Ruby cleared her throat and took a deep breath, having faith that the presence of the Savior would keep things from escalating into a bloody murder. Gathering her courage, the werewolf looked at the former Queen. “Whenever you were together, you looked to push her buttons, but not to hurt her but to make her blood boil. And, several of your jibes could be considered highly seductive. And, Jefferson told me what you had said to him when you had managed to get the apple.”

Regina blinked at the pointed reminder, but before she could reply all haughtily and imperiously, she heard a booming laughter coming from the Savior. Of course, the mention of the apple would spark a memory for the blonde, Regina considered silently. She was glad that Emma could laugh about that, for that moment in time still caused her mixed feelings.

_ First things first. The deal’s not done, not until I solve the next conundrum… How to get this Savior to taste my forbidden fruit. _

Regina’s words had passed through Emma’s mind the moment Ruby mentioned Jefferson and the apple. The sensually intoxicating voice that had come out of the Mayor’s mouth made Emma’s skin tingle. But, what really was funny was the specific wording of the threat.

“You still haven’t solved your conundrum,” Emma gasped, unable to speak properly because of the laughing fit. Regina scowled at her, moving away from Ruby, directing her piercing gaze at the Savior. Standing in front of her, she leaned in, everything about her screaming danger. It was a highly hazardous game that Emma was playing, pushing Regina’s buttons in others’ company. The glorious Evil Queen was back. And, Emma felt her skin react to the danger with a surprising twist. The visual of the most feared person in all the Realms was much more arousing than terrifying. A sudden flash of Regina dominating her passed before her eyes, and the image itself skyrocketed her desire for the woman in front of her, the lust showing in the darkened eyes.

Regina saw Emma’s pupils dilate even though it was very bright outside. At first she had thought that it was fear she had instilled in the woman, regret appearing immediately. She had almost stopped, with the idea to apologize and soothe the woman in front of her, but then she saw a tinge of red on Emma’s cheeks and clenched fists.  _ Ah _ , Regina smirked to herself in understanding.  **That** response was much more welcomed.

The former Queen reached for Emma’s lapels and pulling her up, helped by her magic, she brought the Savior so close, that the only thing between them was the hand gripping Emma’s coat lapels. “Not for the lack of trying,” she whispered softly, her breath caressing Emma’s lips, but loud enough for the other two women to hear her. Then, her face lost some of her harshness, her eyes getting a heated gleam, as her mouth smirked in challenge. Deciding to change the game, Regina allowed her voice to sink deeper into her bedroom tone, filling it with scrumptious assurance, her hand moving up Emma’s neck and into her hair. “But, I promise you, when I finally let you taste it, it will be worth the wait.” The blatant sexual remark shocked the seated women, but Emma only grinned with satisfaction, leaning in to kiss the pleased smirk away. Despite all the desire, the kiss was chaste, breathtaking in its gentleness and adoration.

“Looking forward to it,” Emma murmured against Regina’s lips, placing her hands on the former Queen’s hips. Then she moved away as she focused on suppressing her magic, all the while she felt the hand in her hair acutely.

Regina smiled tenderly at the struggling Savior, having an idea how hard it was for Emma to fight against her own wishes and desires. Even she, the practiced magical user was feeling the strain of power after their wild making out sessions. Emma was getting healthier, but she wasn’t there yet. “And, until you get well, that is all you will be doing,” she spoke into the blonde’s ear, taking pleasure in the shudder that followed her statement. Then, she stepped away, patting Emma’s cheek.

“Evil!” Emma said, with a wide grin on her face as Regina moved. “Evil, I tell you,” she complained when the brunette took a step back, making the Savior miss the warmth of her body severely. Regina only smirked and turned to leave nodding at the still shocked women on the bench. After several steps away, when another murmured Evil came from behind her, she glanced over her shoulder.

“Right you are, for I am the Evil Queen,” she threw over her shoulder, enjoying the flustered Savior.

Emma lowered her head, with a flourishing bow, imitating a court protocol of knights. “My Queen,” the Savior spoke with her right hand over her heart, her tone serious and smooth. But, as always, Emma’s emotions were in her eyes, and now they were shining with mirth and affection.

Regina stopped, turned sideways to the blonde and inclined her head with regal elegance, following Emma’s example. “My Charming Knight,” she spoke with a smirk on her lips, letting their eyes connect in a heated gaze, showing her all the love she felt for the woman, and winking at the Savior she walked away.

“Wow,” Ruby said softly at the display in front of her. “I’ve never seen her so… So…” Unable to find the words, the young werewolf shrugged her shoulders.

“Threatening?” Emma supplied, her tone suddenly sharp, while she turned to the young woman, the muscles in her body already flexing, prepared for anything. But, the girl did not even notice the Savior’s sudden bristling, as she was still looking after the former Queen strutting away, the long coat billowing behind her. Belle, however, saw the change and with careful glances toward the unsettled blonde, she inched closer to her friend, ready to protect her.

“Playful,” Ruby finally continued, unconsciously breaking the tension. “And, damn, that over there…” the girl gestured to the place where Emma and Regina had been during their ‘conversation’. “That was hot.” Looking up at the Savior, she shook her head, finally acknowledging Belle’s warning glances. “I’m sorry.”

Emma blew a breath and dropped down in between Ruby and Belle, patting the werewolf’s knee in acceptance. “It’s OK. She is hot.” Then she looked in the direction Regina had been walking away reflectively, the vision of her arrogantly stepping away from them still fresh in her mind, and dropped her shoulders. “She hadn’t been happy much in her life and I am trying to pull her out of her often bitterly maudlin mood.”

“You are doing just fine,” the werewolf spoke softly, placing her own hand over Emma’s on her knee.

“You know, even though she was the Evil Queen and kept me in her castle for her own nefarious reasons,” Belle said suddenly, joining in the conversation. “I always admired her.” At Emma’s surprised look she smiled demurely. “Being a woman in this world wasn’t easy. Being a Royal was downright difficult.”

“Yeah,” Ruby joined in. “Peasants could accept their women having power, but there was no way for a woman of Royal bloodline to behave improperly and shirk her responsibilities as a noble woman, and yet she had no power in her life. There was only duty – to her father, her husband and her Realm. Nothing else.”

“I was considered nobility back then. That is why I offered my life to Rumplestiltskin. To leave the stifling confines of our society.” Belle looked down at her hands, avoiding the interested eyes of the women beside her. “Even though he had treated me as a prisoner at first, it was still better than my life before.”

“But, Mary Margaret…” Emma started, but she stopped when she saw Ruby shake her head in slight dismissal. It was a very rare sight to see the werewolf say or do something disparaging of Snow White, and hearing the longsuffering sight from the woman surprised the Savior.

“I love your mother to bits, but let’s face it. She had always been a bit…” Ruby stopped, not able to find the right word for the behavior of her friend.

“Oblivious?” Emma supplied helpfully.

“Naïve,” Ruby spoke with the pointed look at Emma, disapproving of her facetious answer, and continued, “about the ways of the world.”

“It was a great luck for Snow that Queen Eva was such a good person and a good mother, and that Leopold was so deeply in love with her,” Belle interrupted before Emma could respond. “Even then, had Regina not had Leopold killed, he would have given her away to further the interest of the kingdom. Only, he would have been able to ask for a higher price, for she had been the thing he loved the most.” Belle took Emma’s hand in hers and squeezed it gently. “Rumple had the histories of the Royals in the Dark Castle, filled with their darkest secrets. It was a ledger of sorts.” With a gentle look in her eyes, Belle continued after a brief dramatic pause that made Emma believe that the girl would have been an excellent storyteller. “Leopold was not a good man,” she said quietly, her tone serious.

“I know.” Emma’s equally serious and quiet answer surprised the women. They honestly thought that Emma would deny such allegations, or put up a fight accepting them. “I saw it in Regina’s memories.”

“So, it’s true,” Belle spoke, her countenance changing into a more intrigued one. Emma knew what Belle was asking – their ability to meld, and just nodded in reply.

“Is what true?” Ruby asked confused, glancing to and from the Savior and Belle.

“She and Regina can share each other’s memories,” the young beauty explained to the werewolf, before turning back to Emma. “Rumple told me. He, also, has a theory about that, you know.”

“Please,” Emma spoke quickly, raising her hand in the stopping motion. “Not now. His theories always consist of doom and gloom for me. I don’t want to hear it.” Emma growled, rubbing her eyes with her hands. Then she looked at the startled woman and her face filled with remorse, aware that she had just snapped at Belle for no good reason. “Maybe some other day?” she said softly as an apology. When the beauty nodded with acquiescence, Emma rose from the bench. “I am going back. Thank you for the company.”

Emma left the women sitting, waving at their goodbyes. She wanted to see Regina, to talk to her. The conversation she had just had with her friends had left her mildly disoriented and she wanted to settle some things. And, it was time, and some discussions could not be put off indefinitely. But, when she reached the village hall, she saw her mother entering the center room. Knowing that Regina had been already inside, although it was wrong of her, she decided to stick to the shadows, hiding in the darkness of the arched stairs, curious about the conversation her mother and her mother’s former nemesis were going to have.

* * *

Regina stood by the empty hearth in the center room of the Hall. She was looking down at the stone floor, where only several days before she had been lying, fighting for her life against a very powerful poison that had been streaming through her veins. Emma’s memories of her own pale face were so vivid in her mind and colored with anguish and anger the Savior had been feeling at the time.

She had come in the room only at the insistence of the kitchen staff, politely telling her to stay out of their way while they collected the items she had asked for. And, then, the blonde’s memories were so strong that they pulled her in, making her see that day with every painful detail.

“Regina?” Snow’s voice brought the former Queen to the present, and she instantly straightened her back, the dark eyes darting toward the other woman. For several moments they kept their eyes connected, measuring each other – for there were no others around. No Emma to heal, no children to take care of. So, Snow had questions and a will to ask them. After a while, Regina turned away, unable to stand the scrutiny from the green eyes, so alike the Savior’s. “May we talk?” the pixie haired woman asked, surprised by the despondent welcome.

“Our talks never end well for one of us, dear.” Regina did not look at the woman, reaching out for the mantle of the fireplace and a small figurine she saw there. Snow knew that her former stepmother did not want to talk to her, but as she had remained in place, without dismissing the younger woman, the proclaimed White Queen accepted it as a tacit permission. Coming closer to the woman who was dressed as the Evil Queen had used to dress, the black leather and deep colors dominant in her clothes, Snow saw only a broken woman whose pure loving spirit had been wrecked and twisted into its dark perversion. However, as Snow had stated days before, she could see some of that brave young woman who had taught her the meaning of True Love in the brunette in front of her. After several minutes of silence, the former Evil Queen gave up on her examination of the small wooden figurine of a chimera, expertly carved into the piece of oak wood, and turned to her True Love’s mother, primly brushing off some imaginary lint of her deep green coat. “What is it, Snow?” she asked, directing her dark eyes to Snow’s face, her tone bored.

“Emma mentioned something on the ship that made me think,” Snow started, but unable to continue she fiddled with the buttons of her coat, knowing that the restlessness she was feeling was pure Mary Margaret in her.

“I believe Miss Swan said many things in those days,” Regina spoke absently, as an encouragement for the other woman to go on. For days now, she had been waiting on this, this occasion when her former step daughter would corner her and ask her questions about their past. That was why she welcomed Snow so coldly, even though things had been settled between them and were working toward amicable existence side by side. However, Regina was never one to suffer interrogation, and even allowing herself the latitude to answer difficult questions for Snow was something she found hard to do.

“My father…” Snow said but when she saw the sudden change in Regina’s attitude she stopped, unexpectedly afraid for her well-being. The former Queen’s face darkened, the eyes grew hard and Regina closed her palms into fists, her knuckles going white with the force she channeled into her hands. But, then the woman breathed out and settled, the violent storm passing as quick as it had come. Not sure what to do next, the younger woman took an encouraging breath and continued. “Was he…?”

“The King was a wonderful and kind father,” Regina spoke through the clenched jaw, interrupting Snow in her question. Her voice was even. Looking at Snow, she directed her gaze onto the face of the woman in front of her. The look of relief passed over the so familiar eyes.

Scoffing at the predictable reaction Regina turned away, clenching her jaw to stop herself from continuing on.

_ Her tone growing cold and her eyes gaining sharpness that Regina had rarely displayed in her life, she spoke on. “On the other hand, King Leopold was a despotic ruler, a monstrous husband and a rotten person in general. I honestly don’t know what Eva did ever see in that man.” _

_ “But…” Snow would interrupt. _

_ “Did you know that he was the one who ordered the taxes’ raise, which I enforced after his death? Did you know that every night after he would say goodbye to you, dear Snow, he would force himself into my chambers and demand my flesh, without fail? That, even as I screamed into the pillows from the pain, he would continue, until he’d reach his intended goal, afterwards patting my head as if I was nothing more than a dog to him? Did you ever ask yourself what had happened to all those people who would knock on our door in poverty? _

_ Everyone loved him, because those who didn’t would never be heard of again. He would commit such acts of cruelty and everyone praised him as the benevolent king. And, you deemed ME the Evil Queen, dear Snow. If you only knew…” _ Regina blinked at Snow’s not so subtle throat clearing. Luckily, she vented in her imagination, the vision so powerfully strong, just like the one of killing Snow had had been all those years ago. But, she had lost the thread of the actual conversation, and gathering her thoughts, she looked back at Snow.

“Your father did what was expected of him,” Regina spoke suddenly and turned away, signaling that the conversation was over. Snow sighed at the abrupt end and walked away, glancing over her shoulder at the woman. She knew that Regina had hidden something from her, but really what was the point anymore?

“You lied to her,” a soft whisper came from the shadows, making Regina start. Peering into the darkness, she recognized the Savior leaning against the wall, with her arms crossed over her chest. If there was anyone who knew what had happened, it was Emma, and Regina did not feel the need to hide from the blonde. Lifting her hand into the invitation, she watched the woman untangle her arms and slowly push away from the wall.

“I obscured the truth. There is a difference.” Regina spoke when the Savior reached her, taking her offered hand and pulling her closer into a gentle hold.

“Why?” Emma had seen Regina’s face change colors when Snow had asked about Leopold. And, it was strange that she had just spoken about him with Belle and Ruby, and now, Regina had been asked about him by Snow. But, as Rumplestiltskin and Neal had a custom of saying – sometimes it was just Fate.

“He is long dead. What would be the point?” Regina’s words were slightly muffled as she pressed her chin onto Emma’s shoulder, feeling the warmth flood her at the full bodied contact, as the Savior’s hands glided over her back.

“She needs to know everything about the past. She needs to know the truth of the world she loves. I will not have her be on the moral high ground, when she could’ve ended up doing worse things than you have! Her obnoxious belief cannot be her excuse.” The passionate speech Emma delivered softly into Regina’s ear made the older woman shake her head at the White Knight’s reproach of her own mother, Snow White.

“Emma, it is done. Leave it be.” Regina whispered back weakly, already knowing she was fighting an already lost battle.

“No, I will not stand idly by while you punish yourself with this ‘act of kindness’”, Emma said firmly, reaching for the brunette’s face. As she peered into the dark eyes, she smiled gently, trying to break the morose atmosphere in the room. “Your reputation may suffer if people hear of this.” Then, she leaned her nose against Regina’s, initiating an Eskimo kiss. “Do not coddle her,” she pleaded with the former Queen.

With a suffering sigh, Regina pushed her hair behind her ears in such unsecure move that Emma’s eyes watered at the image. “What would you have me do?”

“Tell her the truth. Or better yet, show her.” Ignoring the questioning gaze, Emma continued. “Just like when we link, or like when I saw Pongo’s memories. It will spare you from talking about those memories and she will see them with her own eyes.”

“It will hurt her.” Regina shook her head at the idea, not because it was impossible, because it wasn’t, but because it would destroy what was left of Snow’s innocence, a trait that had pulled Regina toward the child in the first place. “Emma, I know what is like to lose faith in our parents. Don’t force it on her.”

“Since when do you care?” Emma asked with interest, reaching for Regina’s hands, intertwining their fingers.

“Since, she became someone important to this family.” The statement, although was simple enough, communicated so many things at once. The admittance that Regina would do anything for Emma, even suffer her once mortal enemy. The blonde’s inclusion into the family she shared with Henry. The reluctant acceptance of family relation to Snow. The affection Regina had once, and perhaps still, felt for the pixie haired woman. And, so many other things, intertwined and interwoven into the words Regina had spoken quietly.

“I love you,” Emma blurted out suddenly, moved by the emotions that played in the dark eyes. “I love you so much,” she reiterated and leaned her forehead against the other woman’s, unable to put her feelings of the moment into words, for each and every one seemed imperfect for the meaning she needed. Looking into the dark teary eyes, Emma reached for a stray drop of salty liquid that had escaped the confines of the eyes with her thumb, caressing Regina’s cheek with caring touch. “Do you trust me?” Emma coaxed Regina into accepting the need of making Snow understand the truth.

“With my heart,” Regina answered immediately, her reply truthful and serious. Indeed, her heart was something most precious to the dark Queen, and as a pledge of trust it was priceless.

“It needs to be done.” The gentle unassuming whisper reached Regina’s ears and she surrendered to Emma, knowing that she was right, even though she did not want to dwell on her late husband. The kind soothing touch on her skin spoke of Emma’s understanding of her inner turmoil and of the understanding Emma had for her sacrifice. The only answer she gave was a simple short nod, almost unnoticeable, but Emma had seen it, and accepted it without further talk on the subject. The Savior then led them to chairs closest to the hearth and guiding Regina, they both sat down.

Soon after, the two men Regina had seen in the kitchen earlier came into the center room, bringing in a low table suitable for a person, or in this case two, to eat. Setting it up between the Savior and Regina, the men retreated with a respectful bow of their heads before leaving the room. As the men walked out, a third one elegantly strolled in, going toward the couple, his arms laden with already prepared meals. Having arranged the plates in front of the women, the server turned to the former Queen and inclined his head, clasping his hands before him.

“Is everything to your satisfaction, Your Majesty?” the man asked, his tone respectful and without animosity Regina had expected. When the brunette looked at Emma, deferring the choice to her, the Savior smiled at the middle aged tall man and nodded, glancing down at the food, her mouth watering at the sight.

“Yes, thank you.” The blonde then focused on the server, her eyes narrowing in scrutiny. “What is your name?” she asked with interest, observing the man, her gut telling her that he had been one of the Evil Queen’s servants before the infamous curse. The apparent respect and the lack of fearful suspicion were a dead giveaway for the Sheriff, as she had dealt with angry, afraid and distrustful villagers so far.

“William, Your Highness,” the graying tall man spoke dutifully, placing his hands behind his back, as his gray eyes watched her carefully, noticing the tightening of Emma’s jaw at the title he had bestowed on her.

“And, how many years have you spent in Queen Regina’s employ?” Emma then asked, smirking when she saw Regina flinch a bit, her dark eyes darting from the blonde’s face to the server’s and back. She did not miss the man’s back going straight as he drew himself to his full height, as he glanced toward the brunette.

“Eight years, Your Highness, not counting the curse,” the man spoke with pride. “Since the death of King Leopold,” he added for the Savior’s benefit, thinking Emma would need further clarification.

Turning toward Regina, Emma directed her eyes to the dark ones, catching and keeping them locked, while her mouth pursed into a pleased smirk, at being proven right. “How did our Queen earn your loyalty, William?” Emma continued, not breaking the loving gaze she had bestowed on the woman across the table.

“She stopped the late King from exiling my sister and her family, Your Highness.” Then the man turned to the brunette and bowed deeply. “I have not had the honor of thanking my Lady Queen for what Your Majesty has done, until now. Please, accept this meager meal as my humble offering of gratitude.” Emma raised her eyebrows at the ceremonial address of the server to Regina, and sighed, knowing that she would have to learn the protocols, now that she was in this crazy world of kings and queens.

Regina slowly regained the ability to speak and smiled at the man graciously, gesturing him to rise from the bow with practiced ease coming to her naturally, having remembered the incident he had referred to. The King, in his infinite ‘wisdom’ had decided to banish the woman in charge of the birthday pastries and cakes for the court because his little princess had hated the cake she had gotten for her birthday. The Queen had implored her husband publicly to spare the woman, her pleading well heard and received by the White’s court. Her blatant disregard of her ‘wifely responsibilities’ and public humiliation of the King she had paid dearly later that night, but she had always considered the instant as a small victory, as she had taken pleasure in having made the King look unstable and unreasonable in front of his friends and loyal subjects.

“And, how is Anne? Has she survived the…” Regina trailed off, unable to continue asking the man about his sister, in case she had suffered from the curse.

“Oh, yes, Your Majesty! She is here, in the village, safe and sound, along with her children.” William turned then to the Savior. “Your Highness has met her. The woman asked about the children, by the cave’s entrance, was Anne.”

Emma nodded at the man and smiled when he bowed to both of them, taking his leave in order for women to enjoy their meal while it was still hot.

“How did you know he was one of mine?” Regina asked quietly, her eyes still glued to the door William had closed behind him.

“The way he behaved toward you,” Emma said, reaching for a piece of a dried strip of meat with her hand, taking it up with her fingers, inspecting it closely, as it did not look as if it had come from a chimera of the manticore. “He asked you about the meal, not the Savior – who is also incidentally the crown princess and a daughter of Snow White, the paragon of good.” Focusing completely on the strip in her hand, she narrowed her eyes. “What is this?”

Regina looked up at the Savior, having hummed in agreement with Emma’s explanation, shaking her head in a mild distaste when she saw the blonde Sheriff sniff the strip of the dried meat, dangling out of her hand, with no table manners whatsoever. But instead of a sharp caustic remark, the view would have provoked out of her, Regina smiled at the woman’s antics, finding the boorish exploration somewhat endearing.

“It is a boar, dear,” the brunette spoke, as she set out to fix herself a plate. “And, you could stop behaving as its relative and use utensils as it is befitting of your stature.” Well, she could not go too much against her nature, could she? Regina smirked to herself as her reprimanding words left her mouth. Emma scowled at the sharp rebuke and in a moment of infuriating stubbornness and adversity, she stuffed the strip into her mouth, not even tearing it into bits, chewing loudly, barely able to close her mouth with her cheeks bulging. At the narrowed eyes of the woman in front of her that was shaking her head again, Emma grinned, having swallowed the meat. Then, in an act of reconciliation, Emma decided to follow the example of the refined behavior of the brunette, as they ate in silence. Enjoying their meal, they glanced at each other, smiling fondly whenever their eyes would meet, but not interrupting the contented quiet.

After their lunch, and thanking their servers, Regina followed Emma upstairs, to their room, pleased to be away from others just a little bit longer. Even though it did not seem so, she had been shaken by Snow’s question, and meeting the cook from her own court was also unsettling, regardless of the good news William had shared. She wasn’t ready yet to leave the solitude of the village hall and don her mask on to be around other people. And, as if by unspoken agreement that they would have a much needed talk after the lunch meal, Emma had decided that it was time.

“Link us,” Emma spoke the second Regina closed the door behind her.

“No.” The former Queen walked to the bed and sat, having taken off her coat. Pulling down the cuffs of her shirt, she looked up at Emma. “It is too dangerous. I will not risk your health just for the convenience of our connection,” she said firmly, her brusque tone telling the blonde that she would not yield on the subject. Then, gentling her voice, she patted the spot on the bed beside her, inviting the blonde over. “You will have to tell me what you want me to know.”

The Savior nodded with apprehension. She had never been good at talking, because before coming to Storybrooke, she had not shared anything of herself since her incarceration, and old habits did die hard. Although she had instantly made a connection with the school teacher, Mary Margaret, she had said less than a few things to her friend, and later, her mother. But, Regina was different for Emma. Even before their meld, Emma had felt safe enough to speak honestly and with depth to the brunette for now apparent reason.

The blonde Savior looked around the quaint room, wishing for a chair. Sitting on bed, discussing important things seemed a bit ridiculous. And, what’s more, she needed a measure of distance a simple wooden chair would provide for her, but summoning one in an already small space would be impractical. She reached the bed, and taking off her boots, she climbed up, placing herself at the foot of the bed, sitting in an Indian style. The Savior leaned her elbows onto her knees, and peered at the brunette in front of her, blowing at a strand of her blonde hair that had fallen over her face. Regina sighed at Emma’s unwillingness to start, and pulling herself up on the bed, she fluffed her pillow behind her back, using it and the headboard as a back rest. She crossed her legs at the ankles and deciding to break the uneasy silence, she pushed a wisp of her dark hair behind her ear.

“How did you even think about using a portal other than the beans?” the former Queen consciously kept her tone mild and quiet, not wanting to make Emma feel even more uncomfortable. She knew the White Knight had bad experiences with any kind of formal inquiry, including her own council meetings where she had grilled the Sheriff for hours, looking for any sign of misconduct.

“It was many things,” the blonde started, her hand absently drawing lines on the cover blanket. “When you have razed the field in Storybrooke, it made me realize that relying on the beans was stupid, especially when they could be stolen and destroyed just as easily as you have done. And, the longer one keeps using them, the greater the chance to get stranded somewhere is.” Then, Emma glanced toward the uncovered window, a look of despondence passing over her face. “You miss this place… Even though you hate its customs and peoples, you miss the land here. Snow loved it and I see her looking around with melancholy, feeling torn between the Enchanted Forest and Maine. David, too…” She looked back to Regina, her smile crooked and sad. “Although you all would forsake this place for me, I know what a tremendous sacrifice it is, even for you.”

“Emma, it doesn’t matter. I will always choose you. And, your parents will too.” Regina leaned forward, reaching for Emma’s wandering hand, enclosing it in her own in the need to prove her words.

“That is exactly why it does matter.” Emma untangled her legs and pulled out her hand out of Regina’s, and she rose from her position. Crossing her arms she walked to the window, looking out, aware that the brunette was following her with her eyes, allowing her the time to compose her thoughts. “The choice you would all make for me makes me feel… Well, makes me feel loved and appreciated. But…” The Savior glanced over her shoulder, not moving from the window. “It makes me feel guilty for forcing you to make that decision.”

“Emma…” Regina started.

“No, hear me out,” Emma interrupted, raising her hand in the air, stopping all the objections from the brunette. “I know that it is not my responsibility. But, I cannot just watch them abandon their home, and do nothing!” The outburst, while it was expected, surprised Regina, making her blink at the frustration Emma displayed.

Deciding not to delve deeper into the subject Emma was clearly sensitive about, the former Queen just pushed on with their conversation. “It still doesn’t tell me what do you want with a portal?”

“I want to make one. Well, two actually, connected.” Emma said easily, as if it involved nothing more than a wave of her hand. However she had known the difficulties of such an endeavor, having talked to Rumplestiltskin, and she knew that her True Love would object to the notion because it was dangerous.

“Make?”

“Yeah.” The Sheriff walked to Regina, lowering herself into a crouch beside the bed on the brunette’s side, placing her hand onto Regina’s in her lap. “Henry was the one who actually gave me the idea. He insisted that we should make one, not use one. I can’t really explain, but it struck me…”

“Wait, let me be clear,” Regina spoke, looking at the Savior squatting beside her with a raised eyebrow, her tone sharper than before. “You want to create a portal, which would connect Storybrooke and the Enchanted Forest permanently?” she asked incredulously. “Are you aware how unfeasible that is?” Regina had heard a few unreasonable ideas from the Sheriff, curiously all involved with the budget of the Sheriff’s Department, but this one was going to take the lead.

“I have been told, yes.” The blonde head bobbed up and down, but the green eyes were focused on Regina’s face.

“And, you still insist on looking for a way to do this?” The brunette frowned at the woman beside her, her disapproval clear on her features.

“Look at it this way. Henry visits his grandparents here, and suddenly there is a crop plague or something, and all the supply of the beans is lost. How is he going to come back home?” Emma asked hypothetically, imploring to the rational side of the former Queen, and at the same time at the mother side of the woman in front of her.

“The probability of that happening…”

“All right, what if he accidentally sends himself somewhere else? Not home. And that globe of yours doesn’t work. How are we going to find him? As I understand, there are countless worlds accessible by beans, and I still don’t know how they actually work…”

Regina closed her mouth in the middle of her reasonable rebuke with a loud snap, as soon as she heard Emma speak of Henry getting lost again, realizing that the blonde was essentially right. If Henry was to think about Frankenstein, or some cartoon while activating the bean portal, it could pick up on it and send him somewhere unplanned. Not only him, but anyone who would use the pesky little things. The implications were immense and unimaginable. Their journey to Neverland was a lesson enough.

“This way, we could limit the options and make it a lot safer for use,” Emma added quietly to her pitch, knowing that Regina was seriously considering her idea.

“The amount of energy needed would be almost unthinkable. And, magical materials are needed, and plenty of them.” Regina considered out loud, her eyes slightly unfocused as she was trying to remember all the necessary things for a portal creation.

“I know it seems unmanageable, but Regina, Rumplestiltskin all but told me I am the most powerful entity he had met. This means, you are too.”

“True Love is based on equality,” Regina murmured to herself absently as she thought about Emma’s words. Ignoring her absentminded whisper, Emma squeezed the brunette’s hand, drawing her attention back to the subject.

“The Dragon Caves are filled with blood saturated stones. And, I assume there is enough to make two stone arches, isn’t there?”

“Arches?” Regina asked with the intrigued smile, her eyebrows going up.

Emma blushed at the scrutiny and rubbed her neck, lowering her eyes. “Well, Henry called it the operation Gate.” She then peered through her eyelashes at the smirking woman, knowing that Regina could wait her out. “It made sense to me to make arches…”

Regina just pursed her lips in a teasing smirk at the blonde, finding the idea cute and practical. And somewhat romantic. “Nevertheless, you need something potent enough to power it.” Regina went on with the next point of the plan.

But, the Savior was prepared. “True Love’s potion. In fact, four of them.” At Emma’s sure voice, the former Queen nodded, understanding that Emma had already discussed this part with the former imp of her father. But before she could say anything, Emma continued. “And, the beans as well. They carry plenty of magic of their own.”

“My mother could have something that we could use as a guide for the magic.” Then Regina pulled the Savior up by her hand, making the blond sit beside her. “You figured this all out in one morning?”

“It was less, truthfully. More like, an half an hour or so…”

“Well, it would seem that under your exterior hides a very intelligent person,” Regina told Emma gently, caressing her cheek.

“Are you telling me I look stupid?” the blonde Sheriff asked, an irritated scowl covering her face.

Regina ignored the possibilities to insult the Savior and start a bickering war. “No, I am telling you, you are beautiful and smart at the same time.” Pulling the frowning Sheriff towards herself, Regina kissed the woman, reaffirming her words. Then, she moved the golden hair of Emma’s face, gently tucking it behind the blonde’s ear. She looked at the green eyes and pleased that they had lost their indignation – fueled glow, she kissed the woman again, humming in satisfaction when she felt the Savior respond, keeping the touch of their lips light.

“If anyone is beautiful here, it’s you, My Queen,” Emma said softly, against the tender lips. She glanced up into the darkened eyes and let the overwhelming love she felt for the woman fill her every cell, apparent in her eyes and on her face. “For you are the fairest in the land,” she continued sincerely, reaching for Regina’s cheek, humming with content when the former Queen leaned against her hand.

“You are biased,” Regina spoke quietly.

“It doesn’t mean I am not right,” Emma echoed the Mayor’s words from several days before, making the woman smile in remembrance. Spending several minutes gazing into each other’s eyes, the women relished in their bond. However, soon Regina thought of something.

“But, there is one big problem with your plan,” the brunette said softly, and in the green eyes she saw the knowledge and determination shine back at her.

“I know,” Emma sighed, closing her eyes. But then, she took Regina’s hands and held them in her own, the gesture oddly reassuring and frightening at the same time. “The portals have to be simultaneously opened from both sides. And, there are many other things to deal with, and that means one of us would have to stay.”

“Snow’s dream…” Regina’s face changed instantly, losing the softness and her eyes darkened in anger as she pulled her hands out of Emma’s hold. Pushing the blonde away, she glared at the galling woman, clenching her fists in an attempt to control her need to lash out in rage. “How dare you make that decision without even talking to me?” the former Queen asked, her tone rising in anger, gaining the cold edge of the Madam Mayor.

“I am talking to you, Regina,” Emma said quietly, not reaching for the woman although her heart yearned so, aware that any attempt to come closer to the seething woman would end in magical eruption, as the brunette was still clasping her hands so hard that the knuckles were white.

“After the fact!” Pacing at her side of the bed, she let out a few tendrils of pure magic through her fingers, unable to contain the bleed as she was too upset with the obstinate Sheriff. Too many times before people had made the decisions for her, and the idea of Emma doing the same made her see purple.

“I have done nothing yet.” Emma nevertheless kept her tone low, but the effort was making her grind her teeth. The magic the woman was sending out was igniting her own, and with tremendous effort Emma was keeping it in, trapped and preventing herself from using it, knowing that she was not ready yet to pull in the energy, as her body was yet recuperating. “It is not safe for you here.” Again rising from the bed, the Savior closed her eyes against the images plaguing her vision, each one more gruesome then last, helped by the remembrance of Regina’s vivid nightmares about the people’s vengeance. Placing her hands on the mantle of the room’s small furnace, isolated by stone, Emma grasped the rough stone edges, using the uncomfortable feeling on her skin to focus. “When we leave, the village will descend on you the minute you are left by yourself.” The quiet, yet powerful tone of the Savior cut through the anger Regina had felt flare. She looked at the blonde woman, seeing only her back and lowered head. With the realization that Emma was fighting against the pull of the Savior magic, which would react to its counterpart’s activation in Regina, if the woman was close, Regina reapplied her control over her magic, cutting herself off from it. “It is hard enough to know that this world is dangerous by itself with Ogres, lions and other creatures, but to actually consider the constant threat of these people turning on you…” The soft anguished whisper pulled Regina in closer to the strong woman, and she stood behind her, not yet daring to touch the shuddering Savior, whose shoulders were slumped against the burden of loss and love, duty and respect. Seeing the fierce protector so visibly shaken at the idea of Regina being in danger moved the older woman immensely. But, before she could reach out for the woman, Emma turned to her, her eyes watering with intense emotions. “I need you safe,” the blonde only whispered, before Regina pulled her into a bone crushing embrace, soothing the younger woman in her arm.

“So, you decided, as the Savior you are, to send me away to Storybrooke while you are here dealing with who knows what,” Regina spoke a bit sharper than intended, as she walked them both back to the bed. In apology to her voice, she rubbed Emma’s back.

“Mulan and Aurora like me, and I am the Savior and what not…” Emma only said, letting Regina push her onto the bed, yelping when the brunette dropped herself beside her, landing on her side.

Regina leaned onto her elbow and looked down at the blonde, her hand playing with the buttons of Emma’s shirt. “I don’t like it.” But before the blonde could object, Regina continued. “I know it is the right thing to do, but I still don’t like it.”

“The separation? Or my magic?” Emma asked while she settled down on the bed and arranged her pinned arm around Regina’s waist, with her other hand gently stopping the wandering palm on her chest.

“Your propensity for danger,” Regina answered quietly. “Henry comes with me?” the former Queen asked after a while, her voice unsure of the Savior’s answer.

“Absolutely.” The answer, said so quickly allayed Regina’s insecurities, but the understanding look in Emma’s eyes only made Regina love the woman more. “He needs to go to school, and I would like him to see Archie. He seems fine, but…” Emma broke off, not knowing how to continue.

“So did you, until you fell apart,” the brunette spoke gently, understanding Emma’s concerns perfectly. He did have some of the blonde’s behavioral patterns, and if he had adopted the woman’s ability to hide injuries and pain, then he was all the more in need of a talk with Dr. Hopper. “Would you consider talking to him after getting back?”

“Honestly?” Emma glanced at the woman looking at her. “Yeah,” she said nodding. At Regina’s approving smile, Emma only pulled the woman closer to her and closed her eyes, sighing with content. She chuckled when Regina kissed her neck, having lowered her head onto Emma’s shoulder. “We’ll have to inform the others,” the blonde whispered absently after several minutes of silence.

“We could call the meeting and put everything out,” Regina murmured from her position. “But, I would need to see the Caves, and I suppose Rumple would too. And, you should come too.”

“No, not this time.” The Savior did not want to be in the situations where she would unconsciously call on her magic and transportation is one of those. “I guess I will finally learn how to ride…”

Regina smiled at the slightly disheartened tone of the blonde and kissed the inviting skin of the neck in front of her. “You already know how to ride. It is just a matter of practice…”

Emma hummed in answer, not really having understood what Regina had meant as she was too occupied by the hot lips trailing down her neck. When she felt a tendril of magic enveloping her, she opened her eyes in surprise but then she grinned at the brunette as Regina had banished her shirt and pants, along with her own clothes and pulled them both under the blankets. But instead of a continuation of teasing kisses, Regina only lowered her head onto Emma’s chest and placed her arm around the blonde’s waist, snuggling into the warm body of the Savior. While they both needed a nap, seeing that they both had somewhat interrupted sleep due to Emma’s nightmares, Emma did not appreciate the brunette stopping what she had been doing. With a grumble, she pulled the blanket up.

“Shush,” Regina murmured against Emma’s chest, her voice already drowsy. The blonde was reminded that Regina needed the snooze perhaps more than her, as she was the one who had been sleeping on edge, always prepared to wake Emma before the grip of the nightmares was too strong. Pulling the woman closer, Emma closed her eyes and allowed her tiredness to claim her. They were not finished with their talk, but Emma knew the biggest item had been crossed off the list.

The blonde woman woke up suddenly, gripping the still sleeping woman on top of her tighter. It wasn’t a nightmare that had awakened her, not hers anyways and by the look of things, not Regina’s either. A soft sound of shuffling feet came by the door and Emma quickly closed her eyes, listening carefully for the intruder.  _ That must have been it _ , Emma concluded, feigning sleep.

The slight creak of the opening door warned the woman that the person was about to enter. But before they could walk in, Emma heard another set of footfalls, and she smiled as she recognized the light stride of her mother.

“Henry,” Snow whispered harshly, sounding close to the door ajar. “What are you doing?” she admonished the boy, coming closer to him, still keeping her voice low.

The boy only squeaked in surprise before he peaked in the room, hoping that they did not wake his mothers. “They are asleep,” he said, softly rebuking his grandmother. “I came to see if they were here.” The door closed slowly, but Emma could still hear her son through the wood. “Mom seemed tired this morning and Emma…” The young prince only stopped speaking, unable to find his words. Emma could hear the concern in the child’s whisper.

“Henry,” Snow spoke soothingly and Emma could just see in her mind the caring expression of her mother as she placed her arm around his shoulders, pulling him close. “I know you are worried, but you have to let them deal with this. Interrupting their sleep will not help them or you.” Then the voice of Snow started moving away, followed by two sets of light feet. “Now, come, David wanted to show you something before supper, and Neal…” As Snow’s voice grew into indistinct murmur and then silence, Emma chuckled softly.

“We have been neglecting them,” Regina whispered from her place. Emma lifted her head looking at the woman, not really surprised that the woman was awake. Her sudden move those minutes before must have woken the brunette.

“I have. You’ve been there for him these past several days,” Emma gently corrected. She exhaled heavily and looked up at the ceiling, avoiding Regina’s eyes, not able to endure the understanding and compassionate eyes, when she was angry with herself for failing as a mother.

The former Queen lifted herself on her elbow when Emma kept quiet for several moments. She immediately focused on the green eyes filled with self-recrimination and guilt. Not willing to let the Savior punish herself for something that was out of the blonde’s hands, she lowered her lips on Emma’s, startling the blonde out of her grim thoughts. Letting her body land onto the woman below her, she entangled her hands into Emma’s hair, pulling the blonde head toward her, taking complete control of the passionate kiss, delving into the welcoming mouth with her insistent tongue.

Swallowing the heated moan from the blonde, Regina felt warm hands glide up her back, pressing her tighter against the heated body beneath her, Then, the unrelenting hands went down and slithered underneath her shirt, searing the brunette’s skin with their warmth and tingling feel of awakening magic, coaxing a moan out of her. Suddenly, she felt the magic flooding her, as her arousal grew, enhancing the feel of Emma’s hands on her skin and the blonde’s mouth on her own. So quickly her power grew that she felt lightheaded with the continuous assault of the magic and her lust, but overwhelmed with her own desire for the woman, she only leaned in, surrendering to the passion of the moment, feeling her magic rise to the surface, called upon by the insatiable hands and mouth on her skin. A tiny voice in her head started screaming at her that it was dangerous what she was doing, for the Savior and herself, becoming louder by the second, eventually able to cut through the haze of her lust, love and magic. But, before she could pull away, Emma turned them around, pinning the brunette down in an impressive show of strength, forcing a gasp out or Regina, her body growing even hotter at the display of dominance.

Emma lifted her head opening her eyes, her white irises glowing in the dimness of the late afternoon, and directing her gaze at the still dazed woman beneath her she breathed heavily, her and Regina’s harsh pants the only sounds in their room.

After several moments, when she gathered her wits, Regina reached for the blonde’s face, touching the soft skin under the glowing eyes. Her remorse and concern for the initiation of the kiss that had swept them away in the haze of their connection were obvious in the frown she displayed, and Emma gently settled her weight onto one of her elbows, while she covered Regina's palm on her face with her free hand.

“I am OK,” she whispered, while her eyes still had the magical light. “Better. I feel energized and it doesn’t hurt.” Emma was just as surprised as Regina at the revelation, as both of them expected Emma to be in pain from the wildness of the magic flooding through them. With a slight shift of her position, Emma called upon her magic and moving her hand away from her face, she summoned an orb of light, making it levitate over her palm. Although Emma’s eyes did not glow anymore, Regina could feel the power in the blonde woman. “I don’t feel the drain.” With a simple move Emma snuffed the light, not wanting to risk another bout of magical pain.

“I don’t understand,” Regina whispered, patting Emma’s shoulder in a signal to let her up. When the blonde quickly obeyed, moving aside and leaning against the headboard with her back, Regina summoned a few orbs of light of her own and reached for Emma’s face, lifting herself on her knees, initiating the familiar examination for the drain of power. Having settled herself on Emma’s legs, she peered down at the amazing green eyes. “You are better,” she said in wonder, her thumbs caressing Emma’s cheeks. “I have never seen anyone heal from magical exhaustion so quickly. And, so suddenly.” With a soft wondering tone, she considered the reasons why it was possible.

“Well, I am the Savior,” Emma spoke, mentioning the overly used and abused excuse, knowing that this time it wasn’t the truth.

“You were the Savior yesterday, and the day before that,” Regina said briskly and the attempt of shrugging the issue off. “No, that’s not it,” she continued softer, one of her hands gently falling to the blonde’s shoulder, while the other one was playing with Emma’s hair, placing it behind the Savior’s ear. Emma only shrugged, placing her hands on Regina’s hips, smiling at the new position they were in. The former Queen’s knees were by Emma’s sides, while the brunette was sitting on the Savior’s lap, seemingly unaware of the highly suggestive position they were in. Emma let her eyes trace the features of the woman in front of her, letting the brunette think uninterrupted. The kiss swollen lips were slightly pursed in concentration as Regina’s chocolate eyes had the soft glow about them, as the woman was lost in her own mind. The tousled dark hair was calling to Emma to put her hands in it and enjoy the silken strands over her fingers. Then, something came to the brunette, so suddenly that she gasped, her hand accidentally pulling onto the blonde tresses.

Emma winced at the sharp sting and pulled the woman closer, worried by Regina’s non responsive body as she patted the woman’s thigh lightly. Then, Regina directed a look filled with interest with her glimmering chocolate eyes making Emma relax. “When you collapsed the other day, what were you trying to do?” Regina asked, her mind quickly working out the possible causes and theories.

“I wanted to bring us here,” Emma answered, not following why it mattered, but trusting Regina to figure it out. “Why?” she asked when Regina only hummed in response. But, when Regina only murmured something into her own chin, too low for Emma to catch it, the blonde frowned. “Regina?” she insisted.

“What?” the former Queen snapped, again accidentally pulling on Emma’s hair. At Emma’s sharp hiss, she realized the problem and released the locks at once, rubbing the sensitive skin behind the blonde’s ear tenderly. “Sorry,” she whispered with contrition. Emma only took her hands and brought them both to her mouth, kissing the brunette’s knuckles in an act of absolution.

“What is on your mind?” the Savior asked, looking up at the tender eyes, shining with love, feeling the warmth of the gaze on her face, and around her heart. Regina smiled softly and pulled one of her hands out of Emma’s grasp and placed it on the Savior’s cheek, her loving caress making Emma close her eyes and lean in.

“I think I know why you are better,” Regina spoke in a whisper, unwilling to break the tranquil togetherness they had established. Emma blinked her eyes open and slightly raised one of her eyebrows in question. “You, of course, remember the day you and Snow were accidentally sent here,” Regina started, still keeping her voice soft and paused, waiting for Emma’s confirmation, and when she got it in a form of a slow blink, she continued. “Our connection helped me activate the hat. We didn’t know it then, but it is apparent now that we shared it even then. Your touch helped me stabilize my magic. Your magic, born out of protection for me, helped me with my task.” Regina smiled at the Savior’s focused eyes, as Emma considered her words and nodded in acceptance of them. “I think that our True Love gives us a special ability, Emma. We can help each other with magical issues. I can help you recharge with my magic, as you can with your own.”

“But, why then it didn’t work when you fed me with your magic?” Emma asked quietly.

“Because it was not the proper kind of magic and we didn’t use the suitable conduit for recharge. Touch, Emma, the loving touch is what is important here.” Regina leaned in, and touched Emma’s forehead with her own. “That day in the Town Hall… You loved me even then?” The soft tone filled with wonder, surprise and love reached the blonde. The Savior felt her throat close at the emotion filling her, so she only nodded in response, ducking her head. But, Regina pulled it up, forcing their eyes to connect. “I know you have been in love with me since the day you saw me, I saw it in our link. But, I never realized that you loved me that long ago.”

“I…” Emma croaked, but a gentle finger pressed against her lips.

“I find myself in constant astonishment of your ability to surprise me and of myself being able to love you more and more with each passing day,” Regina spoke softly, her earnest words ringing in Emma’s ears. The green eyes watered and sparkling tears overflowed the rims, gliding down the blonde’s face. Knowing that her own face was covered in shiny tracks as well, Regina ignored their tears. “I love you. And, I think I loved you from that day…”

Emma lifted her head up and caught Regina’s lips in a tender and chaste kiss, but filled with much love and affection. Then she leaned her forehead against the brunette’s, looking into her loving eyes, letting herself enjoy this precious moment of peace.

After a while, Regina moved from Emma’s lap, sitting beside her, lowering her head on the blonde’s shoulder, sighing in content when the strong arms immediately pulled her closer in a gentle embrace. “I never figured you for an affectionate type,” Regina murmured softly into Emma’s neck.

“I am not,” the Savior replied with a slight titter in her tone.

“Clearly,” the former Queen said pointedly, poking one of Emma’s arms, gliding up and down her back.

“Present company excluded…”

“You know, I think that is the way of recharging our magic. With loving touch. As the magic in us reacts to our expressions of it and you apparently get fueled with it.” Regina said with a slight teasing smirk. “I think that can be used as a proper excuse for your lewd behavior, Sheriff.”

“Ha ha…” Emma kissed Regina’s forehead, smiling at Regina’s murmur of approval. “So, we should make out for my own sake?”

“Well…”

“That is what you said, isn’t it?”

“In practical sense, but Emma…”

“Oh, I know, it is the love behind the gesture, not the gesture itself. I was listening to you.” Emma spoke with faux snootiness, making Regina shake her head and snort a laugh.

“Sometimes, I wonder if you really do,” Regina said and sighed, but before the blonde could respond, she continued, “and you say something that is directly connected to what I have been speaking about…” Moving her head a bit higher, she peered into Emma’s observant eyes. “I know why you make it seem like you don’t pay attention, but that is one of the things that unnerved me about you. I never knew if you were present in our talks.”

“I told you before. I am here with you, completely.”

“That is just it, Emma,” Regina spoke, exasperation showing in her voice, as she moved slightly away, lifting her head. She looked over Emma’s face, her eyes tracing over the features of the Savior. “If we follow your plan, we won’t be. We will be literally worlds apart.” The former Queen looked away. “And, if Miss Lucas is right, it would be more than eight weeks till the next batch of beans is ready.” The woman moved further away, rising up and pulling her knees toward her chest. In uncharacteristically vulnerable motion, she placed her arms around her knees. “Eight weeks, Emma,” she murmured, lowering her head on her forearms.

The Savior gently touched the back in front of her, rubbing it in comfort, as her hands splayed over the creased and crumpled shirt. “We will manage.” When Regina scoffed at the notion, Emma leaned in and repeated her statement with conviction. “We will manage, with a lot of distractions. And then, after all of this is done, we will finally have our happy ending and some peace.” The Sheriff murmured into the brunette’s neck, coaxing the former Queen back into her arms.

“I think you’ve just jinxed us,” Regina whispered, letting Emma guide her head onto her shoulder.

“We are fated, Regina. A jinx is nothing for us.” The blonde’s assuring voice allayed some of Regina’s insecurities. “I am not dismissing the hard time in front of us, but I am quite confident we will emerge victorious in our feat, my Queen.” The Savior spoke solemnly, guiding the woman’s head by the gentle but insistent hand on Regina’s chin, making their eyes meet. “I believe in you and me. I believe in us.”

“You are turning out to be such a charmer,” the brunette remarked with humor, needing to dispel the heavy air around them.

“I try,” Emma said with a gentle grin. “After all, I am a Charming.”

“Yes, you are, but you are also my crass Sheriff and my Knight.” Regina kissed Emma’s cheek, feeling the grin on the other woman’s face grow. Then she patted the blonde’s chest, just right over Emma’s heart, with gentle ease. “We should go down,” she reminded softly.

The blonde Savior nodded and with unexpected grace left the bed, turning to Regina, offering her a helping hand, bending slightly at the waist. “Your Majesty,” Emma spoke, in a bow, dressed only in her simple underwear and a t-shirt, presenting a somewhat comical interpretation of a Knight. Accepting Emma’s hand, Regina rose from the bed, smirking slightly at the picture the blonde presented. Then, she looked at herself and frowned. Her shirt was not only hopelessly rumpled but some of the buttons were hanging on by the last tread. Glancing toward the mirror, she reached for her wild hair and scowled at her messy appearance, trying to press down the wild tresses.

“I think you look beautiful. And hot.” Emma pulled her by their connected hands suddenly, the force of the movement causing their bodies to collide with a light grunt from the brunette, the move and collision startling her. “There is nothing I would like more than to go back to bed and have my ways with you,” the Sheriff spoke with seduction in her low voice, as her darkened and lustful eyes devoured the woman in front of her. With satisfaction she saw Regina’s pupils dilate, hunger appearing in the dark eyes. “But, we are expected elsewhere,” the Savior spoke wistfully, her eyes narrowing in the pointed gaze. Regina murmured with dismay almost inaudibly as her forehead hit Emma’s shoulder. “Now, as it seems that my clothes have mysteriously disappeared into the thin air, would you mind helping out?” the blonde spoke, keeping her tone light, as she looked around.

Regina lifted her head and looked at the woman with a mischievous glint in her eyes, stepping away from Emma. Her smirk alerted the blonde that retribution for the tease was coming, for Regina would not be who she was if not for a mean streak she had. With one fist on her hip, the former Queen waved her hand at Emma, the purple pinkish mist enveloping the blonde instantly. When it cleared, the Savior was dressed in a soft sky blue ball gown, accompanied with silk silver elbow length gloves, elaborate hair do and a sparkling tiara. Grinning wildly at Emma’s widened eyes as the blonde inspected her new clothes, she snickered evilly when the Savior paled, touching the soft and shimmering material of the dress. But, as ever, the blonde surprised her, and turning to the mirror, the Savior smiled at her reflection.

“I look like Cinderella,” Emma remarked. “Cool.”

Not expecting such a reaction, Regina smirked at herself and waved her hand again, after a brief moment of consideration. The mist appeared again, and this time when it cleared, Emma was dressed more in her style.

The dark denim jeans, which the blonde recognized as her own, showcased her athletic legs, along with knee high black riding boots, were well combined with the dark t-shirt and the black silk button up shirt the Sheriff had seen Regina wear in Storybrooke. The set was followed with Regina’s long green coat, its color bringing out Emma’s eyes. And, lastly, Emma’s sword from the castle was affixed to the woman’s hip by an intricate leather belt, twined out of four strips of dark leather, tipped with silver endings that were dangling from Emma's other hip, down her leg. The whole combination made Emma seem sleek and dangerous, but also approachable and gentle. In one word, Emma was majestic.

“Better?” Regina asked, pleased with the effect it was sure to have on her family.

“Thank you. But, isn’t a sword a bit much? Are we expecting trouble?” Emma asked, fingering the hilt of her sword as she looked at herself in the mirror. She had to admit, the clothes Regina had picked out brought out her eyes, her lithe figure and her status all at once. The Queen knew her clothes.

“With you,” Regina spoke smiling gently at the Savior, “always.” After she had delivered her barb, Regina focused on herself, thinking about her choices for the day. With a snap of her fingers, she was suddenly dressed in one of her tamer ensembles. Her pants and shirt were silvery gray, followed with a slightly darker vest, while her riding boots were made of soft brown leather, matching her top coat in color. The brown was matched with her gentle eyes, making her features seem softer taking away the years of the former Queen.

Emma came closer to the woman and tenderly moved the dark tresses of Regina’s face, feeling the warm skin on her fingertips. Leaning in slowly, she looked into the gentle and calm eyes watching her as she connected their foreheads. With no need to speak her words of love and tenderness out loud, Emma allowed the glint in her eyes to show the woman what she needed to share. As the silence enveloped them, they relished the love they had for each other, and after several moments of the loving gaze, Emma moved away, taking Regina’s hand and leading the way to their dinner.

The evening passed in easy teasing of the women who always seemed to know where the other one was at any given time. Snow cornered Emma several times, with a knowing smile showing on her face whenever Emma would trail off as she watched Regina talk to the boys, or Neal. In pretense of learning her daughter’s condition, the pixie haired woman savored the soft glow the blonde seemed to have about herself. When she had first met Emma, she had honestly thought, even though she had been the naïve Mary Margaret then, that the blonde had been too damaged to be able to just let herself go and be happy. However, later, when the curse had been broken, Snow had known Emma better and it had been breaking her heart to see her daughter waste away chasing after something she could not have had then. No, she hadn’t known that the Sheriff had secretly been in love with the Mayor, or the Evil Queen, but it had been obvious that the blonde had been keeping something from her. And, that the secret had been heavy on Emma’s heart.

But, now as she witnessed her daughter share a surreptitious smile with the brunette, Snow felt the worry ease. Emma was happy, really happy, perhaps for the first time in her life, and she was glad to be able to see it. However, she would be there to protect her daughter’s happiness, even if it meant fighting for Regina.

Warm and strong arms came around Snow’s waist, pulling her back into the firm chest of her husband. “I haven’t seen her so relaxed before,” David spoke softly into her ear, the apparent smile in his tone telling Snow that he had also been watching their daughter. “And, Regina… She actually spoke to me without condescension.”

“She respects you, David.” Snow kissed the cheek beside her head and leaned back. “It’s me she had a problem with.” She looked at the woman in question and seeing her play with Kyle, she sighed. “I went to ask her about my father this morning.”

David only tensed and kept quiet, waiting for his wife to continue. Leopold had always been a tough subject for Snow, and opening it with Regina must have been hard.

“I think she lied to me,” the pixie haired woman murmured, knowing her prince would hear her. “I think she knew the truth would hurt me, so she lied to me.”

Indeed, she had seen the former stepmother’s jaw clench at the mention of the late King. The hatred and pain in the dark eyes had been hard to miss for the woman who had learned every expression of the former Evil Queen. However, being with Emma had made Regina’s cold and empty mask crack, showing through more emotions than before. The unexpected words that followed the violent storm in the former Queen’s eyes were surprising for Snow, who expected vitriol and scorn.

The White Queen decided to corner her former stepmother once more, but she was willing to let things calm down a bit first. And, Emma was the first priority. Her recovery and rest was paramount.

“Perhaps, there is a good reason she did that,” David spoke quietly, gently guiding Snow away from the crowd. “Do you really want to know what she has to say about him?” He looked down at her with his gentle and concerned blue eyes. “Do you really want to open that subject, no matter the consequences?” Rubbing her cheek with his thumb, he pursed his lips in light disapproval. “There may be secrets that should not come out.”

“Are you telling me to let it go?” the pixie haired woman asked incredulously, crossing her arms in front of her. Her sharp eyes saw David’s downturned eyes and frowned. “Do you know something?”

“No,” the prince spoke immediately. At his earnest reply, Snow relaxed and placed her hands on his hips, pulling him close.

“I want to know.” Snow said with conviction in her tone, but keeping her voice quiet. “I need to know.” She kissed his lips lightly and stepped away, going to Red. David shook his head watching after her, his heart heavy in his chest. No, he hadn’t lied to her, but judging by the behavior of his pretend father, King George, and others, the Royals had a feel of entitlement about them, and that could mean too many things that would meet his disapproval. However, as he had been reminded too many times, he had been only a shepherd, and his experiences had shaped him differently than the prince he had been impersonating, James. Perhaps, entitlement was expected of the Royals.

David grabbed his cup filled with mulled wine and walked out, needing fresh air. He walked a little bit around the house he had just left, and finding the porch he was looking for, he leaned against one of the support pillars, sipping his wine thoughtfully. Long time ago, Abigail had told him about things her father had done, and she still had considered him a good father. She would come to him, needing to talk with her only friend except Frederick, but the loyal Knight had been too devoted to her father to trust him with her doubts and admonishments of her father’s rule. So, Midas, George, and many others had behaved with enormous indulgence, therefore why should he expect Leopold to be any different? It was the way of this world.

Light steps of the heeled boots on wood interrupted his ruminations. Before he realized who had joined him, his cup was taken out of his hand and refilled. With a smirk, Emma returned the cup into his hand, before taking a sip directly from the flagon. He smiled at his daughter’s crass behavior and chuckled as he imagined Snow’s reaction to Emma’s improper conduct. After all, she was a princess.

“You know,” David started slowly, when the blonde stood beside him, “I don’t think your mother would approve of your drinking style.” He smirked at the Sheriff’s widening grin, and turned his upper body to her. Looking at her with interest, he was reminded of his opinion he had earlier that night. “But, I think she will forgive you, as you are the White Knight after all.” Then he touched her shirt lightly. “Dressed in black,” he added pointedly.

“It goes better with my hair and skin tone,” Emma spoke flippantly, smiling at her father. As he chuckled, she grinned back. She liked this easy camaraderie she had with David, so unlike the emotional entanglement she had with her mother. Not pushing, but always there, reliable and willing to listen. Therefore, when she had seen his concerned face after the conversation with Snow, she had felt the need to go to him. Hence, the flagon of wine she had picked up. “What’s up?” she asked directly, not much for the tact.

“Just thinking,” he replied offhandedly, bringing the cup to his lips. At her quirked eyebrow he only sighed and leaned back on the pillar. “Your mother is insistent about some things regarding Regina, and I think she should let it go.”

“Her father?” Emma only said, nodding with understanding. When he looked at her with surprise, she just shrugged. “I was there, and Regina would’ve told me anyway.” She took another go at the flagon, chugging down several large swallows of the spiced wine. She hoped that the awkward move would take focus off her sudden shudder when she had thought of Leopold. “She wouldn’t hide from me, as I already know everything from her memories.” She did not clarify, as she knew that Regina would hide her argument with Snow, or at least diminish it, not willing to complicate matters between the mother and the daughter further.

“What did she tell Snow?” David asked with interest.

“That he had been a good father and that he had done what had been expected of him,” Emma spoke quietly, noticing the grim nod of her father. He had already suspected her answer, she concluded.

“Was it true?”

“He was a good father,” the blonde said, her throat tightening.

“But, not a good man,” the prince said to himself, saddened by the prospect of Snow finding out, and she would, tenacious as she was. Emma remained silent, knowing that her failure to respond was an answer enough for her father. There was no need to say anything, as they both knew the connotations of David’s words. The prince tipped his cup, draining it in several swallows, before he gave the cup to Emma to fill it again, looking into the village, lit by a random lantern here and there. Quietly, the blonde brought the flagon to the cup and let the liquid flow, careful not to spill. After he brought the freshly filled cup to his face, the Sheriff placed her hand onto David’s shoulder, feeling somewhat helpless at his gloomy countenance.

“You have Regina’s memories of that time?” the quiet voice of her father broke the uneasy silence that had settled over them. He glanced toward her just in time to see a passing flash of fury and hatred go through her eyes. “Can you tell me?” he asked softly, turning to his daughter, taking her hand off his shoulder into his palm.

“It’s not my story to tell,” Emma replied solemnly, her eyes imploring him not to push further.

David only nodded and drained the cup again. Then he pulled his daughter into a gentle and somewhat awkward hug. “I am sorry,” he spoke, infinitely glad that Emma had responded to the hug by lifting her arms to his back. Before they had started this journey, she would have just suffered through it, wishing to leave it sooner rather than later. “I am sorry you had to witness that. It is not a great example for our land.”

The blonde just shrugged in the hug, leaning her head onto the prince’s shoulder, briefly sinking into the strong arms around her, but then she leaned away. “I’ve seen worse in my world,” she spoke, looking up at him. But, when she saw the pained grimace on her father’s face, she continued right away. “I am who I am today because I had those experiences in the past, David. It is quite possible that I wouldn’t be the Savior everyone needs these days if I hadn’t been through all that.”

Charming looked into her eyes and smiled at her attempt of soothing him, or at least, easing his guilt. “Quite the speech,” he said, placing his hand on her cheek. “She is a good influence on you,” he remarked noticing the proper usage of words in the talk. Emma blushed at his praise and lowered her head, stepping away and draining the wine that was left in the flagon.

David looked toward the open window of the Village Hall building and saw the affair dying out, and deciding to withdraw for the evening, he kissed Emma’s cheek. But before he stepped away, he frowned at something he remembered. “Tell her Mary Margaret will try again.”

Emma took his elbow, holding him in place. “Just keep her busy till tomorrow afternoon. She will know then.”

“Are you sure?”

“I won’t let anyone criticize Regina without knowing the whole truth, not even my own mother.” Then she smiled softly, and David knew she was thinking about her True Love. “She knows how to defend herself, only she now is playing a politician, keeping the peace, even at her own detriment. But you should know that she will not do it anymore.”

“Ever the Knight,” the prince spoke, with a smile in his voice understanding that his daughter would stand before anyone who dared to pose a danger to the former Evil Queen.

“That is, apparently, who I am,” Emma said, releasing her father. He smiled at her with pride and affection as he passed by and went inside. Remaining behind, the blonde looked out, breathing in deeply. It was quiet in the village, even during the day. The constant threat of Ogres forced the people of the Safe Haven to moderate their sounds and it was unnerving Emma, who had grown up in the bustling cities, and even Storybrooke was not that quiet. The night had fallen on the quiet village, making it even more peaceful. But, Emma felt her skin creep when allowed her eyes to roam in the dark, the barely there flashes passing through her mind, pushed immediately away.

After some time passed, the Sheriff felt gentle arms encircle her waist and a chin lean on her shoulder, lips tenderly kissing her neck. Relaxing in the embrace, she smiled when the scent of the brunette enveloped her, along with the warmth. The blonde lifted her hands to ones on her belly and covered them lovingly. The hold the brunette held her in soothed her edgy emotions, anger, anguish, pain and many others, caused by the memories and the topic of the conversation she had with her father. Although she remembered everything Regina had gone through in her youth and after, remembering the feelings of pain, sorrow, hatred, misery, she was not overwhelmed by memories of Regina’s old feelings. She was submerged in the vicious fury she felt wanting to punish and destroy the world that caused the former Queen to suffer. At the same time, her own willingness to stand for the good helped her hold it in, but it cost her. However, this helped. The unassuming embrace Regina had bestowed on her helped her let go of her anger, gaining her center back.

Emma turned in the hold and kissed the dark haired woman deeply, relishing the feel of fingers digging into her shoulders. Their magic flared but, before Regina could step away, Emma held on firmly, pouring more passion into the kiss, along with gratitude, her love, and acceptance. When the former Queen relaxed into the hold, she responded to the Savior, matching her intensity with her own hunger and adoration.

Reaching for the Sheriff’s head, Regina lost her fingers into the blonde locks, invoking the power that thrummed just beneath her skin and letting the purplish pink mist envelop them making the world disappear around them. It took only a second but it was enough to startle the blonde. She lifted her head, quickly scanning her surroundings the instant tension in her muscles easing somewhat. But, before she could go back to what she was doing before, Regina lifted her hand, splaying in over Emma’s chest, stopping her descent.

“Henry wants to speak with you before the lights out,” the brunette spoke softly, pulling the Sheriff out of the lustful haze. When Emma nodded, shuddering as if to try and shake away the heat that permeated her skin, Regina offered only an understanding smile. “I’ll wait here,” she murmured, pushing the other woman slightly, giving her the knowledge that she was to show alone at Henry’s. Emma placed her own hand over Regina’s and pressed it firmer against her chest, right above her heart, her gesture speaking much more than any words ever could, and then she turned to leave, winking at the brunette.

The Savior crossed the hallway from their bedroom quickly and came to a door directly across from them. Knocking lightly, she waited for permission to enter, knowing that Henry most likely was not alone in the room. After a relatively familiar voice told her it was alright for her to go in, she turned the knob and peaked inside, smiling at the two boys, one looking at her with respect and awe, the other leaving his bed and rushing toward her, slamming his body against her midsection, forcing the air out of her chest, as she grunted in surprise.

“Emma!” the boy exclaimed, putting his arms around his mother, leaning his head onto the blonde’s breastbone.

Emma lifted her hand to his dark hair and ruffled it affectionately, pulling it off his face. “Hey, kid,” she said softly to her son, smiling into his shining eyes. Then she turned her head to the other boy, offering him a gentle smirk. “Are you well, Elias?” the blonde used one of the conversation starters from Regina, not knowing how to behave around the rescued children. The boy straightened in bed and inclined his head in a respectful bow, as he had been taught from his birth.

“Yes, Your Highness,” he spoke slowly.

“Emma,” the Savior said suddenly, startling both of the boys. “Please, call me Emma,” she moderated her tone. “I don’t like formality.”

“Yes, You…” Elias started, but at the raised eyebrow from the blonde woman, he stopped in the middle of the word and swallowed. “Emma,” he added softly after several moments, insecurely glancing toward the Royal, afraid that he had made a mistake, but he relaxed at the woman’s approving smile.

Henry then interrupted, by pulling Emma to his bed. “Have you talked to mom yet?” he asked, his impatience evident in his vibrating frame and the piercing eyes. His enthusiasm was so strong that she had to smile at his bubbly energy.

“About?” Emma intentionally acted ignorantly, expecting his traditional lecturing tone she had come to associate with his dark haired mother.

“Emma!” he rolled his eyes at her, knowing that she liked to tease him that way, as she had done it several times in the past. He gave her a sharp look, the same one the Madam Mayor used to get her point across. Yes, biologically Henry was her boy, and the most prominent trait they shared were their eyes and some of their behavioral patterns, but Emma could not help herself and feel glad that the brunette had made such a good impact on their son, so that he had picked up her behavioral patterns as well. It was like he had taken out the best of them and mixed it together into perfection. At the thought, Emma smiled with affection at her boy, infinitely pleased.

Shifting herself to release the quilt underneath her, she gestured to Henry to get back under it, as the night air was chilly and he was wearing only his pajamas. When he jumped in, Emma covered him with the quilt, tucking him in. then she sat down over the covers, ruffling his hair again, causing him to squeak in protest, slapping her hand away.

“So, have you?” he asked again, making sure that his hair was in the proper place.

“Yes.”

“And?”

“It’s in the works,” Emma said softly, loving the way his face turned into a grin.

“She is in?” he asked, still not really believing. Emma nodded. “So, the Operation Gate is a go,” he resumed, in their old slang, grinning from ear to ear. If he had been a year or two younger, Emma had no doubt that he would have clasped his hands cheerfully.

“Yes.” Slowly, Emma’s smile faded away as she looked down, fiddling with the corner of Henry’s quilt, unsure if she should tell him the rest, but deciding to be honest with him, she focused onto his glimmering green eyes. “I will tell you more about it tomorrow, while your mother is away with Rumplestiltskin.” She used the name because she already knew that Elias was well aware of the identity of the old man, and as he hadn’t said anything to the village before, she doubted he would do anything now.

“Really?” The somewhat challenging look showed on Henry’s face, obviously already resigned to finding only snippets of the plan.

“Really,” Emma confirmed, her heart breaking at the flash of distrust that had passed over her son’s face. “But, it’s still a secret, so not a word, do you hear me?”

“Mom?” he asked, and the blonde knew that he had meant the other one.

“You can talk to her, but no one else, especially not your grandmother. Not yet.”

“OK, Emma,” Henry spoke, suspicious of her need to keep the things hidden, but acquiescing.

“Thank you.” She then kissed his forehead, smiled at Elias and left the room, wishing them a good night. With a slow thoughtful walk she came to the door of her and Regina’s room and entered, finding it empty. As the brown coat Regina had worn that day was thrown over the bed, Emma concluded that the brunette wasn’t far. With care, she folded the coat away, smirking at her sudden bout of tidiness, and placed her own next to it. Divesting herself out of the clothes, she came to a lantern that was lit, looking at the dancing flame.

Before, on the porch, she was surrounded by darkness just barely disturbed with the flickering torches placed throughout the village, but she hadn’t been alone. And, when the brunette had brought her to their room, Emma had been too occupied to pay attention to her surroundings, and the request to visit Henry had come quickly, leading her into the well-lit hallway.

She had noticed how Regina always made sure not to leave her in the dark places, or at least to make them less dark. So, the presence of the lit lantern spoke of Regina’s supposed absence from the room. Feeling pleasantly warm at the consideration the other woman had shown for her, Emma turned away from the light source and picked her clothes, folding them away. Staying only in her underwear and t-shirt, she pulled down the fleece blanket, and went under, leaving the corner of the quilt turned down for Regina, placing her head onto the pillow. While waiting for the brunette, not willing to close her eyes before wishing the former Queen a good night, she let her mind wander.

With a heavy sight the blonde considered the next few months of her life, spent without her family and in the land she didn’t like much. She would need something to fill her time, and she still needed to practice her sword and fighting skills, and with that in mind she decided to speak to Mulan at the next convenience. Among other things, she could learn to ride and track through the forest, just like her mother could.

A soft touch on Emma’s cheek brought her out of her thoughts and she blinked at the sudden presence beside her in the bed. The brunette was sitting beside Emma, her worried eyes shining with relief when the blonde focused her gaze on the dark haired woman’s face.

“You didn’t respond to my greeting,” Regina explained softly, her hand going gently through the blonde’s hair.

“I was just thinking,” the Savior spoke, blinking lazily, and she turned onto her back, closer to the other woman, enjoying the tender fingers on her scalp. At the question in the dark eyes, the blonde placed her hand on Regina’s lap, and smiled when it was immediately covered with the former Queen’s. “I told Henry that we will talk tomorrow about the Operation Gate,” Emma spoke, her eyes telling Regina more than her words did.

“I agree,” the former Queen spoke softly, aware that the blonde was a bit apprehensive about her reaction. “The sooner he is involved, the better he will react to the plan.” Meaning he wouldn’t try to sneak off the ship to be with Emma. But, she looked into the troubled eyes and in the encouraging purse of her lips she brought the hand on the thighs to her mouth. “That is not all,” she spoke tenderly.

“I…” Emma gulped, but when nimble fingers slipped away from her hair, down her neck, to her chest, she felt her air leave her, making her not able to speak, for different reasons. But, then a warm palm splayed over her heart giving her the comfort and courage, and not a small amount of arousal. With a releasing exhale, she closed her eyes, thanking the Gods she didn’t really believe in for the woman beside her. Indeed, Regina had been a gift to her, from the moment they had met, the connection they had more apparent from the moment they had started talking on the ship. “I was thinking about distractions I will need,” she whispered, still having her eyes closed. She felt the mattress dip and just after that, warm lips kissed her own, surprising her in their tender consolation.

“And?” a gentle exhale touched her ear, as Regina stretched herself beside the blonde, her hand going back to its position on Emma’s chest. “What do you have on your mind?”

The Sheriff opened her eyes, blinking at the brunette, a slight frown quirking her eyebrow. The former Queen only leaned down and kissed the pucker away. “Training with Mulan, and perhaps some wood orientation as well,” Emma spoke tremulously, her eyes darting from Regina’s eyes and away.

“That is a good idea.” Regina pulled Emma closer to her, her arm going beneath the blonde’s neck, while she intertwined their legs. “I plan to see in what state the budget and revenue stats are. And redecorate the house. We need another bedroom for Kyle and perhaps a playroom…” The Savior had to smile at the brunette’s organization. Then Regina looked down at the blonde with intense gleam in her eyes. “And, I guess I will have to reorganize my closet,” she said pointedly. It took a moment for Emma to understand the implication, and with a happy exaggerated nod she answered the unasked question –  _ Move in with me?  _ \- that the former Queen insinuated. At the answer, Regina lounged on Emma, attaching their lips ferociously; stopping the blonde’s thought process completely. Not that she minded.

With a mind of their own, Emma’s hands sent off a trace of the magical mist, causing Regina to gasp, as her clothes disappeared, her skin sliding over the blonde’s. Suddenly, the Savior reared up, pulling the brunette with her, as she sat in the bed, Regina situated in her lap. With a devilish smirk, Emma lowered her lips onto the naked skin in front of her, her tongue tracing indecipherable marks over Regina’s neck, sucking it in places, and grazing it with her teeth. The gasps the older woman tried to stifle only served to make Emma want to do more, and so, she lowered her head onto the collarbone, relishing the feel of hands twisting in her hair, pulling her toward Regina.

Her hands reached for the covered breasts, gently teasing them over the lace bra the woman on her was wearing. Emma was feeling intoxicated with every moan and gasp escaping Regina’s lips. Her rush to feel more and more of the woman, to make her lose control, to bring her to the heights unimaginable made her own control over the ever growing magic pulsing in her in the rhythms of her heart, and following the molten lava spreading through her blood. Not happy with the position, Emma flipped them again, landing on top of the stunned woman and reached for the black lace in her way.

Regina, lost in the delirious heat and incredible pleasure spreading her body, didn’t notice Emma was using magic up till the moment she found herself on her back suddenly, pinned by the blonde, the pressure of the power over her hands, making her think that Emma’s hands were gripping her own, keeping them down, but when she saw the hungry look in the blonde’s eyes and pale hands trying to take her bra off, she realized that Emma didn’t even know what she was doing.

“Emma,” she tried, her voice weak and unheard by the other woman. The teasing touches continued, and Regina knew that it was Emma’s desire to feel her everywhere, to explore every inch of Regina’s skin that guided the blonde’s magic. “Em-ma,” she said louder, her voice breaking in the middle by a sudden moan surging out of her throat as one of those hands passed over one of her sensitive spots. She couldn’t move, captured by the rampant magic, but she felt no fear, only concern for the blonde too lost in the haze of her arousal and need. “Sheriff!” she managed sharply, breaking Emma’s trance, just at the moment when the blonde’s body was starting to bleed the magic into the air, the bluish white mist lifting of the pale skin on top of Regina.

In a second, Emma disappeared from the bed, slamming into the opposite wall, knocking off the lantern and smashing it down. The room was plunged into the impenetrable darkness instantly. Regina heard a shocked gasp from the blonde and with haste she waved her hand, restoring the lantern, not willing to step over broken glass in her hurry toward the Savior, and only a moment later, she was beside Emma, a magic light floating over them.

Reaching for the frozen woman on the floor, Regina saw blood on the wall, meaning that some of the glass had managed to pierce Emma’s back, but not willing to startle the woman even more, healing had to wait. For a precaution, the former Queen placed a ward around their room, preventing teleportation as she was aware of Emma’s tendency to run. And, with care, she called the blonde by her name, her voice soft and encouraging. But when the younger woman flinched away, her wild eyes not able to focus on her, Regina felt her heart drop. No matter how brief the darkness had been, Emma had already been pulled into her nightmare, and coupled with her shame and disbelief Regina had witnessed on her face in the moments before the blonde had forcibly removed herself of the brunette, were apparently enough to get her into that particular moment when everything was a threat and everything her fault. Clenching her jaw in worry, Regina prepared for an uphill battle, and grabbed Emma by her shoulders, transporting them gently to the bed. And, as expected the blonde struggled against the hold, however her fight was weak.

“Emma,” Regina said forcefully, pinning the woman down. The wild green eyes focused briefly on hers and darted away, the blonde’s body losing all the strength it had, lying limply. Turning her head away in shame, Emma closed her eyes as tears escaped their confines. “Hey, look at me,” Regina insisted but the Sheriff refused to comply. Familiar with the Savior’s tendency to assume more guilt and responsibility than she was really due, the former Queen closed her eyes and with a firm resolute move, she gripped Emma’s face, pulling it to her own, the startled green eyes watching her, surprise strong enough to shine through the shame and remorse. “I love you!” the brunette said firmly, and initiated the connection, knowing quite well that it was the shortest and most painless way of convincing Emma that she was alright and that she wasn’t angry with the blonde, and that there was nothing for Emma to beat herself about.

The sudden warmth that enveloped her, healing and reaffirming at the same time, made Emma choke back on the tears she couldn’t stop. She recognized the feel of magic, and she knew that Regina had pulled them into the meld, despite her worries about the magic.

_ That is only because you have used your magic today _ , the voice reached the blonde woman, as arms came around her. At the same time, Regina's point of view of their passionate loss of control came to Emma, showing her the truth. But, as Emma had seen them, Regina forced her feelings onto the blonde woman, trying to drown out the insecurities she could feel in the Savior. And, as well, she wanted to stop the panic from developing, from the sudden dark when the lantern had gotten smashed.

The pardon came, threaded with affection and teasing edge of lust, followed with concern and encouragement, with acceptance and understanding, but the strongest feeling was love. The all-encompassing love, powerful enough to burn away the cold tinges of fear and panic, soothe the frayed nerves, dispel the worries and concerns, and strong enough to take away Emma’s breath all over again.

As soon as Emma got the message, not only heard it and felt it but accepted it, Regina brought them out of their connection, having kept it too shallow to draw much of Emma’s energies.

Blinking at the rapid change, Emma looked up at the still concerned dark eyes watching her from above. With a hesitation in her move, she reached for the brunette’s cheek and smiled tremulously. In reply the eyes softened with affection, as Regina watched the green eyes focus onto hers.

“If you say you are sorry, I will be forced to strangle you,” the former Queen spoke, her smile evident, as she cut off the blonde before she could even speak. “The passion between us has been building constantly for weeks now, it is understandable it got out of hand.”

Emma nodded, her eyes filling with tears again, but this time it was because she felt relief go through. Guided with gentle hands, she turned over, showing Regina her back. The older woman managed to strip the t-shirt off her, without aggravating the small cuts on Emma’s back, and with tender touch Regina healed the injuries, making blood disappear too. And, as Emma was only in her underwear now, after a long shameless ogle, she summoned another tank top on the blonde, knowing that leaving the woman undressed would not help her sleep. The roaring fire of arousal was somewhat subdued by Emma’s overreaction, but it took very little to reignite the embers of it.

Kissing Emma’s shoulder, Regina settled beside the blonde woman, covering them both with the quilt. Somewhat reluctantly Emma lied down onto the offered shoulder, nuzzling her forehead into Regina’s neck.

“Have you decided what to tell everyone at the meeting?” the former Queen asked, her fingers going through the blonde hair as she held Emma close.

“Everything, I think,” the Savior replied, her voice soft and showing her exhaustion. “But, we are talking to Snow after the council tomorrow. David said she is getting restless again.”

Regina hummed noncommittally, still having doubts about the whole affair.

“Regina?” Emma murmured hesitantly after a while.

“Hmm?”

“Never mind,” the blonde spoke softly, burying herself into the dark hair, breathing in the scent that was purely Regina. For a moment she thought that the brunette would not explore her false start, but in true Mayor fashion Regina caught something beneath the reluctance in Emma’s tone.

“What?” the former Queen asked, her hand going over Emma’s scalp, keeping her in place as she traced invisible patterns over the blonde’s temple. Her tone was gentle and patient but it was apparent that she wasn’t going to let it go.

They hadn’t talked about their separation specifically, as the subject was a sore one for them, but Emma knew that it would be very hard on both of them. However, Regina would be in Storybrooke, with Henry and Kyle, and others, reluctant but willing to help, if Red and Belle were to be trusted. And, Emma would be alone, in a still foreign place – again. Even though it was her choice, her decision with the full acceptance of the consequences, and ultimately her idea, she still couldn’t help but feel as if she was being left behind. Logically, she knew that wasn’t the case, especially with Regina being her True Love, and beyond that, her faithful friend and loving and affectionate paramour.

Additionally, there was an urge to hide her perceived weakness, remnants of her life from before, but now the motivation was not to protect herself, but protect the others from her pain and her suffering, as they couldn’t change it or diminish it. However, this was Regina, the woman who quite literally could see to the bottoms of her heart and soul. There was a great chance that the former Queen already knew her feelings on the matter. Emma could not lie to her, not after all they had been through, and not after all they had shared.

“Emma?” Regina spoke, murmuring against the blonde’s forehead in soothing fashion, simple gesture telling of acceptance and willingness to listen and understand.

“I,” Emma started, but unable to swallow the sudden lump in her throat she stopped. A warm and gentle palm came onto her face, gliding over her cheek tenderly, offering her the silent courage to continue. “I am going to be alone,” Emma whispered. Then she shook her head with heaviness pressing on to her. “I know that there will be others from here around me, but effectively, I am going to be alone.”

“Oh, sweetie.”

Ignoring Regina’s utterance, the Sheriff continued with her eyes closed, focusing on the feel of a hand in her hair, the other one on her cheek and the soft lips on her forehead. “I feel like I am about to be abandoned,” the blonde said. “I know that is not true, I know you will come for me, and I know that you and my parents will fight ferociously to be reunited with me. But, there is something inside me, telling me that you are leaving me.” The soft broken whisper spoke of anguish and fear Emma had been feeling.

For a moment, Regina didn’t know how to reassure the Savior and try to dispel the insecurities Emma had obtained from a long time of emotional and physical abuse. However, after a small consideration, she decided to jump in and follow her heart. “My dear, what do you feel right now? At this very moment?”

Emma frowned at the question, but tried to answer it nonetheless. “Safe,” she replied after a minute of uninterrupted silence. “I feel safe and loved,” Emma said again, rising onto her elbow, keeping Regina’s hand on her cheek with her own free palm.

The brunette smiled at the wonder on Emma’s face as the curious green eyes locked down at her with affection. “Take this moment, and keep it close. Whenever you feel overwhelmed with your doubts, think of this, of this exact feeling, Emma, and let it help you.” Regina said softly, lifting her head and touching Emma’s lips with her own tenderly. “And, remember, I love you,” she added with such powerful feeling and conviction in her voice that brought tears to Emma’s eyes. “You are loved, my Knight, and you are not alone. And, you’ll never be. Never again. No matter how it seems at the moment.” At those words Regina pulled the shaking Savior down and enveloped her into a firm embrace. The brunette understood that it had been a very stressful evening for Emma, and the confession of insecurities from the woman who had been used to keep to herself only added to it. The release that came with Regina’s reassurance was enough to bring momentarily fragile Savior to cleansing sobs. It was better this way, the former Queen knew, rather than keeping to oneself. She had learned from her mistakes, and she would not let her True Love make them either. With gentle murmur she encouraged the blonde to let it all out, soothing her with tender kisses and gentle touch. After a while the hiccupping sobs tapered off, stopping all together when the Sheriff let herself fall into a restful sleep, lulled by the soft voice going over her head, sometimes humming a distantly familiar melody.

With the Savior deep in the land of healing dreams, only then Regina allowed herself to close her eyes, letting the sleep claim her, too.

As the morning came, Regina woke up first and with a pleased smile she watched her love sleep, seeing her with a rare carefree smile as Emma dreamed of something beautiful. Not able to resist, she leaned over the quirking lips and kissed them. It didn’t take much time for the Savior to respond, her arms going around Regina, pulling her closer.

“Good morning,” Regina murmured after a while, when she saw the green eyes open lazily, watching her with smiling shine in them.

“Isn’t it?” Emma only stretched her shoulders and arms, with a jaw snapping yawn.

Knowing they had a full day in front of them, they disembarked the bed quickly, and with a rushed morning routine they set out to their tasks. Before letting Emma go, Regina pulled the Sheriff by the lapels and stole a passionate kiss, leaving the blonde somewhat dazed at the door of their room.

“No shenanigans,” the Queen spoke, her order given with her imperious tone, making Emma’s skin erupt in bumps.

“Of course, Your Majesty,” the Savior replied, smirking at the brunette.

“I am serious, Emma.”

“Henry will keep me out of trouble.” The Sheriff then hooked her thumbs to her belt. “Or get in it with me,” she added quietly, but the raised eyebrow told her that the other woman had heard it.

“That is what I am afraid of.” But, instead of making the point, she decided to let it go. Regina knew that the whole party would be in the vicinity of the pair of them, and if anything happened the Charmings and the company would be there to help. And, what made her sure that everything would be fine was the complete trust in her son. Honestly, the boy had more sense in his young head than the certain headstrong Sheriff. “When Kyle gets hungry, the kitchens have vegetable pastes for him. Both Princesses can help you with it.” With another kiss, Regina said goodbye to the other woman and walked away, in search of Rumplestiltskin.

Emma smirked after the woman, watching her disappear down the stairs. Then, as it was still early in the morning, she hopped over to Henry’s room and knocked. Not hearing any reply, she opened the door ajar and glanced inside. As expected her son was still asleep, but the other bed was already made and Elias was not in the room. The blonde entered the room completely, and with a gentle hold, she shook Henry to wake up.

“Mom?” the boy murmured, burying his head deeper into the pillow. “It’s early,” he spoke, not awake just yet.

“Not early enough,” Emma said, pulling the quilt of the boy’s shoulders. “Come, Henry, the day is waiting.”

“Fine,” Henry groused petulantly, sitting up and rubbing his eyes. “Where are we going?” he asked as his eyes focused on the Sheriff.

“To breakfast, and then we’ll see. Get dressed while I take Kyle.” When Emma turned around to the door, she heard her boy speak.

“Mom already left?”

But, before Emma could answer, Regina appeared in the cloud of the purplish pink mist, making Henry squeak in surprise, before he launched himself into the open arms of his adoptive mother. The brunette hugged him and then affectionately passed her hand through his growing hair. “I see you are up,” Regina said with a smile. Henry nodded with a huge grin as he glanced toward Emma. The Savior only winked in answer and gestured to him that she would wait downstairs.

“Mom? Emma said that you were leaving with Mr. Gold somewhere?” Henry spoke, looking into his mother’s face. When Regina smiled at him and kissed his forehead, he thought she wasn’t going to answer but then, she sat on his bed.

“We are going to see if there is enough magic in the Dragon caves for the Gate to work,” Regina replied watching Henry’s face show confusion and then slowly turn into giddiness as he understood that she was working together with Emma. “I want you to be good today, and keep out of trouble.” Tapping his nose with her pointer finger, she smiled at him gently. “And do try to stop the Sheriff from stupid ideas,” she added, knowing that it would make her son’s grin widen. “I’ll let you get dressed and have a nice morning. I have to go, Rumple is already waiting.” With another kiss on Henry’s temple, Regina vanished, leaving the boy alone.

Emma found Kyle and at the moment she was in the kitchens, waiting for William to bring her a specially crafted paste for the young one. With a flourish, the cook bowed in front of the Savior and offered a bowl with an orange fruity concoction, along with a wooden spoon. “The breakfast for master Henry will come along shortly,” the proud man spoke.

The blonde nodded in acknowledgement as she sat the toddler in her lap. Feeling a bit lost, she picked the spoon and took a bit of the paste, bringing it to the baby. The child refused to open his mouth at the spoon, babbling at something behind Emma, and when she heard the haughty footsteps, she smiled in recognition.

“By the rate you are going, you are never going to leave,” Emma commented as she tried once more to feed Kyle. A soft chuckle came from right behind her and a gentle kiss was landed onto her temple, before a dark head moved onto the toddler.

“I couldn’t leave before saying hello to the little one,” the former Queen spoke, laughing at the pouty smirk Emma was sporting. “I spoil you, princess,” the woman said, her hand landing on Emma’s shoulder.

“Never enough.” The simple but earnest statement only served to make Regina’s heart warmer.

“I shouldn’t be away from more than a couple hours. So, we could have the council meet after lunch?”

“I’ll set everything in motion,” Emma replied, gently dislodging the strong grip on her hair, as she smiled at the toddler in her lap. “Be safe,” the blonde spoke, glancing up at the woman standing beside her. Regina only nodded, and with a soft touch on Kyle’s cheek and a meaningful look into Emma’s eyes, she left.

As soon as Henry had finished with his breakfast, Emma took him and Kyle for a walk, spending some time with her parents, informing them of the council she wanted to call forth. After a somewhat suspicious look she had gotten from Snow, she was told that Snow would tell everyone she would meet on the way. Later on, they just talked, Henry joining in from time to time. Then, when David offered to play with Henry with the wooden swords he had found in the village, the two of them walked only a bit away, into a clearing, while Emma and Snow stayed on the bench in the middle of the village.

“I am glad to see you better, Emma.”

Even though Snow seemed genuinely pleased to see her daughter well, Emma could sense an expectation hidden in the opening. And, no doubt the White Queen was wondering when they would go back to the other world. The delay was only till the Savior recovered, and now, as that goal had been accomplished, the blonde could feel the general restlessness in the people around her. With a carefully placed mask on her face, Emma turned to her mother, raising an expectant eyebrow, telling her to continue.

“Is that why you are summoning the council?” the pixie haired woman asked, as she tried to see beyond the walls that Emma had erected. And, as the first time she had seen the blonde woman stroll into the town of Storybrooke, she couldn’t see the emotions of her daughter, and the thought that the Savior was keeping away from her hurt more than she anticipated. As if Emma was angry with her for some reason, but not wanting to talk about it yet. She could not think of a reason, but with a sigh, she let it go, knowing that the Sheriff would be telling her soon, one way or the other.

“Among other things,” the Savior replied, her eyes linking with the stormy blue ones in front of her, as the toddler grinned at her, as always reaching for her hair. But, before Snow could ask something more, Emma glanced toward her mother, and shook her head. “I will explain then. You’ll just have to wait for several hours more.”

So it wasn’t anger, Snow thought with relief. Her daughter just didn’t want her to learn the things in advance. Emma had used the tactic before, when she had wanted her mother’s honest and instinctual opinion, not giving her time to think about it and figure out the many reasons why something wouldn’t be a good idea.  _ Ah _ , she sighed,  _ it was one of those _ … So, she decided to turn their conversation to a more relaxed subject.

“Handsome little fellow, isn’t he?” Snow asked gently, the warm motherly tone suffusing her voice as she leaned over Emma’s shoulder and smiled at the youngling. She had seen the care and love Regina had bestowed on the child, and now the Sheriff was following her True Love’s footsteps, falling in love with the little tyke. Not that she minded. She was aware of Emma’s wish and regret about Henry’s growing up, and she could empathize with her daughter, as she too had not seen her child grow up into the beautiful hero and protector she was not. So, this tyke would give her daughter the opportunity to raise a child with Regina. And, honestly, Snow herself was getting attached to the little guy, so having another grandson was not a bad idea.

“Yeah,” Emma only whispered, as she tickled the boy gently.

It was time to leave, Snow thought as she watched her daughter with the two children. She had spent an hour with Emma, soothing a random bout of child involved nervousness that had gripped the Savior only half an hour before, and talking with the blonde about small and various things, occasionally joining Emma in cooing to the kid. But, when David and Henry joined them, the excited boy reminded Emma about a promised talk, inadvertently giving out a sign for her and David to leave them. Unable to resist, Snow kissed each of them on their foreheads, and taking her husband’s offered elbow, she walked away with a smile on her face. So far, in this journey, rare were the moments where she could just enjoy time with her daughter, and she treasured this opportunity with her whole heart. Seeing a pleased smirk on her True Love’s face, she realized that the sudden idea of mock sword fighting with Henry had been planned to give Snow time with Emma.

“I love you,” Snow said, lifting herself to her toes, kissing her husband deeply, in appreciation of what he had done for her.

“I love you, too,” he replied gently, as he held her close.

Emma watched her parents go away, before she turned her head to look at her son. Then she nodded, gesturing him to take his seat, as she turned to the table that was behind her. “We are going to have a meeting in the afternoon where Regina and I will share some of this with the others. But, I need you to keep it quiet until then. Can you do that for me?” Emma knew that her boy would be offended by the question, but she had to ask.

As predicted, Henry scowled at the implication, but when he saw Emma’s worried expression his face changed instantly. “Yeah.”

So, quietly, Emma launched into the explanation, telling him everything about necessities for the portal, the magic and all the works. From time to time, she was interrupted by Henry’s eager questions, stopping a bit, to make clarifications. But, when she reached the most important part of the explanation, she paused, not knowing how to tell him that she would have to remain in the Enchanted Forest.

“Henry…” she started reluctantly. “There is something you are not going to like about this.” At his expectant frown, she bit the proverbial bullet and spoke. “I am going to stay here, while you all go to Storybrooke.”

“What? Why?” he exclaimed rising up from the bench, before Emma’s frantic hand pulled him down, as she glanced around to check if his outburst had attracted unwanted attention. Not seeing anything out of the ordinary, she focused on him. “Sorry,” he added softly. “But, why do you have to stay?”

“There need to be two gates, Henry, one for each world. And, only your mother and I can make them, so we have to be in the different worlds for this to actually work.” Although she could see that he wasn’t pleased, he accepted her reasoning. “And, your mother is not safe here. There are too many people who hate her. I cannot…” But, before she could finish her sentence, Henry hugged her, cautious not to press Kyle.

“I’ll stay with you.”

“Henry, no.” As he opened his mouth to complain, Emma placed a finger on his lips keeping him quiet just for a moment more. “Listen to me. She will be worried much as it is, but to worry about you too… and, as much as I would like to have you here, this world is not for a kid, Henry. Not now, when there is danger on every corner, and I guess I would be busy with all the arrangements. And, I don’t think you can survive on chimera meat for two months.”

“What?” the boy screeched, paling immensely. Emma closed her eyes in defeat. She had forgotten that Snow and Regina hadn’t told him where the meat was coming from in order to make him eat it. “Chimera?” he asked, disgusted, shaking his head. “Ew.”

“I guess, by your face, that you didn’t know,” the blonde woman said rather unnecessarily. When the boy looked up at her in the perfect imitation of Regina’s sarcastic scowl, Emma had to chuckle, pleased with herself. “Another thing is, you have missed out too much of school as it is. Two more months is… Well, let’s just say it’s not going to happen.”

Henry nodded sadly. He understood why he had to go with his adoptive mother. And, honestly, he did miss his friends in Storybrooke. But, it did not make it easier on him. He looked up at his mother and smiled sadly in acceptance, noticing the slight relaxation in her shoulders at his gesture.

“Can’t you come with us, and then go back when the beans are ready?” he asked, trying to figure out a way to get Emma to come with them to Storybrooke.

“No,” she said gently, leaning her shoulder against Henry’s. “Someone with magic has to stay behind and watch over the operation. And, right now, the only ones I can trust with magic are Regina and I.” The Savior leaned to Henry, her head resting on his for a moment, and her hands were busy with the playful toddler in her lap.

“This can wait,” Henry spoke softly, somewhat regretting ever thinking about it. As Emma had told him, it had been his words that had sparked the idea in the Savior.

“Not really,” his mother replied just as softly. “If we go back, and someone finds out that we delayed making the portal, we will have riots on our hands, and I am willing to bet that Regina would be blamed for the delay.” She then looked at Henry, her green eyes asking for his attention. “And, there is nothing to stop us from delaying it further and further.” Her tone was gentle, but he knew she was speaking of his troublemaking, and the danger magnet that he had seemed to be. “My parents wish to have a more permanent connection to this place, as many others do. Why would we deny them the way to have it, if we can make it?”  _ Isn’t that what the Good does - _ was the unasked question that Henry heard and deep down, under his sadness and dissatisfaction, he knew that the Savior was right.

“What can I do?” he suddenly spoke, his voice more serious and grave than Emma had ever heard from him. The kind, generous, and considerate man that the boy would grow up to be was showing his face even now, in this unexpected display of maturity.

At first Emma could not do anything but blink at her son, trying to stop herself from crying, as the wave of affection surged through her, surprised as she was with his offer. Then she pulled him into a fast hug unable to show her appreciation any other way. When she noticed that he was suffering through the embrace, silent and with dignity, letting her have at it, she pulled back, sheepishly smiling at him.

“Go easy on your mom. She is going to have her hands full with me being gone, Kyle, you, the town and the house…

Then the boy smiled his teasing smirk at Emma, the one he had apparently inherited from his blonde mother, and she stopped talking, becoming concerned because she knew that whenever she had worn that particular expression mess would follow. “So, basically, help out and keep her occupied. Got it.”

“Henry,” Emma started but another voice joined them.

“Emma,” Neal spoke from behind, welcoming the boy into his arms. “We need to talk,” he said in a hurry. “Henry, can you take the baby and give us a minute?” the man asked the boy in his arms. When Henry looked up at Emma and saw her short nod, he silently took Kyle into his arms and walked away, glancing back at them, slightly worried.

Emma rose from the bench, crossing her arms over her chest, recognizing the look on Neal’s face. She really was not in the mood for an argument, not until the meeting, at least, but this would give her an opportunity to convince the man to help her out.

“Are you out of your mind?!” Neal whispered harshly, aware that Henry’s eyes were glued to them from across the village square. “You want to stay here, on this stupid quest for a fucking portal, alone?”

“I see you had a talk with your father,” Emma remarked, ignoring the seething manner of the man beside her.

“Damn it, Emma, you are not a frigging God. Not everything that needs fixing is yours to fix.” He reached for her, his fingers grasping her elbow. “Alone?”

“You are not staying with me, Neal.” The Savior’s sharp tone froze the man in his place. She looked at him, her eyes flashing dangerously, as she had guessed his motivation beyond the tender gesture. But she had other plans for him. “I do not need protection,” she said, her voice sinking lower into a dangerous register, portraying her power and resolution. “And, you are needed elsewhere.”

Neal only inclined his head, waiting for her to continue. He understood the woman before him. He had thought that he could make her accept his decision to stay behind and help her, but now, looking at the blonde, he truly saw the Savior she was. Additionally, he would only be an unnecessary distraction to Emma and potential point of strife in her relationship with Regina, and as much as he cared for her, he would never stand in the way of her True Love.

“I need you to be there for your sister.”

“What? Emma, she…” Neal started, but the blonde came to him, her green eyes focusing onto his dark ones, keeping him silent.

“She will need someone to talk to. Someone who is not Rumplestiltskin, and definitely not a Charming. And, after the fiasco with Cora, I cannot imagine her talking to Archie.” Emma then uncrossed her arms and grabbed Neal’s forearms in a firm grip. “She is your sister, Neal, and a victim of your father. And, as much as you both loathe the idea, I think that you need to establish the connection.” The Savior sensed that the man before her was reluctant to agree, but was not outright denying her. “Please. I need to know she will be alright.”  _ For me. _

The earnest look in her eyes broke his resolution and he nodded, accepting to take care of Emma’s True Love and his newly discovered sister. Now, as he could think about it, he understood that the connection between them would only ease the things in the future, and perhaps the tension he had always felt when he, Henry and Regina were in the same room would dissipate. “When are you planning to do it?”

“The meeting where Regina and I will tell the others about this is after lunch. And, I would assume that you would be leaving tomorrow, or the day after tomorrow the latest.”

“Alright,” Neal said, nodding. But, before he could step away, he felt Emma’s hand squeeze him gently on his forearm. He looked at her questioningly.

“Can you go and tell Hook, and bring my things from the ship? All of them should be in the cabin.” The slight shake in her voice warned him not to ask her if she was alright. He knew her well enough that she would not appreciate him pointing out her crumbling façade. The idea of being away from her loved ones and friends for two whole months must have been daunting to Emma.

“I’ll take them to your room,” he replied silently, taking her hand and squeezing it back. With another look into her eyes, he nodded and walked away, deciding to make the best of efforts with Regina, if only to help Emma cope with the separation.

The rest of the morning passed quickly, as Emma and the children played around, with various members of the travel party and the village stopping by to talk to Emma and Henry. However, as time went on closer to the lunch hour, Henry could see his mother getting restless, often looking up to check the position of the Sun. Just as she was to find David to get the instructions on how to reach the caves, the hairs on her neck stood up. She recognized the feeling, instantly relaxing. She did not need to see the purple swirls of magic coming from behind her to know that her worry was for nothing.

And, only a moment after, an excited ‘Mom’ came from Henry’s mouth, making Emma smile as she turned around, just in time to see the last wisps of transportation magic disappear into the air, leaving the dark haired woman and the older man standing in the middle of the village. Then, a slow, lazy smile graced the woman’s face as she saw her son coming to her, carrying Kyle in his arms. Her warm arms welcomed them into the motherly hug, as the warm eyes searched for Emma’s, the gaze speaking more than words ever could. Emma stepped closer to the woman, and after a brief nod to Rumplestiltskin, she placed her hand on Regina’s back.

The lunch was a quiet affair that finished quickly, as everyone present was anxious to get on with the meeting. Regina explained her trip to Emma in short points over their meal, her tone silent enough for only Emma to hear her.

“So, so far it’s alright?” Emma asked to confirm. The only reply that came was a brisk nod, as Regina was cutting the meat in her plate. The blonde then turned to her son and smirked at his face of disgust when Snow placed a piece of the barbeque onto his plate. He was eating all the vegetables and salads, avoiding to even touch the offending food, ignoring disapproving looks of his brunette mother and his grandmother. But, the somber mood of the meal stopped Regina from cautioning the boy, deciding to let him play with his food just this once.

The Savior glanced around the room, looking if everyone was there. When her gaze passed over Neal, she saw him nodding while he looked at her, and she nodded in response and understanding. As Hook was right beside him, joining for the meal, something that he rarely did, Emma could easily guess that the other part of her request was finished as well.

The tables were quickly moved away, and the seats were placed in the circle, just like they had been the first time Regina had entered the village hall. With a soft word, Martha came and took Kyle away from Regina’s hands, guiding the other children away from the central room. With a meaningful gesture, Snow placed her hand onto Henry’s shoulder, her expression telling him that he was to leave as well. But before he could summon up the indignation to refuse, Emma interrupted them.

“He can stay,” Emma said after a brief but silent conversation with Regina. She walked to her mother and waved her head to the boy, showing him to join his mother on the other side of the room. “He needs to stay.” Emma turned to her mother, gentling her tone. “He is old enough to understand the consequences of his presence and of the choices made in this meeting.” With a soft smile, she gestured to Snow to take her seat, as she was about to open the summit. As always, she preferred to do it on her feet, as she was restless. With a last glance around the room, she circled, watching all the gathered parties. Not only the people from Storybrooke were there, with inclusion of Neal and Hook, but the Royals of the village with Mulan were also present, at her request. Emma felt that she could not make the decision without involving these people, who would be on this side of the portal, exposed to the other world. Then, she glanced toward her son, sending him a gentle warning to stick to the decisions made that morning, and finally, her gaze settled onto the warm chocolate orbs, focused on her. The silent encouragement was enough to start Emma talking.

“I, well we, have gathered you here to inform you of the possibility I have uncovered…”

Slowly, Emma talked, telling the people in the room about the instability of the magic beans, the need for a more stable connection between the worlds, and her solution. She talked about her idea, about Henry’s insistence of the possibility of a portal. She then talked about all the necessities of the portal creation, keeping the important details to herself, not willing to expose their project to the outward sabotage.

All the while Emma spoke, Regina thought back to the morning and her trip to the caves with Rumplestiltskin.

_ As they appeared in the mountain range, the cold air assaulted them immediately. With a quick flick of her hand, the two people were covered with a magical protection, keeping them warm from the wind. Slowly, they directed themselves to one of the visible caves, walking cautiously over the treacherous ground. Occasionally, Regina had to offer her hand to the limping man, his cane unable to help him over the shifting grit. They ventured in the cave closest to the spot they had appeared in, and with a magical light floating in front of them, the man and the woman explored the caves, looking for the stones they needed, the stones soaked with the blood of the dragons. The silence was oppressive, but neither was willing to break it, not knowing how to open a line of conversation. After hours of unsuccessful exploration, they finally stumbled upon an inner hall, littered with bones and eggshells. After summoning several more light orbs, Regina watched around in awe, as the chamber obviously had been very important in the lives of the dragons that had lived in these ranges. _

_ “It appears that Miss Swan’s quest will be more successful than I thought,” Rumplestiltskin remarked, his cane tapping against a darkened rock. Regina turned, and with shine in her eyes, she reached for the rock, feeling the magic pulsing in it. Yes, it was soaked with the dragons’ blood, and it wasn’t the only one as beyond that particular rock, there were dozens more, pulsing with the same type of magic. She was tempted to try and move them with her magic, but a quick move of the man beside her stopped her. “Don’t,” he warned softly. “The magic from the blood will react to yours,” he added gravely as she narrowed her eyes at him. The reminder chilled her and she flinched back from the rock. The former imp was right, and she almost killed them in her desire to shorten Emma’s absence from her life. _

_ “She will try to do the same,” Regina commented softly, suddenly feeling nauseous at the possibility of Emma trying the same and undeniably killing herself in the process. _

_ “She won’t,” Rumplestiltskin spoke with conviction, placing his hand on Regina’s upper arm in comfort. At the brunette’s doubting look he glanced up into her troubled eyes, and squeezing her arm he continued. “I will stay to help her.” _

_ “Why?” Regina asked suspiciously, glaring at his hand. _

_ Slowly, he moved the offending limb away. “She would need someone experienced in magic by her side, and you cannot stay. The only other option is me.” _

_ “Why?” Regina repeated. _

_ “Miss Swan is a very talented sorceress with precise instincts regarding magic, and I think she would need supervision as she is undoubtedly to stumble upon something she is not yet ready to power through in her usual way.” Rumplestiltskin spoke, his tone gentle and soft, none of his arrogance and contempt present. “It may be hard for you to believe, but I care about you, dearie. And, one way of honoring that is to help Sheriff Swan in her endeavor.” With those words, he turned away and started the slow climb out of the dark tunnels of the forgotten caves. Marking the chamber with her magic, Regina quickly followed after him. _

Shaking her head, she noticed Henry looking at her with a worried expression on his face. Only then she noticed his hand over hers. Regina smiled at him reassuringly, squeezing his fingers gently. She looked up at the blonde and saw her arguing with her mother. They had expected that Snow would be the hardest person to convince to go to Storybrooke and leave Emma behind.

“I am not leaving you here all by yourself!” The Queen imperiously stated, having risen from her seat. “I am staying with you!”

“You cannot!” Emma said, still able to keep her voice calm. “It will be difficult enough for Regina to go back without me. Imagine what would happen if she was to show up without you two too!” Finally, the blonde had reached her end, her voice rising toward the end.

“It would seem that the main problem is that you are reluctant to leave your daughter alone,” Rumplestiltskin commented, his hands resting on his cane. With a brisk look to his left, he saw a gentle nod from Belle, and with such approval he continued. “We are offering to stay behind and help the Sheriff.”

“And, I will stay as well,” Ruby joined in, her eyes searching the green ones of her longtime friend. “Snow, you know she is right.” Glancing toward Emma, she saw the grateful look tossed in her direction.

“Fine,” Snow said grumpily, crossing her arms on her chest.

“Any other objections?” The Savior asked, looking around, her gaze focusing on the royals of the village, expecting at least a question from them. However she was greeted with silence. Henry did not make trouble, and Neal kept his word. Surprising as it was to see Rumplestiltskin and Ruby volunteer to stay with her, she was infinitely glad that she would have someone familiar with her. And, with all honesty, she knew that she would use the presence of the old man to learn all there was about magic.

“When are we going?” the pirate suddenly asked, drawing all the eyes in the room to himself.

“Tomorrow morning.”

The declaration from the Savior’s mouth came as a surprise to everyone in the room, Regina included. As she jumped up, rushing toward the blonde, ready to object, as it was too soon, she realized why Emma wanted them gone as soon as possible. Every moment more that they were together would make it that much harder on the Sheriff to let the former Queen go. Ignoring the sudden explosion of sound, followed by all the incessant questions and refusals, Regina reached the Savior pulling her in the embrace.

“I love you,” she whispered softly into Emma’s ear, feeling the tense muscles in the blonde’s shoulders relax.

When none of the women were forthcoming with the answers, the crowd started to disperse. With a gentle pull, Emma reached for her mother silently making her stay. Regina caught Ruby’s eyes and gesturing to Henry, she asked her to take him away.

“It’s important for him not to listen to this,” the former Evil Queen spoke softly, aware that only the werewolf’s senses would pick her voice up. Seeing the answering nod from the young woman, she smiled in appreciation, sending her son to the woman with the encouraging pat on his shoulder. When everyone but Emma, Snow and David, left the central room, Regina felt a wall of magic cover the space, the tinge of it very familiar. She looked at Emma, narrowing her eyes and the blonde only shrugged her concern away.

“What is it?” Snow asked, her eyes darting from Emma, over Regina, to David, and back. She felt sudden apprehension as she noticed the carefully composed façade on her husband’s face. Slowly, she was guided to the chairs by his gentle hands, as the two other women followed them.

Emma reached for Regina’s hand, and intertwining their fingers, she kissed her cheek in support, knowing that the following conversation with Snow would be one of the hardest ones for the former Queen. Sitting them down on a wide chair, Emma used it to her advantage, pulling the other woman closely, giving her the necessary encouragement. After an asking look she directed at her father, and receiving a short nod in response, she turned to the brunette in her arms.

“Tell her,” she spoke softly, but loud enough for the other two to hear her.

“Snow, you wanted me to tell you about your father.”

“Yes,” came the unsure answer. Snow knew that this ambush was created with David’s help, and possibly at Emma’s initiation, because she could not see Regina opening the subject that she had so forcefully closed only the day before.

“What I said before was not the whole truth.” Regina started, but then she stopped, looking at Emma reluctantly. A soft squeeze at her side gave her the comfort she needed, and the soft encouragement and fierce protection shining out of Emma’s eyes warmed her insides. “He was a kind father, but he was not a good man.”

The automatic rebuttal from Snow was stopped by David, as he placed his hand over her lips. “Just listen,” he whispered into her ear. With a slow blink at Regina, he let her continue.

“I know that the man you ever saw was a generous ruler and a virtuous person, but he was not. Not to me, and not to countless others. He was a petty, resentful and scornful person whenever he was not watched by the folk of the kingdom. Many people perished by his orders only because they deigned to complain about one thing or the other. Anything that he would see as a threat to his perfect picture of the flourishing empire would disappear overnight, never to be heard of again.

Didn’t you ever wonder what happened to the girl that approached you in the outer gardens?” Regina looked into the silent woman across from her. “Did you ever ask yourself where did she go after that night?”

“No,” Snow whispered, feeling dread coming over her at the implication Regina was trying to establish. “Father told me that he had found a family for her that would take care of her.”

Regina only scoffed, the memories of that day fresh in her mind. She pushed away from Emma, rising up and stepping several feet away from the others. “Leopold threw her into the dungeons, ordering her guards to teach her a lesson. No one of the lowly folks and peasants was ever to speak to a Royal without an expressed permission, and Dana was to be severely punished for it. And what do you think happened to a thirteen year old girl left to the mercy of four grisly men?” She suddenly turned to Snow, her eyes piercing the younger Queen’s heart. Snow paled, swallowing hard. “As soon as I heard, I tried to interfere but your father stopped me. For my involvement in his Royal decision I paid dearly, while the girl was publicly executed in a distant village’s square for thievery.” Her words were followed by the heavy silence. “Honestly, she had been given the easy way out, but Leopold thought that it would dissuade me from further bouts of disobedience.”

“What did he do to you?” Snow asked in a weak voice, tears gliding down her face. There was no doubt that Regina was speaking the truth. The pixie haired woman knew the former Evil Queen better than anyone, save Emma and Rumplestiltskin, and she knew when her former stepmother was lying. Also, Emma was quiet, her eyes darting between Regina and her, but overall not surprised with the story. At that moment, Snow remembered what she had known about their True Love. Emma shared Regina’s memories and vice versa.

“That time?” Regina asked with a twisted smirk, darkness covering her features. “He flogged me until there was not an untouched part of skin on my back. And then…” she stopped, her eyes going to Emma’s. Swallowing, she turned her eyes to Snow and continued. “Then, he raped me until he had enough of it.”

“No.” Snow glanced toward her daughter, not willing to believe, but the grimace of pain that crossed Emma’s pale features was proof enough for the pixie haired woman. “No,” she repeated, this time much weaker, the apprehension dawning. David had warned her. She turned to him, and seeing only the anguished understanding, she shook her head.

“But, it wasn’t something unusual in my life with the King,” Regina continued, her voice devoid of emotions, her eyes distant. “Every night he would come into my chambers and force himself on me, regardless of my refusals. Actually, the harder I fought against him the greater the pain I suffered.”

“Why didn’t you run away?” David asked, holding his wife to his chest.

“My mother placed a barrier spell on me. I could not leave the kingdom without the King by my side. I think she did that so I would eventually kill him, if only to stop his torment.” Regina then softly smiled at David, her mind on something in the past. “I have met your brother, the real prince James. Leopold was looking for the most promising suitors for Snow and at the time, George was presenting an opportunity that was not to be passed. The young prince was just as arrogant and insufferable as his father, earning the scorn of Leopold by offending Snow’s portrait. And, then he flirted with me in front of the King. Leopold threw them out, ordering his guard to escort them beyond the borders. George could never forget it and he hated the Whites deeply because of the embarrassment.”

“So, you knew? You knew that I wasn’t James?” David spoke with surprise. That little tidbit even caught Snow’s attention.

“Of course I knew. That egotistical megalomaniac was not capable of any emotion, least of all love. I had my doubts, but when you woke her from my curse I knew for sure.” Regina looked at Emma with a soft smile, trying not to gloat at the surprised faces of the Charmings.

“That is why you rarely used his name?” Snow decided to speak, her question enough of the answer. “I thought your illnesses were caused by magic?” the pixie haired woman returned to the subject.

“I would use up all of my energy on healing, often pushing my limits, in order to hide the injuries from you.”

The pictures passed before Regina’s eyes, the long suppressed feelings swimming to the surface. She had known that if she talked about it, it would summon all the ghastly details of her past, overwhelming her in the moment. But she trusted Emma to keep her sane, and grounded. So when the inevitable memories came she let herself be immersed into them.

_ The sudden opening of the door startled her out of her reading. The book Snow had given her was enticing and interesting, so Regina continued to read it throughout the whole rainy afternoon, while the Royal child was attending lessons. She looked up, expecting to see the rambunctious girl running toward her, but instead she found the King, glaring at her from the door. She jumped from the lounge and curtsied deeply, the gentle smile falling off her face, the fear gripping her. _

_ “Your Grace,” she whispered dutifully, as the King entered her chambers, locking the door behind him. She swallowed at the gesture, the cold chill permeating her skin. He was in a vicious mood, she could see from his displeased and wicked expression and the purposeful stride. Without a word he grabbed her by the neck, his fingers feeling the rapid pulse of the frightened young woman. In a move too strong to resist, he threw her onto the floor, stepping onto her dress, pinning her to the cold stone. With a rancorous smirk on his face, he unbuckled his belt, dropping it to his side, the metallic clunk reverberating in the room as the King’s sword and dagger struck the stone tiles. Regina flinched at the sound, looking up with her wild eyes, trying to plead with the King, but in advance knowing that it was futile. A soft whimper escaped her. _

_ “Quiet!” the man barked harshly, his hands untying the laces on his trousers. Soon, his pants dropped down to his ankles, and he tugged his shirt off his back, standing naked in front of the young Queen, his proud member already swollen to his full length. He lowered himself to his knees, and reaching for the dagger on the floor, he cut through the layers of the dress the Queen wore. The only sounds in the room were the systematic ripping of the material, his panting and soft whimpering sobs. When the brunette was finally naked, he smirked at her, letting the blade of the dagger travel over her skin, leaving a rapidly reddening trace, as the small drops of blood seeped through the scrapes. He lifted the blade up and up, making sure to nick both of her breasts, enjoying her harsh sobs and gasping cries whenever the blade would make a deeper cut. Then, he rested the sharp metal on Regina’s neck, his eyes daring her to move. But, she knew that it was only the part of the game, the torture he inflicted on her. She would not ever be able to escape him, not even in death, because he would be able to stop her if she ever tried to kill herself. _

_ With a hungry and evil grin he watched her olive skin shake in fear, before he lowered his teeth onto one of the shaking mounds on Regina’s chest, biting down hard, enjoying the scream that ripped out of her throat. The metallic and salty taste of blood in his mouth only made him lock his jaw tighter, while his free hand found the apex in between Regina’s thighs, and with a forceful thrust he entered her with his fingers, relishing the suffering shrieks he managed to coax out of the woman beneath him. Shifting a bit, he reached for the other breast with his mouth, repeating the torture, all the while his hand pumped in and out of her, not caring in the least that she was bleeding, coating his hand in the horrific red. Only when the screams tapered off into the incessant whimpering and powerless keening, he pulled her legs apart, lowering himself in between, his shaft stretching her flesh painfully, causing her to scream again, her hands flailing helplessly hitting him over his shoulders and chest. Grabbing her arms in the hurting hold, he moved his hips suddenly, his motion jerky and powerful, eliciting horrific screech out of the young woman whose throat could not support her shouts. With each next move of his hips, he gained speed and the strength behind the motion, his breath grew shallower, until he panted into her neck, his teeth piercing her skin. As he raced toward his finish, he squeezed his hands, grinding the bones under his fingers. The sound of Regina’s pain only brought him closer. With a final grunt, he came. _

_ With a businesslike expression, he moved off the battered woman, not even sparing a glance toward her, as he pulled his trousers up. Using the tattered remains of the silk dress, he wiped the blood and sweat of his chest, throwing the rags over Regina after he finished. Then he lowered himself into a crouch beside the sobbing woman’s head and twisting his hand into her hair, he lifted her head off the floor, directing her face toward him. _

_ “Clean yourself, wench, and remember I am the only man you can look at,” he growled at her. When she did not move, he slapped her hard. “If I catch you flirting with the cook again, you’ll live to regret it.” _

_ Then he released her, her head falling to the stone floor heavily, and walked out of the room, not even bothering to close the door behind himself. Regina could only turn to a side and pull her knees up, having strength only for the silent tears and shaking sniffs. With all her will she wished for death and salvation but it didn’t come. The cold floor soothed some of the pain, making her skin numb, but the burning and torn flesh was still bleeding. _

_ “You are late, dearie,” suddenly the voice came from the dark red mist, as the imp appeared in front of her. With a scowl on his face he looked down at the semi-comatose woman on the floor, covered in blood and tatters of the soft peach silk dress, and leaned his chin upon his hand. “No, this will not do,” he said, snapping his fingers, making the blood and injuries disappear. Then, he lowered himself down and picked the young woman in his arms, transporting her easily to the bed. After he made sure she was covered, he smirked evilly at the broken Queen, and disappeared. _

The memories pulled at her, making her blood boil and her magic rise. As her face darkened in the furious hatred, she closed her hands into fists, shaking with the force of wrath that sang in every cell of her flesh. That time, she remembered, was the only time Rumplestiltskin healed her, and the first time the King had left her unable to move. The fear she had felt then surged back up, twisting into the revolting rage, mixed in with the hatred and hopelessness she had felt then, the combination of emotions fueling her magic and her need to punish the world. Lost in her memories, she did not see the people in front of her. She did not see the worried glances nor the cautious moves.

“Regina?” Snow spoke tremulously, suddenly afraid, as she witnessed the change in her former step mother. Finally realizing the kind of pain the woman had carried with her made Snow’s heart break, the guilt surging up in her. She had heard the stories of other kings behaving in such manner, treating women as chattel, but she never dreamed that her father had been one of them. Now, when she finally realized the amounts of suffering Regina had suffered in the White’s Kingdom, Snow understood the need for retribution and punishment that had guided the Evil Queen. And, as Emma had said, Regina had loved her, and that was the reason why the brunette had not killed the monster of her husband sooner. As torturous her sentence had been, the former Queen had chosen to suffer it for Snow to have her father as long as she needed him. But, finally, even the gentle soul as the young Queen’s had had its limits. And then, the guilt Regina had had placed on Snow, for Daniel and for all the years of suffering, had been the reason enough for persecution. Snow reached for the woman, to offer a hug, or at least some consolation, but her daughter interfered.

“Don’t touch her,” Emma said gently, shielding Regina from Snow. With a hand gesture she motioned David to lead his wife and himself to a safe distance. Then, she turned to her love and with a quick prayer, she reached for the woman’s fists, already enveloped in the swirls of pinks and purples. “Regina,” Emma whispered gently, siphoning away the magic from the brunette. When the former Queen did not react, the Savior moved her hands to Regina’s face, pulling it close to her own. “Come back to me.” Emma’s thumbs glided over Regina’s cheekbones, offering the woman the grounding contact. “My Queen,” the Savior said, her breath passing over the lost woman’s lips, summoning the former Queen to the present. The dark eyes found the concerned green.

“Oh, Emma,” Regina gasped, finally managing to bring herself to the moment, guided by the love that radiated from the blonde. The Savior pulled her into the powerful embrace, letting the woman grip her clothes brokenly, as she cried.

“You are safe,” the blonde murmured softly. “I am here. Let it go.” And, with Emma’s coaxing, the magic in the air diminished, and the broken sobs tapered off into the silence. All the while the Sheriff held the former Queen in her protective arms, healing the breaks Regina had suffered so long ago, Snow remained silent in David’s arms, tears gliding down her face, as she felt the pain reverberating off the brunette.

After several more minutes, Regina straightened up, wiping her eyes quickly, as she gathered herself enough to move away from Emma. With a gentle and thankful kiss to the blonde’s lips, she brought herself up to her full height, her eyes daring Snow to challenge her. She almost expected the younger brunette to come to her and adamantly claim that she had made it all up just to make the former princess suffer. But, the White Queen watched her from her husband’s arms, her eyes filled with remorse and compassion. And, suddenly, Regina felt different. Somehow lighter. She glanced toward Emma, her emotions clear on her face for her True Love to read. The answering smile only made her own lips quirk into a satisfied arch. Emma took one of her hands and brought it to her mouth, kissing the back of it in a chivalrous gesture, making her smile grow wider.

Then, the brunette turned to Snow and with purposeful stride came to the woman, dismissing David from her side. “I didn’t want you to know. No child should know such evils.” The quiet and roughened voice of the former Evil Queen was gentle, as Regina reached for her former stepdaughter’s cheek. But before she could reach it, the other woman launched herself into her arms, robbing her off her breath. Snow’s arms came around Regina’s back, squeezing her desperately as the younger woman sobbed into the surprised woman’s neck.

“I am sorry,” Snow sobbed out. “I am so sorry.”

Regina accepted the hug, placing her hands onto the shaking woman’s back, reminiscing of the many times she had used to soothe Snow this way in the past. “It is over now,” Regina only said, too soft for others but Snow to hear it. She felt the responding nod of the woman in her arms and patted the back gently, as she pulled the younger woman away tenderly. “Parley?” Regina spoke, making Snow chuckle through her tears.

The pixie haired woman shook her head, a gentle smile coming onto her face. “Concord,” she said shortly.

Regina nodded in answer, smiling as well. Then, she released the other woman. With a hand reaching behind her, she called Emma to herself, letting the strong blonde envelope her in the loving hug from behind. Snow reached to Emma’s shoulder squeezing it gently, before she transferred her hand to Regina’s cheek tenderly. There was no need for words, and she communicated her pleasure with the resolution of the situation, before she took David’s hand and pulled him out of the room, not even noticing that Emma had released the protective barrier from the chamber. The gentle King smirked at his daughter and her True Love, glad that Emma had convinced him to participate in this, as it worked out for the best.

As they were left alone, Emma kissed Regina’s neck, feeling the last vestiges of the tenseness in the woman disappear. Guiding her to the fireplace, the blonde used her magic to arrange the low seats beside it and to light the fire in the already prepared hearth. Holding the brunette in her arms, Emma lowered them gently down, satisfied with the outcome of the meeting and subsequent confrontation. She had been worried for a moment, when Regina had gotten lost inside her memories, but the former Queen had come back without incidents. And Snow finally lost her pink colored glasses regarding her father and the world she had come from.

“Are you OK?” the Savior asked softly, her arms going over Regina’s belly.

The brunette hummed in the positive as a reply, enjoying the warmth of the flames on her somewhat chilled skin and the comfort she felt from the blonde seeping into her. It was amazing how Emma’s presence helped her center her thoughts and emotions, easily dispelling the storm inside her. Just a soothing touch from the Savior and an order issued in a gentle and loving tone was enough to bring her back from the terrors of her past. “Let’s stay here for a while,” she murmured as she intertwined fingers of one of her hands with Emma’s.

“OK,” the other woman said, settling herself more comfortably on the seat, pulling Regina firmly against herself. Emma knew it was still early in the afternoon, and she did not mind spending a quiet time with Regina beside the fire. Regardless of her previous knowledge of Regina’s history, the retelling of it brought it all up, along with the memories of the nightmares the former Queen occasionally had suffered from. And, the moment when the brunette’s face had twisted with the pain of recollections had torn Emma’s insides figuratively, and she could feel the revulsion and agony of the moment still. She needed the time to get her bearings back, just like the brunette in her arms.

Regina shifted a bit, needing more contact with the Savior, so she turned to her side, letting her legs intertwine with Emma’s as she circled her arms around the blonde, changing the seat into a soft and low lounge beside the fire. She chuckled softly when Emma groaned in surprise as the sudden transformation of the low chair shifted them into a more comfortable position. Leaning her head onto the Sheriff’s shoulder, Regina breathed in deeply, relishing the scents she associated with Emma, the smell of leather being one of them, and something purely Emma. She closed her eyes, nuzzling into the Savior’s neck, relaxing completely. Emma’s hand glided over the brunette’s back absently, the rhythm pacifying. The other Savior’s hand was on the small of Regina’s back, holding her close as the heat from the palm seeped through Regina’s clothes.

Only an hour later, their son interrupted them, bringing Kyle with him. But, Regina welcomed Henry onto the lounge with a simple move of her arm and the boy quickly climbed onto it, lying to the other side of his blonde mother, with Kyle in between Regina and him, prostrate on Emma’s chest. The Savior chuckled as she was surrounded by her new family, enjoying her afternoon in the lazy conversation and tender togetherness, soaking in the love, committing every moment to her memory for later.


	8. Chapter 8

It was late in the evening when Emma returned to the room she had shared with Regina. Henry had kept her close for hours in the end, unwilling to let her go. At the same time, her own mother had been displaying her clingy qualities, but the blonde Knight could not blame her, not when the morning was about to bring one of the hardest events in their lives.

With a downtrodden set to her shoulders, Emma closed the door, leaning back on the sturdy wood, heavy sigh escaping her mouth.

“Is he asleep?” Regina’s soft voice came from the bed, as the woman was reclining on it, having been reading. She had closed the small book, keeping a forefinger inside to mark the place, out of a habit, while she looked up and down the mirthless woman.

Emma pushed away from the door and quickly climbed the bed, settling herself over the woman, burying her nose into the warm shoulder. When she felt the uncomfortable edge of the book’s covers digging in her ribs, she groaned in displeasure, lifting herself a bit and pushing the offending object out of Regina’s hand. Lowering her body down again, the blonde felt Regina’s palms going over her bare shoulders and down to her back. “He is asleep, but don’t know how much he will stay that way,” Emma mumbled into the brunette’s chest.

Just like Emma, when Henry was under a great deal of stress, his sleep would be interrupted by waking ups and uneasy dreams. Regina knew that the night would be hard on everyone, so she did not comment on it. “Can you sleep?”

“No,” the answer came immediately.

“What do you want to do?” Regina felt Emma shrug in her hold, the tense woman almost vibrating with nervous energy that would only continue to grow if they stayed put. So, the blonde needed to move, and the former Queen was not willing to let her out of her sight before the time. The brunette had noticed before that Emma’s things were mysteriously brought to their room, and she was glad that the Sheriff had thought of that, because it would have been very difficult for Regina to send those things, permeated with Emma’s scent, away, and the blonde needed them here. “Get warmly dressed,” Regina spoke, patting Emma’s shoulder, an idea coming to her. At the flabbergasted look she got in the answer she elaborated. “We are going for a walk, it will help.”

Slowly they dressed for the outside weather. At the inquiring glance to Regina, Emma strapped on the sword from the ship and pulled on her coat. After an admiring glance from the brunette, the Savior accepted the offered hand, and felt the familiar buzz of magic envelop her as they disappeared in the swirl of the colored mist.

The startling change of temperature forced Emma to gasp, the expulsion of breath white in the cold mountain air. As her hand was released from Regina’s gentle grip, the blonde turned, enjoying the brisk coldness on her cheeks, as she looked around, recognizing the scenery from somewhere in Regina’s memory. “I know this place,” Emma whispered, as she admired the tall winter green trees and the clear starry night.

“Tri-point,” Regina murmured with a soft smile on her face. “This exact spot is at the equal distance from the Charmings’ Castle, the White Castle and the Summer Palace,” she elaborated as she took Emma’s hand, guiding her toward a small cottage, hidden in the dense foliage of the mountain. The brunette explained in the quiet voice the strategic need for the spot and a resting place, and the advantages of such hideout, her gentle tone not disturbing the tranquil night. She led the Savior around the timber log cabin and up, following a barely visible path, slowly, letting the blonde get familiar with the surroundings. They walked in silence, hand in hand, enjoying the light exercise and the peacefulness of the forest. Then, Regina carefully followed the steep climb in the path, pulling Emma behind her, promising her that it was worth it. Finally, they ascended over the last rocks in their way and onto a small narrow clearing that was cut off, its edge the beginning of a steep jagged cliff, opening the spectacular view before them. For the second time that evening, Emma found herself speechless, amazed by the natural vista in front of her.

Far in the distance, the dark mass of the ocean reflected the millions of stars on the clear sky, the water shimmering on the edge, giving out ethereal apparel to the scene. Almost invisible in the darkness of the night stood the ruin of the Charming’s Palace, by the shore. In front of the stunned Emma were the forests, fields, rivers and creeks, creating an amazing canvass, evident even in the dimness of the night.

“It’s beautiful,” the blonde whispered, pulling the other woman to herself. Regina only smiled, looking at the dazed face of the Savior, her hand reaching the untamed lock of the golden hair that had fallen over Emma’s eye.

“Yes,” the brunette agreed, no longer thinking about the place they were at. “You are.”

The blonde demurely lowered her head, avoiding the chocolate eyes, slightly uncomfortable with the open regard the Madam Mayor placed upon her. The brunette smiled with amusement, lifting Emma’s head up, her insistent fingers holding the Sheriff’s chin.

Unable to resist, Regina pecked chastely the shy Savior, but as strong arms enveloped her, she surrendered to the moment, deepening the kiss. The blonde moaned in approval as she pulled the former Queen firmly against her body, vibrating with awakened need and passion.

Calling upon her magic, Emma initiated the transporting spell, moving them into the cottage she had seen before, not breaking the connection she had with the tantalizing lips of her Queen. The Savior knew that the desperate need engulfing them was fueled by the impending separation, and that diving into it was not a wise idea, as it would only give them more things to miss, but she couldn’t find it in her to care anymore. Not when she was about to have a taste of heaven. However, she found a trace of ever dwindling strength to push Regina gently away, and to act in a truly Knight-like fashion, chivalrously letting the other woman decide along with her.

“If we do this,” Emma started, gasping as the hot lips found her neck. “The time apart,” the blonde continued, as she took hold of Regina’s face and held it close to her own, “will be all that much harder.”

“It is already going to be hell, Emma. I would rather suffer the sweet torture relishing the memories of our time together,” the brunette spoke emphatically, her fingers sinking into Emma’s wild hair, “than have only the warm comfort of our True Love.” With those words, the former Queen pulled the blonde into a ferocious lip melding, swallowing the answering excited groan. With one thought, Regina lit the fire in the hearth of the cabin, while she slowly, enticingly, unbuttoned Emma’s coat. Yes, she knew why Emma had hesitated, and the brunette agreed with the Sheriff’s concerns, but she stood by the words she had said to the other woman. And, if she was going to suffer anyways, she would do this right. There was no rush, they had all night.

It seemed that the Savior followed the line of her thoughts, easing her kisses and caresses, her touch not as desperate and rushed as before. With a gentle reach, Emma took off the jacket from the brunette’s shoulders, slowly tracing her fingers over Regina's collarbone and back. The soft sound of heavy fabric hitting the floor was heard over the hypnotizing crackling of the fire and the slightly shallow breaths of the two women.

The soft light of the fire danced over Regina’s face, drawing Emma’s hand to it, as she tried to follow the pattern of the blazes. The brunette leaned into the touch, closing her eyes, her hands going to the Sheriff’s hips, keeping her close. The gentle caress held such reverence in it that it brought moisture to the former Queen’s eyes. Lightly, a soft pair of lips landed on her face, kissing the ancient injury over her mouth, as if to erase the offence that had caused the mark. Then, the insistent but tender lips continued on their way, finding their willing counterparts ready for them. As Emma kissed her deeply, all the tenderness, love and devotion present in the touch, Regina found the knot of the blonde’s belt, untying it deftly but slowly, savoring the moment. Not to disturb the pleasant tranquility around them, the brunette lowered the sword gently on the mantle over the hearth, using her magic when she couldn’t reach it by her hand.

Pausing to breathe, the Savior pushed her hands into the dark hair, humming with pleasure as her fingers passed through the silken tresses, focusing on the feel as she committed it to her mind, along with every second she would spend in the cottage. Leisurely, she lowered her palms to Regina’s shoulders, guiding her nimble fingers to the front, passing over the lapels of the shirt, down to the first caught button. As she glanced toward the dark eyes, she saw an encouraging smile on the brunette’s face. One by one, Emma released the plastic from its confines, until the shirt was open, revealing satin and lace bra in the color of skin. At the view, the blonde swallowed, her mouth watering, as she gripped the lapels of the shirt firmly.

Regina smirked at the obvious adoration from the Savior. Emma’s eyes had always strayed to her chest, in Storybrooke and on their journey, almost unconsciously. But when she had chosen her vest and the shirt she had worn after they had spent the night in her castle, she had seen that the attributes she had used with pleasure and arrogance had been the most watched aspect of her by the Savior, apart from her face. With her gentle hands, she found the hem of the black woolen turtleneck the blonde was wearing and pulled slowly up, making Emma move her hands up, as the sweater came off. Under it was the white undershirt Emma was so fond of wearing, showcasing the Knight’s strong arms and shoulders. It might have been Regina’s favorite as it came to Emma’s clothes, and perhaps that was the reason the blonde insisted on wearing them. Right after she dropped the black turtleneck, the former Queen reached for the belt loops on Emma’s jeans, pulling the other woman to herself, Emma’s arms going around her shoulders.

“I love you,” was heard in the quiet of the lodge, but neither woman knew if she had been the one to speak. It did not matter, as their eyes spoke of the same thing, as well as their touches and kisses.

Not willing to lose any time on taking off the boots, still wet from the grass dew, Regina wished them off, and suddenly both women were standing on the soft fur rug with their bare feet. Emma chuckled when she gained an inch over Regina with that move. In retaliation, the brunette only turned the Sheriff and guided her backwards to the bed, but after a short pondering the former Queen decided not to push the other woman back. Not yet, anyways.

Her lips twisting into an evil smirk, Regina pulled Emma’s undershirt out of the jeans and leaned her palms onto the slightly heated skin of the blonde’s sides, relishing the sudden intake of breath from the Savior. Splaying her fingers widely, she slowly lifted her hands, taking the soft white t-shirt with them, as she gently passed over the Sheriff’s ribs, her thumbs teasing the underside of the blonde’s breasts, enjoying the light shifting of muscles underneath. Regina’s hands went up, following the lines of Emma’s arms, taking the t-shirt off, and flinging it back with a careless toss. As she lowered her palms, the brunette made sure to pass teasingly over the Sheriff’s collarbones, the breastbone and well defined lines of Emma’s muscled belly, while she watched the blonde’s face intently, smiling when the Savior bit her lower lip as the Queen’s hands landed on Emma’s zipper.

Slowly, with a teasing grin of her face, Regina opened the metal teeth and pulled the dark jeans down, lowering herself into a sexy crouch, exposing Emma’s defined legs to the warm cabin air. When she reached the blonde’s knee, moving it gently to allow the denim to pass over Emma’s foot, the Savior gasped, her hand landing on the brunette’s shoulder for support. The gentle tickling touch at the sensitive skin caused Emma to suck the air sharply, and when the brunette repeated the move on her other leg, the Sheriff squeezed Regina’s shoulder, unsteady on her foot. Discarding the jeans, the former Queen let her hands slide up the blonde’s thighs, passing the black briefs on their way. Rising from her hunkered position with elegance and poise due a queen, Regina made sure to let her front glide upward along Emma’s belly and chest, teasing them both further. Then, with a seductive grin, her hands came to the blonde’s back, finding the hooks of the simple black sports bra Emma was wearing.

Emma still had her hands on Regina’s shoulders, and when the brunette looked into her eyes with askance as her hands hovered over the catch, she nodded, her teeth sliding over her lower lip, catching it slightly. Suddenly, the piece of clothing was gone, exposing her to the Queen, but the Sheriff did not feel apprehensive or nervous about it. Emma had absolute trust that the brunette would not exploit her.

Regina let her hands slither over the heated flesh, as she lifted herself onto her toes, taking the Savior into a thorough passionate kiss, Emma’s hands pulling her deeper into her. The former Queen could feel the magic rising, but it was still too deep under the surface. And, she couldn’t yet sense the counterpart in Emma. It did not matter anyway, for there was no stopping now. Detaching from the enticing lips, she hummed in pleasure when the Savior followed her, groaning in disapproval of their separation. She looked at the blonde woman and saw the flushed cheeks and dilated pupils in the shimmering light of the fire, all the sure signs of arousal. The kiss itself made them breathless, and along with Regina’s restless hands, it was certain that the Savior was on the edge.

Well, I always did want to torture, Regina thought to herself, as she lowered her head, grazing the blonde’s neck with her teeth, immediately after soothing it with her hot and wet tongue. The shudder that passed through the Savior’s frame told her to continue, and she did, lavishing the alluring skin with many lip and tongue grazes. The satisfied moans grew louder, as Regina lowered her lips, tracing the hollows of the collar bones, while her hands reached the exposed pert breasts, rapidly hardening under the soft skin of the expert digits. The Queen caught the jutting nipples with her tender fingers, and gently played with them, reveling in the gasping moans she managed to coax from Emma, as she lowered her lips to one of them, kissing the rosy flesh of the chest in front of her.

“Oh, God,” Emma sighed when the scorching trail of open mouthed kisses came to the top of one of her skillfully caressed aching mounds, the burning tongue flicking over the hard pebble. The spot Regina lavished with attention seemed to be connected with every sensitive point in her body, ratcheting her burgeoning desire even further, making her skin tingle with arousal, and heat seemed to come from deep inside of her belly. The blonde gripped the head on her chest, keeping it in place, as she pushed her ribs out. When the teeth started nibbling on the sensitive peak, she had to grip Regina’s shoulder with her other hand, afraid that she would lose the control of muscles in her legs, as she groaned in need.

Unexpectedly, Regina lifted her head of the swollen bounty and pushed the Savior back, chuckling at the startled expression on Emma’s face, as the back of her knees connected with the edge of the mattress, making her lose her already precarious balance and sit onto the conveniently positioned bed. She then pushed herself in between the Sheriff’s knees, placing her hands on the hips, a haughty smirk on her face.

“Serve your Queen,” Regina spoke, her tone seductive and low, and yet imperious. She watched the understanding dawn on the Savior’s face, as Emma’s hands reached for her. The fingers danced over the leather, as the hands climbed up the legs, crossing over the thighs, squeezing the supple buttocks encased in the treated pelt, until they came to the laces tied into simple knots. With exaggerated slowness, Emma leaned in and baring her teeth, pulled one strand of the ties, her hands firmly grasping Regina’s behind. The gesture robbed the former Queen of already short breath, and the hot air from the blonde tickled her belly, the sudden flash of heat burning in her veins.

Never before had she been so excited and doused in passion as she was with Emma. Even though the blonde had not done anything real yet, she felt like she was close to exploding, and the pulsing hold on her butt was only increasing the desire surging through her. As the Sheriff untied the laces, the pants opened, and the warm digits pulled them down, as the moist lips found Regina’s belly button, causing her to lose all train of thought, with her fingers sinking in the blonde hair. As soon as she was divested out of her pants, Regina clambered onto Emma’s lap, initiating another dizzying passionate kiss, her hands still in the Savior’s hair. She gasped as the blonde’s hands came from her thighs, under the shirt, tracing her spine. The resulting tingling only heightened the experience of the kiss. Regina wanted the woman under her. It was more than need, more than simple want. It was a necessity, a salvation.

Gently, Emma took the shirt of Regina’s shoulders, guiding her, arm by arm, out of it. Finally, she was presented with the lush voluptuous fullness she had been coveting for, now, years, subconsciously and consciously. With an admiring and loving gaze, she reverently lowered the skin colored straps down the flushed skin of the shoulders, her eyes ever hungry for more. As the lace moved, it uncovered the already taut darker skin, the pert nipples getting even harder under Emma’s ravenous eyes. Discarding the satin bra, she glanced up into the flushed face of a goddess in her lap, swallowing hard at the sensuality of the vision before her. The glow of the fire casted an intricate illumination over one half of Regina’s face, while the other was hidden in darkness, and thus presenting a perfect metaphor for the woman. The alight part was soft and gentle, almost radiant, the dancing flame making the dark eye seem like molten chocolate, swirling in the depths, showcasing the innocence and kind and shining soul the woman once had possessed. On the other hand, the shadowed parts, with barely perceived lines, presented the danger in the woman, the dark edge she still had. And, the image in the firelight was breathtaking, as Emma watched on, dazed, all the love, desire, passion, devotion and reverence shown in her look.

Regina felt the power of the Savior’s gaze, feeling it as if it was another limb, caressing her features. The awe and lust that shone from the Sheriff’s almost black eyes felt like a soothing balm for her soul, and a scorching fuel for her body. The eyes glimmered in the weak light as if a veil of tears was covering them, and the mere idea that Emma found her so remarkable that she would shed tears made Regina’s heart squeeze achingly, but with the good kind of burning pain. The love she felt for the blonde grew even larger, impossible as it was, and filled her every cell, amplifying the heady need she already had for her Knight. Tenderly, she caressed the face before her, tracing every line, watching every tiny detail, taking it all in, and storing it for the later days. This image, the picture of the blonde watching her like she was her own personal miracle, was among many she wanted to always remember. Not able to keep away, she kissed the parted lips, feeling the welcoming tongue greeting her and pulling her in.

As the insistent hands twined into her hair again, Emma followed the line of Regina’s jaw, kissing it chastely, until she reached the small dip behind the ear. Her tongue darted out, tasting the skin, making the fingers in her locks flex in response, as a loud gasp left Regina’s mouth. Emma lowered her lips onto Regina’s neck, occasionally sucking the soft skin, and afterwards soothing it, her wet tongue making Regina’s already rapid pulse spike up. With a devious thought entering her lust soaked mind, she bit down on the tender skin connecting the neck with the shoulder, marking the woman in her arms. The loud moan that followed told Emma that she had found an erogenous spot for the Queen. Soothing the sting with gentle pecks peppered over the bite mark, Emma relished the tightening of Regina’s hands in her hair, the slight prickle on her scalp only adding to the experience.

Emma placed her hands over the magnificent breasts in front of her, feeling Regina’s need in arching of her back. Following the slight directions, she lowered her head, taking one of the pebbled nipples in her mouth, sucking it in, as she massaged the other with her hand, while her other hand was on Regina’s back, keeping her close, going up and down the ridges of the spine, dipping lower and lower each time. As she feasted on the supple flesh, she felt her own body react to the demanding moans and whimpers the brunette was making, while keeping her head locked between her hands, directing Emma’s mouth. She was sure that if she continued with it, the both of them would erupt soon enough. Switching sides, the blonde nibbled on the tasty peak, breathing through her nose, trying to calm down her racing heartbeat. But, the moment she managed to grasp control over her passion derailed body, Regina placed her hot palm onto her back, the blazing hand passing over her ribs, causing shudders as she was close to the peak. However, teased and sweetly tortured for at least a week, she probably had been close for days now. Nevertheless, she felt like she was about to lose her mind, such the strong desire burned in her body, singeing her every cell, the heat coming from deep within her.

With the last vestiges of strength, she released Regina’s mound and looked up at the half closed dark eyes, hazy with need. But, Regina recognized her wish and kissed her hard, toppling them over on the bed. As their legs intertwined, the women gasped at the sudden contact of their centers. With one quick snap, the drenched and ruined underwear was gone, and as Regina’s thigh slid down Emma’s molten need, the blonde woman trembled in pleasure, flexing her leg, pressing it onto the apex between the brunette’s legs, and leaving a hot trail of wetness over her skin, as the excited moans filled the air.

Regina placed her arm under Emma, grasping at her back, using the elbow to hold herself up, as she watched the Savior’s face, wanting to see the exact moment when the woman lets go. With the same idea, Emma kept her gaze focused on the dark eyes, as her hands pulled on the former Queen’s hips, rocking them gently. As the motion produced the satisfying effect, Emma repeated it, feeling her juices coating the flexing muscles pressing onto her. At the same time, she felt the blistering heat of Regina’s center rubbing over her thigh. As they both moved their hips, synchronized and getting more frantic by the minute, they never broke the gaze, feeling each startling gasp, each tremble of muscles all that deeper.

As closer to the peak Emma was getting, the stronger pull she felt from deep within, the magic in her flowing to the surface, pulsing together with the thundering heart, each beat filling her more and more with the power, her blood singing with it. She closed her eyes at the overwhelming tide, but the sudden move of the woman above her and deft fingers tracing her entrance snapped her eyes open.

“Stay with me,” Regina panted out, as she lifted herself a bit off Emma’s leg, allowing one of Emma’s hands to slither in between. With a nod, the brunette gave the Sheriff a sign to enter the tight depths, sucking in a sharp breath at the welcome intrusion. Lowering herself on the curved fingers, she moved her hips, as well as her hand, penetrating the blonde’s pulsating core gently, giving her the time to adjust to the fullness. Then, she started undulating, bringing them both closer to the relief of the ever building pressure. “Emma,” she gasped, as her muscles clenched around the wiggling fingers. It was a plea, an order and worship all in one. The blonde kept her eyes locked onto Regina’s as she forced breathless urgent gasps, her hips rolling against the motion of Regina’s hand, as the skilled fingers grazed the sweet spot in the depth of her core, making her toes curl in pleasure. The moans escaping her lips turned to urgent whimpers, as the brunette drove them on, faster and faster.

Regina knew that Emma was almost there, as her eyes turned white with the magic. She had no doubt that her own eyes were changed as she could sense her power bleed into the air, similar to the tiny drops of sweat forming on her skin. She could feel the completion upon her and in desire for them to reach the final shattering release together, Regina sped up the motion of her hand, adding a little twist into the move, pressing harder against the rough patch of Emma’s inner walls, making them squeeze her fingers with more force.

And, then, with one flick over the pulsating clit with thumb, Emma froze, her body having grown taut, before she exploded in ecstasy with a groan, the contracting of her muscles sending Regina over into a soul shattering climax. Guiding the blonde through the orgasm, Regina wriggled her fingers, feeling the clenching walls around them and the gushing wetness flowing over them. But, the powerful wave of magic lifted from them, spreading onwards with the colorful rush, the swirling puffs of mist disappearing quickly. Their eyes remained connected the whole time and she had witnessed the moment when the pleasure became unbearable for the blonde, turning into the burst of rapture, enhancing her own glorious peak. Finally, as she felt her own body melt, Regina lowered her head onto Emma’s shoulder, feeling the still wild heart thundering in the blonde’s ribcage.

It was minutes before either of them could say a word for the harsh and uneven breathing prevented them.

“Goddess,” Emma whispered, her chest still heaving, as she rolled them over to the side, initiating a full bodied hug, burying her head into Regina’s neck, as the brunette pulled her closer, her fingers digging into the soft skin on Emma’s back. Occasionally, a tremor would pass through the blonde’s frame caused by strong orgasm and the extraordinary amount of magic her body had pulled in.

“Regina is fine, dear,” the brunette said, her voice filled with mirth, however she was worried for the Sheriff in her arms. It hadn’t been that long before that magic had hurt the Savior, and having witnessed the magical eruption, she couldn't help but feel concern.

“I am all right,” the blonde Knight spoke, lifting herself on her elbow, as she wriggled away from the other woman, using the move to pull the blanket down, and getting them under it. Although the fire was still blazing in the hearth and the air in the cottage was comfortably warm, Emma knew that the moment the fire was out, the cold from the outside would permeate the log cabin quickly, and staying naked when that happened was not on her list of things to do.

“I’ve never felt better, actually,” the Savior said, pulling the other woman into her embrace, intertwining their legs, as she looked into the loving chocolate eyes. Even though they had been sated only minutes before, the skin on skin contact ignited the roaring fire in Emma’s body, her breath leaving her in a short burst. It would seem that the need for the other woman would never leave her, and she couldn’t say that the idea didn’t immensely thrill her. “I love you,” she murmured, as her hand caressed the brunette’s shoulder, going down her back and up again.

“I love you, too,” Regina replied, a soft loving smile spreading across her face. The heat of arousal stirred in her belly as the blonde held her, but the tender hold was leaving her relaxed and filled with affection for the woman beside her. As her eyes connected with the finally green ones inches away from her face in a gentle regard, Regina sighed with joyous content, wishing that they could stay here, away from the world, just a bit longer. However, she willed the somber thoughts away, not wanting to spoil the mood. Emma sensed her internal debate and leaned in, kissing her lips chastely in comfort and affection. The silence enveloped them, as they were lying in each other’s arms, the bond, magical and emotional, apparent in the way their breathing was synchronized, enjoying the peaceful moment.

“This place is perfect,” the Savior spoke softly after a while, breaking the comfortable silence interrupted only by the cheerful crackling of the fire. “Does it have food?” suddenly Emma said, as she looked around for anything representing a pantry.

“No,” Regina answered, liking the way they could talk about random things. “Any food would be spoiled by the time I would come here again, and the forest teeming with life then, so there was no question of actual starvation. Occasionally, I would bring the supplies for the duration of the stay, but I would get rid of the leftovers.” When Emma hummed in understanding, she smiled, kissing the forehead before her, before the blonde lowered her head onto Regina’s shoulder.

“The Tri-point is a good place to put the arch,” the soft voice came, as Emma nuzzled into the brunette’s neck, while one of her hands rested above Regina’s heart, having passed over her breast, rubbing it gently in a teasing manner.

With the sharp inhale, Regina closed her eyes, before answering. “Only, if you place it in the valley below. The point itself is practically unreachable by ordinary means.” Emma lifted her head, the questioning look on her face as she glanced down. The sense of wonder and happiness enveloped Regina, as she felt the gaze on her skin as if it was a touch. “If you want your mother to scale the cliffs each time she wants to go back to Storybrooke, that is fine with me,” the former Queen remarked softly, her voice growing deeper, as her body reacting to the rapidly hungering look in the blonde’s eyes.

“That is an interesting thought,” Emma spoke, having lost interest in the topic, as Regina’s gorgeous body was exposed to her eyes, her mouth actually watering at the opportunity to taste the delectable skin before her. “But, I have another,” the blonde said, her voice going rough with desire. Her eyes glimmered with satisfaction as she saw Regina’s skin erupt in goose bumps along with her nipples stiffening into taut protruding points. Although the pebbled peaks called for her attention, Emma decided to go slowly about it, making it last. Dipping her head, she leaned her moistened lips on Regina’s neck, the shortening breath of the woman below her guiding her. Sensually, she tasted the skin there, her tongue darting out of her mouth from time to time, as her lips lingered over the pulse point. Leaving a wet trail, Emma blew onto the enticing neck, feeling the other woman squirm beneath her.

Regina moved her head to a side, exposing more to Emma’s devastating exploration, her breathing growing erratic, as she placed her hands onto the blonde’s back, one of them sinking into the hair, her fingers flexing at the pleasure, urging the Sheriff on. When the teeth grazed pulse point, she shivered at the spike of heat passing through her, giving up on controlling her breathing, whispered ‘Emma’ leaving her lips. At her plea, the blonde moved slightly lower, shifting so she was in between the former Queen’s legs. The insistent tongue traced the hollows of her collar bones, lips catching them in nips as the thorough exploration continued. It was like Emma did not want to miss an inch of the brunette’s skin undiscovered, as her hands reached the older woman’s back, fingers sinking into the tingling skin, the hold possessive and arousing in itself. Regina could feel her core heating up with delicious need, the juices coating her sensitive flesh, as Emma shifted a bit down, licking the space in between the aching mounds, her breath hot and tingling on the flushed skin.

As the blonde Savior circled one of the plump hardening swells, her demanding lips leaving a scorching wet trail over the aching mound, she felt one of Regina’s hands grazing her scalp as the fingers fisted in the blonde hair, trying to lead the hot mouth into the right position. With a silent chuckle, Emma enveloped the quickly hardening already taut point with her moist lips, sucking the succulent tip with abandon. When the hot and wet tongue darted over the achingly throbbing peak, the teeth catching it in the gentle hold, an animalistic groan came from Regina’s throat, while the woman’s spine arched into the skillful mouth, supported by the strong hands of the Savior kneading her back. With the last nibble to the elongated areola, Emma moved to the other, starting over with the torturous teasing, deviously enjoying the desperate moans escaping Regina in the short bursts.

The blonde could feel the wetness spreading over her belly, relishing the obvious ability to make Regina so ready for her. But, as the hips beneath her moved in a desperate twitch to relieve the sweet agony, she moved her hands, catching Regina’s sides, stilling the motion with her powerful hands. “Patience, love,” she murmured into the chest of the suffering woman.

“Emma,” Regina cried out when the pebbled point was sucked in the ravenous mouth. “Please…”

Deciding to move along, Emma slid down, using the flexed muscles of her abdomen to rub against the pulsing nub at the apex of Regina’s legs, while her insatiable lips traced the soft lines of the former Queen’s belly, allowing the shaking grip in her hair to guide her down.

When she finally reached the moist patch of trimmed dark curls Emma breathed in deeply the scent, feeling her mouth water anew at the close view of the throbbing button peeking from the nether lips. Her hands moved to the thighs around her ears, pulling them open, as she breathed out a teasing breath onto the wet surface, savoring the rapturously tormented whimper Regina let out. Unable to resist, she kissed the moist curls right above the clit, her thumbs sliding over the sensitive area of Regina’s thighs, the move causing the legs to flex as hips rose to meet her devious mouth. The hand in her hair pulled harshly against the top of her head, the sting only intensifying the heat thrumming in her blood.

Hungry, losing the will to tease the brunette, Emma dove in, her tongue sinking into the depths of the wet nether lips, flicking the achingly pulsing pearl, as she lapped the liquid seeping from the entrance into Regina’s core, moaning at the heavenly flavor covering her taste buds. At the same time, the Queen gripped Emma’s shoulder firmly, her fingers sinking into the corded flesh, as the excruciatingly pleasurable feel suffused her, her hips trying to escape the confines of the strong fingers, keeping her in place, prolonging the time she hovered over the sharp edge of arousal. The lashing she received from the voracious blonde brought her closer and closer to the crest, but never close enough. Unable to take in a breath into her lungs, or to take control over her body, she wasn’t above begging Emma to let her come, as the frustration and torture culminated in a breathlessly desperate keening.

Finally, the blonde took mercy upon her and circled her entrance with the hot organ, plunging in suddenly, stopping at the scream that tore off Regina’s throat. As the hand in Emma’s hair painfully tugged for the blonde to continue, Regina managed to lift her head, her body shaking with desire, as she was on the verge. Her almost black eyes found Emma’s, and the former Queen somehow succeeded to breathe enough air to say “Don’t you dare stop!” before dropping down onto the pillow.

The Savior continued with her tongue thrusting, wriggling it around the clenching walls, looking for that one spot that would make Regina lose her mind. With the hips undulating powerfully under her, Emma plunged in faster and faster, sucking in the wetness that gushed out of the heavenly cleft. At every entering, the brunette would let out a breathless squeals forcing Emma on and on, interjected with soft callings of the blonde woman’s name, her body grew taut, the hips surging up with every thrust, and when Emma found the spot she was looking for, she made sure to graze it on every down swipe, the high pitched cries turning into the powerless yelps.

Emma knew that if she prolonged the torture for any longer, the brunette might be injured in the resulting crash. So, she brought one of her thumbs over the pulsating engorged clit and quickly rubbed it, as she continued to tongue the woman with abandon. Regina came with a loud screech as she felt every cell in her body explode, the uncontrolled flexing of her muscles almost dislodging Emma of her. But, instead of stopping, Emma continued, her fingers flicking the sensitive nub gently but insistently as her tongue moved against the powerfully pulsating walls. It didn’t take much for Regina to be blown away with another orgasm, much more powerful than the last, turning her every bone into mush and her muscles into foam, as she collapsed onto the mattress, unable to move, sated beyond the point of reason, the dark spots dancing around her vision. Not even able to breathe in as her galloping heart threatened to jump out of her chest, she felt Emma climb up her tingling body, one hand cupping her gently, while the tender lips left a trail up her belly, breast bone and finally coming to her mouth, kissing her deeply, her own taste on Emma’s lips. She gasped at the eroticism, and saw the blonde woman smile in response.

With tender care, the Savior enveloped herself around the still trembling woman, her hands soothing the rapidly cooling sweat covered skin. Magically, she tucked them both in, not willing to move away from Regina. When the brunette leaned her head onto Emma’s neck, her body limp and heavy, the Savior kissed the forehead in front of her, savoring the love and magic encompassing them.

The minutes passed in blissful silence, while the two women held each other, their hands caressing tenderly the place on skin where they were placed, the touches easy and caring. Regina had closed her eyes, leaning her forehead onto Emma’s neck, but she did not sleep. She did not want to miss a single moment of the night, no matter how tired she was. No, she would manage till the late morning, when she would be in Storybrooke and collapse in her bed. In all likelihood, Henry would join her, if only to be close to his adoptive mother, as the other one would be in the different world. But, for the moment, she would be with Emma, completely. The brunette opened her eyes, feeling slight tremors in the woman holding her.

With understanding flooding her, she smirked at the situation, contemplating her ‘revenge’ on the Savior. The blonde was shaking with desire, heavily aroused by the former Queen’s eruption and the process that had led to it, but unable to relieve the tension, Emma kept quiet, trying to fight against the lust overflowing her. The ever chivalrous woman would not impose her needs on Regina, and the Mayor knew that it was another expression of Emma’s love for her, because in the past, the blonde had been a selfish – well, she couldn’t say lover, for there had never been love involved – sexual partner, racing to her own completion, the needs of others taken care of only in passing.

However, as they still had some time, Regina wanted to have her way with the Knight, turning the tables on the blonde.

Invigorated with the sudden need to get Emma there, the brunette moved quickly, startling the Sheriff, as she pulled her down, the Knight’s wrists caught by Regina’s deceptively strong hands. Leaning over the surprised blonde, the former Queen dove in, starting to thoroughly ravage Emma’s mouth, building up the heat with the impeccable technique of her lips and tongue, coaxing moans and lustful groans from the dazed woman. Regina had decided in the split of the second before she had moved that it would be hard and fast, for she had doubts that the blonde would be able to handle more of the foreplay. With exciting nips over Emma’s neck and jaw, the Queen released one of the captured hands, and lowered her own, placing it on the straining breast of the woman beneath her. When the nimble fingers caught the aching mound, the finger pads passing over the rosy tip, Emma growled with ravenous desire, pressing her chest into the dexterous palm.

The yelping moans coming from the quickly unraveling blonde told Regina that she was to hurry, so she lowered her exploring hand further, her knee spreading Emma’s legs farther apart. As her digits reached the molten needy heat, she gasped at the wetness she found, the nether lips of the woman writhing with need under her slippery with the abundance of it. Wasting no time, she found the quivering nub, proudly peeking out of the lips, and with gentle but hard touch, she rubbed it, circling her hand, the constant moans and the flushed appearance of the Savior beneath her doing wondrous things to her libido. She moved, her other hand going beneath Emma’s shoulder, for support, as she stroked the clit, increasing the tempo, when Emma arched into her hand, inviting her to delve between her folds into her need. Honoring the wish, Regina thrust into the welcoming core, the two fingers plunging deeper and deeper with every dip, relishing the rippling of the flesh beneath her. Quickly, she realized that Emma needed more, and so she added another finger, as she pounded into the slippery heat.

Emma couldn’t help but move her lower body in the frenzied fervor, her hips meeting Regina’s hand in ever increasing rhythm as she neared the sharp edge of rapture. Her hands gripped the brunette’s shoulder blades, the fingers bruising the soft skin in her passion and need, as she pulled the woman against her, short explosive gasps and moans leaving her mouth. “Reg…” she tried to speak but as she was unable to breathe properly or even think, she couldn’t. However, her True Love could understand her need even without speaking and with magic, she placed Emma’s unpinned leg over her hip, opening the desperate woman even further, as she delved deeper in more powerful thrusts, finding the spongy part of the inner walls on every stroke.

Suddenly, the Savior bucked wildly, her face frozen in a silent scream. Regina’s fingers were seized by Emma's strongly pulsing inner walls, the pressure almost painful, as the woman convulsed in rapture, her hips still undulating. And, witnessing the utter bliss on Emma’s face, the brunette moved her hand, slowly, prolonging the pleasure, triggering several pleasant aftershocks of lesser intensity.

Then, before Emma could even start breathing normally, Regina shifted them, opening the blonde’s legs wider, as she placed her drenched folds over the Sheriff’s, initiating a slow grind. With surprising agility and energy, the blonde moved, sitting them up and shifting their legs in a more accessible position, not stopping the gyration, smiling up at the gasping Queen, knowing that it wouldn’t take much for them to get there. Brimming with magic, the women held each other, synchronized to perfection, as their eyes connected, the irises changing their color into the respective magical counterparts. This, the gentle, unhurried climb to completion, was soul filling, easing their worries and fears, encasing them in their love, the strength of their connection permeating every cell of their individual beings. The magic started to bleed into the air, the misty tendrils of color mixing, the swirls turning gold in places, glowing in the dimness of the cottage. Feeling the crest nearing, Emma kissed the other woman, pouring everything that she was in that kiss, feeling the response was just as precarious.

While they were lost to the kiss, a gentle pleasurable pop of orgasm came over them, the soft rush of satisfaction filling them.

Catching her breath, Emma leaned her forehead onto Regina’s, as they held each other, still joined at the hips. Suddenly Regina moved her head, leaning it on the blonde’s shoulder, a light helpless chuckle leaving her mouth. The deceptively strong arms squeezed around the Sheriff’s back with bruising quality, the touch grounding the former Queen to the present.

The Savior followed suit, humming softly in content when the full body contact was initiated. Her still kiss swollen lips leaned against the tender skin of Regina’s still damp shoulder. The sluggish but relaxed limps went around the brunette, feeling fulfilled beyond measure.

“It…”

“That…”

The women both started in a hushed whisper, unwilling to break the easy atmosphere in the cabin. Then, after a shared chuckle Emma gestured to Regina to continue, the women having moved to see each other’s faces. With a grateful peck on the blonde’s lips, the former Queen started again.

“I have never experienced something like this before,” Regina said, her eyes telling the Sheriff more than her words ever could. The power of their connection made everything stronger, even their orgasms. And, the last one was the most surprising of all, because it involved magic intimately in the process, not as a byproduct of their True Love, but as an extension of themselves.

“Good, for I would worry if you have,” Emma replied softly, the flippant note in her tone. Regina only sneaked in a hand into the blonde hair and fisted it, the slight pull on the Sheriff’s scalp the only reprimand.

“Be serious, Emma.” The brunette watched the green, almost dark gray in the firelight, eyes glimmer in mirth and happiness. But suddenly there was something else, something that Emma had in her eyes only when she looked upon the former Queen. Something so powerful it was able to steal the breath right out of Regina’s lungs.

“I am serious,” the Knight spoke softly, her breath dancing over Regina’s face. “I am dead serious. I’d worry if this was nothing new for you, because it is for me. Regina, you undo me and complete me in ways I never dreamed possible!” And there it was - the look. The look of wonder, devotion and wild torrent of emotions that all compounded into Love - the all-encompassing, devastatingly healing love.

For a tiny moment in time, the world stopped. If anyone asked Regina how much time had passed until the world started moving again, she wouldn’t be able to tell, her answer would go from barely noticeable parts of a second, to days and more.

“It’s almost dawn. We need to leave.” The Savior’s voice was quiet and regretful. As she slowly moved out of the tangle of limbs, she kissed Regina on the lips lightly, in passing. Hissing lightly at the twinge in her muscles, the Sheriff bent down to pick up her things, offering the brunette hers. But, as soon as she turned her back on the former Queen she heard a soft gasp. Rushing toward the other woman she looked around to see what was the source of startling intake of air.

“Your back,” Regina whispered, her hands going gently over the scrapes on Emma’s shoulders and shoulder blades. Her magic already summoned, she channeled it into her palms poised to heal every injury, but a light grip on her hands stopped her.

“Leave it,” Emma spoke gently. “It keeps reminding me that this was real. No doubt I would need it in the next few days.” Then the Savior kissed Regina’s pulse point on one of the wrists she held. “And, it’s not like you don’t have battle wounds of your own. Only then, the former Queen noticed a slight ache on her neck, the place where the Sheriff no doubt had sunk her teeth in, along with several aching spots on her back and hips, probably from Emma’s hands and their bruising hold. But, she did not regret them, or wanted them gone. She was proud of them, and she could see the Savior’s point. It was a good reminder, until the injuries healed, that their time together, their consummation, was real.

When she saw that Regina understood, Emma quickly resumed putting her clothes on. But, when she was tying the belt with the sword on, Regina stood before her, dressed, and placed a hand on the buckle. “Let me,” the brunette whispered, and immediately Emma’s hands got out of the way. There was something somber about the act. A Queen strapping a sword on her loyal Knight…

“I want to show you something before we leave.” Taking Emma’s hand into her own, Regina transported them back to the cliff, the morning mist of the mountain making it seem like there was a sea of white before them. But as the colors started changing in the East, from the dark blue into the lighter, and then into the pinks of the morning, the mist started to disappear, leaving the valleys below visible.

Slowly, the Sun was spreading the joyful morning colors on the horizon, not yet showing, but the soft tinges of pink streamed across the sky.

Regina held Emma close in her arms, the blonde in front of her, as their hands met on the Savior’s belly. The Sheriff had leaned in the embrace, looking before her at the wondrous picture of nature, while savoring the touch of the woman behind her. The Queen nuzzled into the Savior’s neck, still able to see the sunrise.

Emma watched on, as the Sun appeared over the sea, the light streaking over the reflecting water, until it reached the land, setting the dimmed colors of the night ablaze, as the morning truly came. With the morning light, came the sounds of awakening forests, completing the picture of a morning. The rays glided over the land, uncovering the secrets hidden by the night, as the Sun climbed up and up in the sky, the soft pinks turning into peachy shades, and then into the blazing oranges, while the heated orb itself gained more height.

Finally, the rays of light reached the mountain range, and reaching up, they came upon the two women, casting a warm and bright light over them, like a soft caress from the Gods above. Yes, the Sunrise itself was enough to make Emma wonder if there was something resembling the higher beings in this world. The majestic view only turned better with the glare of the Sun. it was like a grand revelation of a masterpiece, only it was not a work of art but the almost artistic work of nature.

Standing there, on the edge of the world, it seemed, the Savior felt truly insignificant and yet omnipotent at the same time. The psychological power of the place could explain Regina’s choice to build the cottage there, along with the natural shelter the high mountain slope provided. Standing in the light of the Sun, the rays warming her exposed skin, while her hair glowed, Emma knew that she presented a view many would consider iconic.

Regina sensed the deep rumination of the woman in her arms by the slight tension appearing in the Savior’s shoulders, but she did not want to startle the blonde woman. She knew the effect the sunrise from the cliff could have on people, she had almost cried at the grandeur of it in the past. Indeed, the cottage had been built because of the perfect spot to step back from the worries and anguish of everyday life and enjoy something completely unrelated to her. Whenever she would have felt overwhelmed, Regina would have disappeared, sometimes for days at a time and simply buried down the storm of the emotions raging in her, letting the tranquility of the place to give her some resemblance of peace, at least for a moment, until she devised another plan, another battle move.

What was interesting about this place is that no one had ever known of it, not even Prince Henry, her father, although he had been her closest confidant. Nor Rumplestiltskin, for she would have never shared something of hers with him, knowing that he would have used it only to demean her or manipulate her in one way or the other. Showing it to Emma, even remembering it to bring the Savior to it, took her by surprise. But, she was aware that Emma, her Knight, was held in very different regard from all other people in her life – even young Henry. The Sheriff would rather cut off her limbs than willingly hurt her, no matter the anger or pain she would feel at the moment. Regina had seen it in their link, and she was feeling it every time they were close to each other. She was safe with the Savior, and that reminded her of this place.

“Thank you,” Emma whispered softly, grabbing the hands on her belly and bringing them to her mouth. Then with a gentle move, she turned around and placed one of Regina’s hands over her heart. “This opportunity… It means a lot.” The soft voice almost sounded broken, and instinctively the brunette placed her other hand onto Emma’s face, bringing it close to her own, and their foreheads touching.

“I love you,” she spoke softly, her thumb wiping an errant tear from the pale face in front of her. “And, I would do anything for you.” Then she felt Emma move and soft lips graze her own in reaffirming but chaste contact. And, with it the feel of the transportation magic came, taking them away from the spot on the small clearing at the cliff.

Regina looked around and she saw that they were back in their room at the Village Hall, and judging by the sounds outside, they were not the only people up. The time to leave was almost upon them. She gulped with the sudden wave of devastation that passed through her, but she managed to force it away for the time being. It would not do for the Queen to fall apart, especially when she could see Emma hanging on by a thread.

As her eyes passed around the room, she magically packed, pretending not to notice Emma stealing away one of her already worn unwashed shirts. It’s not like she could blame her, she had taken Emma’s black undershirt and tucked it away, for the times she would need something tangible of the Savior. Then her eyes fell on the black chainmail, lying in one of the newly brought bags, haphazardly thrown in. She took it up in her hands, her fingers passing over the smart weave of the chain. “Emma,” she spoke suddenly, bringing the blonde to her side. “I want you to wear this at all times.” Yes, she was being irrational but she just had to make sure Emma would be alive at the two months’ time. At the incredulous look she received from the green eyes, she sighed. “Please, for me.”

With the silent nod, Emma complied, seeing the need in the chocolate eyes. Quickly she took her clothes off and placed the mail over her undershirt, letting it fall down her hips, not even bothering to hide it inside her pants. Putting on the turtleneck she had been wearing, she flexed her shoulders, setting it in place. With unspoken agreement, they left their room and went down to get some breakfast.

The village was unnaturally quiet, as if the people themselves were prolonging the somber atmosphere of the newcomers. Hook had already gone to the ship, to start preparations, assuming that when everyone was aboard, they would want to move quickly. Neal soon joined him, after a short goodbye to Emma and his father, and a softly whispered promise to take care of Regina and the boys. The others were saying their goodbyes to the people that had chosen to remain behind, Rumplestiltskin, Belle and Ruby already having decided that they would stay in the village, not following the procession to the docks.

“I still cannot believe you are going through with this,” Snow spoke from behind Emma, reaching for her shoulder. David stood on the other side of their daughter, close but not touching her. Emma kept looking into the village, her face impassive. She had withdrawn into her previous shell, thinking that if she let any of the emotions out, she would fall apart, and she wasn’t to do that, at least until they were gone.

“It’s the right thing to do,” the Savior said quietly.

“I know it is, Emma, but still…” Giving up the line of thought she only pulled Emma into a firm and warm embrace, keeping the Sheriff in her arms for much longer than usual. And, Emma let her, hugging her mother back. “Oh, I am going to miss you so much.”

“We both are,” David added, as soon as Snow released the blonde, and pulled her into his rib breaking hold. Perhaps he was not as wordy as Snow with his feelings, but it did not mean he would miss his daughter any less. Gripping her forearms, he looked into Emma’s eyes, the eyes she inherited from his wife, and tried to look stern while he spoke. “Be careful, and keep your head down.”

Emma chuckled lightly at his parental warning, knowing that although he was being serious about it, he had known that it would make her feel just a bit better. But, as soon as she smirked, her face turned back into the stony exterior. “Now, you listen to me. Both of you.” She looked at Snow, using one of her hands to grip the pixie haired woman’s shoulder, while she held David’s forearm. “I need you to look after them. I need you to keep her safe.” Although the words were whispered with an even flat voice, the storm that raged in Emma’s eyes was evident to her parents. They nodded in promise and she released them from her hold.

She took Kyle in her arms, forcing herself to smile at the toddler, enjoying his babble and his chubby hands touching her face. Henry was by her side, oddly quiet and subdued, but his hand was constantly touching her, whether it was on her hip or her back. With the children, she slowly walked down to the small dock, where a boat from Jolly Roger was waiting for the leaving party. Regina and Charmings followed silently, giving them space.

When they reached the wooden planks of the dock, Emma turned to Snow and gave her Kyle. Accepting another emotional embrace from her parents, she endured the soft goodbyes, offering one in return. As the Charmings walked off to the boat, with the baby in Mary Margaret’s hands, Emma turned to Henry. At her opened arms, he immediately flew in, clutching his mother’s back with such force that she was sure to bruise. He did not speak, but nodded in response to the Savior’s soft words of farewell. And, then, when he moved out of her arms, he glanced toward his adopted mother. Seeing her silent tears, he decided to go, taking off with his grandparents rather than waiting for Regina to join them. She would transport herself directly on the ship, anyways.

“I am not going to stay,” Emma suddenly murmured, looking at the already released sails of the small ship. “I cannot watch you leave. So when you transport, so will I.” Glancing back at the silent brunette, she gulped at the sight of tears, her own eyes filling up. Regina only nodded, her arms reaching for the blonde Knight. Sinking into the desperate hold, Emma buried her nose into Regina’s neck, breathing deeply the scent she had memorized by heart.

“Be brave,” Regina whispered through her tears. “And, wait for me.”

“I will,” Emma mumbled, knowing that her promise was so much more than a simple agreement to hang on for two months. It was a promise that she would keep herself safe, no matter what. To not do anything Regina would consider stupid. And, to keep herself only for the woman in her arms. The last part was a given, but Emma did include it into her promise. “Be good. And patient.” She added for Regina, before kissing her deeply, with all the passion and desperation she felt at the moment. Savoring the lips before her, she tasted them for a long while, the tears giving them the salty flavor. Then, with the last vestiges of her self-control she stepped away, her hand going to her heart, more in the gesture of soothing the pain than the salute she was about to initiate. “My Queen,” she spoke somberly, her heels clacking in the morning air, her posture stiff, slightly bowing down, as she hid her emotions beneath a mask of stony grimace.

Regina came to the Savior and lifting herself up on her toes, she kissed the lowered forehead. “My Knight,” the former Queen whispered softly, her palm tenderly passing over Emma’s cheek. But when she saw the Savior close her eyes, she decided it was time to go. With all the heaviness in her heart she allowed herself to be enveloped in her magic and with one last look at her own personal Savior, she let the spell take her away.

But, when she reached the deck of Jolly Roger, she immediately glanced upon the blonde at the dock, as she turned away and took a few steps before she was engulfed in her own magic, disappearing from sight. At the gasp from the woman beside her, she could conclude that Emma’s departure was identical to Snow’s dream. So, she only placed her hand on the shoulder of the mother of her True Love, offering silent comfort, before she moved to the helm and gave Hook the bean.

“Take us home. We’ve lingered enough.” The Queen spoke, having retreated beyond the mask of the Evil Queen, but no one reacted to it, because they all knew the personal sacrifice the couple had to offer for this to ever work. Not even waiting to see if the Captain would do as she asked, she rushed below deck, to the cabin she had shared with the blonde she already missed and buried her head into the pillow, letting out a gut wrenching scream into it, muffling it from others, letting the control over her emotions snap, not able to hold it in anymore. In the midst of her suffocating yells, the tinge of magic enveloped the ship, and suddenly they were on their way to Storybrooke.

* * *

To say that it was a bad day would be a gross understatement. It had actually started the day before, when she had turned away from the love of her life, her True Love, and had disappeared in the mist of her magic, the overwhelming pain in her chest bringing her down to knees on the rough ground she had found herself on.

_Through the tears she saw the closed gates of the White Castle and the unmistakable feel of Regina’s magic permeating the very air around her, recognizable among other magical signatures in that place, brought on a fresh wave of hot tears. Slowly, as if she was guided by a half forgotten memory she unlocked the protection spell of the gate and walked in, picking her way easily through the haze of the memories and her pain._

_Quickly, she found herself in a private cellar, where the bottles upon bottles of the most prized wines and spirits had been kept sage, undamaged by the passage of time. With a deliberate step, Emma chose two bottles of the rack, and without much care, she went back to the gates, locking them behind herself almost without a thought with her own magic and disappeared, again._

_Having met the hard floor with her knees, Emma hissed in pain, glad that there was a moment when her attention was diverted from the torturous agony in her chest, and moved to the corner of the room where she still was able to smell the scent of the older woman she had shared everything with._

_With a passing glance to the bottle in her hand, having lowered the other on the floor, she cracked the wax seal and pulled the cork out, the sound of its release loud in the otherwise quiet room. Hesitating for a moment, Emma sniffed at the bottle, but when the pleasing scent of old and good mead hit her senses, she took a long sip of the golden liquid, enjoying the burning sensation passing through her body. And, easily, she slipped into the alcoholic haze that somewhat dulled the pain in her heart. Having not eaten yet she easily got herself drunk, welcoming the oblivion the mead brought._

It was the evening of the second day that she resurfaced, and without much thinking, after a short respite of her dreamy happiness had been destroyed by the overpowering memories of Regina’s goodbye, she reached for the second bottle, looking for a way back into the silent darkness of the drunken passing out.

* * *

The young werewolf sat in the central room, watching the dancing flames in the hearth, her hands gripping the rough clay cup with the herbal tea in it. It was late, late enough for everyone else to be asleep, and yet the young woman could not rest. Apart from the worry she felt for her friend, the edginess she associated with **that** time of the month was creeping into her, calling out to her.

So, she sat, looking into the dying fire and thinking about the woman upstairs. It wasn’t unusual for the Sheriff to get hammered after a bad day but until now, Emma had always been able to exercise a respectable degree of control, knowing her limits. She guessed that having her True Love away was redefining the meaning of a bad day, but she honestly had not thought that the binge would last that long. She had not been surprised to find the door to the Savior’s room latched but the strong sense of the most prized drink in the Enchanted Forest had surprised her, when she had gone up to check on the blonde, many hours after the ship had disappeared. With a slight pang of envy, the young woman had called after the Sheriff, but the regular breathing and the lack of the movement had told Ruby that Emma had been asleep, or zonked out on the booze.

Sipping her tea, the young werewolf considered the memory of Snow’s behavior at the impending nuptials of Prince James. The ensuing pain had forced the most resilient woman the young outsider had known to drink the vile potion the imp had concocted. So, perhaps, Emma’s behavior was not that out of the norm. With a sight, Ruby directed her glance upward, unsure for how long she should allow such behavior.

“May I join you?” the soft whisper came from the left of the werewolf, making Ruby jerk in her seat, her eyes immediately finding the intruder, ready to glare at them. But when she saw the warrior standing there she only smiled in welcome. “It was not my intention to startle you,” Mulan spoke, her light and silent steps bringing her close to the seated woman. “I have been told of your dual nature, Miss Lucas, and I thought…”

“It’s alright,” Ruby interjected, gesturing to the woman clad in her battle armor to sit. “And, it’s Ruby, please.” When the warrior nodded in acquiescence and joined her, Ruby smiled again at the serious woman. “I guess I was too deep in my thoughts to notice you.” After another sip, the werewolf studied the other woman over the rime of her cup. “What is keeping you up so late, if you don’t mind me asking?”

Mulan was watching the newest addition to the village with interest in her eyes, her face remaining serious. But before the silence became an uncomfortable one, she replied. “Not so late as early. It’s only an hour to dawn, and I am leading the new hunting expedition with Prince Phillip. At least, I will be when everyone conscripted to it wakes up.” The soft cadence of the warrior’s voice, opposite to the hard expression on her face brought another smile to the werewolf’s lips. That, and the thought of a hunt.

“Chimeras?” Ruby asked, half-jokingly.

“Actually, anything edible we come across. Our supplies are dwindling, and winter is coming.”

Letting out a soft snort at the line, the werewolf asked “Can I join?”

“Perhaps some other time, when you’ve rested.” With an apologetic quirk of her lips, somewhat resembling a smile, Mulan inclined her head. But, Ruby only waved it off, her easy going nature shining through. “Why are you here at this time of night?” Mulan changed the subject, easing back, her hand adjusting the sword at her hip. Ruby just shrugged her shoulders and glanced up, her vague gesture answered enough for the warrior.

“The longer she wallows, the harder she will shake it off,” the armored woman spoke with wisdom and understanding shining through the dark eyes.

“I know,” Ruby sighed, drinking up the last of her tea. With that the silence surrounded the woman who enjoyed the quiet companionship they had struck in the days before.

Just as the last of the fire turned to embers, Mulan rose from her seat and turned to her new friend. “Sometimes, even the Savior needs saving. Or, at least the push into the right direction.” Clicking her heels smartly, the warrior inclined her head in greeting, leaving the werewolf to her thoughts.

After the sounds of the waking village pierced through the tranquil silence in the central room, Ruby stood up, cracking her shoulders and spine, before she walked up to her designated room. She decided to sleep for a while, and then she would deal with Emma.

In the afternoon, after spending a bit of time on ingenuity with the wire, Ruby managed to unlatch the door from the outside, unwilling to break in. As soon as she opened the door, the rancid smell of sweated alcohol hit her nostrils, but before she would gag, the werewolf rushed in and opened the window, letting air and the last Sunshine of the day in the room, making it easier for her to breathe. With a quick look around the room she found Emma slumped on the floor, her hands gripping a large bottle in her lap. Ruby took it out of the slackened hands and took a whiff of the liquid. “Damn it, girl, you could’ve shared some,” Ruby murmured before trying to figure out the next step of her plan. Luckily, she got help fairly quickly.

“Oh,” the young woman gasped, standing at the door, her hand poised to knock. As her eyes darted around, taking in the sorry state of the Savior, Belle addressed her friend. “You need help?”

“Yeah,” Ruby spoke after a moment of contemplation. “Can you organize a hot bath and a light meal for her?” Then she looked up from her suffering charge to her friend and smiled imploringly, her eyes sad.

“Sure,” Belle said and pranced quickly away, leaving Ruby with Emma. With a sigh, the werewolf hunkered down and grabbed Emma’s shoulder, throwing the limp arm around her neck. After a struggling heave, the young woman managed to pull them both up, keeping the precarious balance, as she held the Savior close. “Of course, where is that super strength that I am supposed to have when I need it,” the brunette grumbled, as Emma’s dead weight was pulling them down.

“G’way,” the blonde murmured drunkenly into Ruby’s neck, trying to push the hands gripping her closely off her.

“Oh, no, you don’t,” the werewolf said sharply, knowing that if Emma managed to get free, she would collapse on the floor in the matter of parts of the second.

“Leave me be!”

On the other hand, it might help her sober the struggling Sheriff up. With a wicked smirk she lifted her arms, releasing the Savior. “Fine,” she said and stepped away. As she thought, the blonde woman toppled and crashed down, groaning in pain as she sprawled on the floor. “Are you done?” Ruby looked down at the dazed Sheriff with her arms crossed, looking very strict, a visage unusual for the young easy going woman.

Emma blinked several times and focused on the other woman. “You are mean,” she almost whined, her voice rough and harsh after two days of misuse and drink.

“Someone is going to be a lot meaner when she finds out. I don’t think drinking yourself into a stupor is on Regina-approved list.” Ruby almost stopped at the wince passing Emma’s face at the mention of the name of the Savior’s True Love, but she figured that avoiding it would not help Emma either. “Now, come on, up.”

With Ruby’s help the still intoxicated Savior stood up gingerly, leaning heavily on the younger woman, as the werewolf guided her to the bed.

“You two alright?” Belle asked after getting their attention with a soft knock. Seeing their nods, the cheerful beauty gestured behind her. “I managed to convince a few men from downstairs to bring up a copper tub for you. Can I show them in?”

“Sure,” Emma whispered after seeing Ruby’s insistent gaze focused on her and a slight scrunching of the wolf’s nostrils. With a slight gesture of her hand she shortened the bed, making more space for the tub and the men. Quickly, the tub was placed near the furnace, filled up with steaming water, and the men cleared out. Belled left a bowl of soup with a piece of bread, telling Emma to eat it before it went cold, and with a light comforting squeeze on Emma’s shoulder, she walked out of the room, leaving Ruby alone with the Savior.

After leaving short instructions of not sleeping in the tub and other things, Ruby got out of the room, closing the door behind her. But, before she closed it all the way through, she said she would check on the blonde soon. Alone, the Savior watched the heat rise from the water as she undressed, treating each garment with care, the gentle scent of her lover still present in the fabric. After adding some bath salts Belle had provided, she submerged herself into the still very hot water, hissing when the heat glided over her skin. The scents of lavender and honey spread throughout the air in the room, while Emma pressed down her hair, letting the excess water slide down her back. Still under the influence of the mead, Emma decided not to linger much in the water – the possibility of her falling asleep and accidentally drowning was great. But, not only that. The visible flesh sparkled memories in her, memories that filled her with unbearable sadness and shattering joy at the same time, and she wasn’t able to deal with them just yet, if ever. Washing up rather quickly, she scrubbed her skin and her hair, and then she summoned the fresh things to wear and a towel out of her duffel. She dried herself with the soft towel, stepping out of the tub, careful not to spill. Leaving her hair wet, but her locks untangled, she pulled her underwear on, following it with a long sleeved t-shirt, its tight fit clinging to her body. She had not forgotten her promise to wear the chainmail, and she would, but she would make it as painless as possible, as the thing chafed on the exposed skin. Jumping into her dark jeans and black riding boots, she took the mail into her hands, her fingers passing over the weave, as they had done that day not that long ago, when she had held it for the first time. With care, she pulled it over her head, placing each strap on its designed place, tying it up where necessary. She jumped up once, letting it settle down naturally, before she took up eating the soup.

Knowing that Ruby would come up soon to check on her, the Savior placed a tunic sweater over the mail, wanting to keep it a secret, just for a little while. Vanishing the water from the tub, and the dirty bowl, she took her light long coat to put on afterwards, and the belt with her ammunition and gun holder, along with her sword. Placing the belt and the straps over her shoulder, she walked out of the room, meeting Ruby on the stairs, as she was going down.

“Going somewhere?” the werewolf asked, immediately changing her direction, following Emma outside.

“Just to the benches,” the Savior spoke before she saw a sandwich in the young woman’s hands. “That for me?”

“Yeah, I thought you might be still hungry. It’s pork, don’t worry.” Ruby walked beside the blonde, glancing at her weapons as the Sheriff used determined strides to come to the wooden benches, her gait unsteady. “Are you expecting trouble?” the werewolf asked but at the pointed look and a raised eyebrow, she only nodded. “Of course, you are.”

They were sitting on the benches, talking about the Sheriff’s job in Storybrooke as Emma ate the sandwich and cleaned her weapons. Finishing with her firearm, the Sheriff placed the belt around her midriff, fixing it onto her hips. The weight of it was something Emma planned to get used to, even though she didn’t think she would use her gun much in the Enchanted Forest, its loudness being its main disadvantage. However, it was only a precaution she meant to abide by, just like the chain mail.

Then, as the Sun started setting, and the air getting colder, the Savior put on her coat, affixing the sword straps onto her back. Ruby whistled at the sight -still noticing the slight wobble in the other woman’s moves - making Emma chuckle in response. Again, they started talking mostly about things from their day to day life in Storybrooke, with Ruby often joking about the various misdemeanors Emma had to deal with then.

A loud booming sound passed over the forest, reaching the village, as the birds and various animals started fleeing, fluttering away, startled by the noise. Right after, it was followed by another, just as loud but of different quality. “What the hell was that?” Emma asked, as the women rose from the benches, following a nearby soldier running off to the barricades.

“Sounds like cannon, Your Highness,” the soldier shouted back, as he continued running, joined by his comrades and closely followed by the women. “It will get every Ogre close by to that spot.” He spoke softer this time, as Emma and Ruby joined him at the wall, watching the forest, searching for the cause of the disturbance.

“Someone’s coming,” a shout came from above, from the watchtower. Emma glanced up, seeing one of the guards pointing toward the forest. “It’s Thomas, from the party.”

“What?” Emma mumbled, thinking she must have heard wrong, as she watched the edge of the forest for the man.

This time it was Ruby who answered. “The hunting party. They left early this morning. Mulan and Phillip are with them.” The soft whisper into Emma’s ear did nothing to make the Savior feel better. Directing her eyes to the shadows of the vegetation, feeling her magic rising in her, ready for her call, the Savior nodded in understanding.

Suddenly, a man stumbled away from the trees onto the road leading to the village, all bloodied, his eyes going up to the manned walls, searching for something as he tried to reach the gates. But, as soon as his wide and terrified eyes connected with the green ones in the light of the torches and lamps, he straightened up, his eyes beseeching Emma to help. In a second, she materialized in front of him, not even thinking about it. The man, Thomas, went straight for her, his arm falling onto her shoulder, as Emma could hear the gates opening behind her. “Go to him,” he said softly, his words barely understandable. “Prince, save the Prince…” he managed to whisper to the Savior, gripping her forearm in addition to her shoulder before losing consciousness, as he toppled down, his fall stopped only by the Savior’s strong arms. As soon as she lowered him on the ground, she saw a deep slice across his back bleeding profusely. Her instinct to help already pulling at her magic, she saw the wound close, and rose, turning to her friend as she joined her.

“I am going,” Emma said, glancing toward the werewolf, as she stepped away from the injured man letting his friends take care of him now.

“Take me,” Ruby started but the pale mist already surrounded the Savior, spinning her away, ”with you…” Clicking her tongue in disapproval, Ruby grabbed the nearest man by his neck, showing unusual roughness in her conduct. “How far is it?”

“Not more than a couple of miles, Miss, but…”

Interrupting the man, Ruby picked a pair of daggers from his belt, sticking them to her own. “Gather the men and set out. We’ll need you there.” With those words she started running, letting her legs fly over the brush, following the scent of the bleeding man, not letting anything stop her, as she cursed her friend internally for not bringing her with her.

Emma appeared in a small clearing, stepping quickly out of the way of a first Ogre coming to investigate the sound. Now she could hear very loud sounds of battle, happening around her. With speed, ignoring her growing headache from the hangover, she clambered over the branches of the fallen tree, searching for the hunting party in the dark. As she drew her sword, she evaded the Ogre successfully, before she stumbled into a person hiding in the bushes. A troll, figures, she thought to herself, as she knocked him out by the pommel of her sword, not even hesitating for a second.

Soon, she managed to ascertain the situation, as she went to the thick of the fighting. The trolls had attacked the party by downing a tree, using a cannon of sorts that stood abandoned close to the roots of the felled tree. In the middle of the panicked confusion they had charged, thinking they would be gone before the Ogres showed up, but the party had proved tougher than expected. Using her magic and her sword, Emma helped the still standing men fight off the attackers, directing them to help others, as she looked for the Royal, dispatching any troll who would be unlucky enough to cross her path. Deciding to get the advantage of the day, she summoned her light orbs and dispatched them through the forest, sending them to light up every troll, aware of their aversion to the light, helping the men in the process. She didn’t want to bring down any Ogres, not knowing where Phillip or Mulan were, and she did not come there to a rescue mission only to bury them under Ogre meat.

Suddenly, a hand pulled at her, but before Emma defended herself she saw Phillip leaning onto the trunk of the lowered tree, his face hidden in the darkness. “Savior,” he whispered, clutching his side, as he nodded in greeting. Quickly, Emma passed a light over him, seeing the wound over his hip bleeding profusely. Pulling his hand away, she used the magic to heal the injury before it got infected or the Prince bled out.

“Can’t find Mulan,” he murmured, gasping at the tingling feel of magic passing through his side, sensing his pain ease.

“I’ll do it,” Emma replied, as she pushed him toward the way she just had come from. “Go there, manage the survivors, but don’t move them too far away, I need to know your position.” With a clasp of her hand she gripped his shoulder, her eyes burrowing into his mind, the green of them seeming amber in the glow of her magic light. “Start bringing them down.” She spoke firmly, her mind sharp for the first time since the ship had left. The Savior guessed that the adrenalin of the fight helped her clear her thoughts and douse the last of her inebriation.

“But, you will be squashed,” Phillip spoke with dismay, but after another hard look from the blonde woman he gave up and went away, realizing that if he did not do as she had ordered him, for it was nothing else but a clear order, they all could die. Seeing that he had managed to come to his men unchallenged, Emma closed her eyes, having remembered something from her last trip to the Fairytale Land, trying to focus her magic on the sword the Asian woman was carrying. The protective magic in it should have been enough for Emma to track the woman down. After a moment of deep concentration, the Savior gathered the general direction of the warrior, and she started moving that way, careful to avoid unwanted attention from the Ogres, as she mostly used her magic and sword in her fight, felling the enemies down without much trouble. Within minutes she came upon the warrior woman, leaning against a tree, fighting off three very familiar trolls by herself.

“You again,” Emma spoke coldly, not caring that her voice carried through the forest. She recognized the bunch from the earlier adventure, and the memory itself fueled Emma’s anger toward them, not because she saw them again, but because they reminded her of someone she did not want to think of right that moment. “I guess no more mercy for you,” the Savior said, her hand immediately filling with an orb of fire, her posture reminiscent of the terrorizing Queen, as she smirked coldly.

“No, Your Grace, wait,” one of the trolls started but the distraction Emma had provided was enough for Mulan to slain one of them, for the two others she was aided by the Savior herself, as the fiery orbs finished the scoundrels off.

“Your Grace,” Mulan spoke questioningly, her eyebrows rising in surprise, as she tried to catch her breath. “Who calls you that?”

“Regina.” At the baffled look, Emma only shrugged her shoulders. “Long story.” Then with the healing power already summoned up, she treated the various cuts on the proud warrior. Guiding them back to Phillip and the others, Emma noticed that there were a lot more Ogres around. Quickly, by her glancing look, she could count more than fifteen ugly creatures. “Damn it,” she whispered as she vaulted over the low hanging branch. Suddenly, one of them stopped in front of them, going straight for Mulan, who had found herself right in the open at that moment. “Fuck!” Emma swore as she rushed to the warrior, pushing her out of the way with her magic, as she tried to drive one of many dead trolls’ cutlasses on the ground through the eye of the enemy. However the move left her exposed to one of the other Ogres and as his companion fell to his knees, already dead, he roared in outrage and kicked the Savior, tossing her up in the air by the force of the hit she received. As she flew up, her only thought before the darkness claimed her was to cushion her fall and the warm dark eyes she tried not to think about the whole day…

Ruby rushed toward the roar of an angry Ogre fighting with his prey, as she had been joined by Phillip and the other surviving members of the hunting party. But, there were still two people unaccounted for. The men had brought many of the creatures down through teamwork and directions from Phillip, leaving only the two East from their location.

As soon as the young werewolf came at the place of the latest skirmish she saw the woman warrior bring one of the foul creatures down, using a bow. After an angry but helpless roar the remaining one of the beasts decided to walk away, almost running through the dense forest. Ruby and Phillip rushed to Mulan, the Prince checking quietly for injuries, but the proud woman evaded his touch rather testily, as she wiped the blade off her battle damaged cape and sheathed the sword, having thrown away the now useless bow.

“I am unhurt,” she spoke, as she turned away and started walking, not to the others but away, searching for something, moving the brush and peaking around the tree trunks, as she commandeered a torch from one of the hunters. “The Savior healed me,” she added when the two caught up with her. “But, she was thrown away by one of them,” the warrior said gesturing to the carcasses of the dead Ogres.

“Wait, you mean literally thrown?” Ruby asked, already trying to catch Emma’s scent in the wild shrubbery, the smells of the bodies and fires not helping her at all. At the confirming grunt, she kept quiet, focusing on the sounds of the forest, as the animals sensed that the danger had passed, returning to their previous business. She heard Phillip’s comment about the vanishing lights and that the attack on the Savior must have been the cause and she tried to clamp down the fear travelling through her spine, as she watched out for her friend. Then she heard a pained grunt yards away from her, instantly jumping to the location. There she saw the Savior, still sprawled on the forest floor, her sword not far from her, as she moved her arm reaching for her head. “Holy hell,” Emma murmured as she opened her eyes.

“By gods, how is it that you are still alive?” Phillip said in awe as he had judged the distance of her flight to be just over twenty yards.

Ruby knelt beside the blonde, checking her for breaks or more serious injuries, her touch not gentle. “First the binge, now this. Are you actually trying to kill yourself, or you are just than reckless?” Ruby grumbled as she pulled the aching but barely injured Savior up on her feet. “Could you be more irresponsible?”

“You sound like Snow,” Emma said softly, trying to ease Ruby’s hand off as the werewolf’s grip was quite strong, but the quip only incensed the young woman further.

“Damn right I do, when she isn’t here to put some sense in you! I know you are missing Regina but this… This is not the way to accomplish anything!” Ruby grabbed Emma’s shoulders firmly and looked into the green eyes, her own flashing dangerously with anger and the viciousness of the beast hiding underneath the easygoing surface. “If you die, a lot of people are going to suffer! People who love you! You have a family now.”

The werewolf saw something flash through Emma’s eyes, something so strange and powerful that she shivered with fear. As unstable as her friend seemed right that moment, it would be highly unwise to provoke her further, so she did not add anything more. The green eyes in front of her had an odd glow in them, and as Emma focused onto her, Ruby saw bluish light sparkle up in the colored part of the eye.

“I am sorry,” the Savior whispered slowly, her voice contrite. “I am done,” she said, gesturing around with her hands, “with this.” Although Emma was showing the carnage of the skirmish, Ruby understood what the Sheriff had meant with her words. Pleased with the answer, she nodded and patted the Savior’s shoulder, ignoring the painful grunt that caused.

“Alright, if everything is settled, we should get back,” the Prince spoke in an authoritative voice, motioning to one of his newly arrived men to come forward in the light of a torch in his hand. “What is the situation?”

“Two men have been lost, and three are grievously injured, My Lord. The others are able to walk and carry their weapons. The bounty seems untouched.” After delivering the news, the man placed his fist over his chest, bowed down and walked away, dismissed with one nod from Phillip.

Moving gingerly, sore from her fall, Emma summoned her sword from the ground, sheathed it and started walking toward the injured hunters, as her skin crackled with magic. But, the only one who could feel the magic streaming through the air was Mulan, with her hands on the pommel of her hilt, as her sword was pulsating in its sheath, ready for the next magical attack. The warrior glanced at the blonde, her eyes wide at the immense power the woman wielded, for it was the first time that she actually felt her sword react in the presence of magic. It wasn’t long before the party started moving toward the village, the injuries taken care of, the dead placed on the quickly fashioned stretchers and the carcasses of the slain trolls and Ogres spread around throughout the forest, for other beasts to feed. As they moved through the dense trees, the Savior allowed the orbs of light to serve as torches, hanging in the air, far less dangerous from the actual fire in the woods, as she, Mulan, and Phillip stepped forward, with Ruby bringing the rear. Uneventfully, their journey ended when they reached the gates of the village.

When all the fuss of the attack and rescue started, Emma managed to avoid many toasts in her honor by quietly sneaking out of the crowd and climbed the stairs of the Hall slowly, reaching her room without anyone seeing her disappear. But as luck would have it, Belle was in the room, changing the sheets of Emma’s bed. Noticing the blonde lingering by the door in surprise, the charming brunette smiled at the obviously unsettled Savior.

“It’ll take but a minute,” Belle spoke, fluffing the pillows, as Emma shrugged in indifference and went in. “Rumple suggested you’d need food and rest after an evening like this,” the younger woman gestured toward the tray on the bedside table, as she placed the finishing touches on the made bed.

“Belle, I,” Emma started uncomfortably, taking off her dirty coat, along with the boots, before she sat. “You don’t have to do this,” the blonde said quietly, as the younger beauty took a seat beside her on the bed.

“Please,” Belle answered with a smile so characteristically her. “I want to. Besides,” the younger woman brought a cup of freshly steeped tea to Emma’s hands, “I know a fraction of what you are going through, and I am here for you.” The kind but no-nonsense tone was firm in its point but gentle in its delivery.

“Now, eat and get some rest. Tomorrow promises to be a long day.” With a soft pat on Emma’s shoulder, Belle rose from the bed and walked to the still open door.

“Belle,” the Savior whispered, looking down at her cup. Slowly, she lifted her eyes to the expecting woman standing by the entrance. “Thank you.”

The brunette smiled again and nodded. “Good night,” she said lightly, before leaving the Sheriff to herself.

Emma looked around her clean room and sighed. Belle had been really efficient in her intention to destroy every possible sign of the blonde’s weakness. With sluggish moves, she ate and drank, before removing the belt from her hips and closing the door of the room, ignoring the pressing loneliness that gripped her heart. As she was still uncomfortable from her trip to the dark forest, and suffering the adrenalin crash, she left the lantern lit, giving the room a soft comforting glow. Emma saw a small book on the other bedside table and recognizing the book by its leather binding, she took it into her hands, remembering the way Regina had used to read it in the nights interrupted by their nightmares. Not yet daring to open it, Emma placed the book next to her pillow, lowering herself onto the bed, feeling the exhaustion finally taking her over, pulling her under, as she fell asleep. Not minding the fact that she was still aching from the fall or that she was still fully clothed, Emma had covered herself with a light throw and let herself go, hoping that this one night there would not be dreams waiting for her.

The morning found her still asleep, buried under the pillow she must have had thrown over her head when the Sun had risen, her body curled on itself.

In front of her room, the old man stood leaning on his cane, as he contemplated his decision to enter. After Belle had told him that Emma had not been down that morning he had decided to take matters into his own hands. The only thing stopping him was the idea of being magically catapulted out of the room by the startled Savior, which would put him in a decidedly worse mood. So he did something he had not done for centuries in the fairy tale land, for he had been the Dark One for so long. He knocked.

When there was no response he dared to open the unlocked door, testing the air slowly by peeking into the room, his surprise evident when he found the blonde sleeping cocooned in the throw.

As he glanced toward the window, seeing the Sun high up in the sky, he shook his head with an audible sigh. “Miss Swan!” he spoke clearly, hoping it was loud enough to wake the woman, for he had no desire to yell. Fortunately, the sharp call did what he had intended it to, making Emma rise up, startled awake, and searching for the source and the reason for her rude awakening, as the air around them crackled with magic and danger.

“What the hell do you want?” she grumbled, straightening out, when she saw Rumplestiltskin standing in her room, supporting his weight by the cane as his eyes bore into her. As unnerved by his presence in her room, she knew that her magic was protection enough from him, still she did not feel comfortable trusting him. However, she also knew that it would be a very important thing for the man to risk his life by coming near her uninvited. “And, here, no less,” she added as she cleared her throat and sat on the bed, watching the man carefully, noting that he had changed into this world’s appropriate clothing, his impeccable three part suit probably not being up to snuff in these conditions. Nevertheless, she could sense that the style of his garb was still representing Mister Gold in its value.

“Now, Miss Swan,” he spoke, coming closer to her, each word followed by a rap of his cane on the floor, “this won’t do.” Then seeing her ruffled and muddy clothes from the day before and the blossoming bruise on her forehead he shook his head again. “Won’t do at all.”

“You haven’t answered my question,” the Savior spoke through her teeth, irritated by his scrutiny and by the pain in her body, becoming stronger with each passing second.

“May I remind you that we have a huge amount of work in front of us, the job of your design, if I may add, and that we have no time to waste. Especially not to squander it in the bout of irresponsible behavior.” Then he leaned to the properly chastised blonde and his eyes flickered toward the bruise on her face as he lowered his tone. “Heal yourself, and change, and then come downstairs. You’ll need your weapons and a backpack would be wise.” He straightened up, but before he walked out of the room he looked into the Sheriff’s eyes, still slightly unfocused as the edge of sleep still was clinging to them. “I need you clear minded on this, Emma.” The soft words were followed by an accentuating rap of his cane before he turned away. The blonde watched him walk out and rose from bed, still surprised by the old man’s soft side. The experience she had gathered over the years warned her that he was only pretending to lower her suspicion, but her lie detector, and more importantly – her gut – told her that he was honest.

Shrugging off the uncomfortable thoughts of redemption and repentance, she quickly changed deciding to keep the mail hidden, as she placed her despised shoulder holster for her weapon and the spare clips, as she would need to put the sword onto her hip, leaving her back free for the leather rucksack Regina had given her. Deciding to heed Rumplestiltskin with a healthy dose of paranoia, she strapped on her spare gun, on the other side of the sword, as well as adding the daggers into her boots. Then magically cleaning the coat from the day before, she walked downstairs, meeting William in the hallway.

“Your Highness,” he said with a smirk knowing it irritated the blonde woman. She only narrowed her eyes into a pointed stare before offering a smirk of her own, appreciating his haughtiness.

As she went into the central room she saw Belle fussing over Rumplestiltskin’s coat, as he was putting on leather gloves. Next to them was Ruby, wrapping the food William must have had brought in into easily packable parcels. When Emma was noticed, the young werewolf took the backpack out of the Savior’s hand and gently pushed the blonde woman to the table behind them. “Eat, while I pack this,” she said sharply, as Emma followed the directions without questions, not taking the werewolf’s rough manners and short temper personally as she was aware that the Wolf Moon was close.

“Now, if you will,” Rumplestiltskin spoke, having finished with saying goodbye to Belle, “to the Dark Castle,” ignoring Emma’s soft chuckle at his proclamation. He reached for the blonde, as she put on the pack. Without further delays, the Savior transported them to a lone fortress, high in the mountains, starkly dark against the surroundings. The Sheriff came closer to the enchanted gate, feeling the familiar pulsation of the former Queen’s magic in the wards of the place, but she could not sense the darker tone of the power she had grown to associate with the Dark One. Her musings were interrupted by a light pat on her shoulder from the man beside her. “The Dark One is gone, so is his power,” said Rumplestiltskin, guessing correctly what the pondering expression on the blonde’s face was about. “After you, dearie.” The old man gestured with his free hand, bowing slightly, his posture reminiscent of his previous life.

With the intimate knowledge of Regina’s magic, the Savior had no problems unlocking the protective spells and the gate. “Doesn’t look like someone’s been here for a while,” Emma spoke softly as they ventured inside. “What are we doing here, anyways?” she asked, following the older man as he examined the remaining artifacts and trophies of his past.

Rumplestiltskin stopped his careful gait and glanced toward the Savior with a small patient smile Emma had seen him use only in regards to Henry and Neal. “Ah, Miss Swan, despite your rather impulsive nature, you do know that a great deal of research and planning needs to be invested into this project of yours.” Leading the Savior deeper into the cold and abandoned castle, he came upon the double doors, and briefly pausing to shift his cane to the other hand, he looked at Emma. “And, not only in the operation Gate, as young Master Henry dubbed it. You need to understand the implications of permanently bonding these two worlds and devise a proper course of action. And, it is an opportunity to learn more.” He pushed open the door and Emma gasped at the image before her.

A huge space covered in shelves, now more empty than full but still giving the perfect idea how majestic this place had once been. In one corner a large study desk was standing, covered in dust with several books on it, haphazardly strewn across the surface. But, while Emma gaped at the books, the old man came to an almost hidden section of the library, pleased to see that most of what he and the Savior would need was still in place. “The real reason we are here,” he murmured, drawing Emma’s attention back to him, as he pulled an old and large volume, inlaid with gold lettering and intricate design on the hardened leather covers.

Placing the book carefully on the desk, he drew one of the chairs near, taking a seat. With a simple gesture he invited the blonde to do the same. “All you need to know about dragons and their uses in magical endeavors.” He looked up at the woman’s expectant face, placing his hands over the title on the covers. “You see, the blood of dragons not only has magical properties but it is very hard to use because of its powerful reactive properties. It is in fact, a very dangerous ingredient, Miss Swan.”

“So, in order to be able to use the stones from the dragons’ caves, I need to learn how to deal with the blood,” the blonde spoke softly, contemplating the situation, as she glanced down to the book. Regina had warned her that this journey would encompass much more than just simple creation of the portal, and winging all the rest. If her supposition was right, she would need to learn everything about each aspect needed for the Gates, and with somewhat grudging realization she understood Rumplestiltskin’s need for rush. Suddenly, the two months seemed too short for the creation of the safe magical passage.

“There is, of course, a shortcut.” Rumplestiltskin watched the Savior closely, as she perked up at the offer of skipping the study. “I could tell you in short what you need to do, but this solution is not without risks. You might be in a situation where I won’t be close by to advise you to the proper course of action, and you blunder into mortal danger.”

Deflating quickly, Emma chuckled somewhat amusedly but without mirth reaching her eyes. “With my luck, that is exactly what would’ve happened.” Seeing the satisfied smile on the man’s face, the Savior understood that she had passed a test of sorts. “The hard way it is,” she said, reaching for the book. As it had been written in the language of magic, she had to wait a bit before she could understand the words on the pages, starting to read. Gold rose from the chair almost silently and stepped away, careful not to make noise with his cane. He decided to make the castle more hospitable for a longer stay and to search for other books they might need, and for some that Belle would definitely like.

Although Emma was not a quick reader, or a very attentive one, she avidly consumed the volume before her, feeling the knowledge seep into her. She assumed it was due to the need she felt, the need to do this right – that helped along. With a satisfied sigh, she closed the book, having read it from cover to cover in just three or four hours, as the Sun was high in the sky, but already in its descent, heralding the night. She rose from her place and went to the old man standing in front of the large paneled window, as his gaze was directed into the distance.

“I take if you are finished?” the former imp asked when the Savior stepped right beside him. Seeing the blonde nod in the reflection of the glass he glanced toward her. “Any conclusions?”

Another test, Emma thought with a slight irritation, but pushing it away, she focused, understanding that it was only his way of teaching. “In order to be able to use the stones, I need something impervious to magic and to be able to cut through solid rock,” she mused, thinking out loud. And, almost instantly the answer came. “The dwarves’ axes.

“Excellent, dearie,” Rumplestiltskin spoke with barely visible pride. “Now, as it is somewhat late to go out and search the realm for the dust mines, I think we should continue with the information gathering.” He offered another book to the Savior, this one dealing with the basics of magical transportation, and portals among them. Breaking fast, they ate their provisions in silence, as Emma read on, sometimes interrupting the quiet with a question or a need for further explanation. She would even make important notes in a small scribbling book Rumplestiltskin had given her during the day, detailing some of the processes useful for her task. As much as she learned she further came to realize that she would have to deal with each aspect of the arch-making alone or with few trusted people for there were just too many opportunities for a sabotage to trust anyone else with it. Another thing to use up her time. But, she was glad in a way, because it offered her a perfect distraction to keep her occupied in the next nine weeks.

Finishing with the second book, Emma looked up and saw the empty library filled with a soft glow of lanterns that had been lit while she had been reading. Seizing the moment she was alone to explore the vast chamber, she rose from her seat, shaking the slightly stiff limbs, as her eyes fell onto a lonely book, standing on the shaped marble holder.

The book itself was blood red with no markings on the binds, not even an intricate R she had seen on some volumes on the library shelves. Curious to see why that particular book was away from the others, in a revered position, she walked towards it and lifted her hand, reaching for it.

“It should not be opened,” Rumplestiltskin spoke from behind her, his clear voice ringing in the room, startling the Savior, freezing her on the spot. Sheepishly, she turned toward him, her embarrassment over her reaction clear on her face. The old man walked toward the blonde woman and paused before the book, standing beside the Sheriff, his eyes focused onto the crimson volume. “It is filled with half a millennium worth of suffering,” he softly added, as he leaned heavily onto his cane, suddenly looking spent.

“The ledger,” Emma whispered with understanding, her hands pulling away from the book.

“It could be called that.” Gold moved away, limping toward the desk. “You can take it, but I must give you a fair warning, Miss Swan. It is a horrifying and miserable read.” Sitting down heavily, he leaned back, looking toward the Savior, his face blank but the dark eyes filled with regret.

“Perhaps later,” Emma said, not willing to delve into the dark mysteries of the former Dark One just yet. Noticing the time, she reached for her pack. “We should go back,” she spoke as she placed several small books she found interesting in the leather pack, now considerably emptier as the food was eaten. Also taking the books Rumplestiltskin had set aside into her hands, she gestured to the old man to place his hand onto her shoulder as she wove an elaborate spell she had seen in the memories, allowing her to come directly inside the protective wards at any time, at the same time, keeping the Castle safe from other intruders. When Gold leaned against her, she brought them to the village in a blink of an eye.

With softly spoken greetings, the blonde Sheriff withdrew from the central room, going to her own, her thoughts occupied with all the information she had gleaned during the day, her mind already planning the next step. Knowing that her sleep would be short and far from restful, Emma dropped onto the bed, not bothering to take off her clothes, apart from her boots and her coat. Divesting her weapons off her, she placed them beside, onto the empty place on the bed, as she took her side, the one she had used when Regina had been in the room. Taking the books out of the pack, she placed them onto the bedside table, the ones Rumplestiltskin had intended for Belle disappearing in the bluish white mist, as she delivered them to their recipient. She made herself more comfortable, as she was determined to read through the night, feeling that sleep would not come easily. However, not all the books she had taken were regarding her heroic task. Emma had chosen a wide variety of subjects in order to keep herself occupied and entertained, while she learned more of the world she had found herself in and the magic she possessed. Often, she would make remarks in her personal notebook, using it as a diary of sorts, writing down her thoughts, ideas, theories and plans, having more practical sense of them as she could see them on the paper.

Close to dawn she got up, cracking her shoulders as she stretched, smiling at her own thoughts as she wished for a cup of coffee. But, as it was known, there were no espresso machines for worlds around, and she would have to get her caffeine out of a strong black tea, which she personally despised. As it was still dark, Emma knew that the kitchens would be more likely to be deserted, and she was not willing to wake everyone with her clumsiness trying to make tea. So she would have to wait, and in the meantime she decided to go for a walk in the brisk predawn morning air – to clear her mind. Her steps light, she dressed up and disappeared herself out of the room, materializing right outside the protective walls of the village, waving to the night guard when she heard commotion above her, easing their alarm. Placing her hands into the pockets of the coat, she strolled down the path to the beach, the rhythmic whisper of the waves calling out to her. The feel of the shifting sand underneath her boots, as she forced her feet over it, provided a soothing experience she couldn’t really explain, only feel, as she walked down the beach in the darkness of the lingering night.

It was dark, but she did not feel the sharp edge of panic that would rise in her whenever she would find herself in unlighted space. Deep in her thoughts, she considered that her phobia was more or less manageable and that time, as much as anything else, did provide a suitable solution. Or perhaps, her mind, and heart, was too much occupied with the pain she felt, the bleeding wound she suffered – the injury that would only heal in presence of her family – blocking out all other pains and troubles. In moments like these, when she would let her thoughts wander, the memory of a goodbye on the pier would always come up, twisting her insides as the faces of her loved ones would appear, shiny with tears and contorted with sorrow. Yes, the separation would only last for two months, but every hour she spent in the Enchanted Forest, away from Regina and Henry, and her parents, felt like too much of a sacrifice. But, she was Emma Swan, the tough ex criminal, the Sheriff and the Crown Princess of the Charming-White Royals; hell, she was the fucking Savior – so she would grind her teeth and endure, no matter the pain, the sorrow, the cost…

After a while, she stood still, her eyes danced over the surface of the deceptively calm sea, as the heavy clouds covered the East, obscuring the Sunrise. There was oppression in the air, as the sounds of thunder rolled in the air above the more and more restless waves, all the signs of the impending storm.

“I see you have found my practicing place, Savior,” Mulan spoke softly from behind Emma, not able to hold back her surprise to see the blonde already up. The warrior would come to the beach every free morning for her routine meditation and practice, as she had learned that no one would bother her there, in the open. However, when she had walked down that morning, she had seen a familiar figure stark against the diffused morning light, as her blonde hair had fluttered in the growing wind, free of bounds. In all honesty, the flapping green coat and the sunshine hair encased the tall figure, giving it a magical appeal, presenting the woman as a conquering warrior, or the avenging knight. A fit image for the Savior, Mulan’d mused as she had seen the woman. The stranger had seemed troubled and Mulan had almost turned away, loath to disturb the Savior, but the unexplainable need to help the blonde had overridden her senses and she had attempted to strike up a conversation, an art she was not very well versed in, now waiting for an answer.

“Do you want me to leave?” Emma spoke not moving from her position, her eyes still gazing into the distance.

“No,” the warrior spoke, resigned to the silence, so when she started her breathing exercises, having placed her armor, cape and weapons down next to her on the sand, she did not expect the Savior to turn around and watch her carefully, noting her every move and her every step. Mulan could see the interest in the woman’s eyes but she chose not to engage it. If Emma wanted, she would teach her, but the Savior would have to be the one to ask. The warrior went through her whole routine without interruptions, but as soon as she finished, the blonde walked to her, standing beside her but not crowding her.

“What does it do?” the Savior asked, her posture displaying her interest, but at the polite distance.

“The first part is the breathing exercises, helping with stilling one’s mind and spirit. The second one is honing the body, developing endurance and flexibility.” Mulan looked at the blonde woman, as she put on her armor. “The last part is to unite the previous two into one whole.” As another thunder passed through the air, she spoke to the stranger friend, leaning a bit toward her, “I am here at every dawn, if not detained,” and with a nod, walked away, leaving Emma behind to contemplate whether she wanted to learn or not.

After another hurried breakfast, Rumplestiltskin and Emma went on a search for one of the fairy dust mines in hope that they would have an axe lying around. The man would direct the Savior to all the places that the fairy godmothers had used to live in, using the referent points familiar to Regina, as Emma could use them in the further search. And, they were in luck, only after a six hour long quest, and three transportation spells later, Emma found an abandoned mine, still filled with the veins of fairy dust and several axes placed in their racks, some of them still unnamed.

As Emma crouched over her bounty, she glanced around, confused about something. “Where are the dwarves?” she asked, a bit louder, as Rumplestiltskin was more than several yards away.

“Escaped, most likely.” Rumplestiltskin touched the glittering crystals of the dust with unusual reverence in his moves, as he walked slowly back to Emma, mindful of his leg and the treacherous path. “With all the godmothers in Storybrooke, there is no one left to enforce them to work.”

“They were slaves,” the Savior murmured to herself, shaking her head.

“That is a matter of opinion,” Gold spoke softly. “This was a different world.”

“No matter the world, slaves are slaves,” Emma stated with a sharp tinge of anger, but she decided it wasn’t worth getting herself riled up. “Why are there so few fairies?” she asked, changing the subject.

“Well, I am to fault for that,” the old man said, with a note of apology. “They were already a rare breed, but my hunt for them only made things worse.” He then nodded gratefully as Emma summoned a chair for him, as his leg was unused to the exercise it was getting. “Since my conflict with Reul Ghorm over Bae, neither was happy to leave the other alone. And, perhaps the important information to you is, I and Cora never shielded Regina from the fairies’ eyes. It was Reul Ghorm’s spiteful pride that prevented the fairies from rescuing Regina out of our hand.”

“Why?”

“Even as the fairy godmothers may be a force of good, even they are not immune to the draw of the power, and to remain in power for so long, one needs to learn quite a few underhanded tricks themselves, as manipulation becomes one of your regular tools.”

“You mean - she is corrupted.”

“I wouldn’t claim it for a fact, dearie, no matter our past, but I would caution you against blindly trusting her.”

Humming noncommittally in response, Emma picked up three unnamed axes, glancing up at the glimmering ceiling. “We can use the dust as well…” Clearing out of the mine, the blonde took note of its placement so she would reach it easily next time. Bringing them back to the village, she stored the axes into her room, as she talked more to Rumplestiltskin about the dwarves and the fairies.

The next several days passed rather quickly, and rather slow at the same time for Emma. At dawn, after barely or even not sleeping at night, she would train with Mulan, learning the steps and establishing a routine herself, with each day getting more successful in implementing the warrior’s teachings into the formations, by each day her moves flowed with more ease. Afterwards she would go to the village stables, where young Elias would wait for her, showing her the ropes with the horses. Technically, she did know how to ride and care for horses, thanks to Regina, but the main problem was getting used to the huge animals, and getting accustomed to being in the saddle for prolonged periods of time. The first time she slid off the docile mare that was given to her, she thought that her legs would fall off. However, day after day, she was getting better, even letting herself ride over the surf, enjoying the speed and the feel of the powerful beast beneath her. After sharing lunch with her friends, she would spend the afternoons with Rumplestiltskin, roughly designing the looks of the Arches, trying to use every possible magical and natural advantage of the project, learning about the magic itself along the way. He would teach her by giving her the spell-books and explaining to her how something was supposed to work, as he himself could not show her. But, even without the visible example, he could see the Savior flourish in her magical prowess, getting more and more comfortable with the power itself. However, he would always caution her against doing magic just for the sake of doing magic – his trademark saying spoken many times _– Magic always comes with a price_. The evenings she would spend in light conversation with the people she knew in the village or with Ruby in her room, except at the evenings of the Wolf Moon – when Red was out, running; talking about fashion choices of the Enchanted Forest, the things Emma would learn about the land, or the ways of dealing with the approaching winter… During the nights, more often than not, she would read, or walk around if the weather was kind. From time to time she would sleep, but her rest would be too short to be meaningful, and almost always interrupted by nightmares. And, so, the days would pass…

It was Rumplestiltskin himself who asked Emma to delay their expedition to the caves until she was more confident on a horse, for one and very important reason. Emma would need to know how to reach the place without the magic, for the stones could be transported only via natural means. So, the Savior deferred to his opinion, recognizing the sound logic in it, as she devoted herself completely to the tasks before her.

Finally, the day of the first visit to the caves was almost upon them. She watched the night fall as she heard the soft steps of her friend behind her, joining her in the simple bedroom. She did not mind Ruby being there, far from it actually. Only, she was nervous about the next day, the long ride to the mountains in the progressively cold weather, and it was getting to her. Just minutes earlier, she had snapped at the young werewolf for asking her too many questions, not in the mood for the playful banter they often enjoyed. With an apologetic look in her eyes, she glanced toward the brunette standing beside her, silently asking for forgiveness.

“Have you tried breathing?” Ruby asked softly, her answering smile absolution enough for the blonde, as she offered a cup of warm watered mead.

“For some reasons it only makes me edgier,” Emma said, gratefully accepting the cup. She had gone to Regina’s cellars once more and had brought several more bottles of mead, only this time she had left them with the young woman, not willing to expose herself to the temptation to drink her agitation away. “It makes me feel like fighting is near.”

“Yeah, I know what you mean,” Ruby said, gesturing outside. “It’s too quiet. In Storybrooke we had small wars everyone was so invested in it. You and Regina, Regina and Gold, Regina and Snow, Neal and Gold, dwarves and Granny… And, here – nothing but an occasional hunt and your training. I am not Belle to be able to amuse myself with books to no end.”

“Well, tomorrow should be a relief, then,” said Belle from behind them, closing the door after she went in, the hard sound almost too loud in the silence that had befallen on the two women by the window. Even though the beauty seemed offended, the sparkle of humor showed in her eyes, putting the other women at ease.

With a light smile she took a cup of mead waiting for her at the bedside table, with a water jug and the bottle of mead next to it. Beside the drink were volumes and volumes of books, mostly appropriate for having them in hands while reading, and Belle glanced at their titles, humming in surprise when she noticed the wide variety of topics the books covered. “You’ve read these?” she asked softly, as she turned toward the blonde, one of the books in her hands.

“Those I finished. On the other one are the ones I haven’t.” Emma pointed with the hand that held the cup at the other bedside with half as many books on it, shrugging off at the surprise the young bookish woman directed at her. She felt the need to explain as she sensed the dark eyes of her friends focus on her. “It’s research…”

“ _’The Style and Practices of the Stonemason’s Guild of the White Kingdom’_ is for research?” Ruby asked, taking the book out of Belle’s hands and reading its title, her voice showing her amazement. “What do you need with that?” the Child of the Moon asked, flipping through the pages, until she found marked pages, descripting architectural needs for the archways and stone fences. “Oh…” Ruby spoke sheepishly, understanding now, returning the book to Belle.

During that time, Emma only hardened her gaze, turning away from them, and sipped from the cup, letting the warmth of the drink penetrate her insides, as she looked outside, troubled by the silence. She did not see Belle glancing at Ruby, nor the pointed stare the young brunette directed at the bright eyed beauty.

Only days before, Ruby had come to her friend, worried about Emma, as she had witnessed the Savior wander through the village in the dead of the night, when everyone had been supposed to be asleep. During the three nights of the Wolf Moon, the still sentient beast released from the confines of the human flesh had stood guard over the obviously bothered blonde. And, she had come to Belle to ask for advice.

_“You are the one who knew her from before the curse was broken. Ruby, you were her friend from the moment she had come into the town, when she was still a lone, resilient self-reliant woman, and you were there when she accepted the fact that for the first time in her life she had a family of her own, her friends, and a home. Probably for the first time in her life, she felt wanted, furthermore, needed.” Belle patted her exhausted friend on the back, guiding her to lie down, as the change and subsequent run had taken much out of the young werewolf. She did not mind the company as Rumplestiltskin was already away, directing the Savior in one matter or the other. With a soft smile she thought of how the man, so long tainted with the powerful dark magic, was changing into a gentle and caring person. Then she brought herself back to the subject at hand. Ruby had obeyed her directions and was lying on the lounge, leaning her head against the pillow by Belle’s thighs. “Rumplestiltskin rarely slept,” the young beauty said after a brief silence. “When I asked him about it, he only said that he was filled with the energy from his power and that he required no sleep.”_

_When Ruby shifted, looking up at her with the interest in her tired deep blue eyes, Belle only shrugged, before she spoke. “I can only assume it is the same with Emma.”_

_The werewolf hummed in agreement and turned back into her previous position, her body on her side, knees close to her chest. “If that is the case, then Emma has a lot of time on her hands,” Ruby murmured softly, the edges of needed sleep crawling over her consciousness. “I’ll try to bring it up in our next talks,” she added before her eyes drooped as she fell asleep. Belle smiled at her tired friend and covered her with a soft colorful afghan that was there for such purpose, before she took one of the books Rumple had brought for her from his library, settling down for a quiet morning._

“What is on your mind?” Ruby asked the blonde, seeing a slight frown mare the Savior’s face, but no answer came, not even after soft calling of her name. Not wanting to push, the werewolf let it go for the moment, inclined just to lean against the wall as Belle was sitting on the bed, flipping through the book in her hands.

“Something’s wrong,” suddenly Emma murmured as she turned away from the window, glancing toward the startled women waiting for her to continue. “I mean, seriously, something is wrong.”

“What do you mean?” Belle asked, as she watched the agitated woman cross the small distance from the window to the door, and back again.

“There should be more people,” the Sheriff spoke, her hand gesturing toward the window. Ruby was going to interrupt but the young librarian stopped her with a pointed glance in her direction, something in Emma’s words ringing true. “All the Kingdoms and this is all there is left? Where are they?”

“Regina’s curse…” Ruby started softly, before Emma turned to her sharply, her hand up in the air with the palm turned toward the others, as her eyes blazed with temper.

“It wasn’t Regina’s,” the Savior said loudly, her voice vibrating with anger that had risen in her suddenly. The mention of the brunette brought out the magic from deep within Emma, the helpless yearning and the irrational feeling of loss breaking her from inside, as she directed her pain outwards, ready to lash out.

As random as it seemed for Emma to lose it, Ruby knew it had been building for days, and honestly, the brunette was waiting for it, for the cleansing rage and fury as the turmoil the Savior had been in reached its boiling point. And she, as the Savior’s friend, and the godmother, would weather the storm in order to help her. From what she had gathered, magical users were a bit like Wolves, in their sometimes inability to temper their wild emotions, and Emma, with all the hardships she had gone through, would have much to contend with. The loneliness, estrangement from her family, the constant pressure of being the Savior…

So, she raised her hands in the air, slowly as she kept her eyes glued to Emma’s outstretched hand, waiting for the blonde to calm down, her body relaxed, but ready for anything, as she placed herself in front of Belle.

The Savior frowned at the wary look on her friends’ faces, but then she saw the light of magic emanate from her palm, the energy bleeding out of her skin, crackling in the air, as the small tendrils of bluish white mist clang to the fingers. Quickly, she lowered her hand, her expression awkward as she pulled herself a step back from the women, going through her hair in a clearly distraught manner. “Sorry,” she murmured with shame tingeing her pale cheeks, as she slammed the magic inside her down, the almost violent loss of it leaving her unsteady on her feet. The rampant anger, along with confusion and burning humiliation shattered her control as she felt her eyes fill with tears. Angrily, she swiped at them, turning away from the other women in the room, dismayed at her own body’s betrayal as she walked to the farthest wall from them, trying to gather her control back, her indignation growing at her self-perceived show of weakness. She closed her eyes, attempting to implement the breathing exercises, but a shudder passed through her bringing out a helpless sob from deep within her.

“Em,” Ruby spoke softly as she walked to the shaking woman, her hands reaching for her blonde friend’s shoulders. As Belle had told her that morning the day before, she was the one who had been a friend to the woman softly sobbing in front of her since the moment the strong willed and crass blonde had come to the town of Storybrooke. She had known Emma for a while, and she knew that her friend was dealing with her emotional pain by pushing it away, running from it, jumping from one task to another to avoid the pauses, the moments when her mind would have enough time to focus on what she was missing. In short, Emma was using the defense mechanisms of the woman she once had used to be, but they did not work anymore for she wasn’t the same person as then. _Yay for Archie_ , Ruby thought internally, as she remembered the doctor’s remarks about the Savior, shared after chasing Pongo down one too many times, when Ruby had been in the Sheriff’s office.

“Let it go,” the werewolf whispered as she pulled the Sheriff into her arms, her heart breaking at the harsh sobs leaving the shaking woman. “You are not alone,” she murmured into Emma’s hair, as she led them to the bed, Belle moving out of the way. “You have friends here.”

“I miss them,” Emma managed to gasp through her sobs as she clutched the front of Ruby’s vest, trying to fight the tears overwhelming her. The strong arms around her prevented the blonde from pulling out of the hug, as warm hands soothed her by gliding over her back. It wasn’t like Ruby had never seen her lose control over her emotions, but it had been a while, since before the curse had been broken. Afterwards, Emma had been swept away in one adventure after another and the brunette honestly did not think the Savior had time to contemplate her feelings.

“I know, sweetie.” The werewolf continued murmuring reassurances, as she held Emma in her grip. But even now, the Savior was holding herself back, as she did not trust her friends, the tension in the muscles apparent under the knowing hands. It wasn’t that the blonde woman did not believe that Ruby was her friend, or that wasn’t safe and protected, as Belle and the young werewolf witnessed her breaking down. It was a years-long conditioning never to let her guard down, not even among the people belonging to the tight knit group she called family. Never to show weakness or leave herself open. The young deep blue eyed brunette did not blame the Sheriff for the aloof nature, but it only served to make her worry more, as bottling up emotions did good to no one. And, Emma was doing exactly that, spending her every moment on keeping herself busy, rushing from one thing to another, learning about magic and other things at speeds that even Rumplestiltskin was mildly surprised at – such commitment and devotion was only another way of running away, another way of escape for the tormented hero.

It was only minutes after when Emma pushed away from Ruby, as she wiped the tears from her face with her palms, her expression composed and her eyes sharp but emotionally distant. Standing up, she cleared her throat and crossed her arms at her chest, leaning against the wall nearest to the bed. She had seen the caring faces of her friends but right now, she couldn’t deal with it, so she continued the previous somewhat tempestuous conversation, with a far more calmed voice.

“There should still be more people around,” the Savior spoke quietly, as if nothing had happened. “I wonder,” she murmured as she stepped to the window, still leaning on the wall with her shoulder, her eyes gazing toward the horizon obscured by the night, not paying attention to the two women aside to her, as she focused on Regina’s memories of the curse, ignoring the pang of longing piercing her heart as she delved into the history as remembered by the Evil Queen.

“Don’t you think we should talk about this?” Ruby spoke, not really surprised with Emma’s attitude. But, the only response she got from the blonde was a slight exasperated shake of head and a glance over her shoulder, the green eyes focusing onto hers, hardening more and more with each moment spent holding her gaze, the distinct feeling that she should drop it bubbling up in her chest. It wasn’t her friend’s magic or even her insistence that made the Moon Child give up. It was the coldness of the green eyes searing right through her, making the hairs on her neck stand up in the presence of danger. It was the fear that her otherwise approachable and warm goddaughter sparkled with the mere look that had her clamp her jaw and back down. Never before had she been afraid of the Savior, but now she could feel the uneasiness crawl over her skin as she regarded her friend. She gulped, as she could feel that even the all present Wolf in her was cowered by the mighty and dangerous presence of the woman before her, the sound loud in the tense silence of the room.

“Rubes, I know you mean well,” the Savior spoke, the look in her eyes gentling and warming up, as she turned to the women, but the fierce warning still remained, while the woman continued, “but this is something I need to learn to deal with by myself.” The blonde pushed off the wall and crouched in front of the bed, directly in front of the werewolf, placing her hand on the brunette’s fisted palms in her lap, the tender touch surprising the younger woman. “You are an amazing and wonderful friend and a fierce protector and I thank you for it. However, this isn’t something that can be easily fixed with a friendly chat and a crying jag, nor with a nice cup of soothing tea and faith in True Love.” Emma turned to the bright eyed librarian, gently smiling at the gently offered clay cup of mead that the woman had refilled, as she reached for the woman’s shoulder. “I have spent years living in the bowels of humanity, where I had to fight for everything I wanted, and needed, to survive, facing disappointment and abandonment at every corner,” she continued softly, knowing that she had captured their attention. “Then, the only person I trusted and allowed myself to love betrayed me in the most despicable and damaging way. You can see how this can irrevocably change the person…” The green eyes focused back on the dark blue ones, softening slightly at the memories passing through Emma’s mind. “Finally, I was brought to a family, to a place I could call my home, and then I learned things that would be considered pure madness everywhere else in the world, shifting and bending my sense of reality beyond measure. I was sent to a place which should not exist in the first place, by the standards of my world, then I learned that I had magic. Events that constantly redefined the bounds of my ability to keep my sanity happened day after day, until I found myself realizing that the mother of my son, the woman everyone despised and feared, but the one that I was secretly in love with for more than a year was my True Love. And, there yet another adventure happens – just to keep me on my toes; and here I am, away from my True Love, my parents and my son – who I set out to find in the first place, if I may add – trying to create something that had never been possible just because I am the bleeding fucking Savior and that is what **heroes** do!” Taking a deep breath to settle down, as she had noticed Belle’s flinch at the swearing and the sharpness of her voice, she looked to her friends, her eyes shifting between the werewolf and the librarian. “So yes, I am bottling things up, because it hurts too much not to. It hurts to think about the people I love the most when they are so far away from me. It is painful to use the memories I have to learn, but I do, because it will help me achieve my goals faster and with more success. And, sitting before the fire and talking about Regina and Henry would do nothing but remind me unnecessarily how much I miss them. It has been almost ten days since they are gone, but I feel like years have passed.” Emma stepped away from the women stunned into the silence and took the cup out of Belle’s hand.

“So, please, leave it be,” the Savior said softly, but they all knew it wasn’t a request as it was a demand. Drinking up the mead, the blonde offered the others a barely visible sad smile, as she felt the need to leave the tension filled room. She walked by them and opening the door, Emma stepped out of the room, summoning her magic forth, letting it take her away.

Meanwhile, Ruby still tried to shake off the shock of Emma’s speech, looking a bit lost as she watched the still opened door, having witnessed the Savior disappear in her mist. “Wow,” she sighed, glancing at Belle, glad that she was already sitting, not really sure that she would be able to move if she were standing. The bright eyed brunette took a seat right beside her, placing her hand on her friend’s shoulder in comfort. “That is the longest I heard her speak,” the werewolf spoke with disbelief, thinking about the things Emma had said.

“She was making a point,” Belle said quietly, honestly surprised by the Savior’s words. “And, I cannot find a fault in her reasoning, nor can I blame her for hiding from her emotions.” With a worried glance, Belle shared a look with Ruby, silently vowing to help Emma in any capacity the Savior might need them in.

* * *

Appearing at the inner gardens of the former White Castle, Emma smiled at the small bud of the apple seed she had planted peeking out of the ground in the stone circle, before she rushed up the steps, her feet leading her right to the former Queen’s quarters.

With one flick of her wrist, the fire started in the hearth, warming the huge chamber immediately. Although she had not been here since the morning of their trek back, the room was still as welcoming as then, and Emma could just see Regina sitting on the lounge next to the fire, reading with a relaxed smile set on her face. With a melancholy, Emma walked to the large double doors on one side of the room, knowing that a huge closet filled with clothes was just beyond the wood. The blonde hesitated a bit before she opened it, aware that Regina’s scent, as well as the feel of her magic, was still present in the room, and mentally preparing herself for the flood of memories, she walked in.

She was not there because of a weird obsession with the Queen’s scent, or because the feel of Regina’s magic made her feel a little less lonely, although those were the perks at the moment. The Savior was there for the clothes, because as much as was prepared for the cold weather in Maine, she doubted that she was ready for it here, and the clothes that she already had were barely keeping her warm as it was. The weather was turning worse with each day, and in one of the short conversations she had shared with the cook, William, she realized that she was woefully unprepared for the snow blizzards and perpetual cold of the winter in the Enchanted Forest. And, as much as she could rely on her magic to keep her warm, she preferred that she didn’t, still wary of the power she possessed – an attitude that was greatly supported by her impromptu trainer, Rumplestiltskin, as he was aware how easily it was to be seduced by the power and turn to the dark path.

So, she was there to take some of Regina’s heavier cloaks, lined with fur. But, if she wanted to really keep herself warm, she would have to go to Graham’s quarters and take one or two of his ensembles as he had been the one who would spend most of his time outside, regardless of the season. The thought made her insides twinge, as she remembered the good natured previous Sheriff of Storybrooke. Yes, she hadn’t known him for long, but now and then she would catch herself missing his warm grin and kind eyes, as well as his advice on dealing with the enraged Mayor.

However the fact of his death made her sad and angry, she had meant what she had said to the former Queen – the blonde Sheriff had forgiven the Madame Mayor for her past transgressions. And, with a slight shrug of her shoulders she picked several coats and capes, all lined with fleece and fur, promising to keep her warm. As to their color, Emma chose the ones that were purely black, as she considered that purple was not her color. With a smirk, she fingered the materials, admiring their softness and design, aware of the boldness of some of the pieces, but she did not mind, as every piece she had picked was perfect for her. Placing the cloaks on Regina’s bed, she walked out of the chamber, following the path deeply engraved in her new memories of the place as she reached the lower corridor. Finding the room that had belonged to the Huntsman, she opened the door, almost changing her mind, as she felt uneasy disturbing Graham’s possessions. However, her need was great, and confident that the ruggedly handsome man would have offered his wealth anyways, so she went in the quaintly furnished room, touching her wrist absently, where she had used to wear one of his bootlaces, as a keepsake. Quickly, she picked one of the dark leather leggings, lined with fleece, and one of the Huntsman’s black leather tunics with a pair of his gloves. Pleased with her bounty, she left the room at once, pausing at the door, as she glanced back inside. “I hope you are free now, wherever you are,” she whispered into the room, Regina’s memories supplying her with his dutiful bow inside his room. Shaking her head, trying to clear it from the memories, she closed the door and rushed back to the Queen’s chamber, laden with her burden.

Dropping Graham’s things on the bed, along with Regina’s, Emma crossed her arms, scanning her choices critically. _It will do_ , she thought, nodding to herself. The treated leather tunic could serve as the visible armor, as she had seen the village guards carry theirs, similarly fashioned, so she would be able to hide the chainmail easier. She had promised to always wear it, but she knew that the constant presence of it would put her friends on edge. And, the rest would keep the cold out. The only problem was that almost everything was black. _Oh, well_ , she smirked to herself, pleased that her status as the Savior and a Royal would quell some of the negative comments, _it goes perfectly with my complexion_.

Aware that she had spent more than an hour in the Palace, she decided to go back, not because she needed sleep or they would move out soon, but because she was tempted to stay and to travel the halls of the castle, revisiting the memories the whole night. Realizing that it would not be healthy and very detrimental for her control over her emotions, Emma picked the things into her arms, willing the fire to go out, as she transported herself to her own room in the village hall. With a soft huff she dumped the things onto her own bed, deciding that she needed a rack of some kind to hang her clothes on. Leaving that thought for another day, she picked up the fresh set of underwear, and the clothes she would wear in the morning, along with the appropriate cape.

Preparing her weapons and holders, along with the small pouch, where she stuffed her notebook, she was satisfied with her progress, and after a short deliberation, decided to go to bed. Allowing herself to go under the light doze, she closed her eyes, knowing that she would be awake long before dawn.


	9. Chapter 9

“All right, let’s stop here,” the man in front of the group spoke, pulling the reins of his horse, causing a slight neigh from the surprised animal. Gold looked around and nodded to himself. The place was perfect for horses, and the rest of the way they would have to go on foot. Wincing at the idea of the pain he was about to experience climbing up the steep and slippery trail, he lifted up in his saddle, looking at his companions. The first one to come near him was the Savior, clad in the thick black cape, lined with black colored fleece, the hood over her head, hiding her face. As she sat on her dark horse, she presented a picture of one of the Queen’s Knights, which if he really thought about was a fitting analogy. Soon after, the two remaining riders joined them, waiting for an indication what to do next.

Emma looked at the small naturally formed entrenchment between the two perpendicular rock formations, creating a nice cover from the freezing wind. The light rain was falling, each drop on their skin feeling like a burn, making the already bad weather downright miserable. The spare winter green trees made rustling sound in the ceaseless wind, one of the closest to the shelter having the lower branches bare, providing an excellent place to tie the reins of the horses. The Savior looked around, satisfied. The place was more or less invisible from the way they had come from, and hidden from any possible intruders on their level. However, the horses would be visible to anyone climbing the path, and with that in mind, Emma was pleased with Rumplestiltskin’s choice.

Dismounting quickly, she grabbed the reins, wasting little time on securing them on the bare branch. Directing the other two to do the same and cover the horses with light blankets, leaving them with some hay to graze, she walked to Rumplestiltskin as he was massaging his knee, the strain on his foot proving to be a bit more than he expected. With a light touch to his shoulder, she sent a bolt of healing magic, easing his discomfort, as she stood right next to him, looking up the steep and narrow passage. “Can you make it?” she asked, loud enough to be heard over the wind.

Ruby jumped off the docile mare that had been assigned to her, and followed Emma’s instructions without question. Although she still was in awe of the Savior’s dress code, and her distinguished behavior, she felt uneasy about provoking her friend, especially after the previous lecture from Emma. That morning, when they all had gathered at the stables, the blonde had been waiting for them, the horses already saddled, as she had been joined by Mulan by the order of the village Royals, dressed all in black, her weapons barely hidden by the cloak, the sword pommel contrasting nicely with the clasps of the cape and the buckle on her belt. The long blonde hair had been braided, opening Emma’s face, giving her deceptively soft countenance, which had been denied by her posture and assured walk.

_ There, dressed all in black – was a knight, a hard-assed warrior with the grim outlook on the future, prepared for anything and everything, but still willing to send a reassuring smirk her friend’s way, telling a soft joke to a worrying beloved, remaining in the village. Right there, Ruby saw a Royal, with Snow’s kindness, David’s bravery, Regina’s skills and tactics, and something that was purely Emma – that creating-her-own-destiny attitude accompanied with her own special brand of recklessness. The werewolf saw a leader, a future queen in her own might, and she was filled with immense pride. _

Even now, as she glanced toward the former imp and the Savior, she felt glad that she was there for this adventure. “You ready?” she asked the warrior beside her, as the Asian woman had distributed the hay from the bale they had brought with the fifth horse, which served as a cargo animal. With a simple nod, Mulan gave her answer, dusting her hands, and adjusted her sword at her hip. Together they joined the other two just in time to hear Rumplestiltskin answer to Emma.

“I can certainly try,” he said, walking toward the edge of the path. “Don’t need your assistance just yet, Miss Swan.” Even though he had answered brusquely, Emma had seen the look of gratitude in his dark eyes. But, the man had his pride, and he had offered to be Emma’s guide and help. With a short nod, she only glanced toward Ruby, her eyes giving the werewolf an unspoken plea to catch the old man if he were to fall down. When the young woman smiled in acceptance, the Savior rushed forward, taking the point of their small exploration team. Easily scaling the sharp edges of the rocky trail, she climbed on the top of it quickly, coming to the place where Regina had transported Rumple and herself only days before. As she waited for the others, she took off the two unlit torches from the narrow sack she had placed over her shoulders as she had dismounted.

“I don’t like this place,” Mulan murmured, as her sword pulsed in a strange way, like it had never done before. She leaned over to the Savior pulling out her enchanted blade, and as her eyes darted around she spoke softly into Emma’s ear. “Something is off.”

Not willing to doubt the experienced warrior, as she was feeling on the edge as well, she brought her lips to the woman’s ear, as she placed her hand onto the armored shoulder. “Take Ruby and scout the place, we’ll be in the second tunnel from the left. I’ll leave one of the torches out.” With an almost unnoticeable gesture she showed the entrance of the specific cave. As the warrior turned to leave, Emma grabbed her upper arm, stopping her gently. The warrior looked up expectantly as the Savior only glanced toward the dark eyes. “Be careful and keep safe.”

The dark haired woman only murmured a soft ‘you, too’ before she walked off, taking Red’s arm, leading her away, explaining the situation in soft and short sentences.

“We should hurry,” the blonde said, guiding Rumple to the entrance, the purpose clear in the set of her jaw. The old man knew to keep quiet and that if he was needed, Emma would inform him. As soon as they were in the cave, the blonde left one of the torches, still unlit, resting by the wall of the cave, while she lit the other one with one snap of her fingers, careful to keep her magic to the minimum as the full impact of what could happen if her magic reacts with the powerful blood still fresh in her mind.

Under the flickering light of the torch, Emma found the cavern Regina and Rumple had visited earlier with ease, feeling the magic of the place pulsating in the air. “Oh my God,” she murmured as she felt her skin erupt in goose bumps at the power, her feet going over the grit and bones while Rumplestiltskin stood behind, letting Emma get the full feel of it. The large cavern was filled with the dark stained stones and with the bones, bleached with time, making the Savior gulp at the majestic presence the huge creatures once had. Suddenly, she felt like an intruder in the place of reverence, knowing that many dragons had lost their lives in the very place.

“You didn’t cause their demise, Miss Swan,” the soft whisper of the former imp reached the blonde woman, right in the moment when she started to doubt her right to take anything of the place. “The caves are forgotten, and abandoned even by their own kind.”

“Doesn’t it make less of a sacrilege,” Emma murmured, looking toward the old man. She shook her head, not wanting his answer. She had made up her mind, and she would follow through – but it didn’t mean that she did not feel at least a bit guilty for disturbing the rest of these monstrous winged beings. With a few steps around, she took the account of the place and quickly formulated a plan, dispelling all the thoughts of grave-robbing, knowing that it would only make it harder on her. “I think it would be best if I carved the stones here and then transported them to the place where the arch is going to be built.” She walked to one of the walls of the cavern with noticeable chunks of the rock on the ground. The pieces were already in the approximate size she needed for the operation Gate, and only with a bit of shaping, she would have most of the first gate from the debris of the broken wall.

As she crouched down to inspect the blood over the rocks, she heard the old man walk over the gravel to join her. “Do you have a place in mind?”

“I might.”

“All right. What do you need?” Rumplestiltskin leaned onto his cane, watching the Savior consider his question. She was right, the chunks were a great start and if she followed her design, which was the simplest and yet very elegant in his opinion, as he had been surprised pleasantly by the blonde when she had shown him the sketch, Emma would have no problem in making the slabs of stone necessary for this undertaking.

“A mallet and a chisel in addition to the axe…” Emma rose from her position, already thinking about the solution to her problem. The old man smiled, as he felt his pride in Savior grow with each day in her presence. Not only did the blonde have such aptitude in magic, she was a quick learner and a savvy thinker.

“You can melt down the already named axes,” he spoke after several minutes of silence. But before the Savior could respond, shouts came from the entrance into the tunnel, startling them both.

“Emma!” Ruby shouted as she hurried down the tunnel, reaching the two of them in the matter of seconds. “Mulan’s found something, sent me to get you.” As she paused to take in a deep breath, she gestured toward the entrance when she saw the Savior already moving. “By the ridge, to the left.” With only a passing pat on Ruby's shoulder, Emma rushed out, having left the torch with Rumplestiltskin. Not waiting for them, she ran out, knowing that Mulan must have found something big to send the Wolf running.

“What is it?” she asked as soon as she reached the woman, standing at the rim of the cliff as the tall rocks formed a natural chest high wall, presenting the view of the planes of the former Midas’s kingdom in the North and farther to the West, the Ogres’ domain. Mulan silently offered the familiar spyglass, showing toward the flats. Emma chuckled at the thought that the warrior must have taken the telescope of the unsuspecting pirate in one of his bouts of bluster and bravado, and pressed it to her eye, searching for the cause of worry. “Damn.”

Leagues and leagues away was a camp, strewn by the wide river. Too far away for Emma to see exactly how many people are there, but she was able to see forms of many tents, guessing that thousands of people called the camp home. “What do you think?” Emma asked the other woman, offering the glass back.

“I don’t like it.” Mulan moved away from her position, looking at the Savior. “The curse was broken almost a year ago, and we have heard nothing of others. Phillip and I did go over the mountains as we were on our quest, and we left notes of the Safe Haven, but no one ever came from there.”

“You don’t think they are friendly?”

“No, I don’t.”

“I agree,” Emma spoke, considering Mulan’s words. “Are there signs of anyone being here besides Regina and Gold?”

“Not that I could find.”

“Thanks,” the Savior spoke, nodding to the warrior as they walked toward the others. “We’ve got trouble,” she said as they joined Ruby and the former imp. When Rumplestiltskin looked at them for an explanation, she shrugged, looking at Mulan. “There are people by the river to the North, some… What…?”

“I’d say thirty, thirty five leagues,” Mulan said at the Savior’s expectant gaze.

“So, that is about ninety miles, up to one hundred and five. A  _ huge _ camp with tents.”

“You were right,” Ruby suddenly said, looking at Emma. “That there should be more people around,” she explained at the confused look.

“That is not important right now,” Rumplestiltskin interrupted with some urgency. “We cannot allow to be exposed to those people. Which means your job just got much harder.” He turned to the Savior, inclining his head to her. “You will need to finish much sooner than we thought.” Quickly, he took Emma’s hand and pulled her away from the others. “You need to collect the named axes and melt them down, and soon – as there is no time to lose.”

“Great,” Emma groused, before she turned to the two women. “We are going to the Dark Castle, and then coming back here. You need to go back to the village. I could use your help.”

“Sure.” Ruby nodded, willing to help. “What do you need?”

“As soon as I get back, I plan not to move from here until I am done. I’ll need food, torches, some blankets, water, stuff like that. Take all the horses.” When the werewolf signaled that she understood, Emma smiled in gratitude. “Oh, no one can know, except for Belle, of course. And the Royals, but no one further.”

“You can trust us,” the warrior spoke solemnly, and she tapped her armor with her fist before rushing off to the horses, followed by the slightly reluctant Wolf.

“I know,” the Savior said softly, aware that only Ruby heard her and then she waved to her friend, before she turned to the old man by her side. “I’ll drop you off to the Castle immediately, so you can prepare everything while I gather the rest.” When Rumplestiltskin agreed softly, she summoned her magic, silently cursing her luck, and transported them away.

Rumplestiltskin was right, Emma thought as she marched down the corridor of the abandoned fairy-dust mine. Anyone discovering her project was a threat, not only to her but to everyone else. Dragon’s blood was extremely powerful and could be used for many things, and its applications in making weapons of mass destruction were limitless. Additionally, not everyone would take well to the knowledge that Emma, the Savior, daughter of Snow and James, or better yet – David, was walking around and doing what she pleased. Not only the danger the unaccounted people posed to her personally, if she did not finish her work, her project, it would mean that she had stayed behind for nothing. That she had fought against every instinct in her body to turn around and materialize on Jolly Roger and hold the love of her life, never stepping away from her, for nothing. That she had caused them all pain – for nothing. And, that, she could not forgive or allow. Call it pride, or purpose – her sacrifice, and the sacrifices of her family would not be negated by some bunch of rag-tag camp people! Not if she had something to say about it.

When she reached the axes, she simply took them in her arms and strode out, letting her irritation fuel her, knowing that this day would push her to the limits of her emotional control and the magical boundaries, as she would have to pop around various places, gathering the important supplies, among other things. As soon as she left the mines, she sent the axes to Rumplestiltskin, while she went to her place, gathering some spare clothes and underwear, placing them in the pack, throwing in some candles as well. Instantly transferring herself to the former White’s Palace, she walked to the lower corridors of the outer buildings, searching for the shop of the Royal mason, barely remembering that it was near the front gate, beside the blacksmith’s. Even though she needed the magically enhanced tools, in her mind, the ordinary ones could not hurt, especially if Red or Mulan joined the Savior in her efforts. Raiding the shop, placing several chisels, mallets and other carving tools, she hummed in approval, letting herself disappear once more, this time appearing right in front of the old man, as he was already preparing the fire in his hidden laboratory for the melting down of the special tools.

“You ready?” Rumple asked, as he stoked the flames making the heat in the small chamber almost unbearable. Divesting herself out of coat and the leather tunic, she approached the small hearth. “I need you to focus on the metal, keeping its protective binds intact, as I work with it.” Emma only nodded, ignoring the sweltering heat and the sweat that already drenched her undershirt. “Ideally, you would be able to do this yourself, but we have no time.”

Without further ado, Emma summoned her already activated magic forth, focusing on the small cauldron over the fire, where the former imp had placed the bits of the claimed axes, waiting for them to liquefy. They worked in complete silence as the Savior had to focus on the metal, on its inner structure, keeping it unchanged by the heat, as Rumple changed the shape of the axes, creating two mallet heads and two chisels as he worked, tirelessly, over the fire, casting a worried glance from time to time over to the focused blonde, aware that such expenditure would demand a great price in Emma’s energy.

After more than two hours, Rumplestiltskin doused the metal in the oily concoction he had created, cooling it immeasurably, as the tendrils of effervescent smoke enveloped the room, signaling that their work, for the moment, was done. Releasing the flow of magic, Emma sighed, feeling the drain acutely. But, thanks to the daily practice and constant exploration of her limits, the day’s feat only took a portion of her energy. If she were to try it several days earlier, the cost would have been much greater. Leaning against a nearby table, the Savior closed her eyes for a moment, taking a minute to adapt to the diminished state of her body.

“Come, dearie, you need to rest,” the soft voice came from her side and a gentle hand dropped onto the small of her back. Letting herself be guided, she allowed the old man to take to the other room, a much more comfortable one. Setting her down on the closest lounge to the fire, his gentle push implored her to lie down. “While we wait for the tools to cool,” he explained softly, pushing away the escaped tendrils of the sweat doused hair of her cheek. “You did well,” the man added, as he saw the pleased smile on her face, before rising from the lounge, his uneven gait taking him back to the small laboratory. He took Emma’s things from there and leaving them folded by her side, he used a light blanket he had found in the room to cover the sleeping Savior, tucking her gently in.

Shaking his head at the sudden burst of affection, he walked away, his mind on the next task. As there was nothing for Emma to do, he would leave her be for the moment, but in the meanwhile he would be quite busy. The handles of the mallets had to be fashioned, the food and drink found, as the Savior would be starving when rose. All the while, he couldn't help himself but think that the time, that precious time was growing less and less in each second that passed.

After a stifled gasp, Emma opened her eyes, disoriented by the unfamiliar surroundings. When a moment passed, and she gathered herself, she realized where she was, and with a deep cleansing breath, dispelled the remnants of the almost forgotten bad dream. Taking time to settle down, she considered her sleep. The nightmares weren’t as bad as they had used to be, but still they would wake her up, almost every time she would lay down to sleep, no matter how mentally exhausted or physically tired she was. She found out that even with the light doze, a nap of a kind, she could restore her energy and not suffer the aftereffects of the disturbing images plaguing her unconsciousness.

Rising up in a sitting position, she pulled the blanket off herself, folding it carelessly and leaving it on the lounge, by her side. Down, on the floor beside her feet, was a white sheet, and on it was her cloak, her leather tunic and her weapons along with her pack, carefully arranged. With a quick glance, she looked down at herself, noticing with relief that the light cotton tunic of hers was still in place, covering the mail perfectly. But, as it was light, the ridges and the straps of the metal beneath it could be noticed, if someone paid attention. And, Rumplestiltskin always paid attention. Knowing that her secret was out, at least regarding the old man, she shrugged off the unease. It wasn’t like he wasn’t aware of the existence of the said chainmail. Henry’s almost death was fresh on everyone’s mind, and she had no doubt that the old man had hunted down every scrap of information until he had had the perfect picture of what had transpired.

Beside the clothes was a small tray with one plate of cheese and bread they had brought in the day before and a cup of water. Not really surprised at the thoughtfulness of the former imp, Emma smiled as she reached for the food. She had been a witness to his change in the days past, where his fatherly demeanor would rise up under the centuries of sarcastic wit and haughtiness. At first, she had thought that he had been using the particular approach, as it had been more effective than the snarky remarks to make Emma try something new, but after a while, the Savior learned that the truer personality underneath the Dark One had been trying to establish itself, making a pleasing blend of the wit and care. 

Having eaten, she rose, picking up her things, and with a slow but assured step, she walked to the library, knowing that the old man would be there, reading or whatever. When she entered the great chamber, she saw the former imp with his sleeves pulled up over his elbows, and a leather protective cover over his clothes, just as it had been a while before, in the laboratory. He was sitting down at the desk, a piece of modeled wood in his hand, while the other held a strip of sandpaper, evening the surface of the wood, the dust settling over the desk and him. As her boots stepped over the marble floor, he glanced up at her, before continuing his work. “Awake so soon, dearie?” he asked, adding finishing touches to the handle. “I would have thought another hour, perhaps…” he added, shaking his head. He had known about the nightmares, and about Emma’s sleeplessness, but he honestly had hoped that she would have been able to rest for just a bit longer, as he had seen the long term effects of such maladies, and the Savior was already looking a bit worn. He had promised to take care of her, but he was not able to make her sleep longer, and the idea caused him a great deal of concern, for if the woman continued to run herself at such tempo, she could injure herself or others by the end of the month, let alone the second. If he still was able to tap into his power, he would have given her the sleeping potion, magical remedy that insured a full night’s sleep and rest with no dreams, but alas he wasn’t. And, he did not dare to bring it up to the Savior, as the previous suggestion of a boost potion was not received very well.

“I am fine,” Emma said offhandedly, as she placed her things on the nearby table, not willing to crowd the apparently busy man, ignoring his somewhat disbelieving murmur. “How much longer?”

“Another hour and a half, two at the most.” Lowering down the handle, as it was finished, he dusted off his hands and took off his apron. Grabbing his cane, he rose and passed by Emma, smirking at her as he walked to the study desk, where they had been spending most of their time in the Dark Castle. “I see you have the mystical hauberk on you. A wise choice, dearie.” His comment left Emma shrugging, with a quirky smirk on her face. “I knew she had acquired it some time ago, but I honestly thought it was lost.”

“Whose was it before?”

Rumplestiltskin looked at the Savior and leaned his head to the side. “Ah, it had changed quite a few hands over the years. But, it is rumored that Prince Kay of what you know now as the White kingdom was the first to have it.” However, Emma noticed his mysterious smirk and knew that there was a lot more to the story. As he walked to the lonely book on the stand, she realized that the mail, the hauberk as he had called it was one of his inventions.

“Did she know?” she asked, making the former imp chuckle with glee as he understood that she had connected the dots.

“That I had made it. No, no one but Kay did. Even then people did not like advertising their deals with the Dark One.” He brought the ledger to the table where Emma was seated and sat next to her. “I think it’s time.” The heavy sigh following his words told Emma that it wasn’t something Rumplestiltskin wanted to share, but that situation demanded it. The unknown encampment, and judging by the organized crowd, they had a leader, and the knowledge of everything Rumplestiltskin had done would give the Savior the much needed edge, along with the recorded knowledge of the history of the Enchanted Forest, that Emma had already consumed. “The warning still stands, though.” The green eyes caught the dark ones, seeing the tremulous expectation, and for the countless time since the beginning of this epic journey the Savior considered the former imp’s need to be forgiven, for it was fear lurking in the dark eyes, fear of scorn. She thought back to one of the earlier conversations she had with the imp, as she fingered the blood red leather, not yet opening the volume filled with dark history.

_ “Why am I different than a banker of your world, Sheriff? Or, a pawn shop owner? When people were desperate enough to need me to provide a service, I did, at a price of course, and always with the warning.” The man huffed as he moved one of his pawns on the chess board, indicating to the blonde that it was her move. It was his way of teaching her to think first before rashly acting, as magic was a great danger used improperly, and as well it was a nice pastime in the moments the Savior needed the break from conjuring and learning. _

_ “It just feels wrong,” Emma said softly, understanding the position of the man across her. She had used the pawn shops many times in her previous life, needing cash to survive on the streets of the cities of her world. Moving her Knight in a risky move, she took one of the pawns of the board, seeing the man nod in approval. _

_ “I understand that from a high moral point of view it is an unfair business…” _

_ “But, it’s an unfair world, and I am the first one to know that. Yes, I know, if there wasn’t a demand, there wouldn’t be the supply.” The blonde frowned when she saw that her King was trapped and that she would be done in several moves, regardless of her choices. “What am I doing wrong?” she asked, gesturing to the board. _

_ “Nothing,” Rumple said with a soft smile, holding his cane in front of him, some weight resting on it, while his aching leg was stretched out. “In fact, you are getting better. It takes time, but you are learning.” The light compliment surprised her, as she lost to him, but guessing that he had played chess and figurative chess with people for centuries, she decided to accept it as a very high praise indeed. “But, you are trying to predict my moves, Sheriff, and that is why you still haven’t beaten me.” _

_ “But, you told me to anticipate…” Emma spoke, irritation obvious in her tone. _

_ “Anticipate, not predict. Those are two very different things.” He leaned over the board and moved his hand gesturing at the figures. “With prediction, you tell yourself your assumption about my next moves, where you limit yourself by planning only to counteract the act you assume I would commit. So, for example, you think that the most obvious choice for me to do next is to place my Rook next to your pawn, and you act accordingly, but then you neglect the other side of the board, leaving yourself open for my attack.” Making sure to catch her focused eyes, he picked up the white queen from the board and went with his thumb over its polished top. “Anticipating, on the other hand, you prepare for every possible move I might make on the board and you adjust your strategy accordingly, covering all your bases if it were.” When he saw the comprehension dawn in the green eyes, he lowered the figure on the board and leaned back. “As to the other thing, yes it is an unfair world, Miss Swan, but not only because of the circumstances. People themselves cannot be declared good or bad per se, as each one of us has the ability and capability for both. And, humans are, essentially, selfish creatures and that, by some people’s opinion, flaw will always manifest itself in some form or the other. There is no true altruism, Sheriff, not in the worlds I have traveled.” _

_ After a life she had had, the Savior could only agree, so she nodded, and cleared the board, setting it for another game. _

“It is not up to me to judge,” Emma whispered as she opened the book, feeling the man beside her visibly relax. Then, following the intricate handwriting of the man next to her, she delved into the past, starting from the beginning of Rumplestiltskin's reign as the Dark One. Deal by deal, she gleaned more than she had thought that the book contained, her opinion of the fair and good heroes - celebrated by the scrolls and books, countless legends spinning around their names – changed irrevocably, learning that each Royal, Knight or a wise man had asked at least one favor of the former imp, more often than not paying the unimaginable price for it. The tales of the court intrigues, ascensions, battles and wars won, children and women sacrificed were written on the pages yellowed with time in the precise flowing script. As she read, tears glided off her face, while her jaw was clenched in anger at the people of the past for their ambitions, alacrity and foolishness. When she reached the time of Cora and Leopold, she gasped at the truths revealed on the pages. The ‘good’ king Leopold used treachery and help from the imp to gain the trust and affection of Princess Eva. There, she also learned that Rumple was the one who gave King Midas his hand of gold; the true reason King George could not have children; the full extent of Cora’s deals and her hunger for power. The rise of the Evil Queen, with the help of the Hatter and the Doctor, with many deals in between, making sure that Regina was in spiteful fury most of the time of her reign. Furthermore, she learned of the deals her own parents had made, right up to the point when he had learned her name. “This is fresh,” she commented at the scent of the ink coming off the paper. She looked up at him and saw the eyes tracing the lines her fingers pointed at.

“I thought it fitting to add, as those were my final deals in this land before the curse. An end of a long story, as it were.”

After a moment of silence, Emma closed the ledger, letting the information she had absorbed settle as she turned to the man beside her. “What it is made of, it never says.”

“Ah, that is one of my finest works, dearie. The wrought iron with the several drops of Dragon’s blood and the blood of Unicorn stallion, woven while it was still hot, then doused into the specific solution, similar to the one in the laboratory, with a pinch of fairy dust and Yaoguai’s scales.” At Emma’s surprised expression he rushed to explain why the particular ingredients. “The blood of the dragon, as you know, makes it impervious to magic. The blood of the Unicorn, however, gives it protection from the physical force, so nothing of the regular weapons can penetrate it. The dust makes it lighter as the iron is heavy to wear constantly, and the Yaoguai part is making it fire resistant. So, all in all, it is the perfect protection from most of the weapons on the battlefield.” He patted her shoulder when she gasped at the meaning of his speech. It was the ultimate armor, perfect for her. “Keep it hidden, dearie, as it is a very treasured thing.” Then he rose gingerly, from the seat and walked away, picking up the handles from the desk on his way out, and continued on to the laboratory, his goal clear.

Leaving the dealing with the tools solely to Rumplestiltskin, Emma started dressing up, as she knew that in a few short minutes they would need to go back to the mountain range, to the caves. As they had spent more than five hours in the Dark Castle, the Savior calculated that Mulan and Ruby were already in the village, doing what they were asked to. While she waited, she sorted out what she had in her pack, folding her things properly, as she sorted the tools.

“Shall we, dearie?” Rumplestiltskin spoke, the magical tools in a haversack he had prepared for it. When the Savior nodded in confirmation, he gave her the bag in order to put the coat on, along with the gloves. “Whenever you are ready,” he said, offering his crooked elbow, reminding Emma of the gentlemen of the black and white cinema. Chuckling softly, she took the offer, whisking them away in a burst of her magic.

They appeared in the spot from which they had left and when Rumplestiltskin took the haversack and the backpack from the Savior, Emma rushed to look around, trusting the old man to get into the chamber without problems. She did not think that anyone managed to come in the time they were absent, but it did not hurt to check, and, if she were honest, she didn’t know how many others might be magical and to leave her open for not anticipating such an outcome did not do. So, carefully, she looked for anything out of place, any other magical signatures, but she did not find any. After double checking the perimeter she walked to the place where they had left the horses, pleased to see that each animal had been taken, and that the saddlebags and the supplies they had brought with them had been left behind, tucked against the rocks. Burdening herself with the cargo, she transported to the upper level and with purposeful strides, she marched into the tunnel, shutting down her connection to magic as a precaution in dealing with the dragons’ blood.

“Should begin,” she said, dropping the things she had thrown over her shoulders on the ground. She picked up one of the torches from the heap, and stuck it in the ground near the broken wall. Pulling out a dagger out of her boot, she picked up one of the smaller rocks and kicked the blade on it, creating sparks. After several tries, she managed to light the torch and stepped back, returning the dagger to its place in the boot. While she was taking off her cloak and the shoulder holster for her gun, Rumplestiltskin took two more torches and after setting them ablaze, he placed them near the first one, creating enough light for Emma to work in, and heating up the air considerably. As she watched him, she untied her belt and placed the scabbard close to her, turning the hilt toward her, making it available on a moment’s notice.

“Have you decided on the measures?” the former imp asked, as he gave her one set of mallet and chisel.

“Yup, I worked it all out two nights ago. It’s all in the notes.” She gestured to the small satchel on her belt. “First, we make the foot by two by one and a half blocks, and then we deal with the arches.” As she spoke, Rumplestiltskin took out the notebook and found the detailed sketch of the archway, with precise measurements. He even saw that she had thought about the foundation, making it more stable than the ordinary arch, by using the steel poles inlaid in the mortar, making this world’s version of armature concrete for the ground level. He had to admit that he was beyond impressed with the Savior’s dedication to the job. Replacing the notebook into the satchel, he took out the second pair of the tools and set out to work, knowing that they had a lot of blocks to shape.

First, they worked on the already available rocks, lying around next to the broken wall. Each would take a stone for themselves, and sit down, starting to hammer away immediately, aware that they had no time to lose. Hour by hour passed, and after each stone was finished, Emma would lift it up, carry it in the clear spot next to the entrance and place it down carefully. She did work faster than Rumplestiltskin, but then, she did have the magical restoration of her energy and the power of the youth, enhanced by the physical regime she had enforced on her body. So, in the late afternoon, when the two women sent to the village returned, there had been four blocks against the wall already, while they worked on the next ones.

“Hey, guys, we bring gifts,” Ruby spoke as she entered the space, leaving the cargo on the heap she noticed as soon as she went in. She was immediately followed by the serious warrior, laden with bags, as well.

“Hey, Rubes,” Emma greeted, not moving from her place, but taking a break from her work. Rumplestiltskin used the interruption to take one as well, greeting the women softly as he shook his hands to ease up the strain on his arm muscles, leaving the tools by the unfinished stone.

The werewolf walked to her friend and placed a hand on the shoulder of the woman sitting on a slab of boulder, noticing the dust covering Emma from head to toe. Although she did have some protective goggles on her, similar to those that she had used to see on the stone carvers in her village, the grayish black powder made Emma seem almost black in the poor lightning of the cave. “I’ve been thinking,” she started softly, so only the Savior could hear her, “that we should take shifts with you here.” At the questioning look from the green eyes she lowered herself into a crouch and continued, placing her hand on one of Emma’s forearms. “Belle told me that Gold needs a proper bed or he won’t be able to move in the morning, as he is already pushed to the limit of his ability by this. So, Mulan would take him home now, while I will stay with you for the night and the day tomorrow. In the evening, someone will come to relieve me, and so on. What do you think?”

“Sure. Whatever.” It was not like Emma did not care, but it sounded a lot like the babysitting business for her to be really comfortable with the arrangement. But, at the same time, it showed her that her friends cared about her, not wanting to leave her alone in the wild, without company and help. At the pointed look from the Wolf, Emma sighed and nodded. “Yeah, fine.” The words were softly spoken with a slight shake of the blonde head as she looked at the brunette, but then Emma smiled gently at her friend, patting the hand that was on her arm. “It will be very boring, though,” she said, her smile turning into a grin. “Nothing to do, nothing to see…”

“What, you don’t think I could sit still?” Ruby asked, knowing that the blonde was teasing her.

“We’ll see,” the Savior spoke lightly.

“Savior,” Mulan said as she came closer. “We are leaving. I have informed your… friend of our plan and he agrees.”

“Well, then, let’s see you out,” the blonde spoke, rising from her seat, groaning as she started walking, her limbs stiff from inactivity. She placed a hand on the armored woman’s shoulder as they walked out of the cave, Rumplestiltskin already waiting outside. “Thank you,” Emma spoke softly.

Mulan nodded silently, but she couldn’t just walk away without saying something, so she stopped the blonde woman in the tunnel by catching her elbow. After several false starts, the warrior woman breathed in deeply and focused onto the worried green eyes in front of her, appreciating the silence the Savior offered her to gather her thoughts. “It is not often that I owe a debt, Savior, but when I do, I do my best to repay it.”

“You don’t owe me anything, Mulan.”

“But, I do.” Before Emma could say anything, the woman lifted her hand, gesturing the woman to keep quiet for just a moment longer. “ You see, not only did you send me away from the fight at the lake Nostos, giving me Aurora’s heart to restore it; you also saved my life, as well as the lives of people I have lived with for seasons. That, Savior, in my world constitutes a life debt and my honor demands of me to help you until the debt is repaid.”

“I am the Savior, it is kind of my job description to save people…“

“I understand that it is how you see it. However, that does not change my debt.” With a short nod, Mulan patted the blonde’s upper arm and walked away, leaving Emma standing behind with a frown on her face.

“It is her way, Emma.” Ruby stood beside the blonde, smiling after the warrior. “If someone asked you to walk by the burning building and to keep walking, even though you know that there are children trapped inside, would you?” the Werewolf asked, looking at her friend, crossing her arms, already knowing the answer. When she saw Emma shaking her head in the negative, she continued. “Some things she cannot ignore, just like you.”

“I see your point,” the blonde spoke with a gentle smile, silently thanking the brunette for clearing things up, before she rushed out to meet with Rumplestiltskin. She walked up to him as he was looking down the path with a scowl on his face. She knew that the man was already aching all over, but he had refused to be helped with magic, knowing it would take a toll on the Savior who had already severely depleted her energy levels. But, he did not look forward to the downward trek. “I can bring you down if you want,” she whispered into his ear, chuckling softly as he startled. At his stubborn shake of his head, she only clacked her tongue and grabbed his upper arms, calling forth her magic immediately, transporting them down in the matter of moments, not allowing the time for the former imp to push out of her hold.

“That was highly unnecessary, Sheriff,” Rumplestiltskin spoke seething as he ripped his arms out of Emma’s hands, feeling that she not only helped him down, but also gave him a light power jolt to ease his pain. “You need this more than I do,” he said, this time more sedately, still angry with her move.

“Perhaps, but it is a long ride to the village. I cannot allow one of my allies to fall off the horse and kill himself because of his stubbornness, when I might need him later on.” The pointed glare of the Savior silenced the further complaints. “Get some rest, Mister Gold. Your job is not done.” Emma said dismissively, not really surprised by his reaction or angered by it, but she had to make a point, and thus she directed one last sharp glare at him and disappeared right in front of him.

She watched the warrior help him on the horse and then she turned to the cave, entering in, deciding that she had rested enough. Sitting down in her previous position, she took the tools and continued with the chiseling the stone, bit by bit, losing herself in the even rhythm of her hits. She worked in silence, the only sounds in the cave were those of her mallet striking the chisel and chisel the stone.

Ruby did not interrupt, and while Emma was engrossed in the carving, she placed the lit lanterns around the blonde’s working space, giving her more light. Then she rolled out the blankets making two makeshift beds, although she supposed that the Savior would not use it much. As the hours passed, the brunette watched Emma work, occasionally walking to her, bringing her a flagon of water, or a light meal. From time to time, the Sheriff would rise to shake up her limbs, and in those moments, Ruby would join her for a light chat and a stroll outside the caves, but those breaks never lasted more than a half an hour. In the middle of the night, she laid down placing some candle wax in her ears to diminish the sharp tones of metal hitting stone as she settled for the night. She had told Emma to wake her up if something happened, warning her that she would put the plugs in, and the Savior absently agreed, not stopping her work. For a moment, Ruby admired Emma’s focus, as the blonde was at it for hours with only several breaks, but she understood the fear and need fueling the Sheriff’s stamina. On their way back, Mulan had explained that anyone noticing them up in the mountains could spark unwanted interest, and what is precious to one might be for the other and it was very likely that if anyone found out what Emma was doing there it could lead to bloodshed and outright war.

By the morning, there were twelve blocks of stone by the entrance wall, and Emma was very pleased by her progress. But, the constant sharp sounds had been ringing around the cave the whole night and now she suffered a pounding headache, making her pause in what she was doing. Leaving her tools by the remaining slabs, she straightened, cracking her spine in the process. Taking her sword, she walked out of the cave, loath to wake the young werewolf that had kept her company for most of the time, and found a relatively flat and even place near the caves, good enough for her morning routine of exercise. In her opinion, it would do her good, stretching her aching muscles and warming up the stiffened parts of her body, rigid with the lack of motion.

Following the steps Mulan had thought Emma closed her eyes, allowing her mind to drift. It did not matter that she wasn’t wearing her warm cape, or that the wind was particularly vicious that morning. It did not matter that her arms were already burning with the exhaustion and strain and that her hands trembled when she gripped the hilt of her sword. She pushed on, releasing the hold on her magic, letting it join her in the exercise, feeling its regenerative power streaming through her blood as she fought the invisible enemies with practiced moves of her blade. As she was a magical being, being born of True Love, the constant use of the power did not present such a danger for her as it did for those who acquired the power by learning, like Cora and others. It was part of her, an unavoidable and vital part by Rumplestiltskin’s words, and she practiced with it daily, embracing it wholly, learning it step by step, all for one goal – to never let that immense power ever overpower her common sense.

She heard a gasp behind her, and in a flash she turned, her sword ready. But, when she saw her friend gaping at her she lowered down the blade, not knowing what to make of the flabbergasted werewolf.

“You were glowing,” Ruby whispered when she saw the inquiring look from the Savior. “And, the sword too… and you were moving too fast…” The awed words spewed out of the young woman’s mouth. “It was amazing,” she finally said with glee. For a moment, Emma thought that the Wolf was going to clap her hands in joy, but the woman contained herself, only patting Emma’s shoulder rather fondly. “You are amazing.”

The Sheriff only smiled, shrugging off the compliments, not really seeing the reason for Ruby’s praise. She placed the blade on her shoulder, looking much like her father at that moment, as the women walked toward the cave. They talked over breakfast, arranging for Ruby to teach Emma to hunt and track in the larger break of the day as Emma was reluctant to start up with the stone breaking just yet, so soon after her headache was healed. As they would start that morning, the werewolf suggested finding something fresh for lunch, as she had seen some hare tracks the day before. And, so they set out to explore the evergreen woods of the mountains.

With a patient tone, Ruby explained the basics to the blonde, and she could not help but remember the time spent with Snow, teaching her the same. Just as her mother, the blonde picked up the skill quickly, and only after a short hour they had two freshly caught rabbits for lunch. While they were returning, Red talked about the various terrains, the behaviors of different animals and as they reached the entrance to the cave, Emma extracted a promise from her friend that brunette would teach the Sheriff the bow one of the next few days.

The days passed. Emma worked diligently, sometimes helped by Rumplestiltskin who was the only one who knew something about stone carving, as he had shared with Emma that he had built his home by his own hands all those centuries ago, while others kept her company for a while. Mulan would clean her armor and sharpen her sword in silence, often going out to patrol their corner of the range and in tandem with the young werewolf she would teach the blonde to use the bow in the times of Emma’s breaks. When she was away, she would work on the other Emma’s project, the iron bars for the foundation. As she commanded some respect in the village, no one questioned her when she had appropriated one of the blacksmiths, asking a favor of him, telling him only what was needed and providing the steel herself. In all honesty, Emma had raided the abandoned castles and their armoires for the precious metal, telling herself that the people of those places did not need it. Belle would come with Rumplestiltskin, keeping them company, often urging Emma to take a break or to drink her strong tea as she had undoubtedly seen the toll the constant work was taking. Ruby, aside from teaching Emma would walk outside or watch the blonde, careful not to disturb the Savior in her task. The Sheriff herself did not leave the mountains except to take a quick bath from time to time, finishing her work in eleven days.

The day before Emma had sent Mulan to bring the wagon that would carry the stones to the place Emma had picked, and now the blonde and the werewolf were resting, the last of the work finished only moments before. The Sheriff had ground some of the stones for the concrete and mortar, putting the finely powdered sand into the previously prepared sacks Ruby had brought. All that was left to do was to bring the stones down to the horses, and as the jagged path was not allowing for a pulley to be constructed, Emma had a sinking feeling that they would have to move each of the forty six pieces by hand. As each of the slabs was about forty pounds heavy it was a daunting idea. But, Emma chose to worry about that later.

“Come, I want to show you something,” the Savior spoke to the brunette, leading them out of the cave. She offered a hand to Ruby, the gesture’s message clear – that whatever Emma was about to show her, it was somewhere else. The werewolf accepted the hand without a moment of hesitation, not even blinking in surprise when the magical mist took them away instantly.

They appeared in the very familiar palace, and Ruby laughed at the sight. They were in Regina’s court, a place of certain death for the companions of Snow White, and now Red was walking through its corridors following the daughter of the Evil Queen’s nemesis to the Queen’s chambers. Not questioning Emma just yet, as she knew that the blonde would explain when she wanted, not a moment before, she walked beside her, barely matching the powerful strides of the Savior. Soon enough, Emma took them to the inner sanctum of the Queen, and she gestured to a map hanging on one of the walls in the room. “I need to show you where the Gate will stand,” Emma spoke as she walked to the map, finding a point on it and marking it with her forefinger. “Here,” the blonde marked the spot, right on the border of the former White Kingdom with King George’s Kingdom, in the foot of the mountain range there. “It’s a bit of the main roads, but right up to the river there is a direct route that is still in good shape. And, then it is a bit of a forest journey but it is mostly flat, and the forest is sparse enough for the car to pass.”

“You really did think about this. When did you find the place?” Ruby asked, watching the map, noticing that it was right in the middle of the Enchanted Forest.

“I did not just wander around aimlessly when I couldn’t sleep, you know?” The Savior crossed her arms, slightly defensive at the question. If she admitted that Regina had told her, the young werewolf would never get off her case, ribbing her for being already whipped, and she had no plans to pull the rank or endure the joking.

“Okay, so that’s it?”

“What?”

“You bring me here just for the map?” The incredulous tone in the young woman’s voice was obvious. Emma rolled her eyes at the woman’s behavior and chuckled, just pushing of the wall and walking to the door of the washing chamber, stealthily using her magic to fill the sunken pool with hot water. With a dramatic pause she waited for the Wolf’s senses to pick up the smell of the bath salts, laughing at the wide surprised eyes and gaping mouth that soon followed. Adding some flourish in her moves, she pushed the door open, inviting the young brunette in. “Holly wow!” Ruby glanced toward Emma still not believing in the scene before her. “Really? A bath? Really?!”

“Thought we could use some relaxation…” The careless shrug in Emma’s move was belied by the pleased smile on her face, taking in the reaction of her friend. She knew Ruby had been bored to tears during her time in the caves and the blonde thought that this would be a good award. With an inviting gesture, the Savior showed to the pool and chuckled at Ruby’s quick disrobing. Turning away, she waited for the splash of the water, as she unbuckled her weapons, leaving them close by. Carefully, she removed her clothes, wriggling a bit around as to keep the mail hidden, bundling it in her cloak.

“Oh Gods, Emma!” Ruby gasped when the blonde straightened up, unlacing the leather pants. “Your arms, Emma, they are so defined!”

Indeed, the muscles in her body were strengthened by the arduous regime she had undergone, the defined lines of each muscle visible and the Sheriff knew that even in the state of relaxation, her body was hard and wiry. Shaking off the pants, she dove into the pool, submerging herself immediately in the steamy water, feeling the heat permeate her skin and body, then soaking in the special Regina’s salts soothing away the burn that had settled in over the days.

They spent some time in the bath, jesting with each other and having fun. It was nice to laugh after days fraught with worry and concern. During these moments, Ruby was reminded of an easygoing Sheriff that had hardly made an appearance since the breaking of the curse. She didn’t blame Emma for being serious all the time, as the situation had demanded it, but as she once had claimed, laughter and kidding around was good for the soul.

Soon after, Emma brought them back to the caves, just at the moment when Mulan was close by with the sturdy four wheel cart. Emma walked down the path just in time to take the reins of the horses to let the warrior jump off her seat. “Gold is behind, with another one.” At the surprised look from the Savior, the Asian woman just shook her head. “Something about doing it at once makes it harder to track… He’ll explain.”

“All right.” Emma looked up at the sky, trying to judge the time till the Sunset, as she wanted them moving out in the morning without delays.

“High noon, dearie,” the self-satisfied droll tone came from behind her as Rumplestiltskin pulled up with the second cart. “Just enough time to pack up till the nightfall.”

“No other way?” Emma asked, helping the man down, as she waved to the young woman beside him in greeting.

“Not that I could think of.” The former imp then pulled the blanket off the wagon, showing the bales of hay. “People are being curious. Doesn’t hurt to be ready…” he added softly, his fingers surreptitiously going to Emma’s hilt, his warning clear. “Now, off to work, Belle and I will turn the carts around,” he said with a smirk on his face, tapping his cane lightly on the rocky ground.

Chuckling at his devious smile, she went up, Mulan and Ruby already bringing some of the slabs to the path. Apparently, the women divided the work between themselves, leaving Emma to be the one who was to bring the stones down the treacherous path. Discarding her cloak, making it appear on the old man, she moved her sword onto her back, the niggling in her gut telling her not to leave herself vulnerable. Accepting her assignment of the hardest part, she set to work, the strenuous exercise keeping her warm against the wind and the cold, as she could feel the sweat soak her undershirt. She couldn’t use magic with the stone in her hands, but, every time she brought one of them down she would magically dry herself up so she wouldn’t get sick. After a long several hours, the blocks were in the carts, packed carefully and masked with the hay.

Accepting the flagon of water from Belle, Emma gestured to Mulan and Ruby to join them. “Hey, listen, why don’t you already start toward the place, as it is still early in the day? Gold and I will join you a bit later.”

“Why? What’s wrong?” Belle asked Rumplestiltskin immediately, her eyes darting furtively toward Emma, as she was searching for a sign that something indeed had happened.

“Nothing’s wrong, Belle. Miss Swan just wants us to be away from here as soon as possible.” Rumple answered soothingly, having caught the warning glance from the Savior. He had seen Emma tense up just minutes ago as they were resting from all the heavy lifting. “And, I assume, you want to double check everything before leaving?” he asked the Sheriff, his pointed look enough of the answer to Emma, who indeed wanted him to check everything, not because they might have forgotten something but because he might be able to tell her who was about to join them.

Sending the women away, Emma directed Ruby to go straight to the river crossing close to the final destination, and to keep her senses out for possible followers. Both the werewolf and the warrior understood the threat, their postures tense and anticipating the trouble, while Belle was still bewildered as to the cause of the commotion.

“What is it?” Rumplestiltskin asked when the women were out of sight. He turned to the Savior and grabbed her arm as she motioned in the direction of the caves. After she transported them up, she gestured in the direction of the camp, which had steadily moved each day closer during their stay on the mountain.

“Someone is coming this way. They are still hundreds of yards away, but they are closing.” The whisper came as Emma turned away from the ridge, keeping her back to the direction where the newcomer was supposed to come from.

“Magic?” Rumplestiltskin noted, understanding how she would sense them, as she had grown able to determine the presence of power even miles away. The only reply was a barely noticeable nod. Then, Emma pulled the hood of the cape over her head, hiding her features from the newcomer, as they waited for them to come.

After several minutes of silence, a shadow passed in the trees attracting their attention. A man appeared, stumbling through the sparse forest, going against the wind, the rags that covered him fluttering in the gale. It was a tall man, but much more than that Emma could not ascertain for the shredded cloths hid most of his figure, as well as his face. The Savior stood in place, Rumplestiltskin right by her side, as they waited for the man to approach them.

“Hi there,” the man spoke, his voice unusually rough, making Emma believe that he was trying to obscure it. “Ye from Safe Haven, yes?” he asked, coming closer to them, but as he did the Savior saw something glinting in his hand, making her even more wary of their guest. As she did not reply, and Rumplestiltskin followed her lead, the man only absently nodded to his own question. “Well, no matter. Come, lad, help an old man down,” the tattered man said, reaching with his arm toward the Sheriff as he made a move to sit on one of the smaller boulders beside Emma’s knees. However, the blonde only watched him sit, stepping back out of his reach and pulling Rumplestiltskin with him.

“Careful,” she warned him with a whisper, almost not moving her lips as her eyes focused on the man before them.

“Want some of the finest mead left in the Enchanted Forest?” the man spoke again, his chuckle grating on Emma’s nerves, as he pulled a small wineskin and placed it between his knees and uncorked it with one hand. At their silence, he only offered the wineskin in his hand but then he gave up and chugged from it. “No? Fine, suit yourselves.” Then as he glanced toward them he noticed that they were inching further away from him and the tall dark figure on the left had her hand on the sword hilt, ready to move on a moment’s notice. “Relax, lad,” he said cheerily as he motioned toward Emma’s sword. “You can’t really believe that silly old man such as me is a threat, can you?”

The Savior made no effort to move or to react to the man, her instinct telling her that she already knew who he was. She also knew that the forced silence from their part was unnerving the man, as his gleeful grin was not so wide and there was a forced quality to it. Not willing to break off the tension, she waited for the man’s next move, looking for something to confirm his identity.

“Cat got your tongue, eh? Or you are one of those mute people?” Then, the man sighed and shook his head, making a move to rise. However he jumped forward crossing the distance between him and the blonde in just two steps, but Emma was prepared and her sword’s ringing blade was already in place right beneath the man’s throat. “Come, now, is this really necessary?”

“Stay where you are. I have no qualms killing an unarmed man, even though you are not one.” The Savior’s soft warning could be heard over the wind as the arm holding the sword straightened just a bit more, pushing the sharp blade further, making the tip of it cut through the fabric under the man’s throat. If he were to move he would kill himself, without a doubt.

“And, what makes you so sure I am armed, Savior?” the newcomer said with a sneer in his tone, although he did lean a bit away from the blade, a fact Emma was pleased about.

“Do not consider me a fool,” the woman spoke, her voice stronger as she moved her sword away, but not before she made a flourishing gest with it, the tip of it shredding away the tattered rags of the man’s face. “Midas.”

“So you know who I am, and yet you fail to show respect to your elders, Savior,” former King spoke with disdain, spitting the title with bitterness. “I guess wherever you ended up they did not teach you some manners.” But as the Savior turned away to leave, the man almost shouted after them, for some reason, desperate to be heard. “I am here to broker peace.”

Emma glanced behind her and laughed - the sound of the cackle so cold and callous, that Rumplestiltskin flashed back to the days of the Evil Queen. “Broker peace?” she scoffed at him, lifting her sword again as she pointed it to her chest, but keeping it out of the reach from his hands, not willing to cart around the blade made of gold. “Is that why your people are marching to the pass, for peace?” She could see that the knowledge she had threw him off a bit, his disdainful mask slipping a little, but he regained composure quickly.

“We are looking for shelter from the winds of the plains as the winter is coming.” The Sheriff did not need her superpower to know that the former king was lying, but she gave no indication that she knew. “Why don’t we meet, in five days’ time? Bring Prince Phillip to the Wolf’s Col and then we can talk.”

“What makes you think I won’t kill you here, on the spot? Or that I would even tell Phillip of this ridiculousness?”

“If you kill me, there is nothing to prevent my people from swarming these lands. And, as well, if Phillip doesn’t show, I will take that as an act of surrender.” With a smirk, knowing that he had won that round, the man mockingly bowed and turned away, walking off in the direction he had come from. For a long while, Emma only watched him go away, letting her senses follow him. Then she glanced around, not sure if someone else wasn’t there, hidden in the shadows of the boulders and trees, watching for their next move.

“What do you think?” she asked the old man beside her softly, offering her hand to him. As he grabbed it, she pulled them away from there, making them appear on the main road of the Realm.

“You know what I think. It’s what you think as well. It’s a trap.” Rumplestiltskin said, thumping his cane on the hardened earth of the road. “And he knew who you were, immediately,” he added with worry in his voice, as he looked down the road, waiting for women to appear. “In his position, I would have spies in the Haven, anyone would,” he spoke absently, something coming up to him. Then he turned to Emma, glancing toward her eyes. “But, you already assumed all of this, haven’t you?” He frowned at the implication. “Why are you asking me?”

“Because I will need your help.” Emma came to the man, placing her hands onto his shoulders, as she lowered her head a bit, gentling her tone. “There is someone in the village feeding information to him. But, they aren’t as close as they could be. Midas came only after Mulan and you had come with the carts, not before. He didn’t ask about the caves, nor did he look at them. And he was honestly surprised that we know of his people’s movements – which mean that he didn’t know we were up there for the past twelve days or what we were doing.” She paused in her speech thinking back to Midas’s demand to see Phillip at the narrow ridge pass called the Wolf’s Col, but the Savior only knew its approximate position on the map, nothing else about it coming to mind. “He wants me and Phillip out of the picture, beheading the opposition,” she whispered, still thinking.

“So, we’re back to this. It is a deceptive snare meant to dispose of you!”

“Then, we’ll spring it.” Emma had a hard gleam in her eyes, her plan already forming. She grinned at the man in front of her, the quirk of her lips giving her a slightly maniacal look. “It is the only way to make sure that he makes his next move, and that we still have at least some advantage.”

“It is reckless and sure death, Sheriff,” Rumplestiltskin said, crossing his arms, trying to reason with the blonde, but she was right. He could see that the stacks were not in their favor and that the Sheriff’s gamble was the only remotely viable move that might give them time and advantage for the future. He did not like it at all as he had grown to care for the blonde, knowing that in five days, she would walk into an almost certain death – to protect the people of the Safe Haven.

“Perhaps that is what is needed for the moment…” the woman spoke softly, her eyes imploring him to understand.

“The Savior dead?”

“Exactly!”

“If you are dead, then what is the upside?” But, before Emma could reply, Rumplestiltskin understood the game perfectly. If everyone believed that the Savior was dead, then Midas would have no reservations about the strength of the people of the Safe Haven, making them easy pickings. If the village believed that she was dead, the spy would not be able to inform the former king of the subterfuge, thus leaving Emma in position to plan and execute the defensive moves, as she was one of the most powerful beings in existence. And she could do it from any side she could choose, picking off the huge army in droves as they wouldn’t be ready for her. The only questionable part of the plan was keeping the Savior actually alive through the dangers. “But…”

“It may not come to that just yet,” Emma spoke to the man, shushing him lightly. “But, if it does, no one must know, not even our friends. Even Belle.” She said firmly as her eyes caught the motion on the road, signaling the women were coming closer. She looked toward the movement that attracted her attention and smiled as she saw the two wagons lugging away slowly down the road, toward them.

“I promised her not to lie,” Rumplestiltskin said softly, gripping Emma’s elbow.

The Savior patted his hand and gently smiled at him, understanding his reluctance to accept her plan. It wasn’t only herself that she was about to place in jeopardy, but literally every person she ever cared about, because if she made one wrong step, one miscalculation, this could end very badly for everyone involved.  _ Why things can’t sometimes just go easy _ , she groused internally, as she watched the road. “Then don’t. You are quite a wordsmith, Gold. I am sure you can figure a way to keep your promise without exposing the ruse.”

“I will do my best.”

And, that was the last of the conversation on the subject, as the carts pulled up next to them, Belle jumping off from her seat beside Mulan to embrace Gold as if she hadn’t seen him in a long while, even though it was barely a half an hour. As Rumple and Belle climbed up beside Mulan, Emma walked to the other cart, joking lightly with Ruby, while she summoned her magic to delete the tracks the burdened wagons had left behind. And, so, they continued forward, Emma leading them to a place she had picked for the Gate, showing them a small grotto in the foot of the mountain where they could leave the carts, as Mulan assured Emma that they were not needed, because the village had plenty more.

“So, as it is already evening, are we staying here, or do we ride through the night?” Belle asked as the cavern was hidden from the wandering eyes, the magical cloak making it impossible even for people who knew that it was there to see it. Only Ruby could find the entrance, besides Emma, as she could smell the hay over the stones from outside the barrier. It was a clever insurance, or so they all thought. But Emma knew that if she died it did not matter if Ruby could find the stones, as there won’t be anyone able to activate them except for Regina, and not even she could be in two different worlds at the same time.

“We are not riding,” Emma said with a smirk. “Nor are we staying here.” She allowed herself to be filled with her magic, knowing that she was powerful enough to transport them all to the village, even the horses, as the daily practice and exploration expanded her limits immensely. As she focused on the path to the village, thinking it wouldn’t be wise to appear right in the center of the Safe Haven, she directed a teasing smirk to the people surrounding her. As the bluish white mist bleed of her skin, it started to swirl around the people and horses nearby, in several short seconds engulfing them completely. Pleased with her energy levels, the Savior directed her power and with a gust of wind, they were gone, the four hours ride traveled in a blink of an eye, as they appeared close to the Gates of the village.

When the women gasped as the magical mist cleared, seeing where they were, Emma smirked. But, too quickly her smirk turned to a frown as she felt queasiness over the expenditure of magic. She paled, as she swayed on her feet, suddenly not so able to stand upright, and if Ruby wasn’t there to help her, she would have dropped down, face first into the dirt of the path.

“Whoa, easy there,” the young werewolf said softly as Emma leaned into her. “You alright?”

“Yep, long day,” the blonde murmured offhandedly, as Ruby was throwing the Savior’s arm around her shoulders, placing one of her own around Emma’s waist.

“And, it has nothing to do with the amazing feat of magic you’ve just done?”

“Nope, not at all.” The Child of the Moon laughed at the flippant tone in the Sheriff’s voice, as they walked toward the village. Soon they all walked into the village hall, Ruby leading Emma directly to her room, followed by Belle and Rumplestiltskin, as Mulan went to inform the Royals that their presence had been requested by Rumplestiltskin and the Savior.

Emma, helped by the strong arms of the Wolf, sat on the bed, shrugging off her cape, the sword’s scabbard hitting the frame of it, the dull sound loud in the silence of the room. “Is this how it is to be a Royal?” the blonde asked, her eyes glancing up to Rumplestiltskin. “Having beautiful women wait on you, taking your clothes off… If it is, I would’ve loved it here.” The joking manner was interrupted when Ruby hit the shoulder of the Savior, making her yelp as the others snorted in response.

“I wouldn’t know, as I was never one,” Rumple answered, his gentle smile affixed on his face.

“Enough really,” the blonde complained as Belle was about to unlace the leather tunic, pushing the helping hands away. “I am not a child, or so incapacitated that I cannot undress.” She already felt better, as her energy levels were steadily rising.

Rumplestiltskin placed his hand on Belle’s shoulder while he smirked at the Savior, stopping the beauty’s movements instantly, and he directed his dark eyes toward the Wolf fiddling with Emma’s boots. “She needs to stay decent, just a little bit longer, dearies. The Royal couple is probably already on its way.” Then the former imp pulled the librarian into his arms, guiding them to the foot of the bed. “I don’t think she should greet them in her underwear.”

At the sudden blushing of the Savior, Ruby narrowed her eyes, searching the green ones. “Who did you…?” At the pointed look and increased tinge the werewolf chuckled, remembering Emma’s story of her second day in Storybrooke. With a softened gaze she regarded the not so anymore pale face in front of her, and patted the Sheriff’s knee, pleased with her assessment. Indeed, the blonde looked alright already, apart from the dimmed light in her eyes, making her seem older beyond her years – the experiences and weariness taking their toll – but her face, if the bruises under her eyes could be ignored, didn’t place the Savior a day over twenty eight years. With an uneasy knot in her gut, the Wolf understood that the blonde’s thirtieth birthday had come and gone the day after Snow and the others had left the Enchanted Forest, and in all the worry and sorrow it had been forgotten. What made matters worse was the fact that the previous birthday of the blonde had not been celebrated as well because of all the Wraith drama and Snow and Emma falling through the portal. It seemed that her goddaughter had no luck with birthdays, each one happening in the middle of a disaster.

“What’s gotten you so sad all of the sudden?” Emma asked, her palm finding Ruby’s cheek as the woman remained crouching in front of the Sheriff. She had noticed the unexpected frown forming on the Wolf’s face and the downturned lips had been pursed. “Ruby?” The soft inquiry shook the brunette out of her thoughts and she forcibly smiled, knowing that she wasn’t fooling anyone.

“We forgot your birthday,” the deep blue eyed woman spoke after three sets of insistent eyes gazed at her, demanding an answer.

“So did I, it’s okay,” Emma said, her soft voice soothing the Wolf more than she dared to admit to. But before she could reply, a throat clearing from the door broke the moment as everyone glanced toward the intruder.

“Your Majesties,” Rumplestiltskin spoke, breaking the uncomfortable silence as he inclined his head in greeting.

“Please, come in,” Emma added graciously, as she rose from the bed, ignoring the fact that the small room was insanely crowded. As soon as Aurora and Phillip entered the room, followed by the ever present Mulan, Emma pulled in her magic, having recovered to make everyone comfortable, as she closed the door, placing the magical seal on the chamber in order to avoid the possible attempts of listening in on them. As she walked from the door, she transformed the bed into a long settee without armrests, summoning several chairs for the people remaining to stand. “Thank you for coming right away,” the Savior said as she looked at the Royals reigning over the village. “As you know, I was away on my mission which I had completed successfully for the moment with the help of friends,” Emma spoke smiling up at each and every one of the said friends as she was talking. “However, as I believe Mulan has already informed you, we have seen a large number of people camped out by the river over the Dragons’ mountain range.” She focused on the Prince and seeing him nod in verification, she continued. “This afternoon Rumplestiltskin and I have learned that the people are under the rule of a former king, King Midas.” The gasps did not come only from Aurora but from Belle as well as she had, no doubt, read the ledger and had an understanding just what kind of a man the king with the gold touch was. Nevertheless, the Savior ignored the women and went on, knowing that she had to share everything important with the leader of the Safe Haven, for his people’s sake. “He was adamant that you, Phillip, and I meet him in five days’ time and discuss the peace between your two parties. However, it is my belief that it is a trap meant to lure us away from our people and quite probably eliminate us so he would be unopposed by a Royal, seeing that all others are in Storybrooke at the moment.”

“As I am familiar with the man, I agree,” Phillip spoke, his composure regained almost immediately after he had learned the identity of the threat. “Mulan tells me that we are greatly outnumbered. I don’t think that we can afford ignoring him outright.” The Prince’s speech was unruffled as he held Aurora in his arms, the Princess distraught at the news of possible war. Emma felt her respect for the man grow with each evenly uttered word. “What do you suggest?”

“As you said, we cannot ignore the  _ invitation _ for the peace talks, but I don’t think we should walk into this blindly.” With a sigh, Emma took the only free chair in the room and placing it in front of herself with the backrest toward Phillip, she straddled it, leaning onto the wood in front with her elbows. “You should prepare your people before we leave, and I will scour the land for more weapons and things your people can use.”

“I appreciate, Sheriff,” the Prince spoke, using one of the titles he had heard Rumplestiltskin use, as he had known of her dislike of her birthright. With a pat on his knees he rose from his seat, his princess rising with him, Aurora placing a grateful squeeze on Emma’s upper arm as the young Royal passed the blonde, knowing that the Sheriff had no real interest or stakes in the possible war, but that she chose to help because she considered them friends and because she was the Savior, protecting the underdog. Mulan walked out after them, a short nod instead of any spoken words, leaving Emma with the previous occupants of the room.

“You really don’t know how to avoid trouble,” Ruby said with exasperation, throwing her hands in the air theatrically.

“She is the Savior. It is a given that she would find herself in the places of strife and need of help.” Rumple added, his eyes apologetic, but Emma just shrugged his regret away, her motion almost flippant in its carelessness.

“I am used to it by now,” the Savior said, her words reminding everyone that she had been through the thick and thin since the whole curse business.

At the stalemate of the conversation, Rumplestiltskin reached for the Sheriff’s shoulder, and patted it gently as he spoke. “Well, tomorrow is a new day, and I suppose you would want to search the library?”

“Of course,” Emma said, looking up to the man, as she was still seated on a chair in the middle of the room.

“Until tomorrow, then,” Rumplestiltskin said simply, adding another pat to the Savior’s shoulder, before he left the room, gesturing to Belle that he would wait for her outside.

“I really hoped things would ease up while we were here,” Belle remarked, her gentle light eyes peering into the green, as she was a bit subdued with the news.

“You and me both.”

“Good night, Emma. I’ll see you tomorrow.” The librarian said softly, leaning down and kissing the tired blonde’s forehead before leaving the room. As soon as she had left, Emma waved her hand around, restoring the previous condition of the room, with the exception of the chair she had been sitting on.

“What was that all about?” Emma asked Ruby, as she touched her forehead with a confused look on her face. Belle had used the same gesture before but it always seemed in character with the light hearted brunette, but now, the feel was different.

“She  _ is _ practically your mother-in-law, Emma. Perhaps she is going all maternal on you.”

“Oh, God…” Emma murmured as she crawled onto the bed, the chair instantly disappearing into thin air. She wasn’t surprised as the Wolf followed her example, settling down beside her. “And to think, we could have been in Storybrooke - away from this entire thing if the question of portals hadn’t been opened.”

“Emma, you know as well as I do that the moment you learned of the war here, you would have rushed to help,” Ruby said wisely, lifting her head up as she made her point. “Besides, with you here, perhaps it can be settled without much bloodshed.”

“I don’t think so. He is so determined…”

“It doesn’t matter now. You should rest, at least for a bit.” But before Emma could refuse or dismiss her need of sleep, the werewolf placed her warm hand onto the blonde’s back. “I am here to wake you in the case of bad dreams,” the woman spoke gently, but her caring tone brooking no argument from the Sheriff. After one tense moment of each one of them staring the other down, Emma relented, nodding her compliance, rising up to take off her clothes and boots, taking out one of the silk pajamas she had nicked from the Queen. She placed the fresh clothes, along with her hauberk beside her bed, trusting Ruby to keep her safe, at least for the night. Diving under the covers, she wished a good night to her friend and closed her eyes, allowing the exhaustion to pull her under, hoping it would provide the much needed rest and relaxation. 

The morning found the Savior, along with Rumplestiltskin, Belle and Ruby in the Dark Castle, the first two hunched over the potions in the laboratory while Belle and the Wolf were looking for maps and tactical preparation books. The Sheriff had finally caved to Rumplestiltskin, agreeing to make several batches of replenishing potion, used to re-energize the magical users, along with the healing potions, and only several of sleeping potions for her, to use three nights before the meet, to make sure that she was as prepared as she could be. As the laboratory was very well stocked, Emma decided to make more than just a few vials, thinking that the rest could be used in the upcoming war. While they waited for one of the potions to be finished, Emma looked around the various phials, jars and boxes, interested in their contents. When she found one of the rectangular glass cases, something gold inside drew her attention. She pulled out the container and placed it on the nearest table, peering inside. There, in the red velvet were lying four cylindrical golden pipes, about an inch thick and a hand long, with an inlaid image of fire over every one of them.

She could feel the power emanating from them, the incredible amount of dark magic stored in each of the cylinders. “Gold?” she intoned, still looking at the pipes with awe. “What are these?” she asked after she heard the former imp’s grunt. At the startled intake of breath she glanced toward the man, closing the case with care. “What is wrong?”

“These are very powerful weapons, Miss Swan,” Rumplestiltskin spoke softly, almost reverently as he walked over to her, his eyes glued to the glass of the box. “I had made them a long time ago, with the simple goal, a total annihilation of life.” He gestured to an empty spot in the velvet. “I only had to use one before, and even I was terrified of its power.”

“What is it?” Emma asked with interest, not only because she wanted to know what the particular things were, but because whatever they were they made the former imp, the man that had managed to contain his every emotion hiding it perfectly if it suited him, very nervous.

“Something like a nuclear bomb, for lack of a better term.”

“What is its yield?”

“It is not a bomb, Emma! Firewind is a magical device that uses the dark magic to destroy every living creature within a radius of half a mile, however it leaves the earth and the structures relatively undamaged.” His voice almost turned to yelling, but in the middle of his sentence he had regained some of his composure back, his dark eyes piercing the Savior. “From the moment of activation only four seconds pass till the Marbh Teine strikes, and because it is created out of the darkest magic, no one in the radius of it can use power. That is why, when I wanted to end the Ogre Wars, I needed the suicide bomber, if you will, for I could not use it myself.”

“But, I have the mail. Can it help?”

Rumplestiltskin automatically shook his head before he actually heard the question. Thinking about it, he inclined his head to one side, as he regarded the blonde in front of him. “I suppose so, but it only covers your torso, everything else is vulnerable…”

“I see,” Emma spoke, nodding, as she placed the case in its place. If she could figure out a safe way to use them, for she would never send someone to a certain death if she could avoid it, those weapons could be quite useful.

“Emma, it is a very dark magic,” the old man spoke with a warning, understanding the expression that passed his protégé’s face. “Your goodness is not worth such a price.”

“Isn’t magic all about intent and emotions? That even white magic can be used for nefarious purposes and dark for beneficial?”

“True,” Rumplestiltskin said, interested where Emma was going with it.

“So, no matter the origin of the power, if I use it for good, it should count as good magic?”

“It is a little more complicated than that, Emma. Essentially, yes, you are right, but there are limitations to your logic. Some dark spells can be used only for causing misery and pain, and no good can come of it.”

“I understand,” Emma brushed him off as she walked to the boiling cauldron, continuing with her work on the potions. Earlier in their relationship Rumplestiltskin would have thought that she just didn’t want to talk about it, not comprehending the actual point of their discussion, but now after weeks spent with her, he knew that she did honestly understand, and that her brash end of the conversation was only her way of showing him that she did not completely agree.

That morning passed in brewing the magical potions, in silence as the former imp supervised the blonde in making them. However, right after the light lunch that Belle had prepared, Emma disappeared in her characteristic mist, promising to return to them by nightfall.

She traveled the land, finding every scrap of a weapon she could find, sending it to the Safe Haven, as she had been informed that morning that Mulan would start the preparations for the impending war. But, as she considered the weak points of the Haven, although it was in the perfect location for defense, its walls and perimeter were far from ideal. Not liking their odds, Emma appeared at the Charming’s Palace, as it was the closest Fortress to the Safe Haven, disregarding the Forbidden Fortress, but she did not think that the people would like to go to Maleficent’s domain, especially not Aurora and Phillip. She had taken in secret one of the replenishing potions, knowing that what she was about to do was more than dangerous. It was downright reckless. But, her instincts told her that it should be done.

So, opening herself to the power within her, she glanced around the ruined halls of a place that had been supposed to be her home and with every cell in her being she wished it to return into the previous state of its glory. She summoned the magic, letting it flow through her as the bluish white mist started crawling over the damaged floors to the cracked walls, climbing over demolished parapets and towers – until the whole place was covered with the Savior’s signature mist. For a moment, Emma let the power permeate the air, holding it in place, relishing the immense abilities of her power, as she imagined the faces of her parents when they learned that she had restored their home. Then, the ridiculously happy faces of her mother and father gave her the additional boost that she used as she willed the Palace into the condition it was at the day of the grandiose wedding of Snow White and (then known as) Prince James. As the energy flowed through her, the Sheriff saw the cracks heal, ravaged walls reassemble, the towers rise up in the sky, the scuffed marble get into its pristine condition. When she saw that there was nothing left to fix, she cut the power, feeling the draw immediately, dropping down onto her knees, the caps painfully meeting the marble beneath her. Reaching into her pocket, she took out the vial with the yellow liquid she had appropriated for this specific occasion, and in one swallow she drank the entire potion, feeling its effects at once.

Three days passed and the tension grew in the air of the village, its gloomy tendrils reaching even the easygoing werewolf and the librarian as they sniped at each other in the great chamber of the Dark Castle’s library. Attempting to keep the peace, the former imp had sent the women into the different corners of the room, keeping them at a suitable distance, preventing further escalation of tempers. And for some reason, Rumplestiltskin found the Savior inconspicuously absent. Coming to think of it, he hadn’t seen her since that morning when she had dropped them all off and walked away, ignoring their questions of her whereabouts. It would be nothing to worry about, except it was almost the nightfall and the blonde hadn’t graced them with her presence yet. It was like she was shutting them out and with the amount of stress Emma was under, it hadn’t come as a surprise. If he hadn’t administered the sleeping potion to the woman himself these past two nights he would have thought that she hadn’t slept a wink for days.

Sparing the look toward the reprimanded women in the library, Rumplestiltskin pursed his lips in regard, hoping that him being away from the chamber would not erupt in another quarrel. Walking slowly to his laboratory, he sighed and shook his head. In just two days the Savior and the leader of the village would leave for the Wolf’s Col, and for the Storybrooke company it felt like someone was dying. And, as Rumplestiltskin was concerned the mood was right, for if all went according to Emma’s plan, the world would believe that she was dead. If not, she would be indeed gone.

As he went in the small isolated room, he noticed a large cauldron over the now expired fire, the whips of smoke still coming out of it, as the liquid in most curious colors churned. He came to the cauldron and leaned over it, noticing a dark cloth of some kind swirling inside, submerged in the liquid. Interesting, he thought, as he was unaware that Emma was working on something at the moment. Not wanting to disrupt whatever experiment the blonde was running, he walked slowly to the working bench where the Savior was, careful not to bang his cane on the floor. He had seen her back when he had entered the room, but he had thought that the Sheriff had been ignoring him, too deep in her own world, but now as he neared her, he noticed the chin that was propped up by a hand as the elbow was leaning on the desk. With each step closer, more of Emma’s face was shown to him, and then he saw the closed eyes and the precarious balance the woman had was maintained in slumber, for the Savior was asleep over her precious notebook, the quill lying abandoned just inches away from her hand.

With stealth he honestly believed he hadn’t possessed anymore, he leaned over the blonde’s shoulder and saw the beginnings of two pages filled with Emma’s barely legible scrawl. With interest he focused on the first page, his heart clenching only seconds after, as he read the words scribbled on the paper.

> _ My dearest Regina, should you read these words, it means I have failed you by not keeping the most important promise of all. Please do not hate me for the choice I am making, even though I know it may very well end being my own death sentence… _

So, the Savior herself felt the need to cover her bases, Rumplestiltskin concluded, the knowledge making him more upset that he would have presumed. In his opinion, the Savior’s brash and stubborn attitude as a sure sign that things would work out all right in the end, but now seeing that even the firmest believer that this was their own choice – to walk into the trap in order to learn more of Midas’s plans – was doubting herself, it seemed wrong.

With careful steps he walked toward the cauldron again, making sure to tap his cane a few times the moment he neared it, loud just enough to startle Emma out of her doze – as Rumplestiltskin knew that the blonde hated others witnessing, what she would consider, any form of weakness, and her goodbye letter to Regina was just it. Satisfied that she had been properly alerted to his presence, he peered down into the cauldron, again, with interest on his face. “What is this, dearie? I don’t recognize the reactions…” he asked in his mildly curious tone, carefully schooling his expression as he noticed the blonde hastily close her book and rise from the desk, walking toward him, as she rubbed her eyes with her hands.

“A project I am working on. It should be done now, anyhow. Care to watch?” She looked at him as she took a prod from the floor and took the cloth out of the liquid. As she saw him nod, she gave him the prod. “Hold this for a moment.” Putting on long sleeved gloves on her arms, she took the cloth and wrought it out of any excess fluid. “This is one of light forest capes I found at my parents’ place,” she said as she placed the cloak over a previously prepared wire strewn over the fire in the corner, stretching it out as she left it to dry.

“And what does this project entail?” Rumple asked gently as he watched her move agilely in his laboratory, his tone suddenly sounding too fatherly for them not to react. She glanced at him with a frown before disregarding his tone completely, focusing onto his words only. She took out a special working open-flame lamp out of its protective covering, and after she had brought it down to the floor in the middle of the laboratory, pushing the working bench out of the immediate vicinity to a safer distance. “Emma, be careful – that is a Marbh Teine lamp and it’s highly dan….” He started, but the Savior straightened in the middle of his warning and with an amused roll of her eyes, she interrupted.

“Dangerous, I know,” she said empathically, a slight smirk present on her face as she flicked her wrist. Suddenly, a large eruption of a greenish orange flame surged up, the loud cracking of the blaze almost deafening in the silence. “Cool,” Emma spoke, in that moment seeming much younger, not much unlike her son in her open appreciation of the effect.

“Emma!” Rumplestiltskin said scolding as he approached the Savior. “We’ve talked about this!” He tapped his cane in irritation and reproach. “This is a very dark magic and it shouldn’t be treated lightly.”

“I know, and it is not my intention to do so.” The Sheriff took the dull green – almost gray – cloak and wrapped it around her left arm, while the old man watched her, still admonition visible in his eyes, while he gripped the top of his cane firmly, his knuckles going white. Unexpectedly, the blonde plunged her arm into the bewitched cursed fire, making him shout in shocked consternation as he reached for her, pulling her away from the flame.

“Are you insane!?” He yelled at her, enraged about her carelessness and defiance even after many warnings he had given about the blasted fire. “Let me see!” he spoke, not caring at all that he might have been a bit overzealous in pushing her away, as she had slammed into the wall, her head connecting painfully with the stone.

“Fuck, damn it,” Emma whispered a bit dazed from the hit, very well aware what it seemed like to the old man, but then she smiled at him, uncovering her undamaged arm. “See, I’m fine.” Her smirk back in place, she used her other arm to check the back of her head. “You didn’t have to give me a concussion in the process.”

“I…,” he looked at the pristine skin of Emma’s arm with utter confusion. He looked back to the flame and frowned. He would recognize the cursed flame of the deadly fire anywhere, and he had seen Emma place her arm into it, and yet, where there should be nothing at all, not even bones left, there was tender, unharmed hand of the Savior, fingers wriggling for the show. He looked up to her, bewilderment apparent in his eyes as he reached for the intact limb, feeling the warm and slightly roughened skin of Emma’s palm. “I don’t understand.”

Having mercy on the old man, Emma walked them to the bench and leaned on it, showing him the cloak. “It’s my project. I wanted to create a protection from the fire, and apparently I did it.” Ever since she had talked with Rumple about the Marbh Teine bombs, as she called them, she had been thinking about the solution to her quandary. As the man himself had said that the mail would withstand the power of the fire but that it would not be enough to protect her, she had been trying to figure out a way of making something that would be like her armor, and after restoring her father’s caste she had an epiphany.

“How did you do it?”

“Just like you. Dragons…”

“You found a sample of pure blood?” Rumple said with elated surprise in his tone, but as Emma shook her head he visibly drooped down.

“Bones, Gold. The cave was filled with bones. I took some and ground them.”

“They are almost impossible to pulverize, how did…?”

“Dust mines, the mills were still operational.” Then, the Savior launched into the story of explaining every part of her exploration, how she milled the bones, even the fairy dust, using both in her concoction. At his intrigued remark that mixing the two made an extremely unstable compound, she chuckled and nodded, telling him how she used some of his special ingredients to stabilize the creation. And, that her results were good. “The only problem is, it cannot be reused, and I don’t have time to make some more…” The Savior said, walking toward the cauldron, as she disposed of the now garish yellow liquid.

As they tested the robe a few more times, Rumplestiltskin declared her experiment successful, before walking out of the laboratory. With a few softly spoken words they roused the two remaining women and Emma transported them to the village.

The last day before the date passed too quickly in the Savior’s opinion. Preparing for anything, Emma confiscated a long leather sack out of Rumplestiltskin’s Castle, long enough for it to hold an ordinary sword she had taken out of Regina’s armory hidden, as her own had become quite recognizable. Along with it, she packed two changes of clothes, making sure that there was nothing of her world in it; as well as carefully packed vials of potions she had previously prepared with the old man. Stuffing the green cloak along with a light leather tunic inside the pack, she looked around the room. The only thing left to pack was a small leather pouch containing two gold cylinders with the shape of the fire engraved in them. She had explained to Rumple that she would use them only in case of the greatest need. With care, she placed it on top of the sack, putting a stray end of the cloak over it. And, then she was done. As prepared as she could be under the circumstances. With a heavy sigh she rose from her bed and walked out of her room, going down to the central room of the Village Hall, where the Prince’s inner circle was gathered for a meeting.

Sneaking in, she sat down beside the warrior woman, bumping her shoulder with hers in greeting. It had been decided only two hours before who would be part of the peace party and of course, Mulan was among the first picked. It had been agreed to make it small, and so the final number was six. Mulan, Emma and Phillip, of course, followed by two of Phillip's best soldiers, and the Savior would have been happy with it, but as it was, it was not to be so. The last member of their party, even after hours of arguing and downright pleading to stay, was Ruby, who staunchly refused to back down, telling Emma in no uncertain words that wherever the Savior went – the Wolf would follow.

“You are worried,” the warrior spoke softly, her words more depicting statement than a question. At the slight nod from the Savior, the dark haired woman continued. “Would it make you worry less if I promise to take care of her?” There was no need to explain who she was, as Mulan had been there when Emma had threatened the werewolf with a collar to make her stay put.

Emma nodded again, before she glanced at the dark eyes watching her carefully, as they were hidden by the shadows of so many people crowding the room. “Just don’t let her do anything stupid?”

“Like go on to a most certain death, following her friend and family?” the warrior spoke distantly as she leaned back onto the wall. The blonde considered the words and noticed the parallel between Mulan and Ruby, as they both were going to stand by their friends no matter what. “I give you my oath that I would do anything in my power to keep her safe.”

Emma regarded the woman beside her, thinking about the times she had seen the two brunettes connect, whether on a babysitting duty for her or just hanging around the village. Perhaps, it wouldn’t be such a bad idea for the two to rely more on each other in the following times, the blonde considered. “Then, I am in your debt,” the blonde Royal spoke solemnly, as she placed her right hand over her heart and inclined her head toward the warrior.

“Not even close, my friend,” Mulan whispered with a gentle smile on her face. Then, she grew serious once more. “Meet us at the stables at the last bell of the night watch - we will set out before dawn.” As soon as she got the confirming nod from the Savior, the woman hoisted herself up and disappeared in the crowd.

The Savior stayed, as the people filtered out. For a few minutes she shared a brief conversation with the Royals, even before they left, leaving her alone in the great room, as she stood in front of the fire, gazing into the flickering flame, letting her churning thoughts aside, the hypnotic dance of the blaze helping her clear her mind. She didn’t know how long she had been standing there, but when she returned to her senses, she noticed a presence in the room. A familiar presence at that, as the soft sound of page turning was heard in the almost silent hall.

“I feel old,” Emma suddenly spoke, her cracking voice seeming loud in the silence of the night. She did not turn, but the pause in the page rustling told her that Belle was listening. “And, it seems I am the only one without the ageless benefits of the curse.” Emma liked Belle for her unassuming presence, for her ability to listen without asking much questions. And, she could feel the kind soul in the young woman, the true believer that the love was the most powerful magic in the world and that everything would work out in the end. “I feel… I don’t know, like a gum that had been chewed for too long…” Anyone else, except Regina, who truly knew her and her scorn of platitudes, and the young woman in the room would inanely state that it was understandable, after all the things she had been through. But, the gentle librarian kept quiet, as Emma heard the sound of the book closing and it being placed onto a wooden surface. “And, tired… Tired of all the expectations, of being the Savior, the Sheriff, the daughter of Snow and Charming, mother of Henry. Sometimes, I am even tired of being Emma. All this…” Emma shook her head not knowing how to continue as the words stuck in her throat. She turned to the light eyed librarian and with a look of utter helplessness on her face, she stood there, the two tear drops making out of their confinement as they slid down Emma’s face. Belle doubted that the Savior was even aware that she was crying, but the desolate look in the dull green eyes was gut-wrenching.

“Is too much,” the young woman added in a whisper, finishing Emma’s sentence as she lifted her body from the chair and walked to the crushed blonde, moving hesitantly into an awkward hug, as she pulled the Savior gently down. The Sheriff seemed lost, just like a child would be at a fair. After a while, even the greatest adventure turns to be a torture and then the child would say in supremely winy tone ‘I want to go home!’ But, the blonde had not had that luxury, nor the ability to walk away, and now the strain of it was breaking the one of the strongest people the librarian knew. Leading them to her previous position, Belle let Emma settle beside her, still holding her in the embrace. She knew that the only proper way for Emma to heal and to rest would be to find herself in the arms of the woman she loved, but as it was impossible at the moment, Belle decided to offer comfort the only way she knew how. “Right this moment, there is no one around but me, and I won’t expect anything of you. Just do what you feel like and for a moment, you will be okay…”

Emma nodded and leaned back on the comfortable seat, crossing her arms and tucking her chin into the chest. After a checking glance in Belle’s direction, the blonde closed her eyes, breathing in measured breaths. No, she wasn’t sleeping, but using one of the meditative techniques she had learned from Mulan to quiet her mind as she accepted the friendly presence of the young woman. After a while, she heard the girl move around before a whiff of a strong herbal tea reached her nose, making her smile. Moments after, the evenly spaced sounds of page turning resumed, and she continued sitting there, enjoying the silence with the unpretentious woman, eventually getting to her tea, as she waited for the time to set out.

When the time came, Emma rose slowly as she placed the cup next to her. She turned to the woman who had kept her company through the night and in an instant made her decision. With a wave of her hand she summoned her notebook, and waited for the brunette to rise, as she eyed the unfamiliar book in Emma’s hands. “This is a diary of sorts,” the Savior started, but then she didn’t really want to explain. “If something happens to me, and I don’t make it back, could you…” Emma’s voice broke as she held the small volume firmly in her hands. “Would you… g-give it to Re…”

“I will,” Belle spoke, taking the book out of the blonde’s clenched fingers, easing them gently off the bindings. She reverently placed the volume onto the book she had been reading during the night and turned back to the Savior. She placed her hands onto Emma’s shoulders and brought herself onto her fingers as she hugged the woman in her arms firmly, feeling the blonde’s hands pat her back uncomfortably. “I wish you luck and success, and the strength to keep your promises.” Then she planted a kiss on the cheek in front of her, before she turned away picking up the books and walked away.

The gentle blessing spoken in that soft accented tone went right through her, settling in her gut, as it warmed her heart just a bit. But, before she was able to leave, a recognizable pattern of strikes of the cane made her turn toward the sound, and in moments, Rumplestiltskin entered the room.

“I have said everything there was for me to say,” the former imp started, as he walked to the proud woman. “I will speak now for others, as they are not able.” With one hand he grasped her upper arm, pulling her a bit down as he brought his mouth to her ear. “Think before you charge into something, and let me know somehow if everything goes as planned.” Honestly, Emma expected a bolstering encouragement as David would give her, or a soft declaration of love and acceptance of Snow, no matter the choices, or even the harsh order not to kill herself as Regina would have done. But this simple instruction somehow held all these emotions and meanings, and yet spoken in true Rumplestiltskin drawl made it seem so inconsequential that the feelings underneath it did not bother Emma, and then, so heartening that the Savior felt better. She smiled at him, squeezing his shoulder tenderly, before she walked up to her room, doing her final preparations before she left.

The group of six rode in silence toward their goal, Phillip at the point while Mulan was at the back, her eyes darting around as she scanned the area, her bodyguard senses attuned to their environment. The two soldiers were in front of her and that left Emma and Ruby right behind Phillip. Emma had offered to transport them at least part of the way to shorten the five hour journey, but the Prince declined with respect, telling Emma that she might need power for later. So, they rode in the even canter, sparing the horses of the exhausting gallop.

Emma looked down at the sack she had tied to her saddle. No one had questioned its purpose or need, and she had tied it down so it wouldn’t jump around on the way. The bag itself reminded the blonde that she was all dressed in black for the day, just like for the funeral, she remarked to herself silently. Graham’s heavy cloak was on her shoulders, the hood over her eyes. Under it she wore her recognizable set of weapons, and the black leather pants and tunic, along with black hard knee length riding boots. Even under her hauberk, she wore black turtleneck and black sporty set of underwear. Her hair was pulled into an elaborate bun, wanting it off her face and neck. The soft black leather gloves covered her hands, as she held the reins, letting her horse follow Phillip’s, not needing to correct or urge the bay filly on.

Finally, they reached the mountains, Phillip expertly leading them to the Wolf’s Col, the small pass that had been rumored to be used by wolves as they had been searching for food. After a half an hour of slow climb, Emma noticed the white flags planted at the entrance of the pass. Ruby leaned into her and whispered, “Can you say overkill?” gesturing at the flags. Nodding, as she looked around, she allowed her magic to come forward, not liking the oppressive feeling of expectation in the air. Phillip looked back at her and drew his sword, his face grim, as they all understood that was it. Slowly, he guided the horse through the passage, the rest of them following. The soldiers had tightened the lines on their crossbows, arrows loaded, as they too looked around for any sign of a threat.

And, then, when they reached the perfect spot for the trap - deep enough in the pass so they could not easily leave, surrounded by high gorges and sharp cliffs - it was sprung. Suddenly, something flew over them, screeching into the air and Emma recognized the animal, but the warning came from Mulan.

“Manticores!”

“Back! Go back!” Phillip yelled, turning his horse around as he saw three more flying creatures joining the first. Not only that, the manticores were hard to kill and poisonous, once they had their prey in sight, they never let go, often following it over long distances. Midas had used them, knowing that even though they managed to escape the gorge alive, they would be hunted for a long time.

Just as they turned, the loud rumbling came from the entrance to the passage as stones rolled down, blocking the route. “Fuck!” Ruby shouted, drawing Emma’s attention to the other side, where the dust rose to the sky, signaling another landslide. “Bastards boxed us in!”

The soldiers fired at the wild monsters, each of their bolts true, but Emma knew from experience that it would take much more than one arrow to bring one of those suckers down, let alone the whole pack.

And with the rapidly growing number of the lion-like flying animals there really was no escape but one. And even then, the monsters would follow them over the high mountains, and Emma could not risk bringing such vile beasts into the Village, with so many innocent people and children. Having made her mind, Emma took off her cape and threw it over her horse, as she jumped down. “Ruby!” she yelled to catch the woman’s attention as first of the creatures dove for them, the screeching almost deafening them. “Catch!” she added, throwing the reins of her horse to the startled werewolf. Then she powered up her magic, building it up to make an explosion of air, just big enough to give her time to set up. Succeeding in doing so, she smiled when Ruby whistled in appreciation, but she did not stop pulling her magic in, letting it flow outwards, but not toward the animals, but to her companions and their horses. While she focused her power on her friends, she watched the sky for the return of the beasts.

For a second she flashed back to the moment in the first days of her stay in the Safe Haven, when Rumplestiltskin had been teaching her about the transportation mechanics.

_ “So in order to obtain bulk I have to sacrifice the reach, and vice versa?” Emma asked the man, as she peered at him over the books. Rumplestiltskin closed the one he had been reading and leaned onto the table, looking at the Savior curiously. He knew she was talking about magical moving things, as she had talked about it that morning with him. _

_ “It is just Physics. The heavier the object you want to move, the more power you use up, meaning that you have less strength to transport it farther. And, the other way around. The farther away you move something the more power you use, the less you are able to carry. But, you also have to take into account if you are moving objects without yourself. Then, the magic expenditure is quicker, as you will use up twice as much power to do so.” The man saw Emma consider his words, as he felt the awakening delight at being a teacher. The way the Savior understood things made him constantly want to teach her more, wanting to explore her limits and interests. Even now, the blonde showed a lot of promise. _

_ “But, if I have enough power, I could do both.” The Sheriff looked at him with an insecure frown on her face, her tone more questioning than concluding. _

_ “Yes.” The man agreed, but then he sighed and focused onto the woman before him. “Theoretically, as you are a product of True Love, your energy, shall we say, should be limitless – in theory, I must stress – as not only you have access to ordinary sources of magic that every magical has, but to the True Love itself, which is supposed to be power without bounds.” He patted her hand lightly as he leaned back. “But, I would not recommend testing that theory, as it may as well prove false, and then you are dead, or at least damaged beyond repair.” _

_ After several minutes of silence, Rumple returned to his book, thinking that the conversation was over. But, soon the Savior proved him wrong, yet again. _

_ “So, in theory, I am the most powerful creature there is.” The man couldn’t not notice the way the Sheriff puffed out her chest, the pride he had associated with her father so apparent in her at the moment. The boasting posture made him chuckle softly as he shook his head in wonder. _

_ “You need to remember that there are others that are born of True Love. Take Alexandra for example.” And, yes, the reminder of the little girl in Storybrooke did take some of the wind out of the woman’s sails. _

_ “Ah, right,” Emma added sullenly, before she returned to reading. _

Rumplestiltskin had told her that the reach of the Firewind was about a half a mile, so she would need to push others way beyond that, so she opened herself to her emotions, garnering power from them. Just in case, she brought up the love she felt for her family, letting the warm and sharp emotion stream through her blood, and finally, she called forth the wild and unrestrained power she associated with her bond with the Queen of her heart, feeling the magic ignite her very being. Picking a spot they had passed an hour before, Emma forced her magic onto others, weaving complicated spells at the same time, trying to save time and to keep others from guessing her plan and inadvertently ruining it. She saw Ruby looking at her with worry written all over her face, and with a sad smile she locked her eyes with her, mouthing simple Sorry, that even the Wolf senses couldn’t pick up, but she saw that Ruby had understood, dread coming over her. In the moment the werewolf jumped off her horse, intent to reach Emma and ask what was happening, Emma released her magic, letting it do the bidding she commanded of it, feeling the rush of it pass through the place, taking away her friends and their horses, along with her own.

While she had taken care of her friends, she also had charmed off her black tunic and her weapons, leaving only the knives in her boots, placing them over the horn of the saddle on her filly, bringing the sack to her. And, it seemed just in time as the manticores were returning for their prey. Even though it seemed longer, only two or three seconds had passed since the air explosion and the transportation spell. Quickly, Emma donned her green, almost gray cloak, pleased that it was long enough to even cover most of her boots, and unpacked one of the Firewinds. Finding a relatively sheltered place, between two small boulders, she crouched down, making sure that every inch of her legs and body in general was covered with the cape, pulling the hood over her head, as she activated the bomb, throwing it high in the air, immediately after ducking her head into the protection of the cloak, counting silently.

At the count of four, she felt a huge magical impact on the place as she could sense the vile taste of the dark magic pass over the air, destroying every living thing in its path. She closed her eyes, hoping, praying, that her project wouldn’t fail, that she would survive and fight the cowardly bastards another day. When the tingling on Emma’s spine stopped, she dared to look up, sighing in relief as she saw not a beast in sight. With a tired and relieved chuckle she dropped on her behind, kicking out the legs beneath her and breathed deeply. After allowing herself several moments to revel in the fact that she had survived her suicidal plan, she reached into her sack, taking out one phial of the replenishing potion, knowing she would need magic before the end of the day. As the Marbh Teine prevented the usage of the magic for a while, Emma decided to move on foot, using the surprise of her move to infiltrate into the lands beyond the range.

Ruby knew something was wrong, especially after Emma looked at her with such sorrow and apologetic smile on her face. But before she could reach her friend, she felt herself being shifted away. Only a second after, she found herself at the foot of the mountain, just three miles off their previous position, with the others.

“No, Emma, damn it,” Ruby seethed when she saw that the blonde hadn’t joined them, and that the bay the Savior had picked for herself was right beside her. But, just as she mounted up onto her horse she felt a curious sensation, as it prickled her senses. Looking toward the origin of the feel she saw a huge tower of a greenish orange flame, devouring the pass they had left only seconds before. The sudden dread that accompanied the tingle shook her composure enough that when the horses felt the power passing over the hills, her mare reared, taking her by surprise and she slid off the saddle.

“Marbh Teine,” she heard Mulan whisper with frightened awe, and the name of that pillar of death brought her down to her knees. She had heard of the cursed fire. Everyone had. No one could live through it, not even with the aid of magic.

“No…” Ruby whispered as she looked at the still burning flame. “No!” she shouted startling the others, as she rose to her feet and started walking toward the pass. Phillip tried to stop her but she ignored his words, her only thoughts of her friend. As the Prince placed his hand onto her shoulder pulling her back, she kicked him off his feet and continued on, her gaze glued to the devastation she was witnessing.

Suddenly, arms came around her, lifting her off the ground. “No! No! Let me go! I have to find…! Let! Me! Go!! Emma!” Ruby screamed, trying to escape her captor, kicking back and struggling. One particularly well placed hit into the shin of the person holding the werewolf brought both the fighting woman and her keeper down to the ground. “Please, let me go!” Ruby’s voice turned to begging as she tried to crawl toward the blaze.

“She is gone,” a soft voice murmured into her ear, the Wolf recognizing the warrior woman’s whisper.

“Emma,” the young woman started sobbing on the ground, still struggling with the firm but gentle arms around her. “Please…”

“I am sorry,” Mulan whispered, feeling her own throat close at the feeling of loss. “I am so sorry.” At her murmuring, the warrior could feel the young woman stop resisting, her body limp as it shook with many sobs. Releasing the hold, the dark eyed woman shifted a bit, enveloping the Wolf into her arms, her own eyes filling with tears. “I am sorry,” she spoke as she held the young woman, feeling her hands gripping the front of her armor, clinging on, as if it was the only thing keeping her from falling apart. Instinctively, she tightened her hold, as she glanced toward her Prince over the distressed woman. She saw him look at them with sorrow evident in his eyes, as he was sitting on the ground where Ruby had knocked him down. She quickly returned her eyes to the suffering woman in her arms, feeling the unusual kinship with the Wolf, sensing her pain acutely. 


	10. Chapter 10

The first thing that she felt was someone’s hand on her back. As she lifted her head, her puffy eyes met the concerned and saddened blue ones, gazing down at her with a rare look of worrying affection. The hand was still on her back, now gliding over to her shoulder, offering her the silent comfort as the man was sitting beside her on the mattress. She used one of her hands to wipe her face from the tears but the endeavor was futile from the beginning as fresh tears leaked from her eyes the moment she finished. Not bothering again with such an undignified task, Regina swallowed and shifted her body, turning it just a little bit more to David, accepting the quiet acceptance he gave her.

Since Emma’s and Snow’s adventure in the Enchanted Forest, the antagonistic relationship between the former Queen and the Prince had changed, not visibly at first, but it had been apparent in the small gestures of kindness the Royal had offered to the deposed Queen. But, the rescue mission to Neverland furthered the evolving respect they had for each other, and ever since Regina had been found to be his daughter’s True Love, he had been downright benevolent and supportive.

Seeing her inquisitive eyes the blonde man quirked his lips into a small gentle smile, taking his hand off the shoulder in front of him - covering one of her hands instead, as he took in a settling breath. “We are here,” he said softly. When Regina rolled her eyes at his inane statement, he chuckled a bit before trying again. “I meant, Storybrooke.”

Regina only nodded, her sigh heavy as she looked away from the Prince, really not comfortable with the fact that he was seeing her this way, but she knew that there was nothing she could do to change it, and honesty she had no strength to bother. “Children?” she asked softly, her voice breaking under the strain on her suffering throat. It would seem that her screams and crying had taken more out of the Queen than she guessed.

David noticed the slight hitch in the single word the brunette had spoken, but he chose to ignore it, thinking he had already witnessed too much of Regina’s disconcerted manner, and answered right away, hiding his worried glance turning his head away. “With Snow and Neal.” He saw the slight scrunching of her eyebrows at the man’s name, but oddly enough she didn’t comment on his presence around her boys. When she made a move to get up, David quickly rose and offered a hand, his face neutral. He knew that if he showed any emotion, be it compassion or pity, excitement or sorrow, she would have refused him outright. After a judging glance in his direction the brunette accepted his hand, her other going for his shoulder as the room swirled around her. Clamping down his initial reaction, to steady the woman by holding her waist, or even shoulders, he waited for her to get her bearings, not moving.

Regina breathed in deeply, as she held onto Charming, of all people. But, she couldn’t keep her cold and indifferent mask up, not anymore, not around people who knew what was going on. With a soft squeeze on his shoulder, she lifted her head up and pulled her shoulders back. With a soft whispered “Thank you,” she walked out of the cabin, her hand reaching out to the corridor wall as she needed another moment to steady herself.

David shook his head at the strange situation. He had a feeling that his former nemesis had not thanked him for helping, or being there but for not making a fuss about it, letting her deal with it in her own way. And, indeed, he understood that, as he had with Emma. The blonde would accept help, if ever, on her own terms, in her own time, mostly preferring to do things herself, prolonging the idea of a stubborn self-reliant woman. However, the Prince did not think that Regina would accept help from him, not yet anyways, because their past, their war and treachery had wounded them both too deeply to simply ignore it. With time, the blonde man hoped that the gap between them could be surmounted, as they were family now, more than ever. He was willing to try, not only for his daughter, and she was a great motivation for it, but because in the moments he had seen the former Queen around Emma, he had seen a woman Snow once had known and loved. He had seen a person he would like to know, and be proud of calling her friend. But, for that, he, both of them, along with Snow, needed time. So he shrugged, glanced around the cabin and took the duffel bags beside the bed, knowing that in a few short minutes, they would dock.

The moment Regina stepped on the deck, a large mass of flesh barreled into her middle, making her step back with the force of a slam. Letting out a grunt of pain, she recognized instantly her son in her arms and held him tight to her body, the piercing pain in her heart dulling a bit. “Henry,” she whispered his name, as she kissed his forehead, her hand feeling the wetness of tears on his face. There was no need to ask why he was crying, only the wish to be able to console him, but how could she when her own insides felt like they were gouged out with a dull blade. Again, she felt a hand on her back, silently guiding her toward the lowered railing, as she held her boy. Snow joined them, Kyle in her arms as she watched the woman before her, her eyes glittering with unshed tears. No one spoke as they walked on the wharf, their steps sounding hollow on the wood of the dock. As soon as they reached Charming’s truck at the marina, Regina looked around, a bit lost as she let Henry pull slightly away from her.

“Mom,” he spoke tremulously, looking into her face. “Can I go home?”

The words he managed to say went straight to her heart, making it stop for a moment as the pain engulfed her, but she would never deny her son’s wishes, and if he wanted to go to Snow’s apartment, then she would not stand in his way. And honestly, she would want that too, as it was filled with Emma’s knick knacks, and her scent. Unable to speak, she swallowed and nodded, caressing his cheek gently, as she tried to smile.

But, Henry had learned a lot about his mother’s reactions and seeing pain in her glimmering eyes, instead of the spark of happiness he expected, he understood the problem almost instantly. “No, mom,” he said, his voice getting a slight rebuking note. He placed his palm over hers on his face, and took the other one. Seeing confusion in the face above him, he smiled gently. “Can I come home, mom?  _ Home _ ?” He enunciated his last word, hoping she would get it from his inflection, as he didn’t want to go into a particular explanation. And, there it was, deep inside the darkness of her eyes a light appeared. His heart clenched at the sight of such fearful hope, regretting all the times he had denied her and pushed her away.

“I…” Regina started, glancing toward Snow, her eyes filling with tears once more. She saw the woman nodding, a smile coming onto her face as she watched the mother and her son together. The former Queen then found her son’s eyes gazing into her face, waiting, and she couldn’t not be reminded of another who was just as able to make her happy. “Of course,” she murmured, dropping down into a crouch, as she left her hand on his face. “It will always be your home, and you don’t have to ask to come back,” she spoke, ignoring the times her voice broke as she wanted to tell her son that he would always be welcome.

When the boy nodded, Snow came to them and waited for Regina to rise up, before she gave her the other boy, transferring him into her arms gently. The small toddler was asleep, but when he was in Regina’s arms, he snuggled into her, his face taking on a brilliant smile, as he unconsciously reached for the dark hair. Snow couldn’t help herself, so she smiled, pleased that the beautiful toddler recognized Regina as his caretaker even in his sleep. “Go,” she whispered softly, her hand on the former Queen’s elbow. “Go, take them home,” she murmured, patting Henry’s back, “and we will come by later and bring some of their things, okay?” Regina nodded, lost for words as she felt Henry melt into her side, careful not to dislodge Kyle out of her hands.

“Snow,” she called after the woman who had turned away as Charming had started the car, already aware of the situation. When the pixie haired woman glanced back, having opened the door of the truck, Regina stood there, not able to speak, the words she wanted to say stuck in her throat.

“Go home, Regina,” Snow said with a smile, her eyes telling her that it was all right, and that she had understood the gratitude. Then, she climbed into the truck waving to them. At that moment, Regina let the magic free and teleported them into the mansion on Mifflin street. Suddenly she felt tired, and without hesitation, she placed the young babe into her bed, having turned down the comforter. Without prompting, Henry took off his clothes, staying only in his t-shirt and underwear dove right in, leaving the spot in the middle for his mother. Chuckling at his inviting gesture, as he patted the mattress, she magically changed into one of her silk pajamas and lied down, holding her boys close to her heart.

As Henry nuzzled into her shoulder and Kyle melted into her side, holding tight to her pajama’s top, Regina kissed both of her boy’s foreheads and lied down, allowing the exhaustion and emotional rollercoaster to pull her under into the sweet unconsciousness, feeling the warmth of the children thaw the piercing icicles around her insides that had been created the moment she had left her True Love on the dock worlds away.

A while later the woman gasped, startling herself awake, startled by the dark space and with an electric light coming from the outside, as it apparently was night. Instantly recognizing her room in the mansion, she relaxed, before her hands found empty spaces beside her. But before she let her fear run rampant, she focused on the sounds of the house, and with a relieved breath she closed her eyes, having recognized Henry’s excited chatter from the entrance hall as he talked to his grandparents. It must have been the sound of the knocking that had her shaken awake, she concluded rolling of the bed, deciding to go for a shower before meeting the Charmings. She noticed with a disbelieving but pleased smile that her initial reaction for having Snow and David in her home was not rage and irritation but a strange sense of acceptance and resignation.  _ It must be Emma’s fault _ , Regina thought when she entered the shower, the already streaming water almost boiling hot. The thoughts of her True Love, in the shower of all places, caused her to feel the ache in her soul much more acutely than only seconds before. On top of that, the images of their lovemaking flashed in front of her eyes, her body reacting with a different kind of ache. Not willing to endure such torture, in front of Emma’s parents no less, she turned the knob sharply, stifling the yelp with her fist as the water grew cold immediately.

Dressing into her trademark dress pants and a white silk shirt, Regina forwent the heels as she was not in the mood in them, and with a few flicks of her hand she coiffed her hair and with a pleased smirk in front of her mirror she nodded to herself, pulling the sleeves of the shirt up in an elegant roll on her forearms. Following the voices, she directed herself to the kitchen, stopping at the bottom of the stairs as she heard her son talk to his grandmother.

“And what did Granny say? I don’t want anyone hurting my mom.” Regina blinked at the clearly protective tone in her son’s voice. She could just imagine his frown on the young face, his green eyes flashing, just like Emma’s often do.

“Don’t worry, Henry. We made sure of it.” David’s reassuring tone came from the kitchen, with a light pat, Regina supposed, on Henry’s back. “And, even if we hadn’t, Mother Superior made it very clear that Regina is off limits, as one of the town protectors. Tamara and Gregg business have everyone scared of the outsiders, and if we are perfectly honest, your mother is the only one in the whole town who knows the law of the land inside and out, along with our own laws.”

“You see, sweetie,” the comforting voice of Snow came as well as a light clunking sound could be heard as the woman moved around. “And, even if someone showed their displeasure, they wouldn’t dare attack. They are still afraid of her, see?”

“Are they, now?” Regina couldn’t wait any longer, stepping into the kitchen, her eyes narrowing instantly when she saw the mess over her perfect counters. “What have you done to my kitchen?” the annoyance in the reinstated Mayor was apparent, as she came to her son, eyeing the various paper bags strewn around.

“We…” Mary Margaret started, palling a bit, having completely forgotten the woman’s penchant toward obsessive neatness and untouched personal space. “We brought food.” But then she saw the light pass over the dark eyes, briefly but enough to clue Snow that the brunette was teasing her, regardless of the scowl on her face and crossed arms. “Regina,” Snow spoke with a slight whine in her voice as her shoulders slumped in relief, making Henry laugh and a little man in David’s hands join with his variant. Dropping her pretense, the former Queen kissed Henry on his brow and took the younger boy from the Prince, her eyes thanking him, for she wasn’t able to speak the words too often just yet. Nuzzling the youngling in her arms she sat at the counter beside her son, watching as Snow commenced putting things away, directed by Henry’s helpful directions.

“Just how long are you up?” Regina asked the talkative boy as she understood that he had watched the movie with Kyle before his grandparents had come.

“Couple hours.” Henry answered with a shrug as he accepted a hot chocolate from his grandmother, the brunette beside him accepting the coffee with a surprised but grateful look toward Snow. “Kyle became fussy and you needed sleep,” he answered with a matter of fact tone, ignoring her watering eyes as he blew into his cup. Regina smiled at him and kissed his temple, enjoying his semi-annoyed huff as she moved his hair of his forehead gently. To her great pleasure, he didn’t move away, but rather leaned into the touch, careful not to spill the warm beverage over his mother and the younger boy, who was asleep at the moment, his nose buried in Regina’s elbow as he was sitting in her lap.

As she sipped the hot chocolate, hiding her face behind the mug, Snow watched the tired brunette in front of her. The gentle loving regard and shining happiness to have her boy in her home again were obvious in Regina’s dark eyes, but those emotions were not powerful enough to diminish the sharp searing pain hiding in the depths of the swirling dark chocolate. Surprised that she could even see it and recognize it for what it was, the younger brunette realized that the regal woman before her eyes had not bothered raising most of her usual and expected defensive walls, and the thought warmed Snow’s heart, knowing it was yet another sure sign that they all were starting to heal. Not that she would speak of it just yet. Regardless of the various derogatory nicknames the former Evil Queen had used to bestow on her and her husband, she was neither insane nor stupid to mention the lack of defensiveness to her former stepmother.

Giving a meaningful look to her husband, she glanced over to Henry, silently communicating to David that she needed time and space to talk to the woman, and that she didn’t want an audience. Obediently, the Prince rose from his seat, drinking up his coffee, and placing down his mug, the sound of china meeting the marble counter loud in the silence of the kitchen. “Come, Henry, you need to show me where you want the things we brought.” He reached for the boy, his hand offered in invitation as his blue eyes focused on the still tired green ones on his grandson’s face.

Henry glanced up at Regina, askance clear in his eyes and when he saw his mother nod with an encouraging smile, he leapt off his chair and rushed out of the kitchen, the heavy steps echoing in the hallway.

“No running in the house,” the former Queen spoke automatically, just loud enough to be heard in the other room, more out of habit than the real reprimand.

“Sorry, Mom,” came the contrite reply as the thunderous steps slowed down. Seeing the boy’s sheepish look as Henry stood in the entry hall beside the stairs, David chuckled, leaving the kitchen and closing the door behind him, his only parting shot a smirk on his lips as he looked back at the women beside the counter.

As the door stopped moving after David, Regina turned to the other woman with a galling smirk as she readjusted the toddler in her arms. “You’ve trained him well,” the haughty tone slipped out of the Queen’s mouth.

Aware that the former Queen was only teasing, yet another thing that was unexpected from the woman, Snow chuckled silently. She didn’t know why she was so surprised though, the young Regina used to do it often in the beginning. “Oh, he has his moments,” the pixie haired woman replied lovingly.

Regina knew that Snow wanted to say something, but probably of the last several times they had talked, the pixie haired woman was hesitating, fiddling with the ear of her empty mug. And the longer she waited, the more nervous the former Queen was getting, the silence rattling her already diminished patience. Snow’s propensity to avoid hard topics, especially the ones that may result in a total blow-up was something not many people knew, seeing the perfect royal and the kind leader in the young woman. But, Regina was one of the few, Emma included, and her mind was conjuring many scenarios and problems that her former nemesis might speak of. Unable to contain her irritation and fear, she rose from her chair and carrying Kyle in her arms, left the kitchen, leaving the startled woman behind. The child in her arms was waking up and reacting to her agitation and after everything she would not place even more stress on the innocent she was taking care of. “David?” her voice carried throughout the halls even though she did not raise it much. As the man appeared on the stairs, seemingly coming out of Henry’s room, she waited for him to come down before she placed the child into his ready hands. “After you are done setting things with Henry, ask him to show you where his old clothes are stored in the basement, and pick a few things for Kyle.” She spoke quietly, her tone not much of an order but a request, while she caressed the boy’s soft blonde hair. Then she glanced up into the kind blue eyes focused onto her face with questions clear in them. “It seems that your wife and I are due another of our talks,” she said, the humor apparent in her sarcastic smirk.

“Don’t hurt her,” David said trying to seem stern and demanding, but the wink he received in reply made him smile. The camaraderie between them was a new and a fragile thing but he could see Regina’s playful side emerging only because of the weird sort of trust between them, one that had been born in realization that they would do everything possible, and impossible for the certain blonde they had in common. Yes, Emma had told him that Regina was much capable of good humored fun if given the opportunity, but only now did he believe the words his daughter had sworn by. When he saw his wife joining them, hesitating by the entrance into the space, an unsure expression on her face, he smiled to the woman, almost unconsciously and Regina smirked at the apparent show of love in the room. She knew that if Emma was nearby, her eyes would shine with the vast amount of happiness, but she would not be caught dead with that ridiculously silly smile on her face. No, she still had some dignity.

“I make no promises,” the brunette witch whispered turning away from him and the boy, as she guided Snow into her study, her face hidden beneath the haughty mask of the Queen, the warmth of her eyes cooling instantly. Wait, no, it wasn’t the Queen; it was Madam Mayor, the politician and master negotiator, not the dark and deadly empress that walked in the room with his wife. As he heard Henry calling for him from upstairs, David shook his head in resignation over the rapid change in Regina’s attitude and joined his grandson in his room.

“Drink, Snow?” Regina asked cordially, her nerves hidden beneath her role of the Mayor and the perfect hostess. She reached for her cider, the crystal decanter filled to the brim with her own brand and poured into two glasses not waiting for the other woman’s response. Offering the glass to the woman, she was briefly reminded of a night, almost two years before, when she had done the same with Miss Swan – Emma. The pixie haired woman was even sitting in the same place that Emma had used then. Shaking her head, she forced the memory away, as the image of the blonde threatened to destroy her already shaky composure. Walking toward the opposite wall from Snow, with the large bookcase filled with books covering the entire side of the room, she waited for the younger woman to start, as she enjoyed the scent of her drink, the familiar apple aroma soothing her somewhat. After a while, the regal woman scowled at the indecisive guest and sighed. “Whatever you think my reaction to your news would be, I promise you I will not endanger anyone who does not pose a direct threat to me or mine,” Regina spoke clearly, deciding to break their stalemate as she was mentally drained, emotionally overwrought and tired beyond any measure and she wanted to get it over with. “Tell me.” No, it was not a plea. The Mayor of Storybrooke did not beg, nor did the Queen, and least of all did she beg Snow of all people. Regina grimaced at her own tone, hiding her expression behind the still full glass of the golden liquid.

“The entire town already knows we are here, and that the Sheriff was left behind with Ruby and Belle,” Snow said and ignored the brunette’s eye-roll as she pushed on. “The news caused some rumbles but they were quickly settled down.”

_ As if this town could ever just settle down, without complaining about something _ . Regina thought sarcastically as she took a sip from the glass, waiting for the rest of it.

“Blue will come to you tomorrow to explain the protection spell and all the things related to it,” Snow added, unaware of Regina’s internal comment.

“Fine,” the Mayor spoke, already aware that her restitution would be followed by spending time with the annoying fairy, but she would take it, if it meant that she would stay in the town relatively safe, and with her children beside her. Then, she narrowed her eyes as she did not believe that was the reason for Snow's reluctance to speak, Regina’s well known detest of the Mother Superior aside.

“I saw Doctor Whale at Granny’s,” the pixie haired royal spoke after several seconds of a tense silence. “Told him to brush up upon his pediatric skills as you would most likely call him in the morning.” After she stopped talking, Snow closed her eyes, tensing, ready for an explosion about meddling into Regina’s personal affairs, but she opened her eyes in surprise when she heard Regina chuckling softly into her drink.

“You should’ve seen your face…” The brunette commented lightly. Yes, Snow did overstep her boundaries but in this instant she would go over it, as Mary Margaret was well aware she had transgressed, and she had done it in Henry’s and Kyle’s interest and no matter how much she hated other people, especially the goody-two-shoes Snow, meddling – she could not ignore that. And, she was going to see Victor in the morning anyways so he might as well be prepared. “I appreciate it,” she murmured, enjoying the widening of the familiar green eyes.

They fell silent as they sipped the cider, Snow drinking it for the first time. She had complimented Regina on it after the first sip but the older woman only hummed in response as she watched the various volumes on the shelves beside her, thinking about Emma’s quest, and what had been left to be done.

“Tomorrow is the twenty second,” Snow spoke after a while, her voice timid and sad. The pixie haired woman was watching the crystal in her hands, not looking toward Regina, as the apparent anguish in her tone denoted for what exact reason she had mentioned the date.

“I know,” Regina said with a heavy sigh. She did know, perhaps even better than Snow. The day she had enacted the curse. The day of her hollow victory. The day Emma had been born. As usual, with the specific prompt the memories of the date Emma had had surged forward, depicting each birthday the Savior had remembered – each one a picture of desolation and broken hopes, sometimes even filled with pain and hunger. But one memory quickly stood out. Emma had been standing over a white counter, a simple cupcake with a blue star candle on top of it and a sadly whispered “happy birthday to me”. Regina knew that had been the night Henry had found her. The Savior had told her about her birthday wish she had made on that day. “It certainly doesn’t help that she is spending it alone again,” the former Queen spoke, anger seeping into her voice, along with the sadness and fear she felt tearing her heart. Her sharp tone drew Snow’s eyes to her. Leaning against the shelved books, Regina looked to her former nemesis and sighed, letting the last of her defenses fall, not able to keep up the pretenses that everything was alright – when the whole situation made her want to raze and lay devastation to the world, as well as to curl up and cry in anguish for her missing True Love. All the pain, the worry, sadness and love flowed into her eyes, breaking the damn that had already weathered so much. The tears spilled onto the exhausted face of the Queen, frozen in the grimace of torment.

Without hesitation, Snow jumped to her feet, rushing to the woman crumbling before her eyes and enveloping her into her welcoming arms, not even considering the oddness of the situation where Regina allowed her to touch and hug the shaking woman. No words were spoken, for any attempt to verbally soothe the Queen in her arms would do nothing but annoy the proud woman. And, any spoken consolation would sound much like false platitudes and meaningless promises, and given their history, snow would not dare do or say anything of the sort.

“I am afraid, Snow,” Regina spoke after a while, her walls reassembling and control over her emotions reestablished but she did not step away from her once-upon-a-time stepdaughter. The soft murmur of the older woman’s husky voice could barely be heard in the quiet room. ”She has been through so much,” she whispered to the pixie haired woman next to her. “And with all that has happened, I am not sure she…” she stopped, her throat closing up as she glanced toward Snow helplessly.

“You know her better than anyone and you know that she is a survivor,” Snow spoke softly, trying to convince herself as well as Regina.

“I do know her,” the former Queen said before she drained her glass in resignation. She did not want to give voice to her thoughts and doubts, and after all Emma had promised that she would come back to her. “But, until the beans are ready, there is nothing I can do to help her.” Leaving her glass on the coffee table, Regina moved away, wiping her face from the remaining tears and changed the subject. “Have you eaten?”

Even if she was surprised by the sudden change in Regina’s demeanor Snow didn’t show it, only shaking her head in response to the question. “I was wondering if we could eat together.”

Regina stopped in her place at the door of the study, surprised by the question, asked in the timid fashion of Mary Margaret. “I”, Regina started but quickly she gathered her wits and nodded curtly as she opened the door. “Organize the boys, I will set the dining room.”

“Regina?” Snow reached for the Queen’s elbow, stopping her exit. “It’s late, and it has been a long day. We can eat in the kitchen, just this once.”

Searching the green eyes obscured by the shadows of the hallway, Regina considered the suggestion and decided that it had merit. Indeed, it was late and she was barely standing on her feet. The idea of cleaning after all of them was not an attractive one. “Fine.”

The supper passed quickly, in quiet conversation shared over the counter as they ate the meals from Granny’s. While they ate, they made plans for the next several days. David softly mentioned to Regina that he would commence his role as acting sheriff in the morning, and that he would see the state the things were in. Snow spoke of going back to her teacher’s position, telling Henry that she would see to his homework and the lessons he had missed. As previously agreed, the boy would have a free week, mostly to readjust to being back in Storybrooke. In all honesty, Regina wanted Henry to have time to talk with Doctor Hopper before doing anything school-wise, her mind picturing Emma’s breakdown all too clearly for her comfort, loath to let it happen to her precious son.

After softly spoken goodbyes and promises to talk the next day, Regina closed the door behind the Charmings, allowing the hush of the night to fall over her. Turning the lights off as she went through the house, she placed various protection spells around the manor, the purple mist immediately dissipating in the air around her, as she was not willing to take any chances, not when she had Henry and Kyle with her. Satisfied with her work, she climbed the stairs and followed the soft murmur of Henry’s voice to her own bedroom. She had sent the boys to prepare for the night as she had been seeing the guests out. She peered into the room, stopping right outside the door, her heart warming at the picture before her.

“Come on, Kyle, you can do it,” Henry spoke, as he was sitting on his mother’s bed, his legs bent in the indian style with his elbows on his knees, as he watched the tyke sitting across from him, leaning on the bunched pillows, position so remarkably similar to Henry’s. “Hen-ry” the older boy enunciated clearly, gesturing at himself. “I am Henry.”

The youngest person in the room looked up at the dark haired boy, the face scrunched in adorable concentration before he babbled something unrecognizable and laughed with glee. Henry chuckled at the enthusiasm and tried again, not noticing Regina leaning on the doorway, watching them with such overwhelming adoration shining from her eyes.

“Eh-wy” the toddler managed, pointing at Henry, making the older boy clap his hands happily. “Ehwy,” again spoke the little one, clapping his hands as well.

“Good boy!” Henry spoke with satisfaction. “Who am I?” he asked, showing again to himself.

“Ehwy.”

“Yes, you are such a smart boy, we are going to show Mommy how smart you are, Kyle. Yes, we are.” Henry tickled the baby, making him erupt in delighted chuckles, he himself joining in. “Where is Mommy?” he asked after a while, wanting to try to teach Kyle another word. Earlier, when he had been downstairs with Kyle, the toddler had managed to garble out something similar to ‘Mommy’ but Henry wanted to try again.

The baby scrunched his face again, looking around before noticing a shadow at the door. After a moment of consideration an outrageous smile appeared on his face and he showed toward the door, clapping his chubby hands with excitement. Again, he managed to babble something representing Mommy with a giggle, making Henry turn so fast he almost fell off the bed, his face showing the pinkish tint of embarrassment as he realized that his mother had been watching him play with his, well, brother, for a while.

Regina pushed off the doorframe, ignoring the happy tear gliding down her face and swooped down onto the boy, engulfing him in the heartfelt hug. “I love you so much,” she whispered into his ear, then she kissed his forehead, before she turned to the tyke who was already reaching for her, still gurgling happily. “Mommy loves you too, Kyle,” she said to the youngling, happy with the twinge of sweet ache passing through her, as she looked at the baby in her arms, realizing that the boy was already much of her son as Henry was. Without much fuss she directed them under the covers, and in time she managed to finish her ablutions the boys were already asleep, leaving her a spot on one side of the bed, with Kyle in the middle. Tenderly smiling as she watched the children sleep she set the alarm for the morning, before tuning the bedside lamp off and making her way under the covers, careful not to jostle the boys.

As her head touched the pillow, the last thought in her mind before she surrendered to the slumbering oblivion was of the blonde Savior, hoping that the woman was keeping herself safe, the love that enveloped her in the image of her True Love easing her into sleep.

In the morning, Regina woke when a small warm hand touched her cheek. Slowly blinking herself to awareness she saw Kyle sitting next to her, as the soft snores emanated from the other side of the bed where Henry had buried his head under the pillow. Smiling at the antics of the older boy, Regina picked the baby and deftly maneuvering into her housecoat, she walked down toward the kitchen. Preparing everything for the coffee and breakfast, she was pleased to note that David had brought up the child seat from the basement along with the clothes for Kyle. Placing the toddler in it, she started on the breakfast, making Henry’s favorite pancake mix along with some of the puréed apples for the youngling. It wasn’t long before the half asleep twelve year old walked into the kitchen, still in his pajamas, his knuckles rubbing his eyes as he yawned.

“Good morning, sweetie,” Regina said softly as he lifted himself up in the chair beside the counter, right aside from Kyle. “Did you sleep well?” the woman asked as she flipped the pancake in the pan, glancing toward the boy.

The boy only murmured in the affirmative as he reached for the juice that Regina had already poured into his glass. After a long sip, he looked at her slightly more awakened, and narrowed his eyes. “Kyle kicks, though,” Henry said, his serious tone almost making Regina chuckle. Instead, her eyes crinkled as she placed the food on his plate.

“So did you,” she added with a soft edge, the one that clearly suggested that she was gently ribbing him, the one that in the past years he had heard only a handful of times.

“Mom?” he spoke after swallowing his bite, the proper eating etiquette that had been thoroughly ingrained in him from his early childhood resurfaced as he was aware that some things his mother would not tolerate no matter the situation. When the brown eyes met his, a quick flicker of something passing through them, he again felt ashamed for the pain he had caused. “Is Emma going to live here, when she comes back?”

Regina lowered her utensils as she directed her full attention toward her son. That wasn’t the question she expected so soon, but it did not matter anyways. “Would you mind?”

“No, that would be awesome!” Henry swallowed another bite and smiled at his mother. “I will finally have my family,” he murmured, almost too soft for Regina to hear. Well, almost. And, she did hear. Not outwardly reacting to his words, she felt such a multitude of emotions engulf her, not able to discern one from the other. She ate methodically, trying to diffuse the torrent in her. After Henry finished with his breakfast, she asked him to bring her the phone, and to go get ready for the day. As soon as she was left alone with Kyle, she sighed and wiped an errant tear that dared to leave its confines. Dialing a number from her memory, she thought back to Henry’s words. Indeed, a family.

“Your Majesty, I have been expecting your call,” the voice filled the line as soon as it was answered. Doctor Whale, in his faux pleasant tone, greeted Regina, recognizing her house number immediately. After all he had been warned by the Royals to behave and prepare to offer his services.

“Doctor,” Regina acknowledged him, her Mayor’s cold veneer slipping effortlessly in place. “Can you see the children this morning?” she trudged on, not willing to waste any more time on the man that would never be her friend.

“Yes, I have a fairly free morning. Whenever you are ready.”

“Well. Thank you,” she spoke through her clenched jaw, breaking off the line, as she pressed the button. Then, after a little thought, she dialed another number, feeling slightly unnerved by the tension she felt. Again, the line connected almost immediately, but the person answering did not know who was calling, most likely because of the commotion heard on the other side.

“Hel-lo? Pongo, down! What’s gotten into you, boy?”

Regina had to smile at the slightly out of breath tone of the man, especially at the mention of the dog which would often greet her happily on the street, regardless of her attitude. The Dalmatian was probably a lot smarter that anyone gave him credit, and he was willing to show it from time to time. Even now, when it was obvious that the man and the dog were wrestling for the phone, the smile only grew bigger.

“Yes, hello?” Finally, Archie managed to ascertain the control of the situation.

“Doctor Hopper,” Regina spoke at last, stopping herself from uttering the more favored nickname for the man, considering it would not be conducive to what she had in mind. She went over the hastily spoken ‘Your Majesty’ and continued on. “As you are probably aware, Henry and I have returned from our… journey and as it was rather… difficult experience, I would like you to talk with Henry about it.”

Even though Archie could hear her mincing her words, keeping it carefully polite and aloof, he could read the underlying request and emotions. She was worried. So without any comment to her behavior and word picking, he gracefully agreed to see Henry, if he was willing, of course, in the afternoon, and afterwards, he would be glad to check upon the new addition to the Mills family.

Not a second after she lowered the phone on to the counter it rang, the sudden shrill tone of it startling the toddler. Luckily, Regina interfered quickly, answering it at once, and going to the boy to soothe him. “Yes?” her voice dripped with coldness and venom, as she tenderly passed her hand through the wisps of the blonde hair.

“It’s me,” came the very familiar tone of the former teacher. “Are we still on for lunch today, at Granny’s?”

“Yes,” Regina answered, this time her voice losing much of its previous icy manner. “Noon?”

“OK, see you there,” Mary Margaret spoke quickly, managing to utter a goodbye before Regina hung up.

When Henry came down, the brunette left him in charge of the toddler, who was already changed and dressed in some of Henry’s old things, while she rushed through her own preparations. Not willing to compromise much, she took one of her standard business suits, the dark grey of it contrasting the ivory silk shirt nicely. Coiffing her hair in her usual do, even though it had grown a bit during their adventure, she looked herself over in the mirror in her bathroom. The Mayor was back, Regina thought mirthlessly, not really wanting to deal with the town just yet.

Her first surprise of the day was when she opened the garage, having noticed the slightly ajar door. Her black Mercedes, in perfectly preserved condition was parked inside, even though Regina clearly remembered leaving it in front of the Town Hall the last time she had driven it. With caution, she opened the driver’s side door and took the envelope addressed to her in clear block letters. Nothing suspicious was in the car, nor was anything missing, so Regina judged it relatively safe to open the note. With a startled gasp, she read the familiar barely legible scrawl of the young waitress/deputy, the words pulling a tentative smile out of her.

> _ Mayor Mills, _
> 
> _ As I assumed you would want this back, I managed to steal it away from the Town Hall parking place (if you have keys, is it stealing?) and park it here. Granny and Archie didn’t want to leave it out for too long as it was attracting some attention from some more disgruntled citizens. Tank is full. Keys are in the ignition. _
> 
> _ Ruby _

Chuckling at the notion of the young werewolf saving her Mercedes from the lynching mob of Storybrooke, Regina took the note and placed it in the pocket of her suit. Turning the key, she smiled again at the welcoming rumble of the trusty car. Pulling out of the garage, she parked it in front, before she went in the house to pick the boys up and her briefcase as she was sure that for a couple of days at least she would have to bring the work home to catch up. And, so, off they went to the Storybrooke General, for the checkup.

The main nurse at the reception only waved her over to the elevators, nodding slightly in greeting. The atmosphere was somewhat stilted as people stopped in their tracks as she walked by with the children, but only after a moment or so of silence, the ordinary murmur of the place resumed, as the tension drained from the air.

Henry looked up at his mother, noticing the rigid set of her shoulders and the emotionless mask on her face he had come to associate with her defensive posture, and he pushed his hand into hers, squeezing it gently, careful not to take it away from Kyle, as Regina was using it to keep the younger boy steady on her hip. The soothing gesture startled the Mayor out of her unease and she smiled down at her boy, her eyes thanking him for his consideration. His gentle green eyes twinkled in the harsh light of the Hospital but it did not detract from the kindness showing in them as he returned her timid smile, adding a light smirk. He came close to her as they went into the elevator, and climbing up on his toes, his nose nuzzled his mother’s cheek as he whispered into her ear. “Be the Queen, I don’t mind.” At the shocked look of the dark orbs, he shrugged, still keeping his hand in hers. “You are afraid of none because you are Emma’s equal, the Queen and the Mayor of this town.”

Finally understanding her son, Regina drew in the strength of the Queen character, presenting the façade of the unaffected monarch, her countenance demanding respect and fear. She almost chuckled when she saw Henry straighten out, pushing his chest out in the Royal fashion, the influence and teachings of his grandparents obvious. So, when the door opened, she strolled out, cutting through the crowd, seemingly not even noticing the people scurrying out of her way. But, she did notice that the tension in her shoulders eased somewhat, reassured with the presence of the children.

She entered the familiar examination room, Doctor Whale already there, waiting for her as he must have been informed of the moment she entered the hospital. Regina felt his eyes fly over her and the boys, the hostility she expected in them absent. He rose from the chair and inclined his head almost respectfully. “Your Majesty, Your Highness,” the doctor spoke softly, as he gestured toward the examination pallet.

“Victor,” Regina replied, as she lowered Kyle on one side of the bed. Henry climbed on the other end, and without invitation he started taking off his clothes, folding them beside him.

Following the young Mills’ example, the doctor did not speak during the examination as he went through the steps of checking the boy’s health. At last, he drew some of the blood into the testing vial for the blood work, and noting his findings into the charts he had been delivered in the meantime, he cleared Henry completely, telling the Mayor that if nothing worrying came in the blood work her son was in prime health. With the same silent consideration, Whale moved onto Kyle not even commenting on his sudden appearance in the town and the apparent attachment to the former Queen.

Regina held Henry to her body while they waited for Whale’s declaration. Not that Henry needed to be held but he had sensed that his mother needed him. Well, perhaps not him exactly, but in the absence of his other mother, he had decided to pick up the mantle of the endless support he knew the blonde Savior was to the Queen, at least while she was gone. He did know that it wasn’t his place, and Regina had lightly rebuked him for it, reminding him that she was the parent in their relationship and that support and unconditional love was her job, but his impish smirk, so much like his blonde mother’s, had told her that she was fighting a losing battle. So she accepted, albeit grudgingly, his silent hug, if only to keep herself from worrying her hands, as they watched the doctor examine the boy.

“You have a reasonably healthy nine month old kid, Your Majesty,” Doctor Whale spoke, as he tickled the still bare foot of the toddler. He turned to look at the anxious Mayor and offered one of his rare smiles. “The only concern I have is that he is not trying to stand up on his own and his lack of discernible words, but all of his other reactions are well within normal range, even exceeding it.”

“Can it be…?” Regina started, but mercifully the doctor interrupted before she was forced to pick words to finish her question.

“With proper stimulation, he will catch up just fine, Regina,” the man said kindly, aware that he needed to soften his usually brusque manner for he recognized the trouble the woman was having with the situation. It would not do to discount the legitimate fears and worries, but he was absolutely sure that with Regina’s tenacity and Henry’s helpfulness, baby Kyle would bloom into a quite chatty boy who would not be able to sit still for a moment. “Even more, I would bet my life on the fact that in six months you would be lamenting for the peaceful days of him being still and quiet.”

“Careful, Victor, I might take you on that bet,” Regina said, dressing the boy up, the sharpness evident only in her eyes as she did not want to add to Kyle’s already shortening temper. Sweeping toddler into her arms, she motioned for Henry to open the door for them. “The moment you get the results, call me,” the Mayor ordered, her tone brooking no complaints from the man, as he only nodded in compliance. Seeing his reply, she strolled out, imperiously, the fact that the baby was in her arms not diminishing the effect in the least, followed by the proud strut of the young prince.

Not long after the hospital, they ended up at Granny’s as it would soon be time for lunch and Regina was unwilling to just spend time walking around, especially not in the windy day that was only getting worse. Claiming a booth in a corner, away from most of the crowds, the former Queen nodded in greeting to the old woman behind the counter who smiled at them, before she continued with her work. “Mom,” Henry spoke as he noticed the glances the people were directing at them, but when he saw her light smirk, he relaxed into the seat opposite to hers. “Mom?” he asked this time. His mother only raised her eyebrow, waiting for him to continue. “Can I see Dad for a bit after Archie?” Henry spoke as his eyes pleaded, as he watched his mother carefully for any sign if he should back off, but apart from narrowing of the dark eyes, she didn’t react to his question. “Please?”

But before Regina could answer to her son’s entreaty a young waitress came to take their order. If the former Queen was surprised to see a princess, a young mother at that, helping out in Ruby’s absence, she did not show it, and as she looked up at the young blonde, she smiled her Mayoral smile to the woman, knowing Ashley was Emma’s friend. But, she did not speak as she did not know what kind of reception to expect from the young Royal.

“Hey, Ella!” On the other hand, Henry had no such qualms.

“Hello, Henry, Madam Mayor,” Cinderella spoke with a wide smile, the light dimming just a little bit as she encompassed the former Queen in her look. “How have you been?” the girl asked, turning back to Henry. Regina directed her eyes down, playing with Kyle, but she perked her ears, wanting to hear his answer as well.

“We miss Emma,” he spoke quietly, however his green eyes pinned the waitress in her place, the look of protective fierceness obvious to the blonde, giving her the clear message that the Mayor was firmly included in the family, and just like his mother, he had a way of making a stand for people he loved, showing the entire crowd in the diner his position. “Other than that, we are fine,” he added, his eyes easing up, as he took up the menu, before he looked at his mother, a light heartwarming smile pulling on his lips.

“Right,” Ashley murmured, as she was reminded that the boy had inherited her friend’s eyes and their expressiveness, along with her protective streak. “Are you ready to order?”

“In a minute,” Regina spoke as she saw the Charmings entering the diner. Catching David’s eyes, she watched them walk over, for a moment, regretting that Henry had chosen to sit across from her, which meant that one of them would come to sit beside her.

So, while Snow spoke with Cinderella inquiring after Alexandra and Thomas, David greeted his grandson and lowered himself beside the dark haired woman, his face coming close to the youngling as he made a face, causing Kyle to giggle. From his lowered position, his blue eyes caught Regina’s and recognizing the question in them, the brunette nodded, transferring the young boy into the lap of the man beside her. “You OK?” David asked softly, whispering into Kyle’s blonde hair, knowing that only the brunette would hear him. Honestly he didn’t expect her to answer him apart from a scorching look reminding him to mind his own business, but when he saw an almost imperceptible shrug of her shoulders the unforeseen reply left him with a strange soft feeling in his chest, the one he, years, even months before would never attribute to the Evil Queen, but now he only smiled in support, his shoulder brushing lightly Regina’s, their relationship still too fragile for something more overt. “When will you go to the office?” he asked, in the normal tone this time, wanting to dispel the sudden uncomfortable silent tension that enveloped them. He might have felt some affection for the True Love of his daughter, but it did not mean that the ages of bad blood disappeared without a lingering trace marring their relationship.

“Sometime today, possibly in the evening.” The answer came immediately, while they watched Snow sit down and talk with Henry, but not paying attention to the words they exchanged. Then, Regina turned to David. “Is something wrong?”

“No, no…” David said quickly, somewhat defensively, immediately causing the former Queen to narrow her eyes. The Prince saw this and sighed in resignation. “I have taken Neal in as my Deputy.”

Regina’s eyes hardened at the mention of Henry’s father, but she knew that it was out of her hands. Emma had asked her to try to let him in, and Henry was obviously willing to spend time with her wayward half-brother. Why not David, too? “You are the Sheriff, David.”

“Acting Sheriff,” the man remarked, not willing to assume the mantle completely because there was only one person to whom it belonged, and in the time of her being away, he would only do the duty of the Sheriff, never becoming one.

“Even so,” Regina acknowledged his intent with the interruption with a gentle smile, “it is your department and how you manage it is on you.” She leaned back, turning slightly toward him. “You only have to make sure that your employees do their job and that you stay within your budget.”

With those words, Regina closed the subject, and in that moment Ashley came again to take their orders. The light conversation flowed over the light meal, as they talked about Emma and the various funny things the blonde Savior had done in the town and beyond, sharing anecdotes and light hearted stories, laughter often coming from them.

Once or twice, Granny herself joined in the merriment, with a story of her own of the then newly appointed Sheriff, recognizing the occasion for what it was, having been there when Snow had gone to labor. Her sharp hearing, the remainder from the cursed bite, allowed her to follow the various adventures of the Savior, the daughter of the woman she often considered her own granddaughter. And now, as the old matron of the diner watched the former White Princess share a soft smile with the woman that had been her bitter enemy for the most of her adult life, Granny understood that something big had happened to them on their journey, something so profoundly life-changing, something that Snow had omitted from her storytelling the day before. As she listened on, and watched, the grey haired woman saw that of all of the people at the table, the most changed one was the one that all once feared. And, Granny knew only one thing that could make such an impact on a person.  _ Good for her _ , the old woman thought as she prepared the one-layer cake to bring it out for the celebrating party.  _ It was about time _ .

As the lunch party was winding down, David felt his phone vibrate. Taking it out, he recognized the number, answering it immediately, and the others knew that it was the work interrupting. As he stood up from the table, he placed the young boy on his seat gently, passing lightly through his hair. With hurried goodbyes to the people around the table, he rushed out, leaving them still in the booth.

“Well, I guess I should leave as well,” Snow spoke lightly, as she patted Henry’s shoulder. “I’ll bring the assignments, or send them somehow later today, alright?” she said to her grandson and receiving a nod, she then turned to her former grandmother. “I heard you tell David you’d go to the office later.” When Regina only raised her eyebrow, gesturing her to go on, Snow shrugged. “As I am finished for today, if you need a babysitter, I am offering my services.”

Regina cocked her head to a side, considering the offer. She did have a lot to do, and she wanted to start the research for Emma’s ‘little project’, and the mausoleum was not a place for Kyle. But, on the other hand she did not want to part from him just yet. Not when the goodbyes she had spoken the day before were so fresh in her mind, but holding on to her children was not healthy and fair to the boys either. Then, she looked at her former nemesis and saw a deep sadness shining out of the green eyes. With understanding, Regina sighed in acceptance. The woman across from her was suffering as well, perhaps not to the levels she did, but the separation from her daughter must have been very difficult on Snow, especially after the choice she had made just before the curse, sending the freshly born child into the unknown. So, the decision was already made, Regina realized. She would take the offer, and she would arrange for Henry’s wish as well, for they all needed comfort to soothe the pain that the missing blonde had left behind. Not that she blamed Emma for it, far from it, but it didn’t make the separation easier, and it was only the second day. She honestly didn’t know how to cope with the next two months. But, then, she did know, didn’t she? She thought to herself as she looked into the two pairs of green eyes looking at her from the other side of the table. With their support.

“Henry,” Regina spoke softly, as she looked down at her watch, noticing that the time to the boy’s appointment with Doctor Hopper was coming closer. “I will drop you off to Archie’s, and then your father will collect you afterwards.” She saw his eyes glimmering with somewhat subdued happiness and she realized that he had controlled his reaction in deference to her feelings toward the man. Loving her boy for the gesture even more, she sighed self-deprecatingly. She really had to let go of her anger toward the man, if only for her son. “I will let him know. You can spend your time with him, but I want you in the house before dark.” As she saw the quick calculation pass over Henry’s face, judging that the hour was not enough, she nodded, continuing further. “You can invite him over, but you must be inside before dark.”

“Yes, mom,” the boy spoke happily, as he smiled at her widely, the thanks clearly apparent in his face.

Then, Regina turned to Snow. “I will take you upon your offer. I have some of Kyle’s things in the car, and you can join them,” Regina gestured toward Henry with her hand, “when they come to the house.” With another sweeping look she watched her son as he finished the soda she had allowed him to order. “I will try to get home before you go to bed.”

“I’ll stay with them until you do,” Snow added, noticing the uneasy look in Regina’s eyes and the obvious battle between spending her time with the children and the work of a mayor and also working on solutions for Emma’s mission. Regina only nodded in gratitude. Snow almost chuckled at the thought of the former Evil Queen thanking her out loud in the full diner of people, here for their lunch. The imagined startled and shocked faces would be priceless to be seen, but it was too early for it, despite its entertaining value. The Mayor was not ready for that, and honestly, neither was she. All the cordiality between them was still feeling more than a little weird and stilted, but they both pushed forward, stubbornly, for Emma.

At that moment, a dark haired man entered the diner, going straight to the bar. As the Mayor was turned toward the door, she was the only one who noticed his entrance, and she almost rolled her eyes. Almost. It was like some higher power had an interesting sense of humor today. When their similar eyes connected, she moved her hand, hidden by the table and Kyle, gesturing to the man to stay where he was. When he picked up his coffee and nodded, turning to the counter once more, Regina picked the youngest member of their party and, rising from the table, she waited for Snow and Henry to do so as well.

Giving Kyle to Snow, Regina straightened up, reaching for her purse, pressing down her slacks with her free hand. Every inch the imposing Mayor she was, she smiled at her son. “Go, wait for me by the car. I am going to take care of the bill.” Her sharpened look stopped any complaints from Snow, and with a surprise she watched as the pixie haired woman nodded and smiled, as she took the boys out. Then, Regina walked to the counter, pulling out several bills from her purse, catching Granny’s eyes. “If I could have the rest of the cake for take away, that would be great,” the woman spoke softly as she waited for the old diner keeper to open the register. Granny only nodded in acknowledgement, rushing off to pack it up. Regina moved to the man who watched her with weariness in his dark eyes, but with no animosity in them. “Mister Cassidy.”

“Regina,” Neal said in reply, waiting for the reason the woman asked him to stay behind. He had seen them in the booth but not wanting to provoke his half-sister in the wake of Emma’s absence, he had not approached.

“Mister Cassidy, Henry asked for you to spend some time with him this afternoon.” Pleased that she was not interrupted or that the man in front of her showed none of the gloating reaction to the news, she continued. “He will be waiting for you in front of Doctor Hopper’s office at four, perhaps several minutes earlier. The only thing I ask is to escort him to the house before dark.”

“Understood.” Neal sipped his coffee before he lowered the cup down. “Will you be at home at that time?” he asked, somewhat formally, understanding Regina’s need for distance.

“In all likelihood, no, but Snow might be. You are free to stay with him for a while, but I would ask you to respect my privacy.”

“Of course.”

When Granny placed the clear plastic box on the counter next to Regina, the Mayor pushed it toward Neal. “You can partake this with Henry, but don’t let him eat more than a slice.” After that, she moved away and left him to look after her with confusion, before he looked down at the cake.

“What was that about?” he gave voice to his confusion, not really expecting an answer, but the diner keeper chuckled at his muddled expression.

“A peace offering, I suppose,” the woman spoke as she brought out the plates for Ashley to take them. “It was for Emma’s birthday,” Granny said before going to the kitchen, leaving the man to his thoughts.

Regina unlocked the Mercedes and took out the bag she had packed that morning and slung it over Snow’s shoulder. “I have my phone on me, if anything happens – call me.” With short greetings, they parted ways, Regina driving to Henry’s appointment, and Snow walking to her loft. After a short drive, Henry rushed out of the car and with an exuberant shout of love to Regina he went into the building, leaving her outside. She had asked him in the car if he wanted her inside with him, but he timidly had asked her to let him talk with Archie first. She had granted him that, recognizing his need to settle his thoughts first, before sharing them with her. So, with a heavy heart she drove to the Town Hall.

After working on various documents and project propositions, glancing through most of them to perceive the amount of work she had in front of her, Regina picked up the most pressing ones, packing them into her briefcase. When she had entered, she had spent several minutes remembering the last moments she had spent in her office before then, also seeing Emma’s memories tinged with worry and fear, and it had taken her more than several moments to settle down enough to be able to work through the papers on her desk. Now, accustomed to being there again, she left the office, turning off the lights, as well as placing the magical seal on her door, along with activating the alarm. It was only a precaution but she had decided not to take any chances, and she sincerely hoped Emma was following her example. As she walked down the steps, she remembered the fire and how the Savior had brought her out. A soft smile showed on her face as she remembered the flex of strong muscles holding her up. Even then Emma had been her knight in shining armor, hidden beneath that much despised (but secretly loved) red leather jacket.

As she walked toward her black car she considered the idea that had appeared in her head earlier in the office while she had been looking around, immersed in the memories of the troubled past, the thought of her mother and father sharp in her mind. With an aggravated sigh she changed her direction, leaving the car in its parking spot as she started walking to the town’s cemetery, slinging the leather strap of her briefcase over her shoulder. It was more of a compulsion than a desire for her, created out of habit and need for something familiar, even in its pain, to ground her in her new situation. She needed something certain and unchanged – and the fact that both of her parents were dead, both killed by her own hand, was an ultimate truth that remained the same despite all the changes she had gone through.

Her heels clicked on the cemented pathway leading to the parcel of ground where her family mausoleum stood, the lone structure standing out among the spare trees, and Regina sighed at her need to ground herself in this particular way, thinking herself morbid and somewhat insane, but she pushed on, stepping off the path on to the well maintained grass as she walked to the metal door of the mausoleum. Closing her eyes, she took a deep gathering breath and in her hand appeared three separate bouquets, two of fresh white tulips and one of dark red, almost black, roses, still enveloped in the swirling colors of her magic. The flowers were part of the ritual after all. She reached for the door but the trace of a strange, bubbly sweet magic made her stop. Recognizing it, Regina frowned at the presence of the fairy magic at her own refuge, but as it was only a sensor spell, she disregarded it and pushed the door open, entering inside.

The last time she had been there had been when she had found the love spell among her mother’s things. The following days had been too troublesome for her to visit, and while she had been away, first to Neverland, then to the Enchanted Forest, no one breached the door of her sanctuary, and the absence of care was obvious in the soft tendrils of spider webs and dust inside. Not even moving a finger, Regina wished the dust and mud away and the crypt was swept with the pulse of her magic, cleaning the dirt away.

“Hello, Daddy,” Regina whispered softly as she placed her hand onto the coffin, keeping it there for a silent moment, before opening the pass to the lower level. Following the stairs down, she separated the dark bouquet from the rest and placed it on to the sarcophagus standing in the center of the room.

“Mother,” the greeting murmur escaped the former Queen’s lips, no more holding the timid edge that it had used to whenever Regina would address the witch. Again, she placed her hand on the top of the polished wood, lowering her head in the quiet rumination. She did not offer a prayer for her mother, nor did she direct her thoughts toward the deceased woman, as if having a conversation with her, as she often had done with her father. No, she stood there in silence, thinking about Emma and the blonde’s acceptance of Regina’s feelings toward her parents, her love and need to grieve for them, even though one and perhaps both were undeserving of it. And, of course, the very words Emma had defeated Cora with those months before.

_ Love is strength _ .

And, indeed it was, Regina considered, thinking about all the dangers they had surpassed on their journey, and she knew that only with the power of that bond they had survived. Putting someone first, to one’s possible and, in their case likely probable detriment, to help them, to save them… The three of them, Henry included, proved Emma’s words true in so many ways, time and time again.

After a while Regina stepped away and entered the nook where Cora’s possessions resided, going straight to the chest filled with the magical books. After a quick contemplation, she picked two volumes promising enough and placed them into her briefcase, turning to leave the crypt, not sparing the last look to the elevated casket, not wishing to dwell there a second longer than necessary.

When she climbed up, one swipe of her hand returned the marble sarcophagus in place, and Regina lowered one of the tulip bunches on the plaque of her father’s name. “Bye, Daddy,” Regina murmured softly before she left the mausoleum, closing the heavy door behind her.

In the darkness, she noticed a person standing slightly away, remaining in the shadows of the evening, and the brunette sighed in irritation, her teeth gritting together, as her magic supplied the identity of the intruder. However, the former Queen made no move to acknowledge them, as she moved toward the specific tombstone. She focused on the letters carved in the polished marble as she lowered the last bouquet of tulips on the ground in front of it. Reaching to the cold stone, she traced the indentation with the gentle regard, feeling the guilt and remorse for this one person much more acutely than for the rest.

It was still fresh in her mind, and Emma’s side of the events compounded to the emotions swirling in her as she read the letters engraved into the lifeless stone.  **_Sheriff Graham Humbert_ **

Paying silent respect to the man, and quietly asking for forgiveness, she felt a lone tear slip through her firm grip of her composure. Regina wiped it away, straightening up, and started walking toward the path, knowing that her visitor would join her even without the invitation. Soon enough, the short woman dressed in dark blue matched Regina’s steps as they walked toward the town.

“Blue,” the Mayor all but spat at the woman, perversely enjoying the fact that the fairy godmother had trouble keeping up with Regina’s purposefully quick strut. Not only that she did not wish to talk to the little meddler, Regina also wanted to get home to her children, escaping the morose thoughts that threatened to grip her too tightly.

“Your Majesty,” the Mother Superior spoke sharply, but not managing to imitate Regina’s iciness, even though she heartily tried. She loathed the idea that she had to cooperate with the Evil Queen, reformed or not, even if it was her own idea to involve the Mayor in such a way. But, past events, the dangers that the outsiders brought was posing more threat to the town than the vengeful sorceress. And, there was the Savior, planted firmly in the Queen’s corner, and with the blonde’s insistence, even the White Queen could be swayed to accept Regina as a reformed member of the community. Anticipating such an event, Blue had concocted the plan, counting on the True Love bond between the Queen and the Savior to keep the brunette mostly on the side of the good. “We need to talk.”

“That is the reason you haunt me?” Regina scoffed, not even sparing a glance toward the short woman. “Tomorrow,” she added firmly.

“Your Majesty, you need to be familiarized with the…” Blue started almost reaching for the taller brunette, her voice taking on the preaching lilt, but Regina stopped in her tracks, her dark eyes piercing the fairy with cold ferocity.

“I will, tomorrow.” The sharp pronunciation tinged with the edge of command and promise of magical backlash made the smaller woman nod in acquiescence, as it would do no good to push the angry Queen even more, for it would only result in an outright showdown of power. They walked in silence for a bit before Regina stopped again, fixing the position of the strap on her shoulder. “Did you know?”

Blue just waited for clarification, as the soft, almost unsure voice from the former Evil Queen surprised her. And, that question could be answered in too many ways in regards to Regina’s past.

“That he is my father?” Regina added, avoiding looking at the other woman, not willing to expose herself even more to the fairy. There was no need for further elucidation.

“Yes.”

Regina had expected such an answer but it did not mean that the confirmation did not shake her. “Is that why you never helped me?” she asked, even though a little voice in her mind kept screaming at her to disengage from the conversation and that it did not matter either way, that Blue had seen too much of her and that further openness would lead only to her downfall.

“You weren’t ready to be helped then,” Blue spoke softly, a pleased smirk unconsciously passing her lips, as the slightly high pitched voice took on pompously pious edge, as she ignored the enraged scoff from the Mayor.

“I was a child!”

“Of two most destructive parents set to reach their goals no matter the cost. Nothing we could have done would have changed your destiny – their grip over you was too strong.”

“You could’ve at least tried,” the former Queen spit through her clenched teeth as she turned away, walking down the main street toward her car, too angry to even consider waiting for the fairy’s reply. Mercifully, the woman had not followed her for she wouldn’t have been responsible for her actions if that insipid self-righteous meddler sprouted any more of the justifying patronizing platitudes. Stewing in her anger and indignation, all the while she kept control over her magic, she let her mind shout the most crude curses toward the small woman.  _ Destiny _ , Regina scoffed again, fully understanding Emma’s rage at the concept and people’s blind belief in it.

Busy despising the fairy, she almost barreled over a man in a tweed vest. Not even stopping to look at the person, she murmured an apology, and moved away wishing to already be at her home with the boys, and missing Emma fiercely.

“Regina!” the man called after her, pulling the leashed dog with him, as the dog barked along. ”Regina, wait!” Archie spoke loudly, hurrying after the woman, his voice piercing the furious swirl of thoughts in the brunette’s mind, drawing her to the present. When she heard the happy bark of the Dalmatian, she turned to the pursuing man and stopped her brusque walk.

“Doctor Hopper,” Regina addressed the man neutrally, but her irritation was bleeding through.

“Regina, is everything all right?” the kind man asked softly, as he drew near, his head bowed deferentially toward her.

“Yes, everything is fine,” the Mayor answered curtly, preparing to start walking again, as her car was only a block away, but the soft whisper of the man stopped her once more.

“Would you like to join me up for a cup of tea?” Archie gestured toward his office, his eyes imploring. “We have just finished our evening walk, and it is a chilly evening,” he offered unassumingly. He saw that the woman was on the fence with the idea, her desire to hear of his opinion of Henry warring with her wariness of him. And, he smiled when he saw her nod sharply at him, gesturing him to lead the way.

They climbed the stairs to the office, and as he let Pongo off the leash, he welcomed the woman inside. As she was already familiar with the outlay of the room, he left her to settle down by herself as he placed a water filled kettle on the burner and prepared the pot along with the china cups. Pretending to be busy with the tea he surreptitiously watched the woman as she sat down on the couch, patting the seat next to her lightly, knowing that Pongo would obey immediately and place his snout into her lap, as he had used to do during her therapy, providing a distraction and a calming influence for the former Queen. The mild tempered man could not see her face, but he noticed the ramrod straight back and tense shoulders, knowing that all the precarious trust they had built had been destroyed the moment he had shared information with the Sheriff.

He brought the pot and the cups on the platter and lowered it to the small coffee table in front of Regina, as he took his usual seat in the armchair. Noticing that the woman was watching his every move, not volunteering anything, he knew that he was to try to fix the broken confidence between them.

“First, allow me to apologize for the breach of your trust. I know it is not an excuse but I had only the best intentions in my mind. I still do.”

“You shared personal information to my then rival and enemy,” Regina spoke scathingly, as she pinned the man with her gaze. He had known how hard for her it had been to open up.

“I understand that you don’t feel comfortable here anymore, Regina, and I am deeply sorry for my part in it.” He leaned forward to pour the tea, and to bring the cup to the woman. “However,” he continued earnestly, “I promise you that this will be a safe place from now on.” As she took a sip of his special blend, he waited for her to lower the cup before continuing. “Whatever is spoken here, it will not go beyond these walls unless I have your explicit permission,” he added, and with that he closed that subject, knowing that Regina would not ever consider opening up to him this soon. So, he leaned back, taking his tea with him, letting the silence fall over them, remembering that sometimes, the quiet could be quite healing, sometimes even more than any words he could say.

Regina could feel his eyes watching her as she sipped the cooling tea. She had seen in Emma’s memories that he had indeed tried to help her, albeit in his somewhat misguided way. And, no matter what, throughout the ages he had always tried to find the best way of dealing with the Evil Queen, pleading with Snow and Charming to be lenient to her, even being the one to warn the Savior of the lynching mob when the Curse had broken. So, the Mayor decided to honor Emma and to offer acceptance of his apology, however reticent. She lowered her tea cup and locked eyes with him, and when she had his full attention, she nodded, making the meaning of her look clear as she clasped her hands in her lap. “Well,” she spoke, before she placed her hand on Pongo’s head, scratching him lightly behind his ears.

“I offer to be there for you, as a friend,” Archie said gently, happy with the taciturn forgiveness.

“Are you?”

“A friend?” Receiving the clarifying nod, he went on, leaning slightly forward. “Perhaps not in the traditional sense of the world, as you still see me as your enemy. But, yes, I consider myself your friend.”

“I see,” the woman spoke, not really comfortable with the idea, but Archie was Emma’s and Henry’s friend, and surely she could count on him to help her with the problems that might arise in the future. However, for her, it was too soon to accept the offer, the sense of betrayal still strong. In need of changing the subject, she cleared her throat. “You have talked with Henry,” she said simply, letting him answer it as he saw fit, for she would not press him to ignore her son’s privacy, even though it did cause a slight pang in her heart that her boy did not confide in her immediately, as he had used to do in his childhood.

“Yes, we have covered many subjects, albeit only on the surface. He did share some information with me that he felt it was important for our future talks, but I am assuring you that, whatever secrets he shares with me, they will stay secret on my part.”

Such worded notification made clear that the doctor had been informed of Emma’s and hers connection, making him the only person in Storybrooke, apart from the ones who had come two days before, who definitely knew the status of the former Evil Queen and the Savior. And, the kind smile in the doctor’s eyes spoke of his approval and well wishing. “Do you think this is too much for him?”

“You have a very resilient boy, Madam Mayor. But, I am certain that if we all contribute, he will come out of this safely and healthy.”

After that reassurance, Regina only spent several more minutes in Hopper’s presence, making the schedule for Henry, and inquiring for advice with Kyle, before she left the good doctor in his office. Quickly, she got home, pleased that she had reached the mansion before Henry’s bedtime. She opened the door, listening for the sounds in the house, trying to ascertain where her boys were. She didn’t want to call out in case Kyle was already asleep, so she took off her heels and her coat, leaving them at the entrance, along with her briefcase and car keys, before she walked toward the light hearted laughter in the living room. She recognized Kyle’s giggle as she felt her lips curve into an unbidden smile. She leaned into the room and stopping beside the door she saw Henry playing with his old toys, animating Kyle with intricate role play, as Neal sat beside them serving as an effect sounds player, grumbling and clucking, imitating the sounds of machines and horses, while Henry spoke. Snow was sitting on the sofa, watching them as she drank something out of a cup.

Just in that moment, Kyle giggled again and clapped his hands. “Ehwy, Mommy,” the boy garbled happily and clapped his hands again as he tried to reach Henry. Regina felt her heart melt at the words the blonde boy managed to pronounce, and she waited by the door to see if he was going to say anything else. But, not a second passed when the toddler started pointing toward her, yelling Mommy and Ehwy once more, and drawing attention to her. As soon as Henry noticed her watching them, his face spread into a blinding smile as he placed down the rubber toys he had in his hands and sat back on his haunches.

“Hey, Mom,” he said with unrestrained glee as he motioned her over.

Ignoring the adults in the room for the time being she walked further into the living room and as she reached the children Regina lowered herself down in a crouch, still managing to look elegant and imposing. She kissed Henry’s forehead in greeting, pushing the hair of it gently before she moved to Kyle. Kissing the youngest boy’s temple, she sat down beside him, pulling the toddler in between her legs, causing the baby to chortle a laugh, tickled by her grasp. “Hello sweetie,” she said gently, addressing both of the children beside her. “How was your afternoon?” she then asked Henry, trying to remember the last time she had been in this room, just playing with her son.

The seemingly innocent question made the atmosphere in the room change immediately, achieving a somewhat tense feeling to it. The boy she shared with the Savior suddenly had a guilty, but yet defiant expression on his face, looking adorable to his mother. His eyes failed to connect with Regina’s; instead they were darting between Snow and Neal with insecurity as his hands absentmindedly played with the nearby rubber rabbit’s ears. As seconds passed, the boy finally lifted his eyes to the dark ones of his mother, light blush brought on by discomfort showing on his cheeks. Henry opened his mouth to say something, but it looked like he had changed his mind and closed them, once again lowering his eyes, focusing onto the rabbit in his hands.

“Henry?” Regina said softly, her voice gentle but with the firm edge of authority underneath. The tone she had used in his early childhood, offering him security and love no matter what happened and whatever he might have done, but also telling him that the truth was a far better choice than a lie told in an attempt to cover up the wrong doing on his part. “What is it?” she asked, as the boy kept his silence in front of her, acknowledging finally the man across from her and Snow on the couch. She did not think that it was something necessarily bad, but Henry was still unsure of how she would react to some things, as their communication had been downright hostile before he had gone to live with the Charmings. The only way for the boy to lose his fear would be only with time as he went on rebuilding his relationship with Regina.

“He wanted to help you,” Snow started, her unsure and timid tone reminiscent of the cursed school teacher that made Regina blink in surprise. She hadn’t heard that tone from Snow in quite a while. “The two of them,” Snow gestured toward Henry and Neal, who also held sheepish expression on his face, much like some overgrown child, keeping his silence – letting “the adults” deal with the situation. Regina put every ounce of her restraint to keep her face from showing the much needed sneer when she looked at the man that turned out to be her half-brother. “They put together the crib from the basement and placed it in the guest room upstairs.”

Regina looked back at her son and waited for him to meet her eyes before she winked at him as she smiled, easing his anxiety. “The one Emma wanted for Kyle?” she asked, remembering their talk in front of the fireplace in the village hall two-three days before.

“Yeah,” Henry finally spoke, relieved that his mother was not angry with him. Even though he hadn’t done anything that would break any rules she had for him, he had brought together the crib without asking her first. However, as she seemed pleased with him, he relaxed and came closer to her sliding on his knees until he was close enough to lean into her side. “But, we didn’t move the rest of the things.” Henry shrugged lightly when she silently asked him why not by raising her eyebrow and inclining her head. “I thought you would want to talk to Marco first.”

“Clever boy,” Regina spoke, praising him, instantly remembering the time when Mary Margaret Blanchard had spoken those same words, two years before. How much have their lives changed since then? But, Regina couldn’t deny the fact that, despite that Emma was away, her life had turned for the better. “We’ll see to it during the week.”

Ruffling his hair gently, as she had seen Emma do often, she smiled lovingly at him. “Thank you.” He smiled back, but he was not able to cover the yawn that distorted his grin. Regina looked at the clock on the mantle and saw that it was somewhat late in the evening, right about Henry’s bedtime. However, before she could mention anything to the still yawning boy, Henry rose by himself and offered his good night kisses to Snow and a hug to Neal before he went upstairs to get ready for bed. Regina knew that he had skipped her on purpose because he would wait for her to tuck him in later.

And, as she watched the boy climb the stairs, she accepted Neal’s silent offer of help to get to her feet. The toddler in her arms was already sleeping, seemingly having waited for her to settle down, his head on her shoulder bone and his small hand holding one of the lapels of her shirt. Softly murmuring to Snow and Neal to wait for her, Regina went upstairs herself and, with quick and practiced ministrations learned all those years ago when she had done the same with Henry, she put Kyle to sleep, smiling at him as he slipped off into dreamland without much fuss.

Covering him with a blanket that Henry or Snow probably set aside for the toddler, Regina saw the pair of baby monitors beside the crib. Pleased by Henry’s forethought, for he was the only one who knew where she had kept the small two way radios, she set one in the corner of the crib turning it on, and the other she placed in her pocket, before she kissed the sleeping child once more and walked out turning off the light, leaving the door ajar, the hallway light enough to keep the dark away.

As it had taken her quite a while to change the drowsy baby, she knew that Henry was done with his preparation. Knocking on his door, she waited for his murmur of permission before she went in. The brunette found her son already in bed, the bedside lamp turned on, as he covered himself with the quilt. Regina walked to him and sat in the spot he made for her, moving slightly aside. She smiled at his ruddy, freshly showered face, and the slightly wet hair on his neck.

“How was your day?” Regina asked again, aware that she had not gotten the answer before.

“Fine. I don’t know…” Henry shrugged as he looked up at his mother, sadness filling his eyes. “I talked to Archie about what happened since Greg and Tamara had taken me. And, I told him about you and Emma.”

Not willing to allow the unsure expression on his face a second longer, Regina took Henry’s hands into her own and willed him to listen. “Henry, if you think that talking about it with Archie will help, you can tell him anything you want.”

“But, I thought you didn’t want people knowing about the True Love stuff…” the boy said softly.

“Archie is obligated to keep the secret. But, let me worry about that.” Regina smiled at him gently, and squeezed his hands. “You just need to worry about getting caught up with school and dealing with the kidnapping.”

“And Emma…” Henry added, yawning again.

“And Emma,” Regina said with a loving smile, knowing that telling Henry not to worry about his birth mother, when she herself was uneasy with the separation, would only bring a frown on his sleepy face. “Thank you for thinking of Kyle today,” she added softly, as she lifted the quilt to let the boy slide down into the proper position in bed.

“S’ok,” Henry mumbled, turning to the side, as Regina covered him. “He is my brother, right?” he said, his eyes already closing. The brunette only kissed him, overwhelmed by his blatant acceptance and support of adopting the youngling. “G’night.”

“Good night, sweetheart.” Kissing the visible part of his forehead, Regina enjoyed the image of her boy in his bed once more, right where he belonged. Quietly she walked out, closing the door behind her, leaving his night light on, just in case. Once more she checked upon Kyle and satisfied that everything was in order, she came down.

She heard Snow moving around in the kitchen, humming a familiar tune, the one she herself had introduced to the young girl she had been in charge of once upon a time in a different life. Passing by the living room, she saw Neal putting away the toys, and without much deliberation Regina continued on to the kitchen, knowing that her wayward brother would join her soon enough.

“Have you eaten?” Snow asked her the moment the older brunette walked in, glancing up at her. When Regina only shook her head tiredly, the pixie haired woman only picked up a plate she had placed in the fridge earlier and reheating it in the microwave, she made another cup of tea, placing it in front of her once enemy.

“Make yourself at home, Snow,” Regina said softly, the harsh edge obvious in her sarcastic tone, but she accepted the tea nonetheless. The younger brunette smiled easily knowing that testy greeting from the older woman was brought on more by Regina’s tiredness and anxiety than the real resentment over her presence. Placing the plate of remaining casserole in front of Regina, Snow sat across from her and leaned her head onto her hands, her elbows resting on the clean marble. “How were they?” the eating woman asked between the bites, uneasy with the silence enveloping them.

In soft tones, while Regina ate, Snow told her of the afternoon, soon joined by Neal and his side of the story. It didn’t take long for both of them to tell the worried mother that her children had been well behaved and good the entire time they were with their respective keepers. Then, Regina outlined her working week, and agreed to let the other two pitch in whenever she needed someone watching the children. After that, the deputy bid them good night, leaving them and seeing himself out. Snow saw Regina watch him from the corner of her eyes but she mentioned nothing knowing that both of them were trying in their own ways to establish some trust. Neal was doing by being dependable and obeying Regina’s rules, and Regina in turn was letting the man spend time with his son and was actively curbing her need to disparage her kin, which was sometimes downright hard as she had her own resentment and animosity compounded with Emma’s feelings of uneasiness and betrayal.

“Can you reach out to Anton tomorrow morning and tell him I would like to meet him?” the Mayor said, the question lacking the proper intonation, making it more of a suggestion and order than the inquiry, as she cleared her plate and utensils, putting them away in the proper places. “You can give him my phone number, it would make arrangements easier.”

“Of course,” Snow spoke, rising from her place. “I’ll leave you to your rest, then,” she said softly as she turned away to leave but the quiet disagreeing murmur stopped her.

“No rest for the wicked just yet.”

“Regina?” Snow turned back, looking at the woman with concern, just in time to see the Mayor close her eyes in tired exasperation, regretting she had spoken anything. When she opened her eyes, the regal brunette waved her off, the tiredness visible only in the shadowed dark eyes, the mask Regina had hidden under for so many years as the Mayor slamming over her features.

“You are leaving,” the woman reminded with some coldness, albeit the perfect welcoming smile showed up on Regina’s lips, making it clear to Snow that they were not good enough of friends, or whatever they were now for the younger brunette to stay and witness Regina’s vulnerability. “I’ll talk to you tomorrow,” she added as she passed the younger woman, leading her to the door. “Good night, Snow,” she said, opening the door and seeing the woman out.

“Good night, Regina,” Snow said softly, before she turned away contemplating the strange twists of fate that had brought them to this day, when exactly thirty years before they were bitter enemies. She did not begrudge Regina her brusque and harsh moments, Gods know she was used to it from Emma, and over the time spent in Neverland and the Enchanted Forest, Snow had come to an understanding that the woman she once called her savior and her daughter were more alike than she had thought at first. Shaped by pain and loss, they both had become the prominent forces – one for Light and the other for the Dark, the affiliation only determined by an outsider influence. Snow recognized the fact that her daughter could have turned much worse that the woman she once had called the Evil Queen, and also that Regina – without all the damning meddling of powerful beings in her life would have been the shining paragon of good, the kind and loving adventurous woman, willing to help and risk her life for others, even strangers. It was only fitting for Regina to find her own personal Savior in Emma, after a lifetime of pain and tormenting fury. And for her brave and aloof daughter only the person who could understand the miseries of the world, who endured the pain and betrayal from the people closest to her, would do, because only such a person would be able to understand Emma’s need to hide from emotions and the stifling confines of intimacy.

As she walked home in the cold evening, her chin tucked into her coat, Snow realized that she fully supported the union between her former enemy and her child. Yes, they were each other’s True Loves and nothing she could do about it, but she had expected some remaining resentment for Regina having another way of taking away her daughter from her. And, the sting of dejection as Emma would trust her greatest enemy before her own mother. However, with the startling insight, Snow found that there was nothing of such feelings in her for her former stepmother or for Emma. No, she had seen glimpses of the young woman who had saved her life more and more often, and she could not find it in herself to dislike the cause of it, or the way it had come about.

What she did feel bitter about was the absence of her daughter that she did feel profoundly, and no doubt the woman she had just left did as well. She understood the underlying motives and reasoning for Emma’s heroic act, but, in a bout of pure selfishness, she admitted that it felt wrong, and she could not help but feel aggrieved with the fates that had decided that one more separation was in order…

As Snow entered the place she lived in with David, she greeted the acting sheriff with a gentle hug and murmured hello, allowing the soothing touch of her husband to allay her worries and grievances, at least for the night. With a passing thought she considered the woman on the other side of the town who had no such luxury, before she surrendered to sleep.

As she closed the door, Regina enacted the protective wards on the place and taking her briefcase, she entered her study, getting ready for an arduous evening, one of many she would need to endure in order to catch up with the enormous demand at work, along with her research for the operation Gate, as her son lovingly had dubbed it.

Dealing with the documents from her office first, Regina sat behind her desk, carefully reading and filling out the forms she needed, approving and signing where necessary, conscientiously working through files she had brought home, falling with ease into the rhythm of administrative work, but aware of the passing hours. Often she would check the baby monitor for any movements in Kyle’s room, but as the child slept peacefully through the night, Regina did not feel the need to interrupt her work. Only when the lightening of the sky heralded another day, she rose from her desk, rolling her shoulders wincing in discomfort when stiffened muscles would twinge with the movement. As she walked into the kitchen, ready to start another day, she considered the fact that she had not yet been able to check the books she had brought over from the vault, the amount of the pressing documents taking all her time.

After a jaw cracking yawn, she decided to take a nap, just until the time when the children would rise. Those two hours would tide her over the next day, and perhaps the exhaustion would keep the dreams away. Barely managing to set the alarm on her phone beside her bed, she divested herself of her clothes and slipped into her pajamas, asleep before her head even touched the pillows.

Deeply asleep, she did not even register the door of her room opening and a young dark head peeking in an hour later, nor did she wake when the young boy slowly walked in, reaching her phone on the bedside table and rushing out without making a sound. Satisfied that his mother was not awake, Henry closed the door carefully, before he tiptoed slowly to the closest former guestroom, and pushed the door open gently, careful not to make the barely used door hinges squeak. Making sure that the baby was still asleep, the youngest Charming sneaked out of the room and climbed down the stairs, checking periodically for movement behind him. In the years he had spent living in the house he had learned that Regina was very light sleeper, most of the time up before him and staying up way after his bedtime. It was really a rare occurrence that he would be awake before her, but judging the fact that she had gone to bed only an hour before, Henry concluded that it wasn’t that strange. Wanting to make good on the promise he had made to Emma, he walked into the kitchen and started readying everything for breakfast, wanting to give his mother another hour of sleep.

Remembering the steps Emma had taught him in making coffee, he set the machine to be finished on time, while he considered what to make for eating. In theory he knew how to make pancakes, considering that he had watched Regina and Snow make them countless times, but he did not want to try it and make a huge mess out of it, so that inevitably Regina would end up cleaning – thus negating all the helping part. Cereals for him - that was a no-brainer, but the prim and health oriented brunette would not go for it, he thought to himself as he looked into the fridge. Kyle would eat fruit paste as usual, and he would make one when later, after the baby would already be awake, for the noise of the blender was sure to wake everyone up. So, the only problem remained his mother. Deliberating the options he spent more than half an hour, as he ate his Fruit Loops.

So immersed into the choices that the full fridge offered, he didn’t notice the brunette in question leaning against the kitchen entrance watching her son with affectionate amusement. She had woken from a dream and when she had realized that her phone had mysteriously gone missing Regina rushed up, immediately checking the rooms where the children slept. Finding Henry’s room empty gave her a start but when Kyle was still undisturbed in his crib, she rushed down to see if perhaps her son was watching television or playing games in the living room. But, as the room was unoccupied, the panic starting from deep within her, enhanced by the frightening remains of her nightmare, she almost yelled out for him. However, when she walked to the kitchen she saw him shaking his head to himself, talking softly to himself as he scrutinized the fruit selection in the open fridge.

“I know,” she heard him say softly. “Apple porridge.” But then the boy shook his head again, mumbling to himself, “but I don’t know how to make one…”

“I could teach you,” she spoke gently, an apologizing smile on her face when she saw him jump and turn toward her, slamming the fridge door behind him.

“Mom! I was just…”

“I know, sweetie,” Regina walked close to him and kissed his forehead in appreciation. “Thank you.”

“I thought you would sleep longer,” Henry spoke, watching her carefully, and Regina felt the kind scrutiny of the young but wise eyes, no doubt seeing that whatever sleep she had had apparently was not enough to diminish the traces of tired lines and bruised pallid skin.

“So did I.” Having taken out the cup out of the cupboard, Regina poured the coffee in it before she turned to her son still watching her with unhidden interest. “You were talking about apple porridge?”

Henry quickly nodded, using the opportunity to learn how to make it, and to give his mother a light reprieve from the subject. But, when she finished with cutting up the apple slices into the bowl filled with porridge, he leaned onto the marble counter with his elbows, kneeling on the chair with his chin in his hands. “Was it a nightmare?” he suddenly asked, his voice soft.

Regina lowered the spoon down and looked up at the boy, somewhat startled with the question. “Why do you ask?”

Henry shrugged, uncomfortable with the topic but determined to see it through. It wasn’t often that he would get the opportunity to prove that he wasn’t just a kid, but that he could contribute as well. Only now, he understood that perhaps he wasn’t the right person for the job he wanted to do, but as the blonde Savior was not there… “Just, when Emma wouldn’t sleep well, she would say that she just couldn’t sleep, but I always knew she had nightmares.” He was looking at his hands as he spoke, but he heard the metallic click of the spoon touching the bowl, meaning he had his mother’s full attention. “Sometimes, she would sleep downstairs so she wouldn’t wake me, telling me that the TV helps her sleep, but I know it was because she didn’t want to wake me in the middle of the night.”

“If she hid them from you, how did you find out?”

“I heard them talking…” he mumbled into his chin. Then he felt a hand on his shoulder and lifting his head up he saw the soft look in the gentle brown eyes watching him. “I don’t understand why she would hide it from me.” Even though he sounded like he was only wondering about it, Regina heard the question in his statement, the need for explanation and the confirmation that he would not be ignored as well.

“You know that she did that to protect you.” Her hand sliding over Henry’s cheek, Regina traced the chin with her thumb. “Sometimes, parents do everything to keep their children away from the world that would blacken their innocence, even if they had to keep quiet about some things.”

“Like you lied to me?” There was nothing in the question but the earnest interest. Expecting a resentful and spiteful tone, Regina stumbled over the absence of those feelings in Henry’s inquiry, her hand almost slipping away from his face. Henry noticed the pause and holding her palm with his own, he looked at her with gentle regard, waiting for the answer, but willing to give her time to recover.

It was an unusual sight for Regina, one that she thanked every God in existence for it. Her son, after all she had and hadn’t done, still loved her and forgave her, his compassion and consideration shining out from his gentle green eyes. In that moment, the prepubescent almost twelve years old boy seemed much older than his age, his understanding and kind eyes taking on the weight of turbulent and adventurous life, showing the brunette that the boy in front of her would one day grow up to be a very wise and gentle man. And, for such blatant ruin of the childhood innocence in her adopted son, Regina was sorry.

“Yes, like that. But, what I did was much worse.” Even though she felt the need to say these things and to share with Henry her thoughts, it did not make it easier for her to explain herself, nor did it make much sense to her more hardened part of self to give the boy more munitions to use against her. “I did try to prevent you from sharing my secret and that perhaps was the main motivation for my lies, but I did not want you to suffer the knowledge that I was this monster the stories told about. However, I did make you think if only for a moment that you were crazy and that was very wrong of me. But, Emma did nothing of the sort. She just did not want to expose you to her fears and ugly memories.”

“Why?” Henry asked. “Why not? Why not tell me? I am not a baby.”

“Henry, it has nothing to do with you.” Regina took a bite out of her already cold breakfast, washing it with lukewarm coffee, giving herself time to formulate her answer. “Some things should not happen, in this world or in any other. Sometimes, the terrible deeds are done for various reasons and it is shameful that they are. The simple idea of them should be non-existent. The fact that they still happen is only a testament to the wickedness of the people. And, a young child is very easily convinced of monsters and dangers already; there is no need for us to damage that innocence with any unnecessary darkness.”

“But,” Henry started to say something, but Regina stopped him with a look telling him that she had enough of the subject.

“Henry,” she said softly, but the firmness of her conviction was heard nonetheless. “Let me make something absolutely clear. As long as I live and breathe, I will do anything to protect you in any way that I can, even if it means to sometimes keep you in the dark about something then so be it. I am sure Emma would do the same. Ask any parents around here and I bet you will mostly get the same answer from them as well.”

The boy mumbled his unenthusiastic acceptance of the fact, not pleased that he could see Regina’s point even though he still insisted that he wasn’t a child anymore and that he could handle whatever they tell him. However, he chose to drop the subject, knowing that it was a sensitive one.

After the brunette had got the reluctant nod from her son, she went on with her breakfast, and started preparation for Kyle’s fruit concoction. In the rhythm she had established when Henry had been little, she went around the kitchen in the economy of motion, precise and purposeful, as she directed Henry to get changed for the day. Not wasting any time, she went upstairs and changed herself, after a lukewarm shower to chase away the sluggishness of her mind, before she took care of Kyle’s preparation. Quickly, all members of the little family gathered in the entrance hall, ready to leave the house, and start their day.

Soon, they all were at the Town Hall, in Regina’s office. Kyle was placed on the blanket on the floor, surrounded by the toys his caretaker had sent there in advance with magic, right in the sight of Regina’s working desk, offering the woman the perfect view of his activities. Henry took a chair at the meeting table, spreading out his notebooks and books, doing his homework and reading list. They spent several hours this way, each engrossed in their own world, interrupted only by a ringing phone or some questions that Henry had for Regina regarding his assignments. Or, Kyle would crawl over to Regina, demanding her attention, garbling Mommy happily and chuckling when it brought a wide smile on the woman’s face. She would then pick him up in her lap and talk to him softly while she would continue arranging the paperwork. By noon, Regina noticed that a sizable dent had been done to the overdue work, but still too much of it remained for her taste.

However, she was interrupted by a soft knock on the glass of her office door. “Madam Mayor,” the man on the door spoke cordially with an earnest smile, drawing the attention of the children. Henry looked up and a wide grin showed on his face.

“Gramps!” the boy said loudly, pushing away from the table, watching the man enter in.

“I hope I am not interrupting?” David spoke as he walked toward the Mayor’s desk, patting Henry’s shoulder on the way.

“I think we needed a break anyways,” Regina spoke gently, leaning back in her chair, holding Kyle safely close to her. When the man sat in one of the chairs in front of her, she searched his face to see if there was a problem and if she needed to send the children out, but the relaxed set of light blue eyes gave her no cause to worry. “Is there something you need?” she asked somewhat uncertain, for she never dreamed she would have Prince Charming in her office so relaxed and friendly.

“I brought lunch,” David said, showing the paper take out bag she hadn’t noticed before, as well as a plastic bag filled with books and papers. “As well as more work for you, Henry. Snow asked me to drop this off.” The blonde man reached back and gave the boy the bag, chuckling softly at the scowl Henry managed. Turning back to Regina, he started unpacking the lunch bag, careful not to touch any of the perfectly organized documents on the desk, before he moved to the small desk beside the sofa and chairs, his gesture obvious to the other two that they should join him. “Granny gave me your regular, I hope that’s OK?”

“It’s fine,” Regina said softly, honestly surprised by the man’s move. This is something she would expect from Emma, the meal offered without anything in return, as if it was previously arranged. Something she would find so charming in the blonde’s behavior – but so unsettling in the very Prince Charming, as it only served to remind her of the pang of pain and bittersweet memories she would feel whenever she would think about the Savior, which was to say - too often. But, she couldn’t fault David for bringing food. It was lunch time anyways, and as he was already bringing school work for Henry, it only made sense for him to bring food as well.

“How are you finding things?” the blonde man asked, in between his bites, the silence eating on his nerves. When Regina hummed noncommittally, eating her salad, he shrugged and continued eating.

“I am getting rather caught up. I need you to come over with your department’s papers tomorrow after office hours, so we could go over it, and then, on Monday, it would be business as usual.”

“Sure,” the man said. “Do I need to pay attention to something specific?”

“Just bring everything over, and we’ll see.”

“All right,” David said, finished with his burger. “The Council wanted to meet on Sunday, Snow wanted me to ask you about it.” Having risen from his chair he paused over his container, slightly worried over Regina’s reaction to the request. She had never gotten anything good, from her point of view, from the Council and in the temporary situation at the moment, it did seem like the Council wanted to exert some control over the former Evil Queen, as insurance that the Mayor was not evil anymore. But, Snow had been firmly against it for she knew how Regina would hate any idea of leash, especially by them. In the White Queen’s opinion, and he tended to agree with it wholeheartedly, the Mayor was on their side now, bound firmly with her love for Emma, and the only influence she would ever allow would be the presence of the third member of the protecting triad – the Mother Superior. But, it would not do to outright ignore the Council as well…

“Fine, we’ll meet downstairs at ten.” Regina saw that she had surprised the Prince, now interim Sheriff. Glad that she was not as obvious to everyone as Emma had made it seem, she smirked internally, the only outward sign of her acknowledgement was her raised eyebrow daring David to ask her anything. “If that is all?” The dismissal was clear in her tone, however cordial it was. David nodded, picking up the trash and saying a quick goodbye he left them, nonplused about the reaction. Suddenly, he was very worried about the next day and the Sunday meeting.

“You didn’t have to throw him out,” Henry said after he had finished eating his fries. He had rolled his eyes at his grandfather’s announcement, knowing that the brunette would definitely use some tactics to establish her superiority. And, just as he had predicted, his mother had succeeded in her power play, managing to throw David of his game.

Regina’s delighted chuckle drew a smile on his face, as she directed him a pleased smile while she walked back to her desk. “Indeed…” she said, picking up her pen. Then her laughing dark eyes locked with his, and he saw the humor in them. “But, it was fun, was it not?”

“Yeah!” Henry agreed, not only because he loved to see the smile back on her face, but because he also knew that it was just the way his mother was. She would always rebel against anyone trying to make her do something, but at least she was not all mean and hurtful about it. And, it was funny to see David so worried as he had walked out the door, after he had absently gone through Henry’s dark locks.

But before he could add anything, Regina’s phone rang, interrupting their locked gaze. Seeing that it was the hospital, Regina immediately picked up, trying to battle the sudden anxiety that made her skin crawl. “Yes?” she asked curtly, as her eyes found Kyle playing with his toys, having finished with the bottled juice.

“Mayor Mills, it’s me,” the voice of Doctor Whale did nothing to settle Regina’s nerves. “I am calling to tell you that I have just gotten the blood work results and everything is within normal parameters.” The doctor continued on without prompting, knowing that if he didn’t get to the point, she might just burn him to cinders where he stood, regardless that she was in a different part of the town.

“They are fine?”

“In perfect health, yes.”

“Thank you, doctor,” she said before hanging up. Wasting no time she walked to Kyle and lifted him up before she went to the other boy and sat next to him. “You are both very healthy.” Regina saw Henry roll his eyes exasperatedly in such a Regina gesture, that she had to laugh, the anxiety giving way to happiness. “Don’t you roll your eyes at me, young man,” she rebuked, her laughter tapering off into a happy chuckle. “I did worry.”

“Well, now you can stop,” he said with a smile, aware that she never would, and opened a book, looking into the reading list Snow had sent over. But, then his smile disappeared as he looked back into his mother’s face. She noticed his change and she reached for his cheek, knowing what, or rather who was on his mind. “Do you think Emma is OK over there?”

“I do. She is Emma Swan, the survivor and the Savior.” The firm and confident tone eased some worries of the boy’s face, but a trace of it still remained. “And, I am sure Emma misses us as much as we miss her, perhaps even more.” Henry nodded and turned back to his homework not wanting to talk about it anymore and running off was not an option. Regina left him to it, understanding the need to avoid the subject, as it was painful for both of them.

Not long after, two women entered the office, one of them going straight to Regina’s desk, while the other one hung back, unsure. When Regina saw who the intruder was, her face darkened and she rose from her chair, placing Kyle on his play blanket. “Henry,” she said clearly, not looking away from the diminutive woman in front of her. “I am going to step out for a bit. Can you watch over Kyle for me?” Finally she directed her eyes to her son and seeing him look speculatively between her and the guests with some trepidation in his expression, she softened her gaze. “It is alright, sweetie. We are just going to talk, aren’t we?” The sharp edge of reprimand was obvious in her tone, but it was directed toward the woman in front of her.

Blue turned to the boy and smiled, with awkwardness, as she had not anticipated the boy to be afraid of her. “Young prince Henry, Her Majesty and I are going to discuss some things. There is nothing to worry about.”

The boy narrowed her eyes at the woman, rising from the chair. Crossing his arms on his chest, he glanced toward his mother, his eyes shining fiercely with defiance. “I am going to be fine,” Regina added softly, recognizing the guarding position of her son, having seen it too many times in Charming, and later in Emma.

The green eyes searched her own and satisfied with the answer he had gotten in them, Henry stepped away and sat beside Kyle, engaging him in play, having said not a word to the fairy godmother. With taciturn silent agreement she walked out of her office, followed closely by the woman dressed in blue. At the door, she stopped to talk to the young nun who Blue had brought over to be a babysitter during their talk. “Henry is in charge,” Regina said to Astrid, having shown her none of the animosity reserved for Blue. “There is some juice, help yourself.” And, then she turned away, walking out of the Town Hall into the back yard where her prized apple orchard was.

“Well, then,” she said coldly, as she came to the bench. “You wanted to talk.”

“I am not the enemy here, Your Majesty.”

“That is the matter of opinion. But, this is not the reason you have hounded me for days. The cloaking spell.” Regina turned away, looking up at the tree that once Emma had violently damaged, and the stump oddly gave her strength to remain calm. Such a powerful remainder of Emma’s influence in her life grounded her, and the brash and savage move of the enraged blonde now brought a light smile to her lips, as her face was hidden from scrutiny. “Explain away,” the Mayor said, turning back, gesturing to Blue to speak.

Wary of the sudden mood change, the fairy godmother hastily jumped into the explanation, telling of Rumplestiltskin’s original spell, then about her own additions, all the while Regina listened carefully, not willing to repeat the experience again, just because she wasn’t clear on something. And, as the fairy described the exact effects of the magic around the town, she asked many clarifying questions.

“So, anyone can leave?”

“Yes, and they can return, unless one of us expressly forbids it, and then the town would be unreachable as it is for everyone else. All you need to do is to delete the name of the list.”

“That is under protection in the library?”

“Yes, and there are only three people who can change the list – the protectors.”

“What happens if we disagree?”

“That is why there are three of us, so there would be a majority, in any case. But, if there is a deadlock for some reason, it stands to reason that the Town itself should vote for the resolution.”

“Convenient…” Regina remarked, knowing that if she disagreed with Blue while Emma was away, the town would stand beside the fairy on the matter, regardless of Snow’s public support. “What prevents you from deleting my name on the list?”

“It’s not on the list.” Blue sighed at the blink of confusion she had gotten in return. For the past half an hour she explained every tenet of the spell, forgetting to mention this particular bit. “The protectors’ names are woven in the spell itself, they cannot be erased. The only way to change it is in the event when one of the protectors is dead, and then another magical being would take their place, by repeating the ritual.”

“I see.” That tidbit of information told Regina that Blue had anticipated the need of finding a new protector, and that thought did not comfort her at all, as it opened too many questions she did not want to deal with at the moment. “So, if that is everything, consider me up to date.” She lifted herself from the bench and pressed down her suit, picking out the lint that she found on the black fabric.

“Regina,” Blue started, but the Mayor raised her hand in stopping motion.

“I don’t want to hear it. If it is pertaining to the town, you can bring it up on Sunday. The rest is not up for discussion. I believe you can find your way out. Good afternoon.” Regina stalked into the Town Hall, leaving the woman watching after her, frowning. It was strange how the former Evil Queen could be so calm and cooperative one minute and cold and dismissive the other. But, at least she was not the hurricane of destruction the Queen had used to be. Accepting her defeat, the Mother Superior walked the path that led to the street, and meeting Sister Astrid in front of the Town Hall, they went to the convent in silence, the young fairy not brave enough to break the peace.

Henry noticed that Regina was lost to her own thoughts since she had returned from her meeting with the fairy godmother, absently going over the papers on her desk. The moment she had entered the office the young woman, Nova, had left, making a hurried excuse, not even noticing that the brunette hadn’t even registered her presence and subsequent leave. But, he had seen the entire conversation and it had seemed rather peaceful if somewhat tense from his point of view, as he had watched from the window. Not one display of magic or a threatening move had been shown - that was a feat in itself.

“When are you due at Doctor Hopper’s?” Regina asked him softly, drawing his wandering attention to herself. With a quick glance to the clock, he noticed that it was almost three in the afternoon.

“Well, now,” he said, jumping up from his chair, but as Regina failed to move from her chair he turned toward her. “Mom?”

“Do you think you could go by yourself this time?” the woman spoke, almost avoiding his eyes, but still looking at him. Seeing him nod, she then only waved him over, and kissing his forehead, she tucked an errant lock behind his ear. “Have a good time with Archie, then. Be careful on the street.” And with a light pat on his shoulder she sent him away. She knew that he would ask questions later, but for the moment, she needed him out of her office, as the talk with Blue had made her consider something she had forgotten about.

Unlocking the lowest drawer of her desk, she pulled it out of its place, turning it over and taking a large manila envelope stuck to the bottom of it, and returned the drawer to its previous place. Then she walked to the filing cabinet and pulled out several blank forms, placing them in front of her, as she took back her seat. Steeling her nerves, she told herself that this was way overdue anyways and that it changed nothing. Nothing that mattered, anyway.

So, with shaking hands she opened the envelope and took out the adoption papers and birth records of her son, caressing the well preserved paper with her reverent touch. Pushing herself to go on, she drafted a custody document, detailing that Emma and her had the shared custody of Henry, and that in the event of her and Emma’s death, Henry was to go to Snow and David, named Mary Margaret Blanchard and David Nolan in the papers, listed as aunt and uncle from Emma’s side, for the sake of posterity if they ever ventured into the realm that Emma so lovingly called “the real world”. Additionally, she dissolved the marriage between David and Kathryn, and issued the marriage certificate for Mary Margaret and David, putting it into the system as well. For the outside world, Snow was Emma’s younger sister and chosen substitute caretaker if something happened, all the papers officially approved and filed. Her reinstating as the Mayor did serve her to do something for herself, not that anyone would know – unless there was a necessity for it. But, for now, she would keep it a secret, not willing to endure the knowing smirk on David’s or the petulant pout for making her younger than Emma on Snow’s face. Additionally with the custody papers, she had added a small addendum, detailing Neal’s rights to visit his son, but not to raise him. The overgrown boy was barely capable of taking care of himself, she would not allow him in any case to be the caregiver for her son, blood related or not.

Having finished with those pesky details, she made copies of the filed documents and placed them into the manila envelope, along with the adoption papers. Then, she magicked the folder away, placing it into the safe that was in her home office, not willing to leave it in the Town Hall, where anyone persistent enough would be able to unearth it.

Then she picked up Kyle and sat him in her lap, looking over another set of documents. “Let’s, Kyle, what would you like for your middle name?” Regina asked the toddler, nuzzling his cheek with her nose, not noticing a ruffled head peeking in behind the opened door. “What would Emma like?” she spoke, thinking out loud, trying to see in the memories the blonde had shared with her if there was a name that stood out.

“How about James?” Henry asked as he entered loudly enough to announce his presence.

“No, he was such a spoiled prince. And I am not naming him David, either.” Regina glanced toward the clock and saw that it was past five. Smiling at the boy that came to her side of the desk, pulling up a chair, she opened the web browser searching for the meaning of the name Kyle already had. Victorious, it said, if considered the Yiddish origin, or channel if one looked for the Gaelic one. As Henry hummed in confirmation that he had read the page, she turned to the form in front of her. “So, what do you think?” the brunette asked the green eyed boy, somewhat wishing that he would be able to channel his birth mother and tell her the name.

“She never talks about her past…” Henry noted sadly, his remark only serving to remind Regina that the blonde had not had many friends in her life, always running from any meaningful connection. “I don’t know,” he shrugged as he looked at the boy in his mother’s arms. “Maybe Emmett? Or, something that represents Emma. I mean, you gave me the names of the people you loved the most. Emma loves you, me and her parents. Maybe you should name him something that would connect both you and Emma?”

“You do have a good point,” Regina inclined her head toward the boy. “But, Emmett? I don’t know…”

She turned to the screen again and thought of Emma, of what the blonde represented to her. She remembered the time she had first heard of the Savior. It had been before she had cast the curse.

_ She knew that to enter the tunnel where Rumplestiltskin was being kept she would have to appear as something inconspicuous, so using the trick she had learned from the very man she was going to visit Regina made herself into a rat, sneaking in past the guards, scurrying the dark corridor, her disgust for the space obvious even in her animal form, as she rushed to skip over the puddles of gods know what. _

_ Suddenly she heard a voice. “It’s just us, dearie,” Rumplestiltskin spoke, moving in his cot, his voice getting more of the singing quality as he leaned toward the bars. “You can show yourself.” _

_ The rat froze in his step and in his space, a dark magical mist swirled upwards shaping up into a person, before Regina materialized, dressed in full Evil Queen garb, her black clothes making her pale face almost an apparition in the darkness of the dungeon. Cracking her neck with a soft sigh she looked toward the cell, to the man she had come to ask. _

_ “Ahh,” Rumplestiltskin said knowingly, as if he could guess what was on her mind. Knowing the imp, that was probably the case. But, he did not have to sound so happy about it, either, Regina thought to herself. _

_ “That curse you gave me,” Regina spoke in a mildly interested tone, as if she was chatting about the weather. She had learned long ago not to engage emotionally in her dealings with her former teacher. “It’s not working.” She allowed her tone to gain the touch of irk she was feeling. _

_ “Oh, so worried. So, so worried…” Rumple murmured to himself, as always testing the Evil Queen’s patience. Then, he said something that would definitely ruffle the Queen’s feathers. “Like Snow and her lovely new husband.” And, as predicted, Regina froze in surprise, stopping her pout and lifting her eyes. _

_ “What?” He had her full attention. _

_ “They paid me a visit as well,” he said as he skipped to the charmed bars of his prison. “They were very anxious,” Rumple spoke, adding the prolonged s to his last word, making him sound more like the snake he was, “about you and the curse.” The almost conspiratorial smirk on his glittering face in the light of the torches brought Regina closer to the bars. _

_ She looked up at him, his face only inches away and softly spoke, anxious to hear the answer. “What’d you tell them?” _

_ “The truth,” the imp answered indignantly, his voice raised, scowling at her for even suggesting that he would say nothing less. “That nothing can stop the darkness…” He couldn’t resist but wait for her pleased smile to add, “Except, of course, their unborn child,” his face twisting into the mocking grimace of concern. Again, his tone leveled, and sounding almost like a father teaching something to his daughter, he went on, “You see, no matter how powerful, all curses can be broken.” The trademark lilt adorned his words, before he whispered “Their child is the key.” Then, when Regina rolled her eyes at him, he smirked, teasingly pointing his finger in her direction. “Of course, the curse has to be enacted first.” _

_ “Tell me what I did wrong,” Regina said, coming close to the bars that she could smell the metal in the air, amidst all the other odors of the damp dungeon. _

_ “For that, there is a price,” Rumple said gently. _

_ Expecting such an answer, Regina arrogantly pushed on. “What do you want?” _

_ Still whispering, the imp rebuked the Queen with his cautioning tone in the first word, but then he continued. “Simple. In this new land I want comfort. I want a good life.” He spoke, disgust evident as he looked around his prison. _

_ “Fine! You’ll have an estate, be rich.” She had tried to intervene at the point she was willing to concede, but the Dark One knew better, outrage briefly tingeing his voice. _

_ “I wasn’t finished!” Having pushed away from the bars, he pulled himself back, his tone going high once more. “There is more.” _

_ “There always is with you,” Regina said exasperatedly. _

_ Chuckling at her repartee, he agreed. “Yeah. In this new land, should I ever come to you for any reason, you must heed my every request.” Adding some flourish in his gestures, he pointed toward the woman and went on. “You must do whatever I say, so long as I say…” After a dramatic pause he added with twisted joy, “Please,” his amazed chuckle almost heard in the middle of the word. _

_ Annoyed with his theatrics, Regina felt the need to point out an obvious misstep in his plan. “You do realize that should I succeed, you won’t remember any of this?” _

_ “Oh, well then… What’s the harm?” he replied in a very “duh” voice. He knew his student well, and he knew that she wouldn’t even bother to read the fine script of the curse, but that was her problem then, right? He had not lied. _

_ “Deal,” Regina said, pleased with the seemingly easy victory, ignoring Rumplestiltskin’s happy snort, as she watched him step away from the bars. “What must I do to enact this curse?” _

_ “You need to sacrifice a heart,” he said scholarly, showing at his chest as if she was unable to comprehend where the specific organ would be held. _

_ “I sacrificed my prized steed,” Regina said with the trace of petulance in her soft tone. She did not even blink when Rumplestiltskin threw himself on the bars and grabbed her around the neck, the dull thud of his body reverberating in the empty hall. He drew her face to his, making her look up, as he pushed his own head through the bars. _

_ “A horse?” Incredulity showed on his face. “This is the curse to end all curses. You think a horse is gonna do?” His voice vibrated with angry disbelief. Now holding her chin, he leaned in, their noses almost touching as he whispered to her, “Great power requires great sacrifice.” Inching his face closer, he smirked at her, teasingly pressing his nose against hers. “The heart you need must come from something far more precious.” _

_ “Tell me what will suffice,” Regina asked, not at all showing that she was perturbed by his continuous hold of her face. _

_ “The heart of the thing you love most,” he said softly, his smile cold in the flickering light. _

_ Grabbing his hand, she pushed it away from her skin, anger bleeding into her words. “What I love most died because of Snow White!” _

_ “Oh,” Rumplestiltskin reached for her cheek, grazing it gently with his thumb and knuckles, his voice getting mockingly soft as he cooed to her. “Is there no one else you twuly love?” He shook his head minutely and leaned against the bars, his tone losing the mocking tone but remaining hushed. “This curse isn’t going to be easy. Vengeance never is, dearie.” He warned. With another of his flourished gestures he leaned into her and spoke once more. “You have to ask yourself a simple question… How far are you willing to go?” _

_ “As far as it takes!” Regina replied firmly and with conviction, looking into his eyes, as she leaned toward him, her face touching the bars. _

_ “Then please stop wasting everyone’s time and just do it.” His mocking lilt was fully back, as he jiggled his head. “You know what you love,” he whispered softly. Then he leaned through the bars and ordered, “Now go kill it.” _

_ Having gotten her answer she directed a daring look to her old teacher and turned away, disappearing from the dungeon in the swirl of mist. _

That day, the day that she had killed the man she had known as her father, twisted with her wrath and need to punish, she had not even considered the still unborn child a threat, much less someone who would have so much sway over her life. To think that she was only minutes away from keeping Emma in the curse… The results would have been unimaginable. No Henry, no adult Emma, and her life would have been empty and her victory meaningless. How was she to honor the chance and the gift that Emma had given her with just one word? How was she to acknowledge the tremendous amount of history in such a way?

“Mom?” Henry said, seeing her distant look. “Did you think of something?” he spoke when he saw the dark eyes focus on him.

“Just remembering, dear,” she said softly, kissing his head and holding him close. “Why don’t we leave the name part for when Emma joins us, hmm?” Regina said, suddenly more alert. “We could fill out the rest now. Let’s see, the date of birth…”

“Whale said nine months,” Henry said helpfully. “That would make him born in February?” Then he saw her smirk. “Yes, I know that he is much older than that and that it is impossible to see when his real birthday is, but if he is a nine month old…” he said, his voice going somewhat snobbish.

“Yes, early February…” Regina whispered, after nodding at Henry’s diatribe, trying to choose a proper date for the small boy in her arms.

“Like a birthday present to you!” suddenly Henry exclaimed. “I mean, since your birthday is on the first…” he added demurely, after the scolding look he had received for his raised tone.

“We are not going to share a birthday. That wouldn’t be fair to either of us.”

“That’s OK, you can put some other day, but I will always tell him he was a present for you.”

“Henry,” Regina started but the boy only defiantly looked at her, before smiling at her.

“Can you say that he is not a gift?” He said with a smirk, teasing her gently, as he touched the toddler’s soft hair, making the boy giggle in response and murmur his pronunciation of Henry’s name.

“And so are you, my dear,” Regina answered, aware that her twelve year old son had bested her in her own game. Cheers to nurture over nature, she smirked internally. “So, February 5 th ?”

“You mean the anniversary of the first Peter Pan movie?” Henry supplied helpfully, having researched everything Disney related when the curse had been broken.

“Oh, right… Fourth, then?”

“Snow White…”

“Fine, fifth it is. After all, we did find him in Neverland.” Regina said, writing down the date in her fountain pen, her penmanship immaculate and elegant. “Name of parents…” With her script she added fiction names, having them died at the same date as the boy was born. Before she could explain to her son why she had done so, Henry only pushed on asking her about the administrative part of the certificate. With the realization that the preteen understood perfectly her reasoning behind such blatant lies, she continued on, finishing the document and starting filling out the adoption papers, placing one Kyle Mills into joint custody of Emma Swan and Regina Mills.

“I thought he would be just yours?” Henry asked, noting the additional name on the form.

“I asked, and Emma agreed to do this together…” Regina expected another question, this one concerning his own status, but mercifully the boy passed over the opportunity.

“Oh, okay then.”

When she finished with all the records and affidavits, she took the boys home, stopping by for some pizza on the way. That day she had almost finished the huge amount of backlogs, and the rest of it she could do the next day. Henry, also, had done the majority of his school assignments and it seemed that both of them would be free for the weekend. And, happy with that Regina settled down for the evening, watching the latest Marvel film Henry had found for them, enjoying the pizza in the living room, for the first time ever. Regina was interrupted only once, when Anton had called her to inform her of the progress and to touch base with her, arranging a meet for the next afternoon. All in all, it was a good day, Regina thought as she held the sleeping child to her chest and the chuckling boy to her side, relishing the closeness and affection she felt.

* * *

A knock sounded in the empty Sheriff’s station. David turned in the closet he was at the moment, kicking the side of his head to the overhanging box on the shelf. Grumbling in pain, he managed to exit, closing the door behind him, deciding to find the particular stack of regulations later. “I’ll be right with you,” he said loudly as he went to the bathroom, his goal the mirror. Checking the injured temple he was satisfied that there would be only a slight bruise, hidden by his hair. “Sorry for waiting, how can I help…” the blonde man started, entering the main room, his eyes having been glued to the shirt he was trying to tuck in. But then he lifted his head and saw his wife standing there. Or better said, David Nolan’s wife. “You,” he stumbled over the word, surprised by her presence. He had not seen her in a long time.

“Hello, David,” Kathryn said, leaning against one of the tables, her arms crossed. She smiled at her cursed husband and a longtime friend. “You look good,” she noted, reaching out for his upper arm, but he moved in, taking her shoulders in a surprisingly fast gesture.

“Kathryn,” he spoke softly, before he pulled the blonde woman into a warm hug. “Abby, it’s been more than a year.”

“I know, I am sorry,” Princess Abigail answered patting the strong man’s back, as she relaxed into a friendly hug. She did miss the man, but she wasn’t blind. The strife they had endured while cursed would transfer on to their real lives, if she had not stepped back and allowed him time to reunite with his real life in peace. However, that had not happened, the infamous journey to their land happening almost immediately after the curse had been broken. She had heard about it later, when one of the dwarves had come for Frederick for help to manage the crowd. Not wanting to be a distraction, she had stood aside while the Prince had learned how to manage the Town and search for his wife and daughter. Then, the arrival of the witch and subsequent Henry’s kidnaping… There simply was no time for her to reach out to her friend. Until now.

“Where were you?”

“With Jim, hiding away, you could say.” She disengaged from the embrace and stepped away. “With all that has been going on, I decided that I could wait for a better moment. And, when Jim told me that Snow was back in school and that you have returned, but that Emma remained behind…” Kathryn looked at him, worrying her hands. “I know how much you love her, and to be kept away from her again… It must be really hard on you.”

“You were always a good friend.”

“But, such a lousy wife, right,” she added self-deprecatingly, with a light scoff, but then she smiled at him, with it telling him that she was alright with it.

“We were cursed, and we weren’t meant for each other,” David spoke soothingly, as he took one of her hands. “And, you are with Frederick now. How are things?”

Abigail smiled her demure smile, almost hiding it with her hair. “I am pregnant.” Her reply was quiet but happiness shone out of her eyes, and it made David immeasurably glad to see his friend finally having everything that she wanted – her True Love, and now a child. “But, it’s not fair, our children were supposed to grow up together,” she said with a teasing smile, jokingly hitting David with her palm over his upper arm. “But, you and Snow were always overachievers…” She smiled at him, glowing.

“There is Henry,” David added with a chuckle.

“But he is twelve! He’ll be a teenager by the time this one grows enough to be able to play, and no teenager wants to hang out around a baby.” Taking a seat down, Kathryn placed her hands over her belly, even though she still was not showing.

“Henry has a sibling now,” the Prince said, as he watched Abigail’s eyebrows rise to her forehead in surprise. “Yeah, Regina adopted another one. Well, she hadn’t yet, but I think that she will,” he added after a thought. Kathryn watched him with a strange glint in her eyes, noticing all the changes in his demeanor.

“I never thought I would ever see you speak her name with a smile on your face,” she said softly with amazement in her voice. “And to speak of her so casually…” Then she leaned toward him when he took his seat in front of her. “What changed?”

“We all did. She did.” David sighed and ran his hand through his hair, placing his foot over his knee, as he leaned back, knowing that he would spend some time explaining things to his friend. “And, she is really important to Emma and Snow.”

“Snow?”

“Yes, they have a truce now. It’s amazing, really. They are downright civil to each other. The other day, Snow spent most of the afternoon in her house and came home undamaged…”

“You know, I never blamed her for the curse, for what she did to us. I did mind all that kidnapping business, but she could have killed me and she didn’t.” The blonde leaned back into the uncomfortable chair. “My father is not here,” she said simply.

“Are you sure?” David asked, remembering that he had not seen Midas as well in Storybrooke.

“I looked everywhere.” And, he believed her, for she would need to know if the man would suddenly appear and demand from her to give up her life just because he thought she could have done better. “And, even though she had her own goals in her mind, she tried to be my friend at the time when I had no one.”

“Kathryn,” David started, but the blonde raised her hand, interrupting him.

“No, it’s alright, I understand now. But, then all I could see was my husband distancing himself from me and a town full of people who didn’t give a damn about me… Only Regina was firmly in my corner, for whatever reason she had.”

“She is different now,” he said after a minute of heavy silence. “Well, not so different as much less blood thirsty. Still condescending and sarcastic as ever.”

“To live in the world she had… One wonders if she was as bad as she could have been.” The blonde turned her head toward the wedding band she had on her hand, twisting it with her fingers. “Once I heard King Midas say that she was only pussyfooting around you and Snow. That, if he was in her place, he would have had your heads on pikes a long time ago.”

“Emma said something similarly to us several weeks ago. It seems that she loved Snow, despite everything and that she couldn’t just kill her, excusing herself with the need to cause pain and suffering.” David noticed the band and smiled, glad that his friend was finally wed to her long time fiancé. The only regret was that he wasn’t at the wedding. “But, I guess that it was all meant to be, for if she had not cast the curse, Emma would not be the Savior, Henry would not exist and the Evil Queen would still be evil, if not dead. Snow would never reach truce with her former stepmother, and I would have had a little princess for a daughter.”

“I doubt that a daughter of Prince Charming and Snow White would be anything but a hero,” Kathryn said with a smile. “But, Regina – she told me something once. That she knew how it was to lose a loved one because of not doing enough to stop it.”

“Ah, yes,” David said with a nod, not willing to elaborate on it, afraid that doing so would breach Regina’s trust and he had worked hard on getting it, and still he sometimes thought that she was only seconds away from blasting him away.

“If she has changed, perhaps I should go and see her?”

“If you want to. I cannot tell you how she will react, but I can tell you that she will not kill you. That is the only insurance I can offer you. And, that if you mention that I know you are visiting her, that might stop her from even hurting her.” He smiled at her, but Kathryn did not know if he was serious or only teasing. Deciding to take him upon his word, she rose from the chair and nodded to him.

“Thank you for the advice,” she said softly, leaning over him and kissing his cheek gently and squeezing his shoulder, before she straightened out and walked out of the station. Abigail had always been that way. Coming and going without as much as a hello or goodbye. He did know that since she had made the contact this time, if he called her she would come to him, to help or do whatever he needed her to do. And, the same went for him, for she had helped him much during the war he had led against his faux father and the Evil Queen. She had been there on his wedding and she had been his friend and confidant ever since he had saved Frederick from his ailment. They were friends and they did stuff for each other. Snow had her dwarfs, he had Abigail…

With a shrug of his shoulders, he adjusted his harness and went back to the closet, trying to unearth the binder with the rules and regulations of the Sheriff’s office, careful not to hit his head again. Leroy had told him that he had put away all the unnecessary “junk” into the closet, which now was filled with a vast amount of things, making his search difficult. Then, he was supposed to meet the Mayor in less than three hours, which would give him less than two to prepare for the extremely thorough scrutiny, and his knowledge of the woman did not help him at all.

Finally, his fingers found the binder and he pulled it out, causing a small avalanche of things. But, he didn’t care about the mess as he had gotten what he had spent hours buried deep in the “junk” for. Not wasting any time, he perused the rule book and gathered the reports and documents that he needed, quickly checking them and jutting down in his barely legible handwriting all the necessary information he would need.

“Hey, man, what are you still doing here?” Neal asked, as he saw his “boss” in the office. He gestured at the clock as he sat down at his desk, taking off his jacket. David lifted his head and seeing the time, he jumped up, quickly gathering the papers, and putting on his coat, he yelled out for his deputy that he was off and begging Neal to wish him luck. Rushing out, David climbed into his pick up and gunned it down the main street, the short ride too short for him to settle his nerves. Yes, he was unnerved. Officially, Regina was his boss and as such had a full privilege of dressing him down for any of his wrongdoings.

Jumping two stairs at the time, he managed to knock on the closed door of the office just when his watch was showing five in the afternoon. Hearing the permission to enter, he opened the door and entered into the Mayor’s office, seeing the woman in question standing by the window as she watched down toward her orchard. Her hands were clasped on her back and her gray pinstriped suit jacket thrown over the chair.

“You are late,” Regina murmured softly, not moving from the window. David was about to say something but then he realized that she hadn’t rebuked him but only said it as an observation. “Just a few minutes, so someone less,” Regina paused as if she searched the word she needed, and then turned with a melancholy smile to David, “stuck –up, I suppose, would overlook.” The Sheriff recognized the particular phrase. And, with recognition came the understanding that he had unwittingly done something Emma had used to do, thus putting Regina in this strange mood. But, the woman quickly shook it off, the cordial but empty mask of the Mayor slamming over her face as she gestured to him to sit down at the meeting table and to lower his burden.

“Have a seat, Sheriff and let’s get on with the business.” Taking the forms in front of her, Regina quickly explained the needs the Sheriff's office had to see in regards to the Mayor’s office. With passing mention of the regulations and filing systems Regina covered the management of the budget and all the requisition filings, along with proper report writing. Then, she started with checking the previous paperwork, her mouth twisting into pursing pout, growing into full disapproving scowl as she scanned over the reports previous acting sheriffs filed, finding it somewhat humorous that Leroy had written more crassly worded accounts, not minding that it was an official document. David and Ruby at least had understood the fact that they had needed to use the curse names for this part, but the dwarf probably had had a problem deciding which name to pick, sometimes forgoing it completely – addressing someone as “the dark skinned well bosomed fairy” and “that wannabe boy”.

Chuckling at someone’s, possibly Ruby’s handwritten additions on the side, and sometimes over some of the more inventive descriptions, noting the actual name of the person, Regina was relieved to notice that David’s reports were the least bad of the bunch. Occasionally she would show him the mistake and guide him how to do it in the future, keeping her tone soft and cordial at all times. They finished relatively quickly.

“I will need a monthly performance review for your employees, if you have volunteers, and of course, Mister Cassidy’s.” Regina added, as she collected her things from her desk, their work done.

“Can’t you just call him Neal?” David spoke, waiting for the woman to walk her out.

“We may be related, but I don’t know that man,” Regina replied curtly, locking the door behind her and turning off the lights as she looked at David. “It is enough that I allow him near my son.” She nearly expected the blonde prince to roll his eyes at her, the same way his daughter had once done, just before she had saved her from the fire.

David said nothing else on the subject, walking the Mayor to her car and sending her off with a respectful incline of his head as she closed the door of the Mercedes. But, before he could step away from the black car, the window rolled down. “I’ll see you at the meeting, if not before that,” Regina said by way of goodbye, starting the car and releasing the brake. David smiled and nodded, opening his driver’s side door and climbing in his pick-up.

Regina opened the door of her home, calling out to Henry as she took off her coat and placed the keys on the small table, along with her briefcase.

“In the living room,” the young voice answered, followed by a murmur of other people, making Regina wary suddenly, because neither Snow nor Neal asked for permission to be at her home that day, and David would mention something anyways. Letting her magic rise within her, she rushed to the living room, the heels clacking on the hardwood floor. But when she entered the cozy room, she stopped, a welcoming smile coming onto her lips summoned by sheer will, as she kicked herself internally for forgetting the appointment she had made with the town woodworker.

“Marco, August, good afternoon. I apologize if I am late.” Regina entered the room and offered her hand to the old wood carver, seeing his eyes glint with fear. But she was pleased that he accepted her hand, bowing his head in supplication, his cap in his other hand.

“Your Majesty, we did come a bit early ourselves. If we overstepped…” The old man spoke with a lingering accent, suddenly unsure of his place.

“No, no, it’s quite all right.” Regina allayed the man’s fears and placed her arm on Henry’s shoulder, greeting the boy silently, only with her touch, and kissing down the baby in Henry’s arms. “Henry explained the situation, I believe?”

“Yes, master Henry told me that you would need a full set child’s room. We were waiting for you to lead us up to see the space.” Marco spoke with respect, glancing toward the boys, twisting his cap in his hands, still nervous about being in the former Evil Queen’s house. Though, the woman in front of him was nothing like the destructive power he once had known.

“Right,” Regina nodded. “Do you mind?” she asked softly the boy in front of her, her eyes glancing down to Kyle and August. When the preteen only smiled with a light nod, the brunette caressed his cheek, letting him lead the red haired boy to the gaming console he had sat up in the living room. “If you would follow me,” Regina then turned to the old man, and graciously led him to the upper floor, swallowing her uncomfortable feeling about letting anyone deeper into her home. It was for Kyle, she said to herself, keeping her emotions hidden behind the mask. And, perhaps this cooperation with Marco would help her get a better standing with the town, as people still watched her with fear and suspicion, regardless of being accepting of her position as the Mayor and one of the Protectors. And, even though there was no open animosity or hostility, the hushed whisperings and eyes following her everywhere as the people would still themselves as if she was a dangerous animal grated on her nerves. Once, not so long before, she would have relished the feeling she had instilled in the town, but now, when she wanted to move on with her life with her family, it annoyed her. But, slowly as it was, she felt that the people were adapting to her change, and with time perhaps they would see her as one of them, just Regina, without all the titles that carried awed fear in them.  _ I want you to live as Regina _ , Emma had told her more than once. That one short sentence held so much promise and meaning, and she knew why Emma had used that particular wording. That moment in the mines, as they had been walking toward the trigger, led by the feeling of vanishing magic, had changed everything for them. And, yet, it had seemed that it had been inevitable, fated, that in the moment when Regina had finally learned to offer herself for others, acting in purely self-sacrificing manner, she would have gotten another chance.

As it was now becoming a custom, whenever she would think about the Savior, a soft smile would pass over her lips, unconsciously softening her face for a moment, but the gentle quirk of her mouth would happen often as the blonde Sheriff was never far from her mind. Marco witnessed it, and with curious wonder he thought how the simple presence of an unassuming smile changed the Mayor’s countenance completely, if only for a moment in time. A hopeless romantic, he knew that someone had taken the Queen’s heart, but at the moment he thought that it had everything to do with the little blonde tyke in the living room.

“Here,” Regina offered, ushering the carver in the former guest room. As Marco had been the one to do Henry’s room as well, she didn’t need to spend much on the explanation of her wishes for the little boy, the man writing down her directions on the small pad he always had with him. With a small meter, he took in the dimensions, already doing some sketches of the future furniture for the room. With some detailing questions, he understood the theme and the outlook the Mayor wanted for the room, his mind already working on particulars.

“There is one more thing,” Regina said, taking him downstairs, deeper into the house, after a brief checking of the kids. With a curious look Marco looked up at the imposing woman, seeing her hesitate over the closed door. She seemed almost shy, he noted, as she twisted the knob, opening the door, leading him into an empty room with no clear purpose. The room had no windows as it was in the center of the house, and the space was small, not imposing as all the rooms in the mansion he had seen. “I want to make this into something like a den, with a small working area over there.” Seeing the potential in the room, he started doing the measurements without much comment. Soon he was done, and declining Regina’s offer to stay for dinner, he and his boy were on their way, his head still reeling with the fact that he had spent an hour in the presence of the former Evil Queen and that he had lived, and that he had seen another side to the dangerous woman. He had seen a loving mother, the kind tender emotions shining out of her eyes, where he had only seen fury and destruction before.

Regina closed the door behind the man, aware of his mildly confused face. With a gentle wave, she said goodbye to August, telling the boy that he was welcome any time, having seen the quick friendship that her son had forged with the former puppet. She remembered her anger and worry when August first had rolled into the town, not recognizing the dark man on the bike as Pinocchio, seeing him only as a danger to her town and her son. Even though she had been right, the stranger being another staunch supporter of Henry’s Operation Cobra, she held nothing but the surprising affection for the boy, even after knowing the whole story of him abandoning Emma. The reason for it was astoundingly simple. He had died, sacrificing his life to protect Emma, and incidentally the town from the threat Tamara, then only known as ‘Her’. And, that was evidently enough for Regina.

Walking into the kitchen, closely followed by the children, Henry carrying Kyle with him, she started making her famous lasagna with red pepper flakes, it being a simple meal for her to make, and one of Henry’s favorites. The brunettes shared an easy conversation about the time Henry had spent alone with Kyle for the hour she had been going over the papers with David, the blonde joining occasionally with baby gibberish, making both of the brunettes smile with affection. The sparkling blue eyes followed their movements with obvious intelligence behind them, soaking up the obvious fondness that the kitchen was full of.

“Mom?” Henry spoke up timidly, as Regina placed the dish in the oven, setting the timer. The woman’s only response was to turn to him, her eyes watching his face gently waiting for him to continue as she took off her apron. “I was wondering…” he started unsure, losing some of his barely scrounged confidence under his mother’s persistent gaze. Understanding the problem, Regina smiled at him with ease, gesturing him toward the living room as she took up Kyle in her arms. As they walked, the boy seemed to find his assurance and the moment Regina took her seat at the couch, letting Kyle play with toys on the floor, taking off her shoes and placing her legs underneath her, he sat on the other side of the couch and spoke. “Do you still have some of the surveillance photos of me and Emma?” he fired quickly, trying to get it out as fast as possible, his words almost running together.

Somewhat used to Henry’s penchant for dropping conversational bombs about her previous behavior, Regina did not freeze in her place, although it did shock her that he wanted to talk about that specific topic. “I think so,” she said finally, narrowing her eyes at him. “May I ask why?”

“Well,” Henry started, lighter than his mother had not closed up at the mention of her controlling behavior in the past. “Emma doesn’t like to be in the pictures, and I…”

“You want something real,” Regina said when the boy paused. She could certainly understand the sentiment, she herself kept Emma’s things still packed up in the corner, the visual of them in itself soothing and reminding that the connection she had experienced was something much more than a wishful dream. “They should be in the study,” Regina said, rising off the couch, motioning to the boy to stay put as she quickly donned her shoes and went into the aforementioned room. She would never deny her son a tangible memory of his mother, especially when she was literally in the different world, regardless of her pride or shame. Easily finding the folder with the collection of pictures, she sighed with melancholy.

Walking back into the living room she saw that Henry had picked Kyle up on the couch leaving a corner where she had sat only moments before free, placing a setting for the picture viewing Regina knew she was in for. The position Henry had arranged himself, the blonde toddler in his arms, brought on a warm suffusing feeling, making Regina smile affectionately, loving that her wise boy saw fit to include the newest member of their family into this impromptu family time. Sitting down beside the children she chuckled when Henry excitedly leaned against her side, his head on her shoulder, with Kyle spread over both of them. Opening the folder, they went through the pictures, which in truly Regina fashion were ordered by the time of the shots. In the clear photos the relationship between the boy and his blonde mother was depicted, each shot showing the growing affection they showed for each other. After some time of watching them, Henry picked out several that were nice and seemed less like surveillance photos and more like candid shots, choosing them for the framing, declaring loudly which one would go where. But, the thing that brought Regina almost to tears was the fact that the last picked photo, the captured moment in time showing the blonde Sheriff and the young boy laughing, as the woman held Henry closely with her arm around his shoulders, they both seeming to look in the direction of the camera, making it seem like they had known they had been caught. Two years ago that picture had driven Regina mad with anger as she had seen it as open defiance of the Sheriff, but now, Regina liked it for the happy faces of the people she loved more than anything in the worlds.

“This one goes to your bedroom,” Henry said proudly, “right beside your bed, to see it every morning as you wake up.” He looked up into his mother’s tearing eyes and hugged her, knowing that he had done a very good thing that day.

They ate dinner, Regina putting the rest of it in the fridge for the next day, and sent the children to bed, telling each of them a good night story, even though Henry was probably too old for it and Kyle too young, but the preteen loved the soft caressing lilt his mother’s voice would take on when she would tell wondrous tales about other places and times, and it seemed that Kyle shared the love for the soothing tones of the stories, dropping to sleep easily.

Taking the baby monitor with her, Regina walked into her study, forgoing the cider, afraid that it would develop a habit she didn’t care for, and sat down at her desk, for the first time since reaching Storybrooke actually having time to look through the books she had brought over from the vault, as well as through the ones she already had in the house. Although the research did not yield results she was looking for it made her feel useful at least to some degree, as she hated the passive waiting for the beans.

But, as she had worked deep into the night, she decided to stop there for the moment, feeling tired and knowing that as the next day was Saturday, and she would need her energy to entertain her children. Sitting in her chair, she was looking at the fire she had lit at the beginning of her working evening, lost in the memories of her blonde lover, feeling the double-natured edge of the emotions the vivid pictures in her mind brought to her – the sharp pain of absence and unquenched need for a touch, scent, or even a word spoken in that gruff and crass tone, and the soothing balm of love, truth and tingling flesh memories of every expression of their love. It was a curious sensation, to feel the polar opposites in the emotional spectrum at the same time, but one that she was getting used to, knowing that she had seven weeks of it to get through, at least.

With the last check of the house, and her sleeping children, she went to her room, smiling at the picture that Henry had placed on the bedside table himself, leaning it against a lamp there. “I hope you are keeping safe,” she murmured as she finished her ablutions, looking at the picture. Feeling too foolish to speak the next words out loud, she continued on silently –  _ Good night, darling _ . Sinking into her mattress, she closed her eyes and allowed the unconsciousness to claim her, hoping for a quiet night.

But, unfortunately, it wasn’t. However, without much lingering on the terrors hiding in her sub-consciousness, Regina prepared for the in house morning with the children, working off the residual shakiness while preparing the various types of pancakes, not able to decide the flavor. Just after she finished clearing the dirty dishes, having done the meal that waited for Henry to come down, she heard her doorbell ring out through the house. Startled with the noise she frowned, trying to remember the last time she had heard that particular sound, as since the breaking of the curse, the only people who had come to the house were Charmings, not counting her mother and Hook, of course, and one ought not to forget the mob after the curse had been broken, and the particular Royals would have always pounded on her door rather than ring a bell.

With a glance to the clock on the wall, she tucked her hair behind her ear and directed herself toward the door, wary of the visitor who would come to her house on Saturday morning, especially when she knew that anyone who came to the house, namely Charmings and Neal would call in advance just so she wouldn’t fry them on the spot. So, ready for any sudden attack, she peered out through the glass beside the door, catching a glimpse of a blonde woman. Frowning, she pressed down her shirt and checked herself in the mirror before she took the handle and pulled open the white door. And, stood in the doorway, staring at the blonde in front of her, not really knowing what to expect.

“Hello, Regina,” the blonde spoke evenly, her hands clasped in front of her, as she watched the brunette narrow her eyes, darting rapidly over the front lawn. “I am alone,” she added, raising her palms a bit.

“Princess,” the Mayor said, her tone even as she remained by the door.

“Kathryn is fine. May we talk?”

“I suppose. Come in.” Stepping away and opening the door wider, Regina lifted her palm in the inviting gesture, ushering the blonde into the house. “I was making breakfast,” she added as she led them toward the kitchen, gesturing toward one of the chairs behind the counter, as she took out another cup and poured coffee, replenishing her own. “To what do I owe this… pleasure?”

The somewhat cold tone of the Mayor made Kathryn realize that what she wanted to do probably wasn’t a good idea, but now that she was there, she would continue, convinced that no matter the consequences they would not be highly dangerous, keeping in mind David’s comforting words. “I wanted to talk with you.”

“You said that already,” Regina said, bringing the cup to her face. Soon, Henry would be up, if he wasn’t already, waken by the bell. And, Kyle, well, Regina didn’t hear anything from the baby monitor so… “What about?”

“The curse.”

“Ah,” Regina sighed, lowering her cup. “If you came for an apology, you are not going to get one.”

“No, no, you misunderstand. I am not here to place blame or whatever. I just wanted to talk.” Knowing that she would have to be the one to start and lead this particular conversation, as Regina was currently staring at her with her eyebrow raised in question and incredulity was written all over her face. “After the curse was broken, the memories came back and with them I had a proper context for everything. I know that I was only a collateral damage in your war against Snow, and I understand that, and now that things have changed, I can forgive that. Of course, you kidnaping and drugging me was not OK, but at least you didn’t kill me. And, this may sound weird, but even though it was for your own nefarious reasons and that you were most likely pretended, you were my friend. My only friend at that time.”

Regina remained motionless, but Kathryn could see some of emotions pierce the façade through the brown eyes, and that told her that the Mayor was truly listening, not just indulging her.

“You gave me your support and shared something of you with me, and regardless of the reasons for it, I wanted to thank you for it.” Then, Kathryn rose from her stool and walked around the counter, getting closer to the former Queen, slowly – watching Regina’s face for any sign of discomfort. “And, I want to offer you my friendship, if you want it.”

“What?”

“I mean it, Regina. You may not realize this, but this curse helped me in a manner of speaking. Set me free in ways you could never imagine.” Seeing that the bristling posture eased somewhat, Kathryn continued. “What do you know of my father?”

“Not much.”

“He was not an easy man to live with,” the blonde said somewhat stiffly, her words pointed. “And, you have unwittingly given me twenty eight years of my life without him, without his stifling influence. And, even though I now remember him, I also remember a time when I knew nothing about him. It gives me comfort, Regina, to have such memories. And, he is not here, which is an added benefit of the curse.”

With a reluctant understanding, Regina nodded once. But, not willing to continue on the subject she turned around to the covered plates. “Would you like some breakfast?” she offered softly.

“Yeah, that would be great.”

“I want it, too,” a voice from the entrance to the kitchen spoke, as Henry padded in, going straight to his mother. “Hello, Mrs. Nolan” he added belatedly, his eyes narrowing at the presence of the blonde. “Is something wrong?” he asked, turning to Regina.

“No, no, everything is fine,” the brunette spoke, placing two plates in front of the others, and then brought out the third one, larger, and filled with stacks of pancakes. Then, she went with her hand’s knuckles over Henry’s cheek, moving the uncombed hair of his face. She had noticed that he was still in his pajamas, but it seemed like he had rushed down the moment he had woken up, in a hurry not even washing his face. He must’ve heard their voices from the kitchen and came immediately down to investigate. And of course she had not missed his protective posturing. Her son was portraying his other mother perfectly in these moments, telling her that she had another Charming under her roof. But, he did show some of her own characteristics, the shrewdness and intelligence, and sometimes even her caustic sarcasm and exasperation with others’ foolishness. “Kathryn’s here just to talk, as a friend.”

“That true?” Henry looked up at the blonde.

“Yes,” Kathryn said with a gentle smile as she looked into the eyes that were passed on for two generations now. She had never noticed it before but both Emma and Henry had Snow’s eyes. But, the suspicious glare she was receiving from this pair was pure Regina. “If she wants me, that is,” she added, her gaze switching up to the other woman. When Regina inclined her head slowly, Henry relaxed, starting to eat. And, that was that on the subject.

They ate, soon joined by the babe and spending the morning in awkward conversation, as Henry retold some of the stories from his adventures, careful not to give out important details. Kathryn left with a promise to see Regina again, and that she was available for babysitting if need be, as she was not on the town’s War Council or with the Town officials, which meant that in case of any emergency she was most likely to be free.

Then, the Mills family enjoyed the rest of their day, discussing the color combinations for Kyle’s room, and finally getting to unpacking the boxes Snow and Charming had brought over with Emma’s things. With the benefit of Emma’s memories, Regina knew what to keep in the boxes, and what she was free to put in her closet, she had previously rearranged to allow for the additions. And, in the afternoon they had a marathon of Disney movies, both Regina and Henry laughing at the some misconceptions the ‘real world’ had about the Enchanted Forest. Regina would often explain something she knew about the cartoon portrayed histories, chuckling at the various array of expressions on her boy’s face, ranging from disgusted to hilarious disbelief. Kyle would often join them in their laughter, making them start over with their giggling and gently teasing the toddler. Emma was the most frequent topic of their conversation, the older Mills’ using the technique of telling stories and discussing adventures as a way of quenching the sweet pain of absence the blonde woman had created in their hearts.

Sunday morning came too quickly, and with it the nervous anticipation of the meeting. “Are you sure that you will be fine with Kyle for that long?” Regina asked her son as she searched for something appropriate to wear, glancing toward the boys lounging on her bed.

Rolling his eyes at her, because he had answered that question three times since the time he had gotten up, he nodded. “You should wear the black one,” he spoke after his mother picked up a gray dress. “The one you wore last time.”

“Henry,” Regina rebuked with a smile, remembering that time.

_ She magicked the door open, stunning the frightened crowd who had been waiting for their Prince into a scared silence, and as she entered the room, strutting down the walkway, the power and might oozed of her, announcing very clearly that the Evil Queen was back, and she would not stop until she got what she wanted. “My… What a nice turnout,” she said before going in, her assured sneer affixed on her face. _

_ “No need for a fuss,” she spoke loudly, each click of her heels only more stressing her words. “It’s just little old me.” First Bug tried to reason with her, and when she blew him away, then the dwarf tried to rush at her, meeting the same fate as Archie. And, lastly Granny tried to get her with a bolt but Regina caught it and transformed it into a flame, sending it circling around the hall before it hit the town seal behind her, the effect freezing everyone in their place. The Wolf girl, whether bravely, or stupidly enough stood in front of her demanding to know what Regina wanted, but Regina was spared of answering as the object of her rampaging quest straightened out and yelled out. Henry came to his adoptive mother and bargaining with her, secured the safety of the people in the Hall, surrendering himself to the Queen. “That is my boy,” she spoke with a proud and pleased smile, leading him out of the room, closing the door behind her with magic. _

“You really think I should wear it after that?” she asked, pulling the mentioned dress out and checking it against her body in the mirror.

“Yeah, it gives you more authority.” He then smiled, remembering something. “Emma calls it ‘Shock and Awe approach’. You are one of the Protectors, you don’t owe them anything.”

“But, still, Henry, I think something less related to the Evil Queen would do better.”

“Mom, you are the Evil Queen,” Henry replied with a gently convincing tone, his eyes telling her that he did not believe in the title anymore. “Whatever you wear is going to be ‘Evil Queen-ish’.”

Regina walked to her bed and sat beside the boy, looking at him with awed affection. “You may have a point.”

“I know I do.”

“Don’t gloat.”

“I earned it,” he said triumphantly, crossing his arms over his puffed out chest and raising his head high.

“You did, didn’t you?” Regina jumped on him, careful not to kick Kyle as she started tickling the older boy, laughing at his exhilarated screams, and giggling when the toddler, not wanting to miss out, joined in, his clumsy hands touching Henry’s face.

“Mercy, mercy,” Henry screamed through his laughter, trying to escape the hands assailing him. “I surrender.”

“Hmm, that easily?” Regina commented before she chuckled at his scowl, initiating a threesome hug kissing the faces of both her boys. “You are growing up,” the woman spoke after a while, enjoying the light snuggle, her voice getting distant.

“I’ll always be your son, Mom.”

“Always, sweetie.” Rising up, she took the dress of the hanger and walked into the ensuite to change, not willing to kick the boys out of her bed just yet. Doing her make-up and hair, she talked through the ajar door with Henry, taking in his opinion on the people in the Council, laughing when she heard the ways he had been milking his ancestry in. “And, Emma let you do that?”

“She never was interested in the matter. Emma would leave it to Grandma, and they would never say anything to Snow White.”

“That’s my boy. But, your powers for good be sure to use, young Padawan.” She smiled at Henry’s delighted chuckle and kissed him again. “I am going. There is food in the fridge, but he should not be hungry until I get back. Diapers changed, he is dressed.”

“Mo-om,” the boy spoke, as he pushed his mother lightly. “We’ll be fine. Go.”

“Call me if you need anything.”

“Yes. Bye.”

“Bye, sweetie.” She knew that she was overreacting but with the Council she never knew. Turning to the toddler, she kissed him as well, murmuring encouragement to be good for Henry in his ear. With the final look at the children, she left the room, and subsequently the house, casting a protection spell over it, making it send out the warning should anyone dare to disturb the wards. Deciding to walk in order to settle down, she walked on the street, and continued on to the Town Hall.

She walked in, seeing that the most, if not all members were there. Passing them by with indifferent expression to her face she took a seat at the head table, noting that Snow had left her a chair in the middle, announcing Regina’s importance to the town and her support for the woman. With a short nod and almost whispered murmur she greeted the Charmings, before she lifted her eyes to scan the room. Intermittently, she would catch someone’s eyes and she could see their reaction to her presence. As she surmised, Snow, Charming and Archie were in favor of her, their posture clear on that. Blue seemed indifferent but her proclamation of Regina being one of the Protectors was enough. Granny also seemed indifferent, but her wink under the glasses told a different story. Marco was still on the fence with her, his newest experience threatening to change his mind in Regina’s favor. The only real problem was the knights and the dwarves, namely Grumpy.

“Look, Sister, I don’t know what you did to convince everyone that you are good now, but I don’t buy it,” Leroy spoke, after rounds and rounds of proclamations and posturing, each one defused by Snow or Archie. Regina had left them to deal with it, knowing that the moment she chose to engage she would be pushed and pushed by the idiocy of the present people, intent on proving her wrong, or bad. And, with her current souring mood, she was sure to do something… evil in her need to establish the control. But, it seemed that the tactic didn’t work anymore, the dwarf addressing her personally, pointing his finger at her, as he stood up in the threatening position, ignoring Snow’s reprimanding tone.

She lifted her head, looked at him and smiled coldly, her eyes taking on the wicked gleam Snow was so familiar with. “What I did, or did not do, is no concern of yours.”

“How do we know she is actually changed, and not just biding her time to strike?” one of the knights joined in, rising as well, his angry and cautious glare fixed on Regina’s face, but still somehow avoiding her eyes.

“I trust her!” Snow said adamantly, leaning onto the table.

“Does the words poisoned apple mean anything to you?” Grumpy said with a sneer. “She cursed you, twice! Tried to kill the Sheriff, almost killed Henry!”

“Enough!” Regina used magic to make her voice penetrate every corner of the vast room of the Town Hall, making it reverberate as it silenced everyone. “I do not care if you trust me or not. I do not concern myself with the opinions of dwarves and peasants who think they are something more than they actually are.” Her sneer filled with contempt and derision rang out in the room, as her expression of haughty supremacy caused the room temperature to drop suddenly. “Your Royals have found me changed. Your embodiment of Good has chosen me for the Protector. Your Savior entrusted me with her life and her son. Who. Are. You…” Having risen from her chair, she circled the room, making sure to come close to each and every one who opposed her. “To defy your elders, your monarchs and your moral compass, all people much smarter than you, and yet to stand here and accuse me of wrongdoing?”

“Are you calling me stupid?” Leroy asked, as he jumped toward the Mayor, but the woman was ready for his outburst.

“Do you really need me to answer that question?” Having subdued him with her magic, she slammed him down in his chair, shutting him up by locking his jaw and lips. She was honestly surprised that no one of the others interfered, not even Doctor Hopper who had always been firmly against any kind of violence. Turning toward the man, she saw something that really astounded her. The man was watching her with a gentle but pleased smile and when he saw her glance, he inclined his head in respect. Never would she assume such action from the man, but, as he was familiar with the whole story, she supposed he was giving her some leeway. “Let me make something clear.” The sharp clack of the heels underlined her every word. “I do not need to be the Mayor. I have other ways to fill my time. But, as it has been pointed out many times over the course of this discussion and many others, I am the only one with the administrative and legislative knowledge of the position. The only one who can ensure that this town is conforming to the laws and demands of this world. And, as such, I am indispensable. You, on the other hand, are not.” Reaching Grumpy she tapped his forehead while wearing her haughty smirk. “If you don’t like the arrangement, no one is stopping you from leaving.”

“If you think that we will allow you to push us out, you have another thing coming, witch!” one of the knights said, making Regina scoff at the imbecilic soldier who only proved her point that she should not waste her time with stupid, idiotic people.

Twirling her finger she did to him the same as she had done to Grumpy. “Oh, no, dears, I do not suppose you will allow me anything. But, I need only to push in, rather than out in order to control this merry bunch of fools.” Reaching teasingly toward the knight’s chest, she caressed the shirt right over his heart with an evil smirk on her face, magic tendrils of purple mist making the move all the more terrifying.

“Regina!” Snow’s reprimand came quickly. At the warning glare of the green eyes, the woman stopped, managing to make her pause seem like a planned and thought out move.

“You spoil my fun, dear Snow,” Regina spoke with a faux sweet tone. “I am in no mood to stay here and listen to this drivel anymore.” And, letting her magic envelop her, she decided it was time to go.

“Regina, wait,” David shouted but it was already too late, as the woman was gone. Then he turned his angry glare at the troublemaking soldier. “Gavin, I’ll deal with you later. This meeting is over.” With a passing kiss to Snow’s cheek, he rushed out, too fast to see that his wife had immediately proceeded to dress down her faithful friend and ally, making the dwarf blush with impotent anger and shame.

Regina appeared in her hallway, angrily throwing her keys away, almost growling. Startled by the noise, Henry rushed out of the living room and when he saw his mother surrounded by the swirling tendrils of her magic, he paused before slowly walking toward her, careful not to make sudden moves.

“Bad day?” he asked softly.

“Indeed,” Regina said, just as softly, pushing her magic down, her anger already ebbing away as she was in the comfort of her home, with her son looking at her. “I lost my temper,” she explained. It was enough for Henry who knew his mother well enough to know that she had been pushed to react, and that she had, probably using some magical spectacle.

“Oh.”

“Yeah. Oh.”

Then, the pounding on the door startled both of them. “Regina, open up,” David’s voice came through the wood making Regina roll her eyes. With a flick of her hand she let the white wood of the door move, letting the Prince in.

“Is this going to be a developing pattern, Charming?” Regina asked exasperated. “You, pounding on my door…”

“Regina, about today…”

“Let me stop you right there, David. I came as a courtesy to you and Snow, only to be attacked and judged. I may deserve it, but I will not suffer it, especially with them talking about the ones I love. Now, I understand the need for secrecy, most than anyone in this town, but I will not be pressed this way, particularly not by the idiotic alcoholic of a dwarf and the knight who needs a map to find his own breeches!”

“Regina, I am not here to reprimand you, or anything of the sort.” The blonde man said gently, as he walked up the stairs leading to the main part of the house, joining his grandson and the woman who was such a vital part of their lives. “I wanted to see if you were alright.”

“Yes, I am fine,” Regina spoke after a moment of just watching the man in front of her. It seemed that from time to time his blundering self of Prince Charming knew how to manage not to aggravate her. And, he did it in a typical move she associated with her True Love, but with his own twist on it. And, she thanked the gods for it, because if he had done it just as Emma had used to, it would spoil the future success of the move for Emma, and she didn’t want that. “Nothing a few fireballs won’t cure.”

David did not miss the softening of her posture and the teasing lilt in her voice. Chuckling with Henry at her wit, he threw his arm around his shoulder and smiled at her. “But, since that is not on the menu, how about lunch? At our place?”

“Does your wife know about this?”

“She will, and she won’t mind.”

“Come on Mom, it’ll be fun.” Henry added his two cents.

“Fine.”

With a quick call to Snow, they arranged to meet at the loft after a half an hour, giving Regina enough to change and organize the boys. David left on the last minute grocery shopping, making Henry laugh with his harried repetition of the list Snow was giving him.

They all spent a languid afternoon, enjoying Snow’s cooking, the unspoken consensus that they should keep away from heavy topics, talking mostly about the children, and their jobs, keeping to the lighter stories. Henry expressed his joy to be going back to school, mostly because he would see all his friends there.

And, with that end to the weekend, the new working week began. And, the day after they, the Mills family fell into a practiced rhythm. In the mornings, Henry would go to school and Regina would take Kyle to her work, often interacting with him while she did the papers. When she was in the meetings or on sites, she would take him with her, occasionally leaving him with David or rarely, Kathryn. Then in the afternoons, Henry would go to the station, doing his homework, often going to the stables with his grandfather, and sometimes his father, until the time Regina got off her work. And, by agreement in the morning they would spend their evenings in various ways, some more fun than the others.

Halloween came and went, and the first snow covered the ground, announcing the winter. Regina still looked for relics or something else she would be able to bring to Emma to use as the guides for the portals, but unsuccessful, rejecting idea after idea, after learning something more about the each object that she would think of. She had found a place for the gate itself, close to the wishing well, but still far enough not to be directly in the line of sight of it. Regularly, she would meet with Anton, the human sized giant updating her on the progress of the beans, as she would walk up the fields, inspecting the growth by herself. It wasn’t that she didn’t trust the benevolent giant, after all he had never done her anything wrong. And, it seemed that the kind hearted hulk had a soft spot for the Savior, doing everything in his power to make sure that she would get home. That, the same as with August, earned the man trust and friendly connection. No, she needed to often reassure herself that the fields were intact, still there.

Only one thing caused some concern for the Mayor. Doctor Whale had called her one morning, telling her that Sidney Glass was missing. Soon, she found out that during their time in Neverland and beyond, the interim rulers of Storybrooke had decided to let him out of the asylum, but making sure to impart to him that he was to come to checkups with the doctor each week. It came as a surprise to Regina as she had not seen the former Genie anywhere in the town, and she had been to every corner of it. Victor told her that he had missed his appointment and that no one had seen him for more than a week. After a moment of consideration, Regina relegated the matter to the Sheriff’s office, calling David directly to inform him. But, as the days passed, the mysterious disappearance was attributed to the man deciding to leave the town, as it was now possible to do so.

Regina noticed that even though people were still wary of her, they mellowed out, no longer openly hating her. She did her job without any major problems, enjoyed her time with the children uninterrupted, even if she was in the middle of Granny’s diner in the rush hour. She was aware that most of the changed attitude was because she took care of the Savior’s son, and that the boy took a huge offence if anyone even looked at Regina crossly. No one wanted to get on the bad side of the Prince with such powerful bloodlines. And, he, having learned from the Mayor more than she would’ve guessed, used the situation to change the tide into his mother’s favor.

In time, rather quickly, they furnished Kyle’s bedroom, using blue yellow wallpaper, bringing out Kyle’s eyes, just like she had done with Henry’s, using the green beige ones. It was actually the boy’s idea, which the brunette supported wholeheartedly. In one afternoon, with the help of a bit of the magic, they were done, waiting only for Marco to deliver some of the last pieces of the furniture. Henry would help with the chores of the house, having understood why Regina did not use her magic for such menial tasks.  _ You never know what is coming _ , she had said.  _ And, if you use the easy way with these simple things, what is stopping you to use the easy way with more important ones? _

Together, they would watch Kyle crawl over the floor, supporting him with loud encouragement whenever he would rise up by holding on to someone’s leg or a chair. It wasn’t long before he would make his first steps, joyously happy when he would reach Henry or Regina by himself. Even his vocabulary improved, having more words in it, but the most surprising of all was one he spoke one morning, their established lazy Sunday morning when they would lounge in Regina’s bed before breakfast, as Henry was looking into the picture that had been standing beside his mother’s bed, holding it gently in his hands, the new frame shining in the morning light.

“Ma,” the blonde boy said, his small hand touching the photo as he climbed on Henry’s lap, leaning against the brunette in the extraordinary feat of throwing himself over the both of them.

“What, sweetie?” Regina asked absently, as she caressed the boy’s head.

“Ma!”

“Did he just…?” Henry looked at his mother and an incredulous grin showed on his face.

“That is Emma, dear. Emma and Henry.” Regina spoke patiently, wanting to confirm that he had indeed used that word.

“Ma and Ehwy,” the boy exclaimed proudly, tapping the picture.

“Yes, Kyle, Emma and me. Who is a smart boy?” Henry spoke happily, tickling the baby tenderly, as he glanced toward his mother, seeing her gentle brown eyes simmering with the sheen of tears of pride.

“Mee,” the boy supplied giggling as he tried to move out of the hands, crawling further into Regina’s arms, seeking safety as he laughed at the older boy.

“Ma… I like it.” Henry then spoke seriously, his laughing eyes still present. “Mom and Ma. Yes, I definitely like it.”

“Should we call you Ehwy as well?” Regina joked, nodding at Henry’s conclusion. It did make sense for the boy to call his mother something else than her name, and it seemed that its particular abbreviation was good enough for the job.

So, the days turned into weeks, and the weeks turned into a month.

At the month mark of their time in Storybrooke, Henry suggested a family dinner for Thanksgiving that year. Finally the dining room could be properly used and he would have around the table most of the people he called his family. His pleading eyes and repetition of pleases while he vibrated in front of her, his hands clasped before him made it impossible for Regina to say no. She even agreed with the choice of most of the people Henry wanted at dinner. The Charmings, of course. Doctor Hopper, with Marco and Pinocchio, as well. And, Neal. But, she did know that the man had somewhat of the right to be there, as he was indeed the blood relative of both her and Henry. The only guest who she did not think would be able to attend was Granny, and not because of any animosity, but because the woman had a diner to take care of, and holidays were the busiest times of the year.

Arranging everything and having gotten the answers to her invitation, she sat down with the boys, thinking up the menu. She already knew what choices she would use as she would prepare her traditional Thanksgiving dinner, only in larger quantity to accommodate for the number of people. After much deliberation, and with favored insight from Henry, she decided to use her apple pie as well. It was her trademark, after all.

So, when the call came that Friday evening, after she had put the children to sleep, and was in the middle of her night ablutions, she considered letting it go to voicemail, as it was way past the working hours. But, then, when she saw that it was the Sheriff’s number she jumped for the phone, knowing that he wouldn’t have called if it wasn’t important.

“David?” she said instead of greeting, as she walked toward her window, the nagging feeling that this would be a long night appearing in her gut. “What is it?”

“We’ve got a problem,” the grave voice of the Prince came off the phone, almost unheard over the loud noises of the sirens and people shouting. “There has been a murder south of the docks. We need you here.”

“I can’t, there…” Regina started, but the understanding and yet troubled tone of the Prince reached her, stopping her words from coming out.

“Snow is already on her way.” And, just as he had spoken the words, the woman’s caravan screeched in front of her mansion, haphazardly parked in the street, but luckily not disturbing the possible traffic. “It’s Spencer,” David added before hanging up.

Using magic to dress quickly, she also used it to open the door in front of Snow, letting her in the house, while she was still upstairs. Gathering her phone and her keys, she rushed down, meeting the pixie haired woman at the bottom of the stairs. “They are in beds,” she said, immediately going toward her coat closet, taking out her black long coat and putting the scarf around her neck. “Kyle is a bit fussy sometimes, humming usually soothes him before he wakes up,” she said, putting on the gloves, as it was sure to be chilly in the November drizzle. She gave Snow the monitor, and showed her to the guest bedroom on the ground floor. “Do you know anything?”

“No, David got the call half an hour ago. Then he just called me to tell me that you would need a sitter, as he was about to call you.”

“Fine. I have my phone with me.”

Snow nodded and watched as the woman disappeared in front of her. Checking up on the kids, she noticed the new look of Kyle’s room and smiled at Regina’s impeccable yet warm taste. With a worried frown she walked downstairs, deciding to spend her time in the living room as it was the space she was most familiar with in the huge mansion, preparing for a long night.

Regina appeared in front of the police line and ignoring the surprised squeak of a volunteer, she ducked beneath it, searching for the Sheriff. As she walked down onto the shore, she was glad that she had decided to wear sensible footwear, following the lights to the murder sight. But, instead of the Sheriff, she found her half-brother investigating. “Where is David?” she asked without preamble, as she neared the man.

“By the car,” Neal answered as he was crouching over the body of the former King George, not touching it but his attentive eyes taking in every detail. Then he glanced up and seeing her narrowed eyes, he rose up to her. “He was the enemy, and thus the main suspect.” But, before Regina could say a word, he continued on, moving aside to let the hospital workers lift the body to the gurney. “I know he didn’t do it. But, for the sake of posterity… And, I am the only one who had experience with this side of the law.”

“You’re right. I would much rather have Emma on this than him, but I guess you would do.”

“Such a high praise,” Neal commented with a mumble, but disregarding Regina’s scoff, he gestured to the ambulance car driving away their body. “I’ve called Whale, he agreed to assist.”

“Tell me what happened.” Regina walked beside Neal, as they climbed up to the police cruiser where David was waiting for them with his arms crossed, the sullen and angry face greeting them.

“What did you find?” David asked before Neal could say anything making him roll his eyes. Although it had been Neal who suggested that the Prince should not be on the scene as the relative and the enemy of the victim, it had been the Sheriff that had accepted that and stayed behind. But, it did not mean that he wasn’t irritated by the rules or that he was considered a suspect.

“I was just about to share,” Neal replied bitingly. But, at the disproving clack of Regina’s tongue, he recognized that if he didn’t speak soon, she would use other means of extracting information. “He was shot in the chest. I would say a small caliber, but Whale will confirm.” He looked at David and added. “The wound looks fresh.” The men shared a look, the grim realization settling in.

“I don’t understand.”

Neal opened the passenger door of the cruiser and gestured the woman in, as he jumped into the back seat. He waited for David to join them by sitting in the driver’s seat. The odd behavior of the Sheriff department only added to Regina’s confusion.

“I got a call saying someone found a body on the shore and that it looked like it was washed up,” David started speaking, looking at Regina, knowing that she would need to hear everything to make the same conclusion they had already reached.

“So?”

“First, I thought it strange that someone was walking by the shore at one in the morning, but nevertheless I came to check it out, calling Neal as a backup, because it was in the middle of the night.

“The thing is, when we found him, he was dry.”

“So he had time to dry up,” Regina said, but something did not make sense to her. It had been raining the whole day, even if he had been out of the surf he would have been wet either way. And what was more, George didn’t look like drowning victims she had had the displeasure of seeing during her reign. And, then it was a matter of the wound. “But, if he was dry and the wound fresh, then it would mean that he was killed right before you came?”

“Yes, and the logic dictates that as the report was already false, that whoever called it in, was the one to kill him.” Neal concluded grimly.

Regina turned to David, horror on her face. “This was planned? Someone called you, specifically to lure you out here?”

“Yes, and when I would call for backup, the people would see me over my pretend father’s body and most would immediately conclude that I was the one to kill him. After all he did curse Snow, and killed my mother, and waged war against me. And, even framed Ruby to discredit me.”

“The town already knows how he stopped at nothing to make his life difficult.”

“But, if they thought I had killed him in cold blood, in the place where he told me that I should have killed him before, they would think I have grown dark.”

“So, you should look for someone with a grudge against you. Well, that shouldn’t be hard, you are the beloved Prince Charming!” Regina spoke, disdain for the title obvious, but David knew that she did not feel that much scorn toward him anymore. “Just look for someone who stands out.”

“That is the problem. There is no one that does.”

“Ah.”

“We should get moving,” Neal spoke after a moment of tense silence. “I need to get your statement, David, and to search Spencer’s home.”

David started the car, and waited for Neal to leave before driving off with Regina still inside. “Does Snow know it is George?” Regina asked softly, looking straight ahead.

“No.”

The terse silence filled the car, and later, it followed them to the station as they waited for Neal to join them, as he had left behind to deal with the volunteers and to direct the next step of the investigation. In quietude Regina stood in front of the mirrored glass looking into the interrogation room, remembering the last time she had been in the vicinity of that place. The day the Charmings accused her of killing Archie.

_ Knowing that she couldn’t sway the Prince, she focused her attempt on Emma, hoping that the Sheriff would be able to use her power and believe her when she said that she didn’t do it. She saw a flicker of something in the green scrutinizing eyes as the blonde and her father left her alone in the room to talk with Snow. Unknowingly to them, she had heard the whole conversation, as they had left the door ajar. It was hard to pretend that she wasn’t listening as she was aware that her fate was debated, once more without her choice. But the most surprising of all was the words she heard Emma utter, the warmth in her chest flaring up, as it often did when the blonde would do something to pleasantly surprise her. _

_“We can’t lock her up because she didn’t do it.” Emma’s voice reached her, the soft murmur of it easing some of her ruffled feathers. Regina ignored the voices of her enemies focusing only on the blonde. “I watched her when we told her Archie was dead. She didn’t know.” The firm conviction was apparent even in a whisper. “I know what I saw. Look at her in there. The old Regina would’ve reduced this building to ashes! That’s the woman who wants to change. She just wants everyone_ ** _else_** _to see it. I know that look. I know_ ** _her_** _. I believe her.” After that she just stopped listening, not able to handle more from the Savior. The trust that Emma had in her was doing strange things to her, enforcing the change she had already committed herself to._

“I never did apologize for that in there, and afterwards,” the voice of the acting Sheriff broke the silence, as Regina focused on his reflection in the glass, showing him behind her, off to her left shoulder. “I am sorry,” he added, offering her a cup of coffee.

She took it silently, as she stood in front of the glass. Then, after a moment, she looked at the Prince and shrugged, her move still ending up elegant and refined, as she gave of the regal poise of the Mayor. “Mother made a compelling case against me.” She sipped the coffee and scowled at the terrible taste it left in her mouth, but choosing not to comment on it, she glanced back to the room. “I don’t blame you for believing it. There were moments even I believed I did it.”

“It doesn’t make it OK. I, well both of us actually, were blinded by our fear and hatred to realize that it did not make sense. Emma did point it out that it wasn’t in your nature.”

“Not in my nature to kill?” Regina’s voice gained a haughty tone.

“To be complacent and try to convince people of otherwise.”

“Well, she did a knack for protecting me.”

“That is what you do for people you love.”

“I know.” Regina stepped away, throwing away the coffee, as she walked to the couch beside the cells. Lowering herself down, she smiled when another memory jumped at her, this one depicting Emma pulling her up from the floor of the cell.

“When did you fall in love with her?” David’s voice brought her back to reality as he sat down on one of the chairs close to her.

“Honestly?” Regina turned to him with a smile, still left over from her memories of the blonde. There was a voice inside her head telling her that she was ridiculous, sharing her feelings with Charming of all people, but it was late, she was beyond tired and he was one of the rare people she could talk to about Emma. “The moment she looked at me and said that high pitched Hi, uncertain and intimidated by the house.”

“Snow said that you always had this energy about you. That the air was fizzling around you when you were engaged in one of your fights.” He chuckled when he remembered a wording his wife had used. “She was never as passionate about something as about you, whether it was because you pissed her off or because you were in danger.”

Regina only smiled, already knowing that it wasn’t the whole truth, as Emma was passionate about their son as well. It was after all Henry that was the main reason for her to stay behind and create a gateway to connect the worlds. And, Regina was the only one who shared the moments of fear and dread with the Savior when their boy had been in the hospital dying.

But, if she was going to reply, she did not get the chance as Neal walked in, taking off his jacket and shawl, quickly leading David into the interrogation room. Regina was present as the representative of the Town, seeing that the town’s own district attorney was the victim. After going over David’s statement, Neal informed them that someone had broken into the man’s house, possibly kidnapping him out of it, as there were signs of struggle. And, the safe had been opened, Neal remarked, showing them a clear bag for evidence, showing a casing for a gun, telling them that beside it was a box of .22 LR ammo. Explaining to Regina that the killer most likely used Spencer’s own gun in killing him, he said that it would likely impede the investigation further. With no real leads, or with evidence pointing in any direction, their hands were tied, and the case would go cold and unsolved. Not that they felt sorry that the man was dead, but it meant that there was a killer on the loose in Storybrooke.

“How can I help?” Regina asked as she walked toward the window of the office, flexing her shoulders, hiding her yawn behind her hand. She saw that it was already light outside, and the Sun was due to come up any minute from then.

At the offered suggestions, mostly dealing with the suppression of the important information, Regina agreed to see what she could do to manage the situation. Then, she turned and offered the men breakfast at her home, knowing that Snow would definitely still be up, waiting for them both. Ignoring Neal’s raised eyebrow, lifted in surprise, she pulled out her phone dialing Snow’s number. Letting the woman know that they were on their way back to the mansion, hungry and tired, inquired after the children. Satisfied that everything was well in her home, she waited for the Sheriff and his deputy to put their things to order, leaving a set of instructions for a volunteer that would open the office later in the morning, taking a much needed time off. Yes, the murder needed to be solved but it would happen if the investigating force was somewhat capable of seeing and connecting the clues.

After the freshening breakfast and good hot coffee, the Charmings and Neal went to their respective homes, the couple to their loft and the man to his apartment at Granny’s. Lucky for Regina, Snow had cleared behind her food making, leaving the kitchen spotless and with a fresh pot of coffee waiting to be turned on. Debating whether she should catch a few hours of sleep or wait for the boys to rise, she missed her son entering the kitchen in search of her. “Mom?”

“Henry,” Regina turned to the still sleepy boy, searching his face for the reason of his early rising.

“I heard voices when I went to the bathroom,” he explained with a slight shrug as he walked toward her. “You didn’t sleep.”

“No.”

“What happened? Why was dad here?”

“Your grandfather and father caught a hard case, and I was needed on the scene. As we worked the whole night, I offered them coffee and breakfast here before they went to bed.”

“Grandma watched us,” he concluded as his mother offered him waffles covered with wild berries syrup, looking at the hearts on the plate. His mother made circular shapes or squares, if making them for company, but she would never use the heart shape for food.

“Yes, I couldn’t leave you alone, even if you were asleep.”

“Who died?”

“Mister Spencer.”

“King George?!”

“Yes.” Easily managing to dodge most of his questions, Regina made Henry eat his early breakfast, while she was preparing the day’s meals for Kyle using the variety of foods, pureeing most of it. She put aside the meat and boiled vegetables for Henry and her to eat at lunch, before she packed it all up in the fridge, leaving only the morning feed as the baby would wake up soon enough. In agreement with Henry, it was decided that they would stay in the whole weekend, as a small vacation before the Thanksgiving madness, giving Regina enough time to catch up with her sleeping.

The beginning of the week passed quickly in work, helping the Sheriff’s department, spending time with children and preparing for the huge dinner Regina planned for the holiday. And, in no time it was Thanksgiving Thursday morning with Snow knocking on her door, having offered to help out, as everyone would be coming around noon with the lunch starting at one in the afternoon.

One by one, guests came, often bringing offerings of their own, like Archie who brought his famous cake. Playing a good hostess, Regina circulated among the people in her house, often dropping into the kitchen to check on the meals, and bringing out drinks. With a soft smile, she walked to the living room where the rest of the people were situated and watched them converse with each other. Henry and August were playing games on the console, while Snow held Kyle in her lap talking to Archie and Marco. David and Neal watched the boys’ game, cheering on. It inordinately pleased her that those people were comfortable in her home. And, as usual the first one to notice her presence was the blonde toddler in Snow’s arms, reaching for her exclaiming her title the whole time, making Snow chuckle at the boy’s behavior, as she transferred him into the waiting arms of his newly adopting mother. With a few words, Regina invited her guests to the dining room, quietly asking Neal to bring out some of the food while she dealt with the turkey and the tyke in her arms. Leaving the blonde boy into his chair, right beside hers at the head of the table, she gave Henry a pointed look to watch over him until she sat down. Then, she smiled as she brought out the bird, enjoying the ecstatic exclamations from the table, everyone else having already taken their seats.

They feasted on the food, eating slowly, as they talked about everything and nothing, sometimes delving in some heavier topics but, luckily there weren’t any full blown arguments, only friendly discussions. For the first time in her life, Regina experienced a true family dinner, loud and rambunctious but happy and interesting. Allowing herself to immerse in the feeling of strange completion, she laughed when Henry started the highly inappropriately timed Grace saying, not thanking anyone in particular, but mentioning his blonde mother quite often in his words, as he watched his other mother with gentle happiness shining out of his eyes. Following his example, the people around the table started saying Grace, even though they were almost finished with most of the meals. Somehow, in all the mentions, the Savior was highly prominent; each member of the group sharing the ways Emma had helped them in the past. At last, the turn came to Regina. Not knowing what really to say, she only raised her glass of wine and said that she was thankful to Emma for giving the Mayor her happy ending. As others heard this, as one, they raised their glasses and said ‘to Emma’, the Savior’s name reverberating around the room.

As the afternoon wore off, people started leaving. First to go was Archie who excused himself with the need to walk Pongo, thanking Regina for the superb meal and wonderful afternoon. Immediately after, Marco and August followed, the red haired boy almost falling asleep on his feet. Charmings helped with clearing up, but soon even they said their goodbyes, kissing all members of Mills' family as they were leaving.

“Would you like some coffee?” Regina asked Neal, when she realized he had stayed behind for a reason. The children were in the living room, slightly dozing at the Justice League marathon on the television. As the answer, Neal followed her to the kitchen, taking the stool across the marble counter, leaning his head onto his hands, elbows on the clean surface. The posture was reminiscent of Henry, and it made Neal look more like a child than a man. Placing a cup in front of him, she looked into his tired eyes, surprised to see that he had become grayer than before. The wound ordeal and everything else must have been hard on him, Regina concluded. And his exhaustion as he looked for the clues for their unsolved murder did not help things at all.

But, the man visited Henry regularly, often accepting Kyle into the company as well, without any complaint, regardless of the hours he put into the case, missing their scheduled meet only one time, having been called away on the possible lead. It was that consistency and preparedness to follow any direction she would set for him, within reasonable frames, which allowed her to mellow toward him, now their communication was somewhat friendly and less sneering was involved. But, it did not mean that she didn’t get irritated with his sometimes childish behavior, or that she easily accepted him as the part of her closer family. With an amusing feeling, she realized that he was one of the in-laws for all she cared, important to Henry, but not much to her. However, as she worked closely with him for the past few days, she realized that the man was growing on her, his boyish charm sometimes even easing the strain of the everyday demands.

“Doctor Whale finally finished the post mortem,” Neal started, knowing that his half-sister would prefer him talk about the thing that made them work more closely together then share a small talk with him. “By his words there was no trace evidence, none that he could find. The gunshot was caused by the .22 caliber fired at close range. The body showed signs of bindings, but it was a generic rope our fishermen use. There was nothing of any use.”

“The tip you got the day before yesterday?” Regina asked, remembering him telling her that had been the reason for him being late to the meeting with Henry.

“A prank most likely…” Neal spoke shrugging before he drank from the cup, enjoying the quality coffee which made a nice change from the sludge he had in the office. “It’s like we are chasing a damn ghost, Regina. Everyone I questioned was accounted for, having standing alibis. I have nothing to go on.” Then, after he emptied the cup he looked at the woman across from him. “There are no ghosts in Storybrooke, right?”

“Don’t be ridiculous.”

“I don’t know. I tried even tracing the tip call but it came back as a phone by Michael’s shop. And, it wasn’t him, as he was in hospital with Nick and Ava; the boy had a violent flu strain. The hospital security shows him in beside his son’s bed the whole time.” At that time, as Regina poured more coffee, he twiddled with the ear of the mug, thanking the woman quietly as he was thinking about something. “I met a guy hanging around the school a lot. Jefferson he said was his name. What is his deal?”

“Ah, he is an old friend.” Regina smiled ruefully, cutting a piece of her apple pie, offering some to the man. As he accepted the plate, she took a bite of her own, and swallowing it, she considered her answer. “And, as all my old friends, he has a problem with me.”

“Would he do this?”

“No, he would come directly at me.” The firm tone and conviction told Neal that Regina was absolutely sure that Jefferson was not the guy they were looking for. However, he would still check it out, for he had not liked the mad hatter much, especially not his gleefully twisted laugh when the deputy had mentioned the murdered man. “But, I have come to believe that even if he could and wanted to, he wouldn’t do anything. Not anymore.” Pausing for another bite, she went on. “You see, his daughter Grace goes with Henry in the class and they are close friends.” Seeing Neal nod at this information, Regina realized that it was possible that as he had often walked Henry out of the school he had met with the girl in question. After all, Henry did talk about her often. “And if his precious Grace found out that he had anything to do with something to hurt me - and this is a very small town, Neal, secrets are impossible to keep – she would be very, very angry with him, and he would do anything for her.” Regina finished, taking a sip of her coffee.

“As we would for Henry,” Neal quietly added, the unspoken threat directed at anyone daring to even think about harming the boy they had in common.

“Precisely.”

“What did you do to him, to make him hate you?” the man asked with interest, as he ate his pie, not even pausing to swallow, crumbs dropping out of his open mouth, making Regina grimace at his lack of manners.

“You are such a baby sometimes,” the Mayor rebuked him sharply, as she threw a paper napkin at his face, her scolding look bringing heat to Neal’s cheeks.

“Hey, I am older than you!” came the ineffective defense, as the man wiped his chin from the food traces.

“And, yet you do not know the proper and basic etiquette of not talking with your mouth full, a skill Henry mastered at three.” At that, Neal slumped down, quickly clearing his throat and eating his pie in silence, making sure to take small bites in order to do it by proper etiquette as Regina had said. “I made him take me to Wonderland to save my father, well - Henry Senior, from my mother, and in order to do that, I had to leave him there at the mercy of the Queen of Hearts.” She did not explain who the woman had been, as Neal had met her firsthand when she had thrown him and Emma out of Gold’s shop those months back. “She cut off his head, and forced him to try to make another one of his portal hats, the effort driving him mad…” Regina continued, pleased that Neal kept his mouth shut. “But, he did use me first.”

“Now, who is a baby?” the man said with a light tease in his voice, finished with the dessert, pushing away his plate. He did gentle his smile, giving the woman clear indication that he was only joking, not willing to risk any kind of wrongful interpretation.

“I suppose it did sound somewhat childish, but he actively helped your father shape me into the monster the people knew me as. With his help, the Evil Queen was born.”

“I am sorry.” The murmuring apology surprised the former Queen, and she blinked at him. “It was because of me that he did all that.”

“No, do not apologize for the sins of your father. He needs to do his own reckoning.” Then, Regina cleared the dishes, and took the last of her coffee. “Then, I would have to apologize for every wrong my mother ever did. And, that is a very long list, and I still have one of my own.” Regina added with some dark humor.

After that, the silence fell on them, until he excused himself, leaving the house after he had said goodbye to the boys, promising Henry that he would see him the day after. At the door, he turned to Regina unsure how to continue, but forcing himself to go on. “I am glad to be part of this family, and it doesn’t matter in what capacity,” he spoke softly, his eyes finding Regina’s. “I had a good time today. Thank you.” Turning abruptly away, he left the stunned woman watching after him as he disappeared in the flurry of sleet.

The quiet and resting evening after an exhausting day passed quickly for the family, as they lounged in the living room watching the television. Later, they moved to Regina’s bed as she told Henry of the Enchanted Forest types of celebrations and customs.

The sluggish delight of the successful dinner followed Regina until the evening the next day, when she suddenly got a call from Anton, the shrill tone of the phone interrupting her in her work, as she was catching up on some things in her study.

“Anton?” Regina asked in surprise as she had heard from him the day before as he had excused himself from the dinner, having decided to share this holiday with the dwarves, giving her a quick rundown of the advancement of beans under her magical dome that kept the plants warm and safe from the elements.

“Fire!” Anton yelled at the phone, sounds of scuffle loud in the background. “The field…” he managed to say before a loud crunching sound stopped him as he exclaimed in pain. She needed no more encouragement, yelling out for Henry, feeling her magic react to the panic the words the giant had spoken.

“Henry!” she repeated again, hearing the thundering footsteps on the stairs, before the boy rushed into her office. “I am leaving, Anton is in danger. I will protect the house but I need you to call David and Neal and to get someone to watch over you. Do you understand me?”

Seeing the panic and hurry in every move his mother made, quickly putting on her coat and gloves, he nodded quickly and in a blink of an eye, the woman before him was gone, startling him into action. He grabbed his phone pressing the speed dial for his grandfather, alerting him quickly to the situation, repeating Regina’s words for words, before hanging up on the already moving man. Then, he called his father, telling him what had happened as well. Having quickly organized the help for his mother, he debated who to call for babysitting duty, thinking that he was too old to be babysat, but Regina had specifically said that he needed to call someone. But, that decision was taken out of his hands when Snow entered the house, using the spare key Regina had shown her the location for only a few days before.

Regina appeared in the field of beans, taking herself to the usual spot of her magical transportation she used when visiting this place. The scene that welcomed her was something out of a nightmare. The blaze had engulfed the agrarian area, the protective dome not allowing the flames to extinguish in the sleet. As far as her eyes could see the scorching fire devoured the plant life. But, the lying body next to her drew her attention and she lowered herself down, making herself focus on Anton, checking his injuries. Assessing them she healed them quickly, wary of the apparent blow to the head the giant had suffered. After she had taken care of Anton, she dissolved the dome, the effect immediate as the weather slowed the flames somewhat. But before she could summon the rain or douse the fire in some other way, a shout behind her distracted her.

“Beautiful, isn’t it?” 


	11. Chapter 11

The Prince walked to the still women on the ground and crouched beside them, his eyes connecting with his warrior friend as he touched the back of the nearly unconscious Wolf. “We need to leave,” Phillip whispered gently to the young woman, trying to rouse her. But it seemed 

that Ruby was either unwilling or unable to comply, limply remaining in Mulan’s arms. “Get her up,” he said to the warrior, before helping her rise, and taking on the weight of the grieving Wolf, as he motioned to his friend to get up on her horse. With the help of one of his guards, they placed Ruby in Mulan’s secure hold. Then, Phillip walked to the Savior’s filly, standing slightly away from the others. Slightly unnerved with the absence of her rider, the horse tapped its hoof on the ground, shaking its head. Raising his hands, the Prince spoke soothingly reaching for the reins. With the gentle pat on the animal’s neck, he brought it to the group, still holding the reins as he climbed atop of his own horse, giving out a short order to set out for the Safe Haven, his heart heavy, as he glanced toward the Col where one of his company had stayed behind, giving them a safe passage out, protecting them to the end.

“May your soul find peace, Savior,” he murmured before he joined his group, taking them home.

No one spoke on the way, the silence interrupted only by the restless pounding of the hooves on the cold hardened ground and the rustling of the leaves on the wind. When they left the shadows of the forest, the gate of the village in front of them, Ruby moved away from Mulan’s arms suddenly, making the warrior stop her horse.

“Let me down,” the werewolf murmured, already disengaging from the warrior’s hold. Jumping down, she stumbled a bit, but before anyone could move to her, she raised her hand and waved them off. “I am fine,” Ruby mumbled, as she directed herself to the already opening gate.

“The Prince is back,” one of the guards said, rushing toward the Village Hall, no doubt to inform the others.

Soon, Aurora rushed toward the newcomers, followed by Belle and Rumplestiltskin, her hands gripping the front of her dress as she would not trip in her hurry. “Phillip,” she said with relief as she walked into the welcoming arms of the village Royal. Checking him for wounds she noticed only several scrapes on his cloak and mud on his pants, and then Aurora turned to Mulan, who had dismounted in the meantime. Her quiet friend seemed unhurt as well, discarding the obvious signs of scuffle. Not understanding the somber hush of the envoy group, she turned around to ask the Savior for the reason of the silence. But as she moved to the bay, she saw that its rider was not among them. Turning her head to her True Love, she saw the answer to her question written in the sad eyes of her beloved. “No,” she whispered in disbelief, but the stark truth shone out of Phillip’s and Mulan’s faces. Emma was gone.

“Where is Emma?” Belle asked coming to Ruby, her hand reaching for the tear traced face of the obviously distressed Wolf, hidden under the veil of dark hair. When Red moved out of the reach of her hand, her back hunched in grief, Belle turned to the warriors she had known once before returning to Enchanted Forest. As Phillip was holding the Princess in his arms, Belle walked to the warrior woman, her eyes beseeching the answer.

“Savior has fallen,” Mulan complied, her solemn sentence causing a hush over the gathered people, most of whom had heard of the feats the blonde hero had managed, or had witnessed them themselves. The silence lasted until Belle spoke once more.

“How?”

“Saving us from the pride of manticores,” Phillip supplied. “She pushed us out, and somehow summoned Marbh Teine to aid her, but no one has ever survived the exposure to it.”

“The cursed fire?” Belle whispered, ice flooding her veins at the mention of the green flames of death.

“It’s your fault,” Ruby suddenly jumped, grabbing Rumplestiltskin by the shirt he was wearing under the heavy cloak, shaking him with the strength of her anger. “You were in charge of her studies,” the growled words were heard by everyone. “She had no business learning dark magic!” Throwing them down on the ground, Ruby straddled the non-defensive man, poised to strike, but her fist was enveloped into the warm hands of her friend, stopping her.

“Ruby, please,” Belle whispered gently, lifting the heart broken Wolf of her beloved. “Rumple?” Belle turned to the downed man, helping him to his feet, the question obvious in her tone, as she peered into his dark eyes.

“I didn’t teach her,” the old man spoke. “Belle, I didn’t.” Then, he turned to Ruby, his hand reaching for her, but not daring to touch her, he leaned heavily on his cane. “Even if I wanted to, I would need my power for it, which as you know, I do not have.” Imploring her to see the logic of his words, as well as the truth, he hoped to steer them off the line of questioning. He had promised to keep the secret, and yet that he would not lie to Belle. Mercifully the Wolf nodded shortly, believing his words, before she stepped away, anger and sadness radiating from the woman.

“Oh, my,” Belle suddenly murmured with tears in her eyes as she realized something, her face pale with the implication of her memory. At the asking glances, she shook her head and started walking toward the Village Hall, the rest following her, knowing that what she had thought of wasn’t for everyone’s ears to hear. Entering the central room, Phillip ordered his guards to keep the others away, not willing someone to overhear something possibly important.

When they all gathered in the room Belle turned toward the people waiting for her to speak, sighing. She took in the grim faces of Phillip, Mulan and Rumplestiltskin and the wet lines on Ruby’s. Princess Aurora kept her emotional control but the eyes spoke of loss and sympathy for those who were close to the blonde Savior.

“She knew,” Belle spoke suddenly, the sound of her voice breaking the silence. “I thought that she was only worried about the outcome of the peace mission, but even then I found her behavior…” the woman paused, searching for the right word that would depict her feelings on the subject. Looking at Rumplestiltskin she finally murmured, “Odd”.

“What do you mean?” Ruby asked from her place against the wall.

Belle turned to her friend and worrying her hands, she shrugged with uncertainty. “I don’t know her very well, Ruby. I could be wrong.” The bright eyed brunette spoke apologetically.

“You were always a good judge of people, my darling Belle,” Rumplestiltskin added from his chair. “Speak your mind, dearie.”

Still looking uncertain, Belle nodded. “She spoke of being tired of everything. And then she gave me her notebook to give to Regina if something…” Swallowing hard, Belle wiped a tear that slid down her cheek. “It seemed too much like a good bye.” With an almost dazed look in her eyes she sat down beside her love and leaned into his shoulder, seeking his comfort. “And, it was,” she added softly.

“What?” Ruby pushed off the wall. “No, she wouldn’t do that,”

“She did ask me to keep you safe,” Mulan said, her gentle brown eyes finding the deep blue ones. “She fought with you about coming with us,” the warrior reminded softly.

“So, what? You are saying she killed herself on purpose?” The outrage was evident in Ruby’s voice as she paced the stone floor in front of the seated people. “You don’t know her! She would never do that!”

“We all knew it was a trap,” Phillip said softly, watching the young woman pace restlessly in front of him. “Perhaps, she knew that in order to make sure we would survive it, she would have to lay down her life for it.” He didn’t even blink when the woman snarled at him. “She is the Savior,” he added gently, as if to remind the brunette of the fact, but the soothing timbre only enraged her further.

“To save you!” Ruby said, her eyes flashing with the power of her beast as she stalked toward the Prince, dangerous and deadly. “You!” she shouted, her grief and anger needing the outlet and someone to blame, and the young Royal was conveniently close.

“Ruby, no!” Belle shouted in vain as the Wolf attacked, but instead of the Prince, the enraged shifter collided with the warrior woman, her knife drawn.

“Control yourself, Wolf,” Mulan spoke sharply, as the blade came to Red’s throat. The moment of indecision caused by the cold sting of the sharp edge was enough for the skilled warrior to break through the haze of emotions clouding Ruby’s judgment. “Breathe,” Mulan commanded, keeping her limbs locked and the grip firm. “Settle down,” the dark eyed brunette spoke into Ruby’s ear, feeling the fight drain out of the tense and vibrating body. Seeing Belle’s pleading look, Mulan took her knife away and let the young bookworm take hold of her friend, completely understanding the rage the shifter was feeling, she turned toward her Prince, getting his grateful nod in return. Then she looked at Aurora who lifted her hand toward her, summoning the warrior to her side.

“Thank you, my friend,” Aurora spoke softly to the proud warrior, glad that no blood was shed that afternoon. Not so long before, the Princess herself had acted rashly and foolishly in the name of vengeance against the very woman whose loss they were grieving. With a clearing of her throat, she drew attention to herself after a while. “Do we even know if it was Emma who used the cursed fire?” the Princess asked, watching the old man amidst them, glancing toward Phillip, her question directed to both of them.

“There was no one but us and the manticores,” the Prince said assuredly.

“And the people who blocked us in,” Ruby added, calmed down enough to participate in the conversation again.

“It matters not,” Mulan said as she sheathed her knife into the artfully decorated scabbard at her side, opposite to her sword. “The fire swooped over the Col only seconds after she had pushed us out of it.” Her eyes connecting with the dark blue ones in saddened assuredness, as well as warm kindness, Mulan continued. “She wouldn’t have had the time to escape. No one would.”

“Why not come with us?” Ruby asked, bewildered. She had seen the look the warrior directed at her, and for some reason it did make things somewhat easier, but not enough. However she was confused with the actions of her goddaughter and a friend.

“Because it all points to her being the one to use the fire,” Rumplestiltskin spoke. “And, in true Miss Swan fashion, she did something ridiculously reckless, yet incredibly brave and perhaps smart.”

“Smart?” The werewolf turned toward the former Dark One. “How can you say that? She is dead!”

“I said smart, dearie. Not wise.” Rumplestiltskin tapped his cane, as he looked at the Wolf sitting beside his loved one. “As our esteemed Prince would testify, if she had not destroyed the manticores immediately, even with the transportation, you would not have lived through the day.”

“I don’t understand.”

“Manticores are unstoppable hunters. Once they catch the scent of their prey, they hunt it until it is dead, or they die in the process.” Phillip answered, coming to the man’s help. “With the whole pride after us, even if we reached the safety of the Haven, we would expose everyone here to them, and many would have died in the attack.”

“So, she had to destroy them,” Ruby concluded softly. “But, how did she know? I lived here my whole life here before the curse and I didn’t know about the manticores.”

“Regina did,” Rumple spoke out, those two words explaining that particular part.

“Oh,” the woman said, understanding that Emma must’ve had that knowledge since the first attack.

“What do we do now?” Aurora spoke after a bit, letting everyone’s thoughts settle down before starting another discussion. They needed to act, and soon, because of what Emma had surmised after meeting Midas, the war was upon them and they were woefully unprepared.

“The Wolf’s Col is closed by the rockslides, so if Midas wants to cross over he would need to go to the Pass which should give us a bit more time to figure things out.”

“Unless they use the cliff road by the Forbidden Fortress,” Aurora added, remembering her former prison.

“It’s of no use to them, the forest is teeming with Ogres and trolls,” Mulan said placing a soothing hand on the Princess’s shoulder knowing how any mention of that place, even by the woman herself, caused a tingle of fear and pain, even after all this time.

“And, it’s too close to the escarpments for many people to pass that way,” Phillip added, his own hand reaching for one of Aurora’s resting in her lap. Then he turned to the others. “We will hold a wake tonight for the Savior. Until then, I urge you to get some rest,” he spoke, rising from his seat. His offer had nothing to do with the rest, but to allow them to grieve in peace and if they wished in the solitude of their rooms. With the incline of his head he left the room, waiting by the entrance for his Princess, knowing she would want to say a few words herself.

Aurora walked to Ruby and took one of the Wolf’s hands, squeezing it gently, as her eyes looked into the deeply saddened ones of the shifter and the librarian, as she reached for Belle’s hand as well. “I am truly sorry for your loss. I only knew Emma shortly, but in that time I have learned to respect her and even enjoy her presence. She will be missed.” Then turning to the only remaining man in the room, she inclined her head. “I would welcome any help you can offer us, Rumplestiltskin. You may not be the Dark One anymore, but you still have the knowledge that can be of use. And, in return, whatever you need, all of you,” Aurora encompassed all of them in her offer with the look, “I’ll do my best to obtain it.” With another parting squeeze of the hands in hers, the Princess excused herself and left the room, joining the other Royal waiting for her.

Belle took Rumplestiltskin’s hand and pulled him toward their room, her telling look letting Mulan know that Ruby was in her capable hands, as the warrior had managed to calm the rampant Wolf twice already. And, the young kindhearted woman thought that the beast inside her friend would welcome the presence of someone who knew the feeling of having one’s hands bloodied. She did yearn to ease the pain Ruby felt, the pain she was feeling herself, along with the guilt that poured out of her friend, but her kind words and soothing touch was not what the Wolf needed at the moment. So, she left with the limping man, kissing Ruby’s cheek in salutation as she passed by the still seated woman.

“I know,” Belle started as Rumplestiltskin closed the door of their room behind them while she sat on their bed, “that you are used to this, but I would’ve liked if you showed at least some emotion.”

“Do you think me cold hearted, Belle?” the old man asked, dropping himself onto the chair beside the door, suddenly feeling every bit of his age. “Do you think I feel no pain over this?” His tone was brittle as he gripped the cane in his hands so hard that his knuckles were white.

“Of course not, Rumple.” Belle quickly said, but Rumplestiltskin continued as if he did not hear her.

“I promised my daughter that I would keep her True Love safe. And this…” His throat closed up, making it hard for him to speak. “Miss Swan…” He looked up into the understanding eyes of his lover. “Emma was my student, and yet often I had the feeling that I was the one who was actually learning. She taught me so much, Belle. And, in these past days, she was every bit my friend as she was yours.” Rising from the chair, Rumplestiltskin walked toward the bed, the cane falling out of his hands as he limped toward the woman sitting in front of him. “I feel, Belle,” he whispered, his eyes tearing up as he watched new tear tracks created on the face of his beauty. “I feel so much.” Reaching bed, he fell into the waiting arms and together they lied down, comforting each other. While Rumplestiltskin knew that not all might be lost, the feeling of grief he was feeling and showing was real, and the worry and fear clutching his heart only grew with every minute spent without a word from the Savior.

Unable to sit still, or to even stand the stifling walls of the Hall, Ruby walked out, directing herself toward the surf, passing several people without acknowledging them. Not caring that she walked into the freezing afternoon without a top layer, she strode away, the wind tossing her hair wild. But, when she reached the sand of the beach a hand grabbed her elbow, making her turn around suddenly, her fingers instantly closing around the attacker’s windpipe, her eyes flashing gold as she snarled.

“It’s me,” Mulan managed to whisper calmly, not making any sudden moves as she raised her hands into Red’s line of sight. The golden glow disappeared, but the dark blue eyes narrowed, anger obvious in them when she looked into the almond shaped ones.

“I don’t need your protection,” Ruby spat, releasing the woman before she stepped away, walking toward the water lapping over the lower edge of the surf.

“I am not here for that,” Mulan replied, her voice soft, as she rubbed her neck. If it wasn’t for the enhanced hearing, Ruby would have never caught the gentle timbre of the warrior behind her, but she gave no indication that she had heard the words. “I thought you might need a friend,” the proud woman mumbled, unaware that she hadn’t spoken low enough. But, then she spoke in her regular voice. “If you want me to leave, I will honor your wish.” Not waiting for the response, the armored warrior turned around and started walking back to the village, stopping after several steps and looking over her shoulder as she tried to say something. But as she saw only the back of the Wolf, Mulan shook her head and closed her mouth. However, before she made another step, the young woman’s voice reached her on the breezy air smelling of the sea.

“I just don’t understand how this could have happened.” The cold weather made Ruby’s skin tighten, but it was nothing compared to the iciness gripping her kind heart. “This was never supposed to be. This is our world, where the good always wins. The Hero survives.”

“The world has changed,” Mulan spoke quietly, having walked back to the woman.

“It’s not just that,” Ruby glanced toward the dark eyes following her. “It doesn’t make sense. It doesn’t add up, as Emma would say.” The Wolf turned toward the warrior grabbing her shoulders suddenly, her eyes filled with a hopeful gleam. “What if…” she started but the gloved fingers touched her lips, silencing her instantly and her eyes went wide at the move.

“Perhaps, you would like to consider very carefully the words you were going to say,” Mulan hissed warningly, her eyes losing the soft shine of compassion, turning sharp and dangerous. “There are some thoughts that should remain unspoken, especially when you don’t know who might be listening,” the woman continued, her voice so soft that even though she was inches away from Mulan, Red barely heard her. Then the leather covered hand moved away from the lips and slid over the cheek gently, before falling down beside Mulan’s hip. Ruby’s eyes went even wider with the implication of someone watching them, and the woman nodded in understanding, feeling the tingles where the warrior’s hand had passed.

“What do we do?”

“Nothing has changed.”

“But…”

“Nothing. Has. Changed!” Mulan spoke firmly, her eyes making it clear that the circumstances were as such, and if someone had gone through that much trouble to make everyone believe in the certain event, then they must have had a darn good reason for it.

As the realization washed over the woman, the Wolf dropped down to her knees, the dull sound of the light body hitting the sand barely heard over the sound of the waves, the suddenness of Ruby’s move startled the warrior who didn’t manage to catch her before she collapsed, following her down. She reached for the bowed head in front of her, the face hidden by the free falling hair, and when she heard a soft sob, Mulan pulled the girl into her arms, careful not to press Ruby’s face against the plates of her armor. The burden of violently changing emotions seemed to break the kindhearted shifter, and the realization that for all Emma was still dead and unreachable, even if she did survive, and with the cursed fire, the chances of it were extremely small, the hope and elation Ruby had felt when she had thought that she had figured out her goddaughter’s plan fled, leaving cold emptiness in her heart, and Red felt like Emma had died all over again. It did not matter that it might not be the truth, the pretense of it was enough to bring devastation to the woman’s composure. Adding to that the constant flux of overpowering emotions since they had been led into the trap, it was no wonder that the Wolf was exhausted beyond measure. Therefore, it did not surprise the warrior that the heartbroken woman fell asleep in her arms as the tears tapered off.

With economic moves, Mulan took off her cape and tucked it around the cold unconscious woman, shifting her body to ease herself up with the shifter in her arms. A light grunt escaped her lips when the weight of the girl settled on her upper body, the warrior walked toward the village, slowly and with care not to jostle the sleeping woman much. She passed by the guards, dismissing their offer to help or to even call the village healer. Her only demand was a silent motion toward the entrance door of the Village Hall, her meaning clear. When the door was opened by a helpful soldier, Mulan nodded in thanks and she continued on, going in and climbing up to the upper floor easily like she was not burdened. Taking Ruby to the girl’s room, she lowered her on her bed, and took off the dirty boots, still having the traces of the mud from their previous scuffle. With gentle moves she placed a light throw over the sleeping woman, regardless of her cape already wrapped around her. Mulan took her glove off and with a slow and tender gesture she moved the dark hair of the shifter’s face, seeing the dried tear tracks on the pale cheeks.

With an almost unheard sigh the warrior left the room, closing the door silently behind her. She desperately needed a distraction to help her pass the rest of the afternoon, so she went to the village’s armory, deciding to check on the status of the preparation for the impending attack.

The evening passed both painfully slow and mercifully fast. Most of the village gathered in the Village Hall to pay their respect to the fallen Savior. The atmosphere was solemn and heavy as people listened to the few who dared to share their thoughts on the short time the blonde had been among them. And, since the Sheriff had been aloof with the people she had met there, there was not much to share. At the end of it Phillip rose and lifted his goblet, the entire hall following his lead. With only Emma’s title on his lips he saluted, watching as the people in front of him repeated after him, their voices melding into one, a very loud one, making the walls and the stones vibrate with the power of it. After that, people started leaving, the only people remaining behind being the ones that had known Emma the best, at least in Enchanted Forest. Not knowing what to say, they sat in silence, drinking the last bottle of mead in Ruby’s possession, seated in a semicircle in front of the fire, lost in thoughts.

It was in the middle of the night when they all retired to their own rooms. With a tired sigh Rumplestiltskin walked toward a small desk in the room he shared with Belle and touched the familiar journal that had been placed there by his love, right next to the small chess board he had brought with him from the Dark Castle weeks before. The figures were set to the beginning of the game, the whites and blacks in their positions. With a passing touch to one of the figures, he went to the other side of the room, preparing to go to bed.

But, in the morning, when he walked to the chair beside the desk he saw something different on it. The very figure he had touched the night before had been moved. And in such a peculiar way that it made the old man squint at the board. He knew that Belle did not play the intricate game therefore she wouldn’t touch the board, for it held no interest to her. Rumplestiltskin leaned over the lone figure in the middle of the board. The white knight from the King’s side was standing in front of the Black King, only a square between the Knight and the black Pawn. The man smiled as he suddenly realized what it was that the move represented. Emma had survived, and she was well enough to manipulate his board from far away. However, he didn’t know what it meant. The Knight was close to the black King, but who was the King? The obvious answer would be Midas, of course. Nevertheless, there was another possibility – that Rumplestiltskin himself, as the former Dark One, was the king. He wished for a clearer message and reached for the wooden figure to put it back in its place. However, when his fingers touched the polished object, one word appeared on the board, almost invisible in the daylight, the barely noticeable shimmer most people would disregard. But, Rumple had dealt in magic for more than several centuries and he had developed the ability to see things that most people did not. The word said ROOM, and after he had read it he touched the checkered wood of the board, knowing that would erase the message. It seemed that the endless desire to participate in a treasure hunt of any kind his grandson possessed had been inherited from his blonde mother. Shaking his head lightly, but still with affection, the man walked out of his quarters and went into Emma’s room, curious to see what the next clue would be.

As he opened the door, he saw the things the Savior had left on the filly as she had transported the others out, Phillip probably being the one to bring them here. He did not waste his time going through them as Emma had had no idea where her things would have ended up. But there was nothing else in the room that looked like a hiding place of another clue. Starting from the most obvious choice, the books, he sat on the made bed and looked through each volume that he could find, and found nothing. Then he moved to search through clothes and furniture, but without any luck. Letting a heavy sight, he sat back on bed, having no more ideas.

_ Where would she hide something important?  _ He asked himself, trying to remember every nuance about the Sheriff.  _ In something of Regina’s _ , the answer came immediately.  _ Something that she would use when she needs comfort _ . Rumple looked around, his eyes falling down to the pillows at the head of bed.  _ And the most comfort she needs is when she wakes up from her nightmares _ . As the idea appeared in his mind, he moved the pillow closest to him and found a hard leather bound book of poems he knew Regina loved very much. With some trepidation, he opened it to the first page, not really knowing what to expect. There on the yellowed paper the first page was empty except for one question written in Regina’s flowing script, seemingly penned down ages before this time, words denoting simple inquiry:  _ Where am I? _

A riddle! Rumplestiltskin smiled at the devious clue hunt Emma had created to ensure that only the right person would find the message. Considering himself a master in such things, he focused on the creator of this particular question. Did Emma mean where Regina was? Or where was Emma herself?” But, if she did mean herself, how was Rumple to know the answer to that? Trying first with the obvious answer he spelled out Storybrooke with his finger on the paper, below the question, instantly knowing that he was wrong when nothing happened. Intrigued with the mystery the question posed, he focused harder, his mouth turning into a pout, as he went through everything that he thought would help him answer the riddle. After half an hour of consideration, he realized that the first clue was the answer to this one. The White Knight, the phrase often used as one of Emma’s titles, was placed on the specific square on the board where each chess field had its denotation. And the Savior would for sure use the algebraic notation as only she and Rumple, out of the people of Enchanted Forest, knew it. Finally having the answer he needed, he fingered down the answer: e5.

When he lifted the finger of the paper, the question disappeared, leaving the blank page for a second before the line after line of Emma’s barely legible scrawl filled the empty space. Rumplestiltskin chuckled lightly as the inspiration for the particular trick was clear to him, clearly influenced by Henry’s presence in Emma’s life. He did not waste any time and started reading the letter that the Savior had composed during the previous night.

> _ Rumplestiltskin. _
> 
> _ I have done it. I pulled the craziest stunt ever and survived. Regina will be pleased because she will be able to kill me herself for almost breaking my promise to her. _
> 
> _ Before I forget, I need to write this down. In the wake of the unknown force heading toward you, I have restored and refurbished the Charming Palace, with many weapons in their place. It can provide the shelter and serve as the keep for the villagers, giving you just another edge for this war. The accommodations are only until this is over; I don’t know how my mother would like the never leaving guests. _
> 
> _ I am heading down the other side of the mountain, toward the army. As I move toward them, I will scout around, looking for another edge for this coming battle. It is snowing hard, and even though the people are moving toward the Pass, the amount of the fallen snow is making the road treacherous for travel. The weather is not showing any signs of letting up, so that is a good thing, right? _
> 
> _ Something is not right here, Rumple, my spidey senses are tingling. Keep the book with you - I may have something else to share in the future. The password will be the same. But for the next few days I will be on the down low until I know what I am dealing with. _
> 
> _ My name deletes the words. _

In order to keep his secret, Rumplestiltskin spelled out Emma with his finger pad and watched as the words vanished, leaving the first page blank as it had been before the Savior used it for her message. Pleased to know now that the woman he had grown to like had lived through the cursed fire, he smiled softly, closing the book in his hands, as he tried to think of the way to inform the others about the prepared castle.

“Rumple?” Belle watched him from the door, as she leaned on the frame. She had seen the open door of the Sheriff’s room and she had thought that Ruby had been in there. But she had found her lover instead, staring at the closed volume in his hands, but his thoughts far away. “What are you doing here?” The curiosity was evident in the woman’s tone but the kind light eyes held compassion as she assumed that he, as all of them, was grieving for the blonde Sheriff, only doing it in silence, away from the others. She had known that even though Rumple complained a lot about the Savior, about her temper and disregard for any kind of authority, he had liked the woman immensely, his grousing often colored with poorly disguised pride and awe, and lately even respect.

The old man smiled sadly at the woman, the anguished pull on his lips the answer enough. Having risen to his feet, he walked toward Belle and looked around the room once more. “I thought she might have left a note or a clue among her things.” He decided to use the half-truths instead the outright lies for the better success in protecting his secret. “But, I haven’t found anything. Nothing but this.” He showed the book in his hand.

“What is it?” Belle asked, taking the volume gently out of his hands, caressing the well cared for leather cover of it, before she looked up at Rumplestiltskin. Seeing him hesitant over the answer, she placed her hand over his forearm, silently entreating him to go on.

“It is the book of poetry Henry had given to Regina on her twenty third birthday,” Rumple said, a strange presence of shame coloring his voice suddenly. At the tone, Belle narrowed her eyes, demanding more.

“Why do you feel embarrassed about it, Rumplestiltskin? What did you do?” Belle’s unusually firm tone made the old man look even more chagrined. But he knew that she deserved an answer and it would stop her from asking about his presence in Emma’s empty room.

“I was the one to suggest such a gift to Prince Henry. I wore a disguise, of course.” He looked away from Belle as he continued. “I thought then that the reminder of what she had lost would push her harder into the darkness.”

“Oh, Rumple,” Belle said sadly, as she patted the man’s arm, knowing that he regretted it so much more now, but as Emma had told her once, one cannot change the past, only accept it and move on. With that in her mind she leaned to the man, kissing his lowered head on the cheek, as she led him out of the room. “I don’t think Emma would mind if you borrow it,” Belle said softly, watching his face carefully, as they went to their own quarters. At the surprised look she had been waiting for in Rumple’s eyes she only smiled enigmatically, her soft eyes getting a mischievous glow. Belle had known all along and played the part of the grieving friend perfectly, Gold realized, admiring his True Love for her smarts and good acting, and a good sense to keep the secret. She then closed the door of their room and offered the tea she had left steeping before finding him. “I heard you the night before, and I had known you for a very long time, Rumple. I know when you are keeping something from me. And, Emma,” Belle smiled gently but with certain smugness. “She was working so hard on something, something that you helped her with, and I know her, as well, as you said yesterday. She would never be the cause of Regina’s downfall no matter the circumstances.”

“My darling Belle, I am so lucky you are here with me,” the old man spoke, emotions making his voice tremble. He reached for her face, looking into her eyes with such adoration that Belle felt heat rise in her cheek. Since ending the Dark One, Rumple had become freer with his affection, offering it more often, and in times like these it was among the only things that helped the librarian keep her composure.

Keeping the secret just for a bit longer, the couple decided to share their findings and conclusions after several days, ensuring that no outsiders of their small circle were aware that the Savior lived, and thus keeping the knowledge from Midas’s spies. After much thinking, Rumplestiltskin decided on the way he was going to present the possibility of the Keep, for it was too good of an offer to pass it, especially in these uncertain times. But, the problem was – if he informed the Prince of the restoration of George’s Castle, the others might realize that the Savior was still alive.

Therefore he created a somewhat elaborate deception, mentioning that the heroic Sheriff had been absent in the last days and that he had a feeling she had gone to visit her home. He noticed that he had the attention of the entire room but he was interested only in the Royals.

“Home?” Phillip murmured with surprise, as he had considered the Savior to be a stranger in this world. “I thought that the town you are coming from, Storybrooke was it, was her home,” he added, his confusion clear on his face.

“He means Emma’s birthplace,” Aurora spoke clearly, having understood Rumplestiltskin’s reference. She placed her hand onto Phillip’s forearm and leaned forward, interested in the conversation. “The Charming’s Palace,” she said after several seconds of silence, as it seemed that the people had forgotten the Savior had been born in Enchanted Forest. She knew because she had seen the child's room in the castle the previous time Snow and Emma had been in the Realm. She had also listened to Snow’s heartbreaking story of how the baby Emma had been taken from them minutes after she had been born. That could similarly explain why people had forgotten, because Emma’s birth had not been officially announced for the Kingdom, and they had had more pressing things on their minds, like the curse. “What do you propose?” the Princess asked, seeing that the old man had something on his mind.

“I would like to see if she left something there that might help us. I ask permission to take one of the horses and investigate,” Rumplestiltskin spoke calmly, allowing his sadness to be heard, as it would add to a more believable touch to his inquiry and request, one that he knew the Princess would grant him as her eyes softened considering it.

“You may take three,” she said, glancing toward her love and seeing him nod in the confirmation. Then she turned to her other side, to the faithful guardian that always stood by her side in these proceedings. “Will you go with him?” Aurora asked softly after the warrior woman had lowered her upper part of the body. The almond shaped dark eyes searched hers, but after seeing that Aurora would like that, she nodded silently, her heart squeezing uncomfortably at the approving smile the Princess directed at her. “Mulan would go with you,” the Royal woman spoke clearly. “You need one more.” She directed her eyes at the Wolf, the invitation and request in her look obvious to the quiet woman sitting beside Belle. Aurora was sometimes conceited and naïve, but she wasn’t blind. She had known for a while that her brave friend was in love with her, only her honor and loyalty to Phillip, and the knowledge that one does not get in between the True Lovers, stopping her from speaking of it. She also knew that her own behavior was not helping the matter, but she loved Mulan dearly and could not bear the thought of sending her best friend away. However, she also noticed the growing connection her quiet warrior had with the Wolf, and an idea gained a foothold in her mind, making her believe that it could only help the situation.

Ruby rose at the insistent gaze of the Princess and walked to Rumplestiltskin, inclining her head to the Royals. “I will join them on this quest,” she spoke solemnly, unsettled by the pleased gleam in the Princess’s eyes.

And, so the next morning the three of them set out to the Charming’s Palace to investigate, Mulan and Red armed while Rumplestiltskin only carried his cane, riding out of the village under the cover of predawn night. For some reason the old man pushed them at high speeds despite the thick forest growth to reach the castle as soon as possible, telling them that he had a feeling about it. The warrior and the Wolf followed him without question, knowing that there was more underneath it. 

And, as soon as they cleared the thickest of the woods they saw the reason for his haste. The castle stood tall in its gleaming magnificence, its walls shining in the rising morning Sun, whole and undamaged, as it had been on the day of Snow’s wedding. With tears in her eyes, Ruby pulled the reins of her horse, stopping it in place as she turned toward the man. “You knew,” she whispered in awe, seeing him nod silently, letting her take in the sight.

“When did this happen?” Mulan asked, the last time she had seen the place still vivid in her mind. The memories of the stark ruins against the night sky and high Moon and Snow’s heartbreaking grimace of pain had been carved in the warrior’s mind.

“Sometimes last week, while she kept us busy with our own tasks. She said this was to be our keep in the time of need.” Rumplestiltskin said and pressed his horse onward leaving the women behind, going to the drawbridge of the castle.

“Indeed the Savior,” was Mulan’s only response, as she glanced toward the woman by her side and went to the castle after smiling at the Wolf, following the old man that already had passed the bridge and was waiting for them in the courtyard, his eyes taking in the restoration of the fortress. He smirked when he noticed that even though Emma had kept the original look and decoration of the castle, she had added some of her flair, some decorations looking much like objects from her world, seemingly unnoticeable among the tapestries and lanterns of the Palace, lantern in a shape of a light bulb and a tapestry depicting a car were only some of the examples.

“What the hell was her plan?” Ruby asked as she joined the other two inside the walls. She noticed the full armory and the bulks of arrows on the parapets and guard places. It seemed the Sheriff had them set for a siege if need be. The only concern would be the food. That was something that they would have to take care of themselves.

“The Prince needs to be informed of this,” the warrior spoke after examining the durable walls and the oiled iron portcullis. “They need to know there is hope,” She turned toward the man, expecting him to disagree but he surprised her.

“There is always hope,” he said softly, nodding toward the almond eyed companion, his message very clear in his dark eyes. This was Her plan, they said, and the warrior understood. “Go,” he said with a flourish of his hand, and that was all that took for Mulan to jump on her horse and ride off, but not before she reached for Red and clasping her upper arm in salutation, before taking off, aware of the deep blue eyes focused on her back.

Rumplestiltskin turned toward the confused Wolf and smiled at the young woman, knowing that Ruby already suspected that the Savior was alive. “It seems that our dear Sheriff has gained more than just memories from the meld with the Queen.” His remark moved Red out of her stupor and she focused on the man in front of her with questions in her dark blue eyes. “It is more cunning and subtle than I considered the Sheriff able,” he said gently and smiled with almost unnoticed affection hidden in the curve of his lips as he walked toward the inner entrance door of the castle, remembering the last time he had been there. The time he had made the deal with George for David.

Ruby followed him quietly in, enjoying the silent confirmation that her goddaughter was alive. “Why?” she asked after a while, when they reached the watch post, the very one Grumpy had announced the arrival of the curse from.

“Why does she do anything?” the old man returned, his gaze lost in the distance as he leaned onto the stone wall with his elbow.

“Because she is the Savior,” Ruby spoke in reply, almost nodding to herself in confirmation, her eyes also focused onto the forest surrounding them only she looked for dangers or something out of the ordinary.

“Because she is the Savior,” Rumplestiltskin repeated softly with a scoff, the mocking sing song voice reminiscent of his Dark One’s disdain, before he shook his head at the still naïve and skin deep understanding of the person behind the title. The Wolf might’ve known and loved Emma but the girl did not understand her, seduced by the titles and act of the hero she called her friend, but barely scratching the surface of the deep well that held all the pertinent information about the Savior. Her hopes, her dreams, her fears, her yearnings… But, most importantly, her motivation and her need, for those were the main source of her strength and will to go on, those were her driving force. He had seen it in Storybrooke and he had seen it in this land, and he had known that it was the very reason the Savior was so powerful. It was the very reason that enabled her to learn and adapt so fast. The very reason she had done the improbable and on her way to attempt the impossible.

He turned toward the girl and caught her eyes, his mocking grimace disappearing as he tried to impart something very important to the young shifter. “She protects because she knows the pain of loss. She sacrifices herself because, somewhere deep inside, she still believes that her life is less worthy than others and because she would not inflict the unnecessary separation pain on anyone. She is willing to die for those she cares about, because it is her way of showing them her appreciation, and beneath that damaged and tough exterior hides a very honorable and brave soul that believes in a happy ending, True Love, and that Good could still win. That is just who she is, who she was shaped into by the hard life and hard choices she had to make and live with.” He paused, breathing deeply, allowing his emotions that had unexpectedly risen with his speech to settle down. “Because of that, she is the Savior, not the other way around,” he finished firmly, his admiration for the blonde shining through.

Leaving Ruby at the parapet, he walked away after his speech, he himself surprised with the emotional words he had spoken to the Wolf. Needing some space he went inside, his leg bothering him after the ride and that many stairs. Taking a seat on a lounge chair near the main hall he leaned back with a sigh, closing his eyes as he stretched the painful limb, easing the strain on it. He knew that the warrior would reach the Prince any minute now, and the Prince, by his estimation, would use the news to see if anyone of his men was an obvious traitor. But the Royal needed to be careful not to share too much or the whole idea would backfire. Rumplestiltskin sincerely hoped that the boy was up for it, but the beauty of Emma’s plan was that it did not depend much on external factors but on her own actions. It did leave a tremendous burden on her back but it did lower the chances of a screw up. Happy with his conclusion, he allowed his mind to drift, as he rested his aching foot. And with time on his hands, Rumplestiltskin turned his thoughts to his newest student, proud and awed of her. It hadn’t been that long ago when he had scoffed at Miss Swan, taunting the Sheriff as he had blackmailed her into doing his bidding, and in a way taking her to her first labor as the Savior – slaying the Dragon form of Maleficent. Later he had watched the woman fumble with the most basic acts of magic, her crude way of doing things leaving much room for improvement. But, that inexperienced woman had grown into a formidable one, with a cunning mind, quick wit, great instincts – natural and magical, inspiring compassion but unafraid of hard decisions and with a tremendous amount of power at her disposal – as the restoration of this very castle would attest to.

* * *

Mulan had ridden into the village, going straight for the home of her superior and her friends to deliver the news, passing the people by without words. At the house that had been her destination, she pulled up the reins and stopped the horse, immediately jumping of it and throwing the reins to the nearest guard she entered the home of the Royals, bowing down her head as she approached Phillip having interrupted the breakfast, telling him of the discovery in short sentences, aware that only he and Aurora could hear the soft voice, for she did not trust that every one of the guards were loyal to the Royals. After she had finished her report, she stepped away, giving them time to comprehend the meaning of the findings.

“We need to move,” Phillip spoke first, his eyes connected with the amazed ones of his True Love and understanding passing through them. “For the first time we have the advantage. We have to use it.” Rising from his chair he turned to the door and summoned one of the guards, ordering him to announce the village assembly. Then he placed his hand on Mulan’s armor covered shoulder. “She did this several days ago?” he asked softly, amazement clear in his tone. The warrior gave a short nod as the only answer, looking into his gentle eyes. “Even in her death, she has come through for us.” Moving away from his friend he bowed his head in respect for the fallen blonde before he walked out into the village square, forgoing putting on his cape. But before Aurora could follow him out, Mulan reached for the hanger and having taken the fur lined cloak she placed it over the Princess’s shoulders. Aurora turned toward her friend and smiled in appreciation, her smile turning into a chuckle when she saw Mulan taking Phillip’s cape from its place by the door. Still smiling she walked out with the armed woman and went to her True Love, as he watched his people fill the place designated for this urgent meet. With a gentle touch Aurora thanked her friend and took the cape out of Mulan’s hands, slipping it tenderly onto Phillip’s shoulders, before she walked to a side, giving him enough space for his impending speech. He winked at her, hastily adjusting the piece of clothing.

When every inhabitant of the village was in the clearing, Phillip jumped onto the table and demanding attention he started, his voice heard over the whole village. “As most of you already know, King Midas’s army is coming our way to destroy us, and we still do not know the reason why. But, we know that the Savior has given her life so we could survive this war.” At the mention of the blonde Sheriff many people lowered their heads in respect and grief, some of them even having tears on their faces. It was mostly the Neverland children who openly cried, but he saw plenty of adults surreptitiously wipe their eyes. “And now that the danger is coming our way, are we going to let her sacrifice be in vain? Are we going to let them slay us like vermin?” His voice rallied the crowd, and as one, they shouted ‘No’ before they settled down to let him continue. “Mulan informed me that the Savior had done us one more favor. She had offered us the protection of the Charming’s Palace for the duration of this war. I am told that the Castle is repaired to its former glory. Will you follow me there?” Again, as one, the crowd cried, this time in the affirmative. “But, we need to be quick as the enemy might be coming soon.” Getting them where he wanted, he gave out his orders to gather their things and pack, watching carefully for their reactions as he had been doing during his entire speech. He had as well noticed that Mulan and Aurora had been doing the very same thing, his mind deciding on asking them for their conclusions later. However, he was too busy with organizing the move, his orders to the guards clear – no one was to leave before his expressed permission, placing Mulan in charge of enforcing it.

With four guards that he had absolute faith in, two of them even the former black Knights, he sent off the Princess and the food wagons, them being the slowest of all, along with some of the villagers. Pulling Damian, one of the black Knights that remained, aside, he walked away from the crowd before turning to the tall and rugged man who had danger written all over his face.

The dark man had been of the Queen’s most loyal knights who had kept their hearts, doing her bidding regardless of dangers and consequences. In the early years of her marriage, Queen Regina had saved his life, and for that Damian had given his everything to her service, not even blinking an eye at her vengeance against his former Princess. And, when she had come to the Safe Haven he had seen her affection for the Savior. In truth, he had never seen her happier and for that he had been grateful, having been there for most of her dark moods and quests for happiness. When she had gone away with her former nemesis, he had sworn to himself to protect his Queen’s happiness, namely the Savior, at any cost. But, as that choice had been taken out of his hands he had devoted himself to protecting those the Savior had died for, accepting Phillip, again, as his leader. And, the Prince knew that.

“Go after them,” Phillip murmured, as he watched the caravan disappear in the forest. “Trust no one but Aurora,” he continued, turning toward the black Knight, his eyes hard. “And, kill anyone who steps away from the group, regardless of the reason. The hardened lines and the clenched jaw on the Prince’s face spoke enough of the heaviness the man felt for the need to give such an order. The black Knight now understood why the Prince had chosen him.

“Who am I looking for?” Damian asked respectfully, having taken his orders to heart.

“A traitor,” Phillip murmured sadly and turned away to organize the others, patting the back of the Knight, sending him away. Damian nodded and with a quick stride he set out into the forest, rushing after the convoy choosing to be at the rear of it for the most control over who left.

Phillip walked to the person who had saved his life once, his hand reaching for her shoulder gently as she directed the children pack their things into one of the carts. He had seen her several minutes before placing some of Emma’s things into the same wagon, treating each object with undisguised reverence and sadness in her touch. Belle looked up at him and returned the smile he directed at her, knowing that she had everything under control. He leaned over to her and with a whisper he explained the order he had given to Damian, his unspoken wish for her to treat her escort the same obvious, as he gave her a cross bow and two quivers of bolts, pleased to see her nod in grim understanding. Quickly after, he sent a group of soldiers with the carts carrying children and personal belongings, directing them to follow the tracks of the previous company. At last the whole village had been ready for the move, Mulan organizing them into a cue and leading them into the forest, while the last remaining of the guards were beside them, the last cart filled with extra weapons and with five of the elders of the village who couldn’t walk the long distance, the rest of them perched on the horses, Phillip gallantly offering his own as well for the task. He had stayed at the very rear to be sure to see if someone was lagging behind for any reason. By his estimation, they would reach the castle in little less than six hours, as two had already passed since the first carts had been on their way, if they kept a moderate pace, and seeing that most of the people in the village had been used to the hard circumstances, he had no doubt that they would be encased in the palace safely by the rise of the Moon. And, so the move was on its way, his chosen people looked for the traitors.

* * *

Ruby stood on the parapet, looking at the part of the forest that came closest to the drawbridge. She heard the rhythmic tap of the cane on the stone and not turning around, she spoke to the old man. “Shouldn’t she be back already, by now?” The concern was unmistakably heard in the Wolf’s voice.

“She is not coming back,” Rumplestiltskin offered, as he walked toward the young woman. Red had come down to him earlier in the day and apologized for her assumption, but he had only remarked that it was between her and the Savior. However, her changed and thoughtful demeanor had told him enough, so he had shrugged it off with a little humor. Now, Ruby looked at him with a somewhat startled look in her dark blue eyes, so he continued. “At least, not alone. If my knowledge of Prince Phillip is correct, he would bring the entire village to our door by the nightfall.” Then he looked up at the sky, judging that there were another four hours of daylight left.

“Already?” Ruby spoke with uncertainty, pushing away from the wall.

“No reason to delay, dearie.”

“Then, I am going to seal off the East Wing. It seems somehow wrong to let strangers roam across those halls.” The werewolf said after minutes of silence, having thought the idea over.

“As you wish, dearie. There is enough space for everyone.” Rumple answered evenly, but deep inside he knew it was the right choice.

“So the only foreseeable problem is the food.”

Rumplestiltskin hummed in the affirmative, having nodded to the woman when the Wolf had come back from her task. But the Royals were sure to bring the supplies, and they had a bit of time for a hunt to fill the larders.

“Do you think this will work?” the girl asked him after they had come down to eat, as she held a cup filled with water close to her mouth. Emma had even fixed the well in the courtyard, so the castle had its own water supply.

“Well, it will help the village survive, so I think, yes it will work,” the man said after a brief consideration, having finished his meal. “But, it is a war, Red. People die in wars. Maybe the Savior will find a way to end this before it really begins.” However he had his doubts. If someone was so intent on the fight, few things can change the outcome. Emma had given them an edge and a way to defend themselves but it did not mean that the things would drastically change. Nevertheless, only time could tell, and decide the winner of their conflict.

Sensing his doubt in silence, Ruby left Rumplestiltskin outside as she prepared the fires in the main hall as well as in some living quarters on the West side of the castle. If the former imp’s calculation was correct, and they usually were, people would come that night, and they would need warmth and rest after that long trek. Even though it was still an early evening, the air had grown really cold and smelled of snow, and the stone castle needed time to warm up. After she had fixed the fires, she went down to the cellars, hoping to find at least some of the usable food in there. To her surprise she found an intact wine cellar, with wines, meads, and other drinks having been preserved in bottles and barrels. Next to it she discovered a well-equipped keeping room filled with sacks and sacks of wheat and other grains, with bottled oils and preserved vegetables and spices. Skipping on her feet, Ruby allowed her nose to check everything pleased with her haul.

Finished with her inventory she went to find the old man and tell him of it, and she finally came upon him in the war room, hunched over the huge map of the Fairytale Land, as Henry and Emma had used to call it. He seemed too engrossed in it and she was loath to interrupt him, but then the man spoke.

“How was your hunt?” He did not move his eyes from the map, but Ruby could see that he was listening. With a short report she relayed everything she had discovered below, watching his face for a reaction. “Snow always did prepare for hard winters. Consequence of lean meals on the run, no doubt.” The man spoke absently, narrowing his eyes at something on the table. Then showed a point on the map to the werewolf and Ruby realized it was the very castle’s position. “You were part of the attack on King George. How did you manage to cross the bridge?”

“We dealt with the scouts and the front guardsmen were too easily lured into the woods, where I waited for them. Later, Snow led the charge, helped by the fairies.” Red had realized during her answer that the former imp was employing his extremely tactical and analytic mind to plan to plan for the defense of the castle, and with that in her mind she supplied more information on the attack and the castle itself. Soon the evening fell.

It was Ruby who first noticed the appearance of small points of light in the forest. Then she saw the first people walk out of the woods, some of them carrying torches. The Wolf recognized the villagers and rushed down to greet them by the gate. But as she waited, Rumplestiltskin joined her and quietly asked her to count the newcomers as they were coming in. She understood his request and nodded grimly. In almost no time, the whole village population was inside, and Ruby, with the help of several soldiers closed the large door, the dull sound of wood meeting the stone echoing in the yard followed by light cheering exclamations. With quick directions, people went into the welcoming heat of the main hall. It wasn’t before long that the cooks prepared a warm and light communal supper and the villagers were set for the night, the quarters of the West Wing assigned to each family, while the guards were assigned to the soldiers’ barracks near the walls.

Prince Phillip and Princess Aurora found their way to the war room, where Red, Mulan, Belle and Rumplestiltskin waited for them, prepared for a long night. The Royals of the village shared their impressions of the people especially those whose reactions at the move and the armed escort were different from the others. Phillip then explained his reasoning behind assigning most of the suspect guards and men, including his formerly most trusted lieutenant with Belle’s wagons. Before Rumplestiltskin could say anything about it, Phillip hurriedly continued with his theory that people tended to underestimate Belle, especially those who had not known that Gold had been the Dark One himself, or that she had been the one to release him from the form of the Yaoguai. He had known Belle could take care of herself, especially with the help of former black guards who had accepted Damian as their lieutenant. Then Belle joined in with her witness account, telling the friends around her how she had seen two of the suspected soldiers try to slip away but as they had noticed the constant surveillance from the others they stopped with their attempts. Phillip was very saddened to hear that the man he had fought together with was one of the two. Even more saddened when he heard Aurora’s remark about his most trusted soldiers in the Safe Haven. All in all, they had eight members of the guard who had shown signs of treachery. With a heavy heart, Phillip decided to have them arrested, but not just yet, because if he acted too soon he would scare off the others, leaving himself too vulnerable for the insiders’ attack. Stepping out of the war room, glad that it had been made in such a way to disable listening in, he asked for Damian to join them as soon as possible from one of the men stationed outside.

“You asked to see me, my Lord,” Damian spoke, clicking his heels smartly. He inclined his heat toward the others in the room but he looked at Phillip.

“I hope you don’t mind me saying this, but it is a sad day when I trust more the leader of the Evil Queen’s kill squad than my own men.” Phillip offered a chair at the table to the man with his hand but the soldier remained standing at attention.

“Not all are capable of loyalty, my Lord,” Damian said firmly, making Rumplestiltskin smile in approval.

“Are you loyal to me, Lieutenant?” the Prince asked, intrigued with the hard man’s previous answer. It did seem strange for one everyone considered an assassin to talk of loyalty and honor.

“In a roundabout way, sir, yes, I am.” Seeing the inquiry in everyone’s faces he continued. “I am, first and foremost, loyal to Queen Regina. As she had aligned herself with the Savior, when she left, my loyalty went to the White Knight. However, with her dead, I am loyal to her cause, and for the moment you are part of it, therefore you have my loyalty, my Lord.” The meaning behind the words was clear as well. The moment Phillip went against Emma’s wishes, Damian would turn on him. The Prince could not blame the man for his candor. With approving nod, the Royal invited the lieutenant into the newly formed war council to help plan for the eventual attack and dealing with the spies among them. At Rumple’s enthusiasm, the Black Knight suggested clearing the forest near the gate, making it less possible for someone to sneak in or out, and they could use the wood for kindling. With everyone contributing on the acting plan, it was finally devised, before they all went their own ways. The former imp asked for the soldier to wait for him and his loved one.

“Did Emma know of your allegiance?” Rumple asked after telling the man to walk him and Belle to their room.

“There was no need for her to know. Most people are uncomfortable around us, and perhaps our open affiliation with the Savior would make things more difficult for her than necessary.” The soldier replied evenly but dutifully. “But, make no mistake, each one of us would give our lives to save hers, or follow her orders, for in our minds, the Queen’s True Love is the life of the Queen herself. And, with the Savior dead, we have failed our Mistress, and our lives are forfeit until we can redeem ourselves. If that means being the guard of Prince Phillip, then, so be it.” The soldier inclined his head and left them at the door of their quarters, Belle watching in awe after him.

“He will redeem himself soon enough,” the old man remarked before entering their room.

The next morning denoted a start of a very busy time as the people prepared for the siege, and the hard winter. Under Mulan’s and Ruby’s wary eyes and instructions the larder was quickly filled to the optimum capacity for a month, as each of the good huntspersons worked overtime to haul as much meat they could. Those several days the castle was in a flurry of motion, each person helping no matter their age or ability. The Wolf, the warrior and the True Love couple consisting of the librarian and the former imp had kept their secret, not even talking among themselves about it, for fear of being overheard. And so they waited, for the next full Moon, for the King Midas’s men, for Emma to announce herself to the people… 

* * *

After twenty minutes of walking over the rubble and unstable rocks in the bottom of the Wolf’s Col, Emma reached the point of the second slide, giant boulders formed a tall wall, blocking her way. As the remaining tingle of the Marbh Teine was still too strong, blocking her power, and the horrid aftertaste of the magic apparent in the air, Emma was having a hard time fighting the nausea and itchiness it caused, grinding her teeth she sighed. The Savior would have to climb the ravine to escape the circle of devastation the cursed fire had left behind, and with it the uneasiness the black power evoked in the blonde. And, of course, on the top of the need to climb the steep cliffs, it started snowing out of the heavy clouds.

“Really?” Emma complained as she looked up into the gray sky and the overhanging swirls of dark gray. “Perfect,” she mumbled as she scanned for the most probable route up the bluff. To make the matter more difficult, the green fire of death had killed every slight tree and shrub, turning them into dust and ash, making the climb harder and more treacherous. “Well, you did want it the hard way,” the blonde spoke out loud to herself, taking off her backpack. Despite the falling snow and the rising gale, her cloak would be more of a nuisance on her way up than actually protecting her from the weather. Stuffing it into the pack, she made sure to wrap the remaining Firewind into it before closing the flap and tying the laces securely. Then she placed it on her back, making sure that it did not limit much of her motion range. With a deep breath, she rubbed her hands, adjusting her leather gloves properly and stepped forward the first rock on her way up. Thanking the Gods, Emma was pleased that her work on the stones in the Dragon cave had developed her upper body strength, so that she had little problem lifting herself up, sometimes by her arms alone.

Finally, after more than an hour of hard climb, the Savior reached the first ledge of the bluff, throwing herself on the ground, immediately flipping her body over onto her side, breathing heavily, the air escaping her in visible puffs of white mist as she felt the aching strain on her muscles and tendons. Aware that she still couldn’t use magic to warm herself or to dry the sweat of her skin, she shook her limbs to heat them up and loosen the ache and started up again, knowing that the exertion of the climb would keep her suitably warm against the freezing wind and rapidly falling snow, at least for a while. There wasn’t much of the ravine to go on up, and with the last vestiges of her strength, Emma clambered over the top, instantly pulling the cloak out of her sack and wrapping it around her shaking body, as she sank to her knees, casting her eyes over the edge, looking down. Taking several moments to catch her breath and to ease the pounding of her heart, her eyes skimmed around over the place she had found herself in, taking in the details. The traces of the activated Firewind were evident even up there, the light nauseating buzzing still present, but it seemed that the cursed fire did not do that much damage here as the ledge had been already empty of shrubbery due to harsh winds and unforgiving weather this high. However, she noticed something a bit away from the cliff, hidden among the wind polished trenches and furrows, carved into the stone of the mountain. But the rapidly worsening snow blizzard didn’t allow her to see any better. So, after several minutes, when she felt like she could move again, Emma rose to her feet and wincing with every painful step she directed herself forward the blob of color she had seen among the white of the snow and the dull gray of the stone.

But, when she reached the small cover from the piercing gale she stopped in horror, her eyes closing helplessly trying to delete the images now forever burned in her mind. She had done this, Emma knew without a doubt. Rumplestiltskin had warned her about the price of using those things, and often he had said that the price one paid was most times not the one he had imagined. Feeling her conscience get all that much heavier, the Sheriff dropped down to her knees, the joints buckling under the burden of her discovery, the fallen deposits of snow cushioning her legs against the cold hard ground.

In front of her were three men dressed in uniforms of Midas’s court, the gleaming shine of their clothes dulled under the hazardous conditions these men had faced in the past, now permanently frozen in the grim clutches of death, their apparent celebration interrupted by the cursed fire. The men had been sitting around the now long extinguished fire, huddled in the protection of the cove, the metal cups still in their hands and laughter still on their stoned faces, the only sign that they had realized their faith was evident in the terror of their eyes, realization too quickly followed by instant death to allow them to change their expressions. The Marbh Teine’s destructive power had not been strong enough to vaporize them on the spot at this distance from the point of origin, but it had been good enough to kill them instantly, their bodies locking into the rigor of death.

Regardless how reluctant she was to come near them, the men seemingly had taken the only available shelter in the vicinity, and unless she went on, in the blizzard and freezing cold to come down to the other side of the mountain, she would have to share her night with them. With the seriously disturbed grimace on her face, Emma entered the nook and immediately felt the loss of the tempest hitting her from all sides with the swirling snow and gusts of bitter wind that went through her clothes. After a quick deliberation and an extensive argument with her conscience, the blonde moved the bodies, disregarding the pain in her muscles, arranging them outside of the shelter, so that they would provide additional protection from the wild snow, reasoning with herself that they were already dead, so they wouldn’t mind the treatment.  _ All is fair in love and war _ , she murmured to herself the age old adage, it doing nothing to soothe her challenged morality. And, if she was to be fair, the men had died  **celebrating** the successful blockage of the Col, ensuring certain death for the peace envoys by the manticores.

Having started the fire, she looked through their belongings, not willing to let it go to waste, and found a full water flask, one undamaged crossbow with a full quiver beside it, several long hunting knives, some clean shirts, two blankets, a spyglass, one well cared for single blade battle axe, and the prize – the somewhat large package of dried meat and cheese wrapped into the protective covering, along with a loaf of unleavened bread, the covering keeping things fresh and unspoiled.

Exhausted, both emotionally and physically, she leaned onto the wall of the shelter, using the cloaks of the men as isolation from the cold hard rock, and eating the food she listened to the howls of the wind, it strangely sounding like the lost souls of the dead, calling out to her. Even though she was tired beyond measure – regardless of the potion she had drank earlier, the great magical feat before and the punishing and grueling climb after, had done their share to her body, muscles cramping and hurting, her whole body aching and shaking from the effort – she could not sleep, the annoying presence of the destructive magic keeping her on the edge. And, with her haunted unconsciousness having new material to torture her with, Emma knew that even if, by any luck, she managed do fall asleep, she would be trapped in the world of her nightmares.

After several hours, when the blizzard had somewhat lessened and the horrific howling of the wind stopped, Emma peaked out of her refuge, seeing that the night had fallen already, some of the stars visible on the uncovered patch of sky in the east. Deciding to take this lull in the weather to scout around for a bit and to stretch her cricking muscles, Emma picked the knives she had found and the spyglass, leaving everything else in the shelter from snow. Under the cover of darkness, the Savior trudged toward the point where she had emerged from her climb hours before, and kneeling down on one knee, she looked down to the open plains of Midas’s domain. The spot also allowed her to see the Pass, the main travelling road going through the Mountain Range. Assembling the tool she had brought with her, she then looked around. Nothing to interrupt the silence but the wind, making the place seem somewhat displaced to Emma, who since her arrival to Enchanted Forest had never been truly alone. And here was nothing but the mostly hidden stars and the falling snow amidst the desolate landscape of the top of the particular point in the mountains. The Savior was alone, removed from the world, nothing to bother her, no one to see her, no one to talk to, surrounded by the dark and the unstopping wind. “And, three dead bodies,” she said aloud, needing to hear something else but the incessant strong hum of the wind. Even if she screamed from the top of her lungs, her voice would be lost in the howls of the squalls. Here, at the top of the world, the fact that she was alone and that she would be for a possibly long time was driven home, the sharp impact of realization twisting the Savior’s insides painfully, gasping breath escaping her mouth, as the drowning dread gripped her mind. Peter’s curse came to the front of her memories, only aggravating the panic she tried to fight against. Then, almost unbidden, the memory of her True Love came to the forefront of her mind, her soothing voice filling her ears, as if Regina was standing right beside her at that moment.  _ Remember, I love you. _ The gentle timbre of the brunette’s voice reached into the deep recesses of Emma’s panicked mind, bringing the Sheriff out of her frightened state.  _ You are loved, my Knight, and you are not alone. And, you’ll never be. Never again. No matter how it seems at the moment. _ The terror tapered off under the wave of warmth caused by the memory and the safe feeling it induced in the blonde, bringing her to the present, her lips curving into the soft smile, as she allowed Regina’s love for her, and her own love for the Queen to chase away the doubts and nightmarish thoughts, as she focused on her task at hand, knowing that she had a duty to fulfill, to her family and to her friends, being the Savior and all…

Brought to the present once more, shaking herself from the morose thoughts of hardships before her, Emma directed her look, enhanced by the tool in her hand, to the far off lights shimmering in the distance. The camp she had been looking for stood on three days of slow walk away from the Pass, much further along their trajectory then Emma and Mulan had surmised judging by the previous movement they had noticed when they had spent their time at the Dragon Caves. Trying to decipher the riddle before her, she watched for anything to help her understand how the people had managed to move so quickly, moving the entire camp. But, the enemy was too far away to see properly into the camp, and the darkness did not make things easier, but Emma’s instincts were intrigued with the mystery, instantly warning her to be more cautious in her dealing with Midas. Something was off there.

Then she turned her glass to the Pass itself, and as bad as snow seemed up there where the Savior was, it was twice as bad in the narrow vale of the divide of the mountain range, the road covered with several feet of the white powdery substance, heavy and stickily wet snow hard to traipse through. Any attempt to cross over it would prove a long and arduous process, which made Emma glad, for it gave the Safe Haven a little more time to prepare. Unless, Midas had magic at his side, having someone powerful enough to melt the blockage…

Going back to the cover, just in time to duck the steadily worsening snow storm, Emma sat down, lacing her slush laden cloak and pants near the still burning fire. Luckily, the men had prepared for the harsh conditions of the ledge and the eventual terrible weather, the shelter filled with the kindling wood, most likely brought up from the planes. Keeping the fire stoked, Emma took out her new notebook and a quill, settling down on the cloaks, using the light from the blazing flames to start writing down everything that had happened since the moment she had turned the previous diary to Belle. It helped her focus and pass the time as she waited for her magic to return in full, so she would be able to send a message to Rumplestiltskin. As she wrote, often penning down her observations and thinking along with her actions, Emma absently thought of a way to inform her mentor of her, well, success. As the green fire of the Firewind and the frozen death of the men she had found in the nook had made her think of the Dark Lord of the Harry Potter series, an idea coming to her, perfect for the conditions she had found herself in. With a passing thought, she thanked Henry for making her watch the movies several times, and after she had finished with her diary, she wrote down the note for Rumplestiltskin, devising a plan to ensure he was the only one able to read the message, as it contained sensitive information. And, the moment her magic surged to life, she willed her plan into existence, knowing that the old man would do his best with the information he would get from the note.

As there was still time till dawn, Emma used the heat of her nook to take off the clothes along with her black mail and check for tears and damages, staying only in her turtleneck and underwear. During her inspection she noticed the purple and almost black bruises on her lower legs and knees, the pain of them coming to expression only when she focused on the colored patches on her skin. Realizing the origin of the contusions, she shook her head. She had often used her legs and knees to propel herself forward, and to stop her slide when she had missed a step. But the hard leather of her trousers, the ones she had taken from Graham’s quarters in Regina's Castle, and the protective lining on her gloves had prevented the damage from the abrasive surface of the rocks, instead the damage manifesting on the leather of her clothes. With the barely there magic she fixed the scrapes on the protective covering, as she felt the healing warmth envelop her and watched the bruises disappear from her skin and the tightness on her face due to wind burns she hadn’t even noticed she had.

She knew that the scent of Marbh Teine would mask the trace of her magic for a while. And by the time someone dared to search the place for clues it would be long gone. But, down below she did not have such luxury and taking into account that Midas possibly had a magical help on his side, using her magic in the open would lead to her being discovered too soon. Therefore, after she had fixed her clothes and healed her body, Emma focused on locking down her power in order to protect her identity for a while longer. She had thought of disguising herself as someone else in case she met someone on the way, but the effort of maintaining the mask might be counterproductive in the end, so she discarded the idea.

After repacking her sack to include the things she had found there, Emma picked her clothes for her travels in the plains. As an afterthought, she pulled one of the shawls she had packed, deciding to use it two fold, as a makeshift cover for her face and protection from the harsh cold winds. Then, she leaned back, thinking she would be able to grab a little shuteye till it was time to move out. She couldn’t start moving until the full daylight because of the treacherous snow, and the twilight of dawn was the most dangerous part of the day to travel in such conditions. After making sure that the fire would be burning for a while, Emma lowered herself down, using one of techniques Mulan had taught her to empty her mind and allow the restful sleep to engulf her.

It was only hours later that she woke, feeling the activation of her spells she had sent to Rumplestiltskin. Opening her eyes, she smiled, knowing without a doubt that the former imp had read her message, as she had, in a moment of her doubt, placed a notification spell to alert her as soon as he activated the letter. With that knowledge she lifted her upper body, leaning onto her elbows and watching the slowly dying fire. She threw another log on it, still slightly woozy from her short but resting sleep. Then she sat up, considering her plan, as she took a bite out of the food, rationing her portion, not knowing if she would find something to eat in the valleys below. After meager breakfast, the sheriff dressed into her clothes, making sure that the mail was nowhere on the skin and that it was safely hidden under the leather top tunic. Redoing the severe bun she had on the day before, as she did not need the hair in her face and the blonde tresses was one of her more recognizable features. Then, came the weaponry. Knowing that she would be trudging through deep snow most of the day, she did not want something hanging of her belt making it harder to pass through the white slush, like her sword, so she left it in the sack, but the long knives she placed at her waist, along with the battle axe, while she affixed the crossbow on the side of the bag, the quiver on the other side, as she had closed the open end with one of the shirts she had taken from the lair. She did not need to waste her time collecting the bolts all over the place just because she might take a tumble. At last, she wrapped the shawl around her face, covering the lower half, and put on her gloves. With her cloak firmly in place over her shoulders, she took the sack and left the lair, a bit startled by the burden’s weight.

Having arranged the men into their previous positions, Emma stoked the fire to last for more than several hours, and left the place, throwing the hood over her head and placing the pack on her back. Directing herself toward the gentler slope of the mountain, knowing it was the longer route, but it would take much less energy and quite possibly time to traverse it, than the direct route down that was almost as steep as the cliffs she had climbed to get there.

Although it was a day for more than just a few hours, the heavy stormy clouds prevented the Sun from showing up, making it seem a bit strange for Emma, as the skies were dark and light gray while the ground was white and glowing, like an inverted earth. But, it was better that way, the blonde concluded, as she would definitely go blind from the glare of the Sun reflexed on the surface of the driven snow. With a careful step she set off on the trek down, almost immediately sinking to her knees into the white cold powder. Slowly, she walked through the snow, almost used to the sensation of the ground giving way to her feet. It was much harder than she imagined, and she was aware that it was taking her too much time, time she did not have. Demoralized, she sat back into the snow, needing rest from the burden on her back and demanding steps through the freezing slush sticking to her boots and leggings. Leaning back on her sack, she swore under her breath, wishing for a snowmobile, as she looked around with a desperate need to find something that would help her come down the mountain. Angry and frustrated as she was, she considered summoning something when her eyes passed over something to her left, above her position, directly underneath the nook she had spent her night in. Swearing again for missing to search such an obvious place, Emma lifted herself up and with a grunt managed to climb to the black bundle wedged between two rocks, the wind keeping most of the snow off it. Throwing herself to her knees, she tugged at the package, liberating it from its hold. Quickly she unwrapped it and gasped at her discovery.  _ Ask and you shall receive _ … Of course, she thought to herself sheepishly. The men had known the conditions of the range and probably had known that it would snow heavily and had prepared accordingly. In her hands was a long and wide polished wooden board, its front curving upwards. “A sleight” Emma whispered in awe as she pulled the board out of its cover. If she hadn’t known that all the fairies were in the town of her world posing as the holy sisters of Blue’s order, she would’ve thought that this was a wish of hers that they had fulfilled. But, as it was, it was just dumb luck that Emma had seen the black cover of it wedged in the snow before she had moved farther away.

Judging the length of the board, Emma saw that it could hold three kneeling men somewhat uncomfortably, and for one of her it would be perfect, as she would be sitting with her legs in front of her. Unwilling to break with her feet, she pulled out the long knives out of her belt and placed them aside, as she folded the cover, making a cushion out of it. Taking her place, using the black material as her seat, she fitted her feet against the curve of the board, keeping her knees slightly bent. After she made sure that her sack was fully on the board, no part of it hanging off it, holding the knives in her hands by the thumbs, she used her fingers to move the sleight, giving it sufficient push to start sliding down the slope.

At first, the board moved slowly, only inching down before it started gaining more and more speed, till the moment it was hurling down the mountain at neck breaking speeds, making Emma attempt to slow it down by digging in the knives in the snow, leaving deep burrows behind her, until she managed to decelerate to more acceptable and maneuverable speeds. In the end, it was a very enjoyable ride, the easy movement making the blonde feel light and filled with wonder and glee of a child in winter as a blithe chuckle escaped her lips, lost in the rushing air.

But, as she came closer to the foot of the mountain, the sparse trees of the wintergreen forest became more and more dense, making maneuvering the sleight a perilous and hard business. Emma pulled up, after narrowly missing the collision with the tree that had been in her way, knowing that it was too dangerous for her to go on in that manner. So she rose from the board, somewhat reluctant to continue on foot after spending hours on the easy mode of travel, but she knew that time was of the essence and squaring her shoulders she went on, away from the mountain, following the general direction of her slide, trusting it would lead her where she needed to go.

She trekked through the forest that slowly changed into one made of deciduous trees, the changing colors on still remaining leaves giving way to the heavy snow covering the branches. There was very little snow on the ground, the earth was covered in leaves and frozen mire that cracked under the Savior’s boots. It was early evening when she heard something else but the butt of her steps over the ground and creaking of branches under the weight of snow and wind.

Stopping immediately, Emma waited for a bit, for the wind to bring again the sound that had startled her, scowling at the raspy and garbled tones she would recognize anywhere. Judging the position of the creatures that talked, not caring if there was anyone to hear them, she turned to the different direction not willing to engage the trolls if she did not absolutely have to. But the wind kept bringing the snippets of the conversations that easily reached her ears.  _ We caught it… Going to eat tonight… Feast like kings… _ She pitied the poor animal that those creeps had captured.  _ Watch out for the horn _ … Emma continued walking away wishing the wind to stop calling her back with such taunts, but with each snip of information her decision to stay away was crumbling under the weight of her compassion and her disgust of the dark creatures. However, she managed to stay on her course, until she heard a sentence that stopped her in place, her blood first running cold with surprise, then hot with the surge of anger and hate toward the brutes, making her turn on the spot and start running in the opposite direction, toward the trolls. 

“Have you ever eaten a unicorn before?” she had heard in the wind, and she simply could not stand for the noble creature of magic to suffer that gruesome fate, rushing to its rescue.

Coming closer to the group, she took off her bag, untying the crossbow and placing the quiver on her hip, as she readjusted the sack on her back, unwilling to part with it, even if it would mean that she would be less agile in the fight. She would rather perish in accidentally struck Firewind then allowing one of these creatures skimping away off with it in their possession. Hidden behind a fallen log, she loaded her weapon and glancing over the rough bark of the log, she aimed at the troll closest to the beautiful chained beast, felling him down in a blink of an eye. Notching bolts quickly, she sent them off into the enemies’ bodies, dropping them down easily, her surprise attack catching them unprepared.

“It’s Her Grace,” she heard in the frantic cries of the decimated group, as she stepped on the downed wood and continued firing at the gruesome creatures. It seemed that Regina’s play had worked on a far larger scale than any of them had expected, she thought with a cruel smile coming to her lips, hidden underneath the shawl. Or was it because of her fighting skills show weeks before when she had saved the hunting party of the Safe Haven? It did not matter how they had known her – despite her cover, or how the name had spread, as no one would be left alive to tell the tale after this, for the Sheriff could not afford the word of her survival reaching Midas and his associates before she was ready. Bolt after bolt flew off her weapon, and when every one of the thirty trolls was on the ground, she lowered the crossbow, her heart grim with such an act of destruction, even though her body still experienced the head of the rage toward the ugly creatures, now bleeding on the frozen ground of their camp. Jumping off the log, she walked slowly toward the struggling magnificence in the form of a gray noble horse with a golden horn on top of its head.

It was trying to dislodge the heavy ropes and chains wrapped around its legs and neck, the rattling of the metal bonds loud in the sudden aftermath of the slaughter. The chains kept it tied between two huge trunks of tall trees, with no free space to move forward or backward, able only to tug on the ropes. Neighing in outrage, the animal never stopped struggling, propping itself and shaking the head, with no effect, only damaging the fair coat of its body by the chafing ropes, tingeing it in pinkish stripes of blood. Looking at Emma with suspicious eyes, the unicorn followed her progress over the bodies of trolls.

However, suddenly, as she was about to pass by one of the felled foes, the downed creep moved, swinging the curved blade of the dagger, sticking it deep into Emma’s thigh right above knee, missing the bone, bud doing enough damage on her leg, bringing the blonde down to her knee in a howl of pain. Nevertheless, before the troll could smirk in victory, the Savior took out one of her long knives and entrusted it into the troll’s chest, killing him on the spot as the last garbled breath of the enemy brought out black blood to his disfigured mouth. Removing the blade and wiping it off the clothes of her victim, she replaced it at her hip. Then, she pulled out the dagger from her leg, instantly noticing the acrid smell whiffing off of it, making her close her eyes in defeat. No good deed, indeed, goes unpunished, she thought bitterly, as she came to her feet, grunting in pain, already feeling the effect of the poison, mixed in with her blood, as the colors swam before her eyes, light flashing and the ground rolling unsteadily beneath her, followed by heat waves, making her lower her shawl to ease her breathing. Unsteady on her feet, she limped toward the unicorn, hissing with each move, the bloody poisonous dagger still in her hand. When she noticed the renewed agitation of the four legged creature and realizing the cause of it, she threw it away, lifting her empty hands toward the noble animal. “Easy, boy, I mean you no harm,” she spoke soothingly, as she inched toward the unicorn.

Still watching her with untrusting eyes, the pale beast allowed the Savior to touch him, ready to attack at any sight of trouble. Emma chuckled at the familiar behavior, reminding her of the certain Queen, as she removed the chains and ropes holding the unicorn in place. “There, boy, you are free,” she murmured with a suffering smile, as the excruciating fire engulfed her leg. Going through the mane of the beauty before her with her gloved hand, she patted the flank of the animal gently, stopping in front of the unicorn. “You see, nothing to worry about,” Emma added, stepping away from the now free creature, her hand going to the profusely bleeding wound, before she swallowed the bile caused by the nausea of the blood loss and poison coursing through her veins.

The dagger had nicked the artery that now was pushing out the precious fluid, and coupled with the effects of the poison, Emma was now feeling faint as well. Out of it for mere moments, she had not noticed the approach from the unicorn, as the pale beast lowered its head down to Emma’s feet, startling the Savior from her haze. “No need for that,” she mumbled, uncomfortable with the fact that the majestic creature was bowing down to her. But when she saw the point of the horn touch the deep wound, Emma gasped at the intrusive and cold feel of the horn and the warm pulse of cleansing magic emanating from it into her flesh. Immediately feeling better, Emma herself bowed to the creature, her right hand going over her heart in gratitude and appreciation. A lick to her face and a happy chortle were her only reply, and smiling she watched the silver unicorn disappear among the trees of the forest.

After checking the wound, she saw that it was still bleeding, but it was only a trickle so she bound her leg clumsily, deciding to wait until her resting place for the night to deal with the wound in a more thorough manner. Picking her bolts out of the dead bodies, she searched the camp, and finding nothing of interest, she moved on, directing herself to the nearby hill, as she heard the worsening grumble of the wind, announcing another snow blizzard. Quickly, ignoring the pain, Emma rushed toward the hill she had seen earlier, on her way to the trolls, deducing that it would have some kind of a niche or a hideout against the weather, a grove or a cave good enough for her to seek shelter inside.

Just as the snow started falling heavily, the Sheriff stumbled upon a cave, large enough for her to walk inside without any problem, the mouth of it twice taller than her, and wide three times that. Without much thought, her leg still bleeding, she jumped inside, taking herself away from the icy wind that had picked up in the previous minutes. Leaning against the wall of the cave, she took off her backpack, and slid down to the ground, closing her eyes. Faint and weak from the loss of blood and hard run under her burden, the Savior only sat there for several minutes, gathering her strength and waiting for the whooshing sound of her adrenalin heightened pressure to leave her ears. As it eased away, she noticed a light buzz crawling over her skin that she had felt in only one place before. Cursing herself for her stupidity, and her upside down day, she reached for her knives, breathing deeply, gathering her courage, her fists clenching around the hilts of the fighting blades. But before she could rise a booming voice filled the cavern, freezing her in place, the deep timbre of the voice making the rocks around her vibrate.

“It is very unwise to enter the habitat of your prey with your wound still bleeding, Knight. The scent of blood gives you away, among other things.” A heavy body moved around, hidden in the dark but Emma knew that it was very close, as her skin crawled with the feel of the danger surrounding her. But, the blonde had not expected the creature to speak, and especially not in such a manner. It gave her some weak hope that the other inhabitant of the place could be reasoned with.

“You are not my prey,” Emma answered, her voice trembling with weakness of her body. And, it was possible that the Fates weren’t so cruel to let her escape one certain death only to thrust her into another.

“Hmm,” the creature murmured with interest, the very stone vibrating with the power of its voice. “Then, why are you here, Knight?” The voice seemed to reverberate in the blonde’s brain, as well as in the cavern, appearing as though it was coming from her mind as well as from outside of her. She had read about this effect of the species, and only very powerful members of the kind still held such ability.

“Shelter from the storm,” Emma whispered back, feeling the strength gained by adrenaline vane, as she relaxed and released her hold on the knives, helpless to stop the hilts slipping out of her weakened palms.

Again, the large body shifted, scuffing the walls of the cave, as the creature came closer to the Sheriff, sniffing around her. “Who are you?” the beast asked with interest. But, without giving Emma time to answer, it went on. “Your clothes reek of Marbh Teine and the flesh of my kin, among many others, and yet there is a fresh mark of unicorn magic upon you, as well as the stench of troll blood.” Closer and closer the voice came, getting softer and softer as it grew near, almost turning gentle. “And, you are not of this realm as you are so young, untainted by Rumplestiltskin’s Dark Curse, and yet you have seen the true Darkness. You bear its mark upon your soul.” Emma noticed the use of her teacher’s name instead of the Queen, surprised by the knowledge the creature possessed, as she had been under the impression that no one had known of Rumplestiltskin’s involvement in Regina’s vengeance but Maleficent. As well, she was surprised with the information the speaker gleaned just by looking at her. “However, you are born of True Love which is the magic of this world.” Now the blonde could discern the shape of her host in the deep shadows of the cave. “You are such an odd being, Knight…” A hum of understanding escaped as the creature came closer to Emma, its large head appearing in the shadowy twilight in the mouth of the cave. The blonde gasped at the sight of the marvelous creature before her, her eyes feasting on the image before her, as she knew that no one had seen this for more than thirty years, and quite possibly even longer. The shimmering gold scales covered the surface of the Sheriff’s host, making the creature gleam with iridescent glow in the darkness of the cave, and only then Emma could grasp the size of the creature before her, the largeness inspiring awe and deep seeded fear. The shining yellow eyes focused on her, and the split tongue darting over the line of very frightening teeth. The front legs made an appearance, the huge body following behind, as the beast’s huge head towered over Emma, the snout almost reaching the blonde’s hair, the soft puffs of putrid breath washing over the woman’s face. “You are the one who is supposed to be the Savior,” the creature murmured, pleased with the conclusion and moved slightly away, the gravel crunching under the weight of its body.

“I don’t like that title,” Emma weakly complained, shaking her head at the strange situation she had found herself in. Never would she think that this particular scene would happen in her life, even with all the craziness it usually had. She looked at the giant beast beside her, knowing that she would pass out from the blood loss any minute now, as her vision already dimmed beyond the darkness of the cave, the soft haze enveloping her mind as she sank deeper and deeper into the dark of her unconsciousness.

“Then, what should you be called?” the creature asked gently, with something that seemed like amusement in its voice.

“Emma,” the blonde said with an impish but weak smile. “Or Sheriff, if needed,” she added softly, her grip on her conscious slipping, regardless of her fight to stay awake.

“Hmm, Sheriff,” the beast hummed with a pleased note ringing out in the tone of the grumble. “The protector of the order,” the creature added, the forked tongue darting toward the pale woman, aware of the ailment that the Savior was suffering from. “Judging by the scents you give out, you are the Sheriff indeed.” The soft rumbling voice washed over the almost unconscious hero, followed by a light chuckle. “Sleep, Savior, you are safe for tonight,” the creature spoke at last, before licking the forehead of the Knight, the touch of it igniting the innate magic in the woman, directing it to heal, as the Savior blacked out, sniffing around the woman. Gently, it lifted its front legs and carefully, minding the claws,reached for the blonde and took her up, moving her from the entrance deeper into the cave, lowering her tenderly beside the burning fire in the cavern hall deep under the hill. Settling down for a long night, the golden creature shifted and brought its tail around its body, and with practiced moves lay down minding the wings, laying down its head on the warm ground beside the woman, yellow eyes idly tracking the rise and fall of Emma’s chest, making note of every change in Savior’s breathing, pleased that the woman’s innate magic was healing her. Along with the watching, the creature contemplated the youngling before it, spending the night in such a state, needing no sleep.

Emma found herself in the garden of the former White Castle, sitting on the raised ring of stones, where Regina’s prized tree had used to be. She smiled as she saw the green sap already sprouting leaves, rising up, the accelerated growth by the magic evident. Then, she turned away, looking around the place. It was daylight and it was warm, the chill of winter gone. Looking down, the Savior saw her dark clothes in pristine condition, and the released tresses of her golden hair softly fluttering in the gentle breeze, the curls framing her face. The elaborate crafted sword hung by her side, the gleaming silver of the hilt nicely complimenting her dark clothes. But that wasn’t what brought the goofy smile on her face or the twinkle in her green eyes. No, that particular honor belonged to the woman standing on the steps leading to the gardens from the halls of the Castle. The brunette, dressed in an adorable yet functional and impressive mix of Mayoral and Queen’s clothes, the purples and blacks of the fabrics blending perfectly. The dark hair was free, floating down over the shoulders in gentle waves, making her face softer. The chocolate eyes glimmered with happiness as the brunette watched Emma, the lips quirking into soft barely there smile.

The blonde watched with anticipation as the Queen walked closer to her slowly, drawing out the experience. When Regina finally met the Savior, Emma rose and bowed gently, her eyes dancing with humor. “My Queen,” she spoke softly, closing her eyes in content as she felt a soft and warm hand on her cheek, guiding her face to the brunette.

“My Knight,” Regina replied with a smirk, the somewhat sappy greeting causing the roll of her eyes.

“This is a dream,” Emma whispered wistfully, the sadness of realization piercing through the happiness, making her eyes lose the glimmer instantly.

“It may be so, but that is not a reason to not enjoy it, Sheriff Swan.” The reply came whispered in a soft tone, merely a breath on Emma’s face, before a gentle kiss took away any possible retort the blonde could have, also making the Sheriff sink into the embrace, suddenly feeling very light and burden free, for the first time in weeks. “Or take comfort in it,” Regina added knowingly, pulling slightly away, as her fingers wound themselves into the blonde hair above Emma’s neck, leaning her forearms on the strong shoulders, before she leaned in for another meeting of their lips, not that gentle as the previous one, but soul filling as well.

“It reminds me what I am missing…” Reaching for the soft hands around her head, Emma placed her gloved fingers over Regina’s wrists, pulling them gently out of her hair and slowly brushing the knuckles of tender hands in hers with her lips, the pleasant and familiar scent of the Queen’s skin filling her nostrils. Then she let go of them and stepped away, turning from the woman of her heart, closing her eyes, lest the tears start flowing. “I am not with you. Not with our son. My parents. My friends.” The broken voice lowered to a whisper, as the black gloved hand fell to the hilt of the sword. “I am roped into another fight, another injustice, helping the people I’ve grown to care about, when in all truth I would much rather be with you and Henry.” There was no anger in Emma’s voice. No frustration. No sadness. Actually there was no emotion in her voice, it sounded cold and detached suddenly. 

“Emma?” Regina inquired, her worried eyes searching for the reason for the emptiness radiating off the woman.

“You are not here,” the Savior spoke firmly, looking over her shoulder. “Not really. You are just an illusion of my mind, my unconsciousness.”

“Even so,” the dream Regina said coming closer to the Sheriff, her hand gliding up Emma’s arm slowly feeling the defined muscles under the clothes and finally resting on her shoulder. Pulling up her body along with the blonde’s, the Queen leaned into Emma’s back, placing her chin onto the Savior’s shoulder, her other arm sneaking around the blonde’s middle to the front. “Any dream, you should enjoy it while it lasts,” the husky soft tones of the brunette washed over Emma’s ear and cheek, making her rigid body tremble suddenly with anticipation and excitement. “You needed me for some reason, and thus here I am, in your dream.” Moving the blonde tresses from the skin of the neck, Regina leaned in, kissing the tense cords in the base of the shoulders, humming with pleasure when she heard Emma gasped.

“What are you doing?” If not for the breathless and eager quality of the blonde’s voice, the question would seem outrageous. However, Emma remained in Regina’s hands, the hot lips on her neck making her will crumble and her reasons flee.

“I am making you forget.” Another kiss, this time with a swipe of tongue, followed the statement. “Your worries, your fears, nightmares can wait another day. Now, you are mine.” Splaying her fingers over Emma’s hard belly muscles, Regina pressed herself into the back of the still reluctant woman, her mouth victorious in chipping the Savior’s resistance away, kiss by kiss, until the blonde leaned back into the possessive hold, relinquishing her control, if only for a moment. “Let it go,” again the whispering breath came across Emma’s skin, making it hard for her to think. And, the blonde did let go, deciding to enjoy the brief interlude in her reality.

But, it did not mean that she would be a passive participant in the dream. In a sudden move, the Knight turned around, taking the Queen into the tender but firm hold, her eyes focused onto the molten chocolate ones, as her arms circled the body in front of her, molding it against her own. “I have a lot to forget…” she murmured before taking Regina’s lips, her eyes shining with a wicked smile.

Losing herself in the scents and feels of the Queen in her arms, Emma stopped thinking. She sank into the passion of the dream, using it to block the darkness and fears ailing her, even though she knew that it wasn’t real but only a dream.

Hours later, the Sheriff woke by the fire in the cavern, jumping to her feet as she became conscious enough to realize that she did not recognize her surroundings. But the grumbling chuckle drove her memories back instantly, the realization of whom her host was making her stiffen, as she slowly turned toward the huge animal’s head resting a few feet away, the yellow eyes following her every move.

“Easy little one,” the beast spoke, not moving from the ground. “That leg of yours is still not healed.”

As the reminder of it brought the wound back into her focus, Emma suddenly felt the pain of it, searing through her flesh. Lowering herself down gingerly, she checked the tender spot on her leg, wincing at the garish look of butchered meat. The flesh around the deep cut was inflamed red but much smaller than she had expected. Well, it seemed that the unicorn had half healed it as well as cleansing it.

“Use your magic, Sheriff.”

“I can be traced by it,” the blonde answered absently, worried about her leg. At the scoff of the golden beast she looked up and saw an expression she would be tempted to call amused, but not sure as she had never seen one on a dragon.

“Do you not know where you are?” At the confused look the woman gave, the beast hummed in disappointment before lifting its head up, settling into a more upright position. “We are in the Infinite Forest. The magic of its borders prevents the proper location spell. And no human that grew up here would ever think you that stupid, or that smart to hide out here, as they are avoiding this place.”

“The Infinite Forest?” Emma’s expression grew more concerned. She had veered off course more than she had thought. All she knew about it was from Regina, and even that wasn’t much. She had trapped Charming in it, to prevent him from getting to Snow, and the forest was home to many magical creatures. No ordinary man could leave it, without some magic help. But, the presence of magic was nothing unusual as well, and there was nothing preventing Emma from healing herself properly.

The silence fell on two of them, as Emma took off her pants to take care of the wound, using only small bursts of magic, careful with it as she was in the presence of a dragon, while the beast watched her with interest. She did not worry about the possible dangers of being eaten as there were deer carcasses by the wall of the cavern, freshly killed. And, if the dragon wanted to kill her it would have done it by then, so she just went on with her business, projecting calm and self-assured outlook, her hands not straying far from her weapons.

“There is no need to fear me, Savior,” the dragon spoke after some time, moving farther away from the fire pit, rubbing its back on the low part of the ceiling. “There is no desire to kill you here…”

“Then, why am I here?”

“You wished for a shelter, did you not? And shelter you have. Do not be rude, Savior, you may find yourself in the blizzard yet!” The threatening snarl was cold and precise, not giving the impression of temper but of control.

“Apologies.” Emma magicked on her now fixed pants, having been satisfied with the healing progress, then she placed her hand over her heart and inclined her head. “Did not mean to offend. And, the haven is much appreciated.” The Savior noticed that the dragon used no first person, always focusing the speech around the blonde, and she tried to emulate at least a bit of such manner of speaking, hoping it would appease the beast.

“Delightful,” the word dripped with sarcasm and scorn but nevertheless the dragon settled down. “You are needed in this world, Savior. There is Storm brewing in the West, forcing evil upon the realm.”

“Don’t you mean north? I thought Midas…”

“He is but a puppet, or a pet on a leash. He has no will of his own.” The Dragon grumbled, picking one of the carcasses of the deer. After a sickening sound of flesh tearing and bone breaking that reverberated around the walls of the caves making Emma gulp in disgust, the beast threw one quarter of the hart to the Savior, gesturing toward the fire, the silent offer of meal apparent. While the blonde ignored her rumbling stomach and set out to roast the meat, the dragon ate the rest of it in a single mouthful. “Something, or rather someone is using dark magic to uphold their will and it made Ogres flee their home, Trolls to grow more rambunctious and the honest creatures to be hunted and endangered. And, you, Savior, are the only one who can restore the balance, protect the order.”

Emma kept her silence, her doubts and suspicions about Midas and the whole affair confirmed by the beast. And, if what she had read had been true, dragons, that could speak that was, did not lie as they would find it very beneath them. Her ability to tell if someone was lying had been spot on since she had started out on this adventure, as she learned to trust her instincts fully. She glanced up toward the golden head hovering in the air, while preparing her food, expecting the creature to continue with the explanation.

“And, for that you will need help,” the dragon concluded, before taking another carcass.

“Who do you have in mind?” Emma asked after a while, having finished with eating, wiping her fingers and mouth with a rag she had unearthed from her sack. She did not mind the discussion on the topic of possible allies, especially then as she was alone on this side of the mountain range, facing thousands of Midas’ men, along with trolls and other still unknown enemies. And the whiteout outside would prevent any movement on her side, without magic to aid her, and moving with it beyond the borders of the Infinite Forest was risky and reckless. Warm and sated with the roasted meat, she leaned back on the layers of prepared animal skins making her bed, her head supported by her cloak rolled into a pillow as she placed her elbow beneath her head, her eyes directed toward the beast that lounged on the other side of the cave, the roasting fire between them. “And why would they help? Why would you for that matter? I don’t even know your name, or what is your stake in this war.”

“And, there you are,” the dragon spoke with gurgling pleasure in its tone, as if Emma had finally asked the right questions. “It is good to see that you are not as complacent as you seem. Savior needs a stiff backbone in this battle.” At Emma’s puzzled frown the beast continued, shaking its head. “Your duty as the Sheriff of Enchanted Forest is to question everything and trust nothing implicitly.” After the Sheriff's understanding nod, the beast flickered its split tongue in the air and hummed, the grumble making the stones around Emma vibrate with power. “As for the help, this war does not concern only the world of Men. The stakes are much higher than the people could ever understand. It is about the survival of magic and the Good of the Realm. With fairies gone and the mines abandoned Enchanted Forest had lost the precious balance of power. And if the Evil prevails, then the life as your people know it will be over, as they would be slaves to the new order. If they survive, that is. Anyone borne of magic would be exterminated and their flesh and blood used in powering the magic.

“Namely, us,” Emma added, comprehension dawning on her face. She did understand the implications of such a rule. No dwarves, no Wolves, no unicorns, and the last, no magical people such as her and Regina. “How do you know this? Did your kind foresee it?”

“It is a misconception. We do not have the gift of prophecy, Savior. But we can read the currents of Present just as well.” Then, the beast sighed heavily. With a slight shift of the huge body extended its front limb, talons creating a dull sound on the soft ground of the cave. “The war is upon the Realm and it will be devastating. And you are the one to play the main part in it.”

“Great,” the Savior answered churlishly, rolling her eyes before she turned to the side and leaned her head against her palm, elbow placed on the rolled cloak, looking at the dragon. “How do you suggest I fight it?”

“The storm will last for more than a day. You can rest and plan for your next move here until it passes.”

“And you, will you help? And what can I call you?”

“Help will be offered. As for the name, it is Argh Grahwiethparagah.” The sound that the dragon made pronouncing its name sounded more like a roar than the actual name and Emma blinked in confusion not even willing to try to repeat after the beast. After several seconds of stymied silence, the dragon chuckled deeply, a light stream of white steam puffing out of its nostrils, making Emma groan as she realized she was the butt of a joke. “Ah, humans,” it murmured with glee, before turning its head toward the Savior, the yellow eyes focused on the slightly bewildered woman. “We do not use names or even need them. In a clan we communicate differently, having another way of singling one of us out. And as we do not mingle much with men, especially when they hunt us, the names are superfluous.” Then the dragon blinked, its head swiveling in front of Emma. “But you may address me as Guardian.”

“Guardian?” Emma repeated softly, not ignorant of the fact that it was the first time the dragon spoke of itself directly.

“The reason the stakes are high for my kind in this war,” the beast spoke softly, the gentle rumble barely heard over the crackling of the fire. The dragon moved quickly, much faster than the creature of that mass ever should and pivoting around, it directed a stream of fire in one previously hidden passage, illuminating another huge cavern, showing row after row of human sized round shapes in different colors, the scaly shapes reminiscent of Easter eggs. Eggs! The Sheriff, having jumped to her feet at the sudden move of the beast, peaked into the cavern, careful not to cross the line formed by the creature’s tail, now understood the title of the golden beast, awed by the picture she was seeing. There were more than fifty eggs, and the once nearly extinct race of majestic beings would rise from the ashes.

“How long until they hatch?” the blonde asked, careful not to make any sudden or threatening gestures, peaking into the cave, the wonder obvious in her voice.

“A month or two, depending on the gender.” A sharp claw with talons gleaming in the firelight reached for the blonde, encircling her middle gently and the beast directed the Savior toward the fire and her previous position, the silent message clear. The Sheriff was not to come close to the eggs, under the threat of death, or at least serious disfigurement. It may be that they had something akin to alliance, but the beast did not trust the Savior with the future of the entire dragon race. The flustered blonde nodded, after she gulped in fear, the feeling of the monstrous killing tools still making her skin tingle, as she realized that the gentle hold on her had probably been the way how Guardian had transported her from the entrance deeper into the cave. “Now, to more pressing things.” The dragon placed itself at the entrance to the secret cavern and lied back down. “As soon as the blizzard stops, you will go to the West from here. There you will find a small camp with twelve or so people. Be careful they are not human, and it would be too soon to the Moon time to walk in the forest after dark.”

“Wolves are alive?” Ruby would be pleased to know, Emma noted to herself.

“Few of them, yes. Midas had hunted them almost to extinction, along with several other Royals. They only survived due to Queen Regina’s edict of protection of wolves within the borders of her kingdom.” Then Guardian looked at the Savior with amusement in the yellow eyes. “You are familiar with the Children of the Moon?”

“My friend is one of them.”

“Ah, yes, Red. She is quite famous, especially after the war with the Queen and the curse.” The dragon grumbled in a reminiscent way and scratched the front scales on its body with the upper left claw, the sharp talons making screeching sounds over the hard layers of dragon hide. But before the Savior could ask any more questions, the beast continued on with instructions. “The Wolves, as you call them, will not trust you or even be friendly to you. But, they hate Midas and his allies more, so if you present them the opportunity to fight back, they will accept it. Then you would need to leave the forest and go South East, to the shore. You will need to pass the plains of Midas’s kingdom, but at the very edge of it is a small, seemingly abandoned mine.”

“Seemingly?” Emma asked, listening carefully. Then she nodded as she understood. The dwarves would be in hiding and why not in a mine, a place they worked and were born in. “Never mind.”

“After you would have secured the help of the mine dwellers, you need to go to your friends.”

“How will I cross the great distances without magic?” For if her calculations were correct, she would need to pass more than a thousand leagues, and in several days, at that. Even horses would not be much of a help there. And, she did not suppose that her host was offering itself as a mode of transportation, nor did she had in mind to ask, for she wanted to remain very much alive, and the book on dragons she had read all those days ago had stated that the creatures of power and magic were immensely proud beings and did not cater to the whims of humans.

“Oh, you will be using magic. It is time to stop hiding.”

“But, I will be discovered,” the complaint came almost instantly but a mighty roar interrupted Emma from finishing the sentence as the beast launched from its place and pinned down the Savior, the talons digging in the soft pebbled ground, the blonde’s arms pinned underneath them, while the lower part of the Sheriff was pressed down by the gold covered belly of the creature, the weight only enough to keep her immobilized and not crushed. Surprised by the sudden attack Emma’s control of magic slipped and the white light escaped her hands, the power of it doing nothing to the magical being, as the grunt left her lips.

“Are you a coward, Savior?” the creature roared, the dangerous teeth snapping uncomfortably close to the terrified face of the blonde as she was almost suffocated by the putrid smell coming out of the creature’s mouth. Swallowing the bile rising up, Emma only managed to shake her head, afraid to speak. “Enchanted Forest needs a leader, a hero to lead them and bring them to victory. How can you do it from the shadows, Sheriff? How can you be the beacon of Good if you keep hiding in the darkness?”

“I made a promise,” the Savior spoke softly, her voice breaking as she whispered, her eyes linked with the yellow ones above her. “That I would stay alive and come home. I will not break that promise.”

“Even if your choice will condemn thousands to gruesome deaths?”

Emma blanched under the piercing gaze of the wise eyes, the full impact of the truth hitting her hard. No, she could not just stand aside and let the world burn just because she wanted to see Regina and Henry again. She would never forgive herself the deaths of her friends, the innocent people caught in the war, and she could not pay for her life with the blood of so many. As she did not speak, out of shame and guilt for even thinking about abandoning the good people of Enchanted Forest, the dragon sniffed at her, the forked tongue touching her forehead, before slowly moving away from her. The creature did not add ‘ _I thought so_ ’ out loud but the loud scoff and shaking of the giant head portrayed the point quite well. Emma closed her eyes in defeat and sighed, feeling her eyes tear up at the violent storm of feelings brewing inside her. The need to run and disappear was harder than ever. _Let someone else deal with this_ , a voice screamed in her head. _Let others figure this out. Let others die for this cause, you’ve done enough_. But, her conscience and stubbornness kept her in place. If she ran, then she was neither the person her son loved, nor the person that had Regina fallen in love with. If she ran, she would betray her entire family, her friends and the innocents of Enchanted Forest. _It has to be me_ , she spoke firmly to herself in the recesses of her mind. _I_ _am the Savior, the chosen one to do this. And, anyway, someone else may get it wrong._

“You are right.” The Savior’s voice was still shaking but the firm edge of conviction could be heard in it, as the blonde rose slowly to her feet, dusting off the dust from her clothes.

“Are you prepared to lay down your life for the cause?” the dragon asked softly, as much as it could. Seeing Emma nod, albeit with some hesitation, the creature showed its teeth, and the Savior was surprised to think of it as a tender smile on the beast’s face. “Your willingness to live is not a weakness, Sheriff. It will help you plenty in the future, preventing you from acting foolhardy and recklessly.” The wise words reached the blonde and they gave her a measure of peace, however small, as she bowed her head in comprehension. “And, do not fear the magic, as you will be taught something that will aid you in your fight. Call it a contribution of the dragon clan.”

“You will teach me?” Before she managed to prevent herself from bursting out the question, Emma’s lips spoke, the surprise of such a statement obvious. But the dragon only chuckled in response and murmured something that Emma could not quite catch. The next thing she felt was a soft pulsing in the air passing over her, the slight shimmer visible as the magic became tangible. At the motion of the claw the Sheriff understood that she was to sit down, closer to the beast this time and without any doubt or hesitation, the blonde crossed the cave toward the golden creature and lowered herself right in front of her apparently new teacher.

“Before we actually start, you need to learn about the magic and for that you will need to understand the dragons. But, first, just listen.” Guardian watched the Savior and noted the respectful expectation of the story, as the woman sat in the Indian seat, her knees serving as support for her elbows. “Long time ago, before humans walked the land, five creatures were created out of the ancient magic that some called the True magic as it was the most powerful of all. First there were the dragons, made to scour the skies, protectors of the heights. Then the unicorns came, to roam the lands as keepers of the forests. Next came the fairies, guardians of the innocents. Yaoguai came next, the creatures of fire, bent on destruction and devastation, presenting the balance in its form. The fifth creature however did not materialize as others did. It couldn’t because it was not of the physical world but of more subtle nature and it didn’t show until much later. No, it waited for a suitable moment, hidden in legends and in the hearts of lovers. Now, you can guess what the fifth creature was?”

“True Love,” Emma whispered with awe, following the story with ease.

“True Love. As it was the most powerful of all things created out of the True Magic, the nature found a way to stop its procreation, and it was bound to appear only when two people loved each other in such deep way to accept the other fully, without reservation, their connection binding them for eternity as their souls, hearts and minds became intertwined in such ways that often the lovers could communicate through just a look or touch, no spoken word needed. As for the rest, each creature created each line of the magical beings, able to pass on the remnants of true magic to the next generation in different ways. Dragons and unicorns were born of their parents, fairies were created out of the magical dust that was suffused in the lines running deep in the earth, and Yaoguai reproduced by splitting, the mother becoming two daughters that grew on and split next, the cycle of birth continuing. And as long as the five representatives of the True Magic lived on, the balance was kept and the future of the entire land was safe.

In these times, the dragons flew freely, exploring the world, enjoying their gifts, furthering their knowledge stored in their own blood. Through their search for the discoveries, they learned of the Mind Speech, the ability that only the more powerful clan chiefs had, the ability to communicate with someone through connecting their minds, as the thoughts became one. The most powerful dragons could impose Mind Speech on others without the ability, or even by force, especially on the weaker species such as humans and animals. Later, it was discovered that all the powerful individuals of True Magic had this ability, but it was appearing most often in dragons. Along with Mind Speech, the dragons discovered the abilities to manipulate their inherent magic, projecting it outwards.

But the times changed and this became the world of humans, while the other creatures had to fight to remain in it, more often choosing seclusion than outright conflict with humans. Some appealed to them, presenting as the paragons of Good earning their place as guardians of the weak, listening to the wishes of children and lost people. Others were elevated to the sacred beings, often admired from afar, but more than enough times hunted for the inherent magic in their horns and hair. Some were viciously brought to the brink of extermination because of fear they inspired. However, dragons chose to fight, laying waste to the settlements that were brought up on their feeding grounds, destroying their food supply and poisoning the water with their filth. In retaliation the protectors of the skies rained fire from above, trying to teach humans a lesson, the lesson that not many learned. But, soon armies and heroes were dispatched to deal with the pesky little problem of the lizards occupying their space, successful in their wars, decimating the clans, one after one, for the glory and honor.” The dragon’s last words were spoken in such a scathing manner that Emma felt a cold shiver running down her spine. It wasn’t like she could not empathize with her host. The history of her own world provided many examples of the same atrocities committed in the name of progress and glory. Holocaust and the Trail of Tears were only some of the black marks in the history of Land Without Magic. Saying nothing, she watched the creature settle down before continuing on. “One of the last of the dragons was killed by your own father, at the will of King Midas.”

The Savior froze, connecting the dots from stories she had heard from Snow, David and Henry as they had depicted the heroic acts of Prince Charming to the history that Guardian was telling her. Suddenly she saw the other side of the stories, questioning everything, just as she had with Regina and her history, not relying on the public opinions of the Evil Queen. Opening her mouth, she tried to find her voice, to say something, anything, that would make up for the past, but she couldn’t think of anything.

“Just as well. My son was driven mad by the loss of his entire family, sinking into the dark rage of revenge, losing his reason and control. Death was a mercy compared to his life.” Guardian said absently, shaking its head in memory of a wild dragon.

“Your son?” The information made Emma’s heart clench.

“I bore him, I watched over him and now I mourn him, as I stand here as the last of my kind.”

“Last?” Emma jumped to her feet, her hands gesturing wildly. “But the eggs…”

“They will not hatch in the world of darkness. I will not allow it.” The determined mother and Guardian of her kind stood in front of Emma, firm and unmoving, uncompromising on the future of her entire race. And the blonde understood her completely. And, there was a reason why Guardian was helping her, because Emma was her last hope that her kind would survive.

Emma passed her fingers through her hair she had released from the bun several hours before, in frustration borne of expectations laid on her shoulders. Then in a moment of pure suicidal whim she turned toward the gold covered beast and spoke. “I killed a dragon too.” After she spoke, she understood why she had done it. Something in the tale didn’t add up.

“There was no dragon left to kill, Savior.” The dragon answered kindly, not believing that the woman did do as she said. She did kill something she considered a dragon, but after her son, only Guardian had remained. “Unless you count that wretched impostor leaching on our magic as one of the dragons. If you did kill Maleficent, then all the glory to you.” The light tone brought Emma back to her previous position as she watched the beast look at her with amusement. Her silence was the prompt for the dragon to continue on with the story telling. “There is something that is very important for you to learn, Savior. Something that must guide you in your quests. Creatures of True Magic are neither essentially Good nor Evil. We just are. The choices that we make paint us not our origins. The Fairies decreed their own code, claiming to be on the side of the Good. However, somehow Dragons and Yaoguai are casted as Evil without much explanation. Beware of prejudices, Savior. Do not let them sway your judgment.”

After Emma took the warning to her heart, the beast continued telling the blonde of the magic of the dragons and their discoveries, teaching her how to use her own as well in more advanced manner because Emma was indeed one of the Five borne of True Magic, and by Guardian’s telling she would be the most powerful one as her creation defied the natural laws of balance, as the magic had never been intended to transfer to the second generation. But, in the times of need and danger, the nature itself ignored the laws, creating the means of keeping the order. And in this case it meant Emma, as the only sorceress borne of True Love. The Savior grasped that the dragon was teaching her intricacies and levels of magic that not even Rumplestiltskin knew, or even had been aware of and applying herself fully to the workings, she learned quickly. And, even her own learning had been explained by the dragon as Guardian told her that the magic was making everything easier on its host, and that it was a little known aspect of True Magic, because it insured the beings borne of it to survive longer. Simply put, things she was shown once she mastered in minutes.

Hours after hours, Emma learned, making breaks only to eat and relieve herself, Guardian proving to be an excellent instructor in magic. It was then that the Savior learned the origin of her truth detecting super power, and supposedly all pure blooded True Magic creatures had it. Then, the beast urged the blonde to work on her forms with the sword in order to keep her body practiced as well as her mind and magic. As Emma went through the moves, the dragon continued teaching, forcing the Sheriff to divide her attention, often asking her question that the answers needed to be deeply thought out by the blonde. Only when it seemed that two whole days had passed, Emma stepped up to the mouth of the cave, surprised to see the snow still falling, in dense flurries making it impossible to see two feet forward. But, the Savior noticed the slowness of the snow falling, making her investigate the magic surrounding her. As Guardian had taught her only hours before, she delved into the spell, learning its details and goals, chuckling when she realized that this particular magic invocation slowed the time passing, the two days in the cave being only a half a day in the outside world. Just as well, Emma considered, as she had a lot more things to learn from the mysterious mother.

On the morning of her departure, Emma shared the last meal with her host, sitting in silence as she watched into the fire, lost to her musings, the incredible amount of new things she had learned swirling around in her mind. She had no doubt that it would help her in her fight. As the time for leaving grew near, the blonde rose from her seat and walked toward the beast that in days she had spent in the cave learned to call a friend. “It is time we part,” she spoke solemnly, 

reaching up with her ungloved hand, the sensitive fingers gently touching the scales covering the forehead of the dragon, as she looked into the yellow eye focused on her. “It has been an honor, Guardian. I hope I do not disappoint you.”

“Stay true to your heart and you will not,” the dragon spoke warmly, feeling hope for her clan’s survival for the first time in a long while. Then Guardian watched the Savior pick her things up, and walk out of the cave, setting out to her journey proud and mighty. And, as soon as the Sheriff cleared the mouth of the cave, her scent disappeared, replaced by the slight tinge of her magic, teleporting away to her next destination. Closing her eyes, the dragon whispered softly “Good luck, Sheriff,” before turning toward the eggs in her care, hoping that her tutoring of the hero would be enough to ensure victory.

Following the instructions, Emma appeared close to the camp of the Wolves, not coming too close as she did not want to give the wrong impression to the hunted species. Making noise with her steps on purpose she directed herself to the most open approach to the forest keep, keeping her gloved hands in front of her, her palms outward as she walked through the snow, the crunch of the frosted white powder heard in the silence of the forest. After several minutes, she noticed that she had picked up a trail, several people from her quarry closing in from behind as she walked to the village. As she knew from Red, the Wolves in the village probably already could hear her. So she continued on, steadily, not moving her hands as she smiled to the escort that grew larger. Guardian had warned her that humans from the plains hunted the Wolves and one appearing in their midst would be received with mistrust and animosity.

“Children of the Moon, I come bearing you no ill will, humbly asking for your help!” Emma spoke when she reached the outskirts of the village, not entering it for it could be misconstrued as an attack and with the beginning of the Moon Time the Wolves were bound to feel edgy. With an errant thought about Ruby passing through her mind, as Emma missed her friend, she watched a large, fur covered man walk out of the village and stalk toward her, looking at her with scorn and danger written all over his gruff face. In the distance, the man reminded Emma of Graham, but the Wolf leader was bulkier and taller than the previous Sheriff of Storybrooke.

“Not many humans venture here, stranger.” The man spoke in deep tones, his voice carrying in the distance, as he crossed his arms in front of him, his muscles bulging under the furs that did nothing to hide his masculine magnificence. “And those that do, do not survive meeting Guardian,” he added after he sniffed the air around her in an exaggerated move, his proclamation causing a stir among his people, his blue eyes glaring with renewed animosity as he reached for his knife at his side. Not taking it at face value, Emma smiled, knowing that the Wolves were the ones to supply the dragon with food as Guardian would not leave the eggs unattended. So it was fear and concern that fueled them.

“Not many humans can boast with being the Savior,” Emma replied with a cheeky smile.

“The White child,” the leader spoke again, seemingly relaxed but his eyes remained cautious, following her every movement, as understanding dawned in him – the dragon was alive, as it was the only one who could have provided the directions to the Savior.

“I prefer Swan. Emma Swan.”

“You broke the curse.” The confirmation was not needed for that statement so Emma remained quiet as something troubled the leader as he considered his choices, wanting to ask something but reluctant to. Finally, he straightened and with stiffness in his posture he opened his mouth. “The Queen?” he asked softly, a worried look passing through his eyes.

“Live and well,” Emma answered with a soft smile appearing on her face, lightning up her eyes as well. The man in front of her did not miss the glimmer of affection on the Savior’s face and that more than anything else put him at ease with the woman before him. Raising his hand he made a motion that told everyone around them to stand down.

“Glad to hear that,” the man spoke softly and offered his hand to the blonde. “My name is Liam.”

Emma accepted his forearm, gripping it in the way Ruby showed her, forearm to forearm as it was the way between warriors in Enchanted Forest, and silently followed the man into the village. She looked around and saw that indeed there weren’t many of the Wolves left. She had learned that the last of the species was in this village, excluding Red and Granny, and by the looks of it there were only around a hundred of them, the fifth of them children. Everywhere around her were the haunted faces of people that faced persecution every day of their lives, this war threatening to destroy what was left of the kind.

With a touch she stopped the leader in the middle of the village, her face showing the turmoil she was feeling. Liam turned toward her in question, catching her shaking her head. “I cannot,” she murmured, and stepped back, ready to turn away and displace herself with her magic, but a strong grip on her upper arm stopped her in mid step. Swiping her head toward the gruff man, she saw his determination to keep her there.

“This is our fight too,” he said firmly but in a soft tone. “Yes, we are few but we want to fight for our freedom. Don’t leave us behind.” She lifted her palm to his and looked around the village one more time.

“I cannot ask you to sacrifice yourself as you are already too few.”

“You are not asking, we decide our own destiny.” Destiny. Yes, that was the word that made Emma hear him properly. Yes, they did have the right to decide the course of their own kind, and she was not the one to stand in their way. And if they wanted to help her in the war, it was their choice. With a heavy heart, as she looked at the playing children, she nodded before she looked at Liam. Noting the grimness in the tightness around his eyes and a firm set of his mouth, she knew that they had been expecting her, the workings of Guardian no doubt. Looking at the poor village she sighed making another snap decision, her instinct telling her that it was the right one. She gestured to the leader to assemble those that would join the fighting as she would need them to move as soon as possible.

As she left them to it, one of the children took her to the main hut of the village, telling the Savior that she needed to greet the elder. Agreeing, she allowed the child, a youngling of five years, to pull her inside a well heated fur covered shack. Let to the hearth in the middle, Emma sat before the raised chair farthest from the entrance, inclining her head toward the elderly woman sitting in it.

“Ah, child, you seem too young,” the woman spoke in a whizzing tone, her age betrayed by the shortness of breath and the white spawning off her head. “But your eyes have seen many evils, haven’t they?” Emma’s only reply was a confirming smile. Both Regina and Snow had mentioned that she had eyes of an old soul, eyes that had seen too much, the shadow deep in them betraying her youthful appearance that she still had despite having reached the thirtieth mark.

After several seconds, Emma almost gasped when she recognized the woman, the errant memory from Regina’s past telling her that this matriarch was Althea, the great grandmother of the leader, Liam, and that she had been saved by the Queen Regina herself all those years ago, on the road leaving George’s kingdom. The old woman had been travelling with her son, his grandchildren and his daughter on foot, trying to escape the kingdom before the soldiers came inquiring about their sudden disappearances around the full Moons. But they had picked a bad day to travel as the whole garrison in pursuit of Prince Charming had happened upon them, immediately demanding to know who they were. If not for Regina’s interference, the soldiers would have slaughtered them as they had learned of their nature as the woman’s son refused to bow down to the uniformed ruffians in George’s employ, earning a spear in his chest for the trouble. Emma’s True Love had demanded the soldiers to leave the travelers be, her own knights escorting them to the borders of her kingdom after she had healed Angus, the son.

The old woman seemed to know that Emma had realized something, her dark eyes focusing onto the Savior’s face, but before she could ask Liam entered the hut summoning the Sheriff, telling her that they were ready to live. Leaving the man to say his goodbyes to his elder, Emma touched the woman’s forearm, and with the skills she had learned from Guardian, she sent out her memory of Regina in Storybrooke, with Henry, as they had sat together at Granny’s, talking over Regina’s famous lasagna at the welcome back party. As Emma’s emotions colored the memory, Regina seemed breathtaking and her smile she had bestowed onto her son glowed stronger. At the startled gasp from the woman, and a squeeze of gratitude on her forearm Emma concluded that her gift was appreciated. So, she left the hut and walked into the middle of the village seeing about fifty ready Wolves.

As they had no weapons to speak of apart from bows and some hand crafted spears, Emma understood that the most they had was the hunt gear, but their hard life had forced them to learn handling other weapons, and her previous decision was justified. As she waited for Liam to join them, she opened herself to the magic within her, pooling it inside her, as she was about to try another trick she had learned from her newest teacher. Not knowing what amount of energy was enough for her next move, she drew much more than she estimated that it was needed just to be on the safe side. When she saw the leader join them, she gestured to him to stand beside her.

“As we have no time to lose, I will transport us beyond the mountain. Does anyone have a problem with that?”

As it was some of the people would have complained about it if not for Liam’s hard stare that forced naysayers to keep quiet and fall in line. Not willing to embarrass or undermine the Wolf hierarchy, Emma kept quiet, gesturing the people to circle her as she closed her eyes, listening to the grumbled instructions forever imprinted on her mind, as she activated the magic, careful to envelop every one of the fighting group with the weave of her power, starting the displacement spell, accommodating for the enormous number of people it needed to transport. With a murmured warning, she initiated the power surge and in a blink of an eye they were gone, the usual residue of magic absent due to Guardian’s teachings of obscuring the traces of magic, which meant no bluish white mist and no magical flares for anyone watching.

A second later the group appeared in the courtyard of the Queen’s Palace, near the armories. As people turned around, watching in awe at the preserved castle from the inside, Liam stepped beside the Savior, noticing her pallor and shaky knees, and with a hand on her further hip he let her lean against him as he looked at her with surprise and wonder.

“I thought that transportation of more than a few people was equal to suicide,” he murmured softly as he watched Emma visibly collect herself. Several seconds later she patted his shoulder and pulling away, she smiled at him with a wink in her eye.

“It is.”

“But…”

“Obviously this never happened, Liam. First, no one would believe you, and secondly, no one should even know of such power.” Then Emma stepped away, noticing that the others had already found the open armories and had already begun checking the stock, proving her point that bringing them there was the right decision. “And, here, people believe I am dead. I would like to remain so, for a little while. Can you enforce that with your people?” Liam nodded with absolute certainty and complete authority, making Emma smile in satisfaction. “Alright, rest for a bit and gather supplies before I let you out.” She looked up to the midday sky, pleased with her progress, before she split and went inside, rushing toward the Queen’s Chambers, yearning for a bath, feeling like she was caked in her own sweat and grime of her travels, never presented with the right opportunity to wash herself properly. Using her magic to lock the door, she enabled the hot water to fill the sunken pool, and as she waited, she walked over to the map of Enchanted Forest, removing her clothes piece by piece. It was strange considering it out of the warrior’s perspective. In her youth, she used to think that it was her against the world, but she never had thought that that might one day become the truth. In all fairness, it wasn’t like she was fighting the whole world, but the fate of one was on her shoulders.

Having finally removed all the clothes she slid in the hot water, sighing in pleasure as the tingle of blistering warmth enveloped her. Sinking to the bottom of the pool she went through her freed hair and rubbed her skin hard with the soft sponge that had waited for her at the edge of the water, where she had left it the last time along with some soaps and oils. After she was satisfied with the result of the dip, she vanished the water, wrapping herself in a huge towel as she sat beside the roaring fire, letting the blazing flame to dry her hair as she opened her notebook and started writing down everything that had happened since the mountain top, penning down the reactions she had about the unicorn and the dragon, keeping the format of the journal – as she was talking with Regina herself. Using the trick of slowing time, she used the time to go over everything, chronicling each part. Then, after she finished with her memoirs, she walked toward the bed, seeing several books beside it, some of them were books of poetry, similar to the one she had entrusted to Rumplestiltskin. Picking the most promising one, she dressed and repacked, tying up her hair in a loose ponytail, not willing to deal with the complicated and severe bun that was giving her headaches after a while. Reattaching her weaponry she unlocked the magic of the quarters, striding out purposefully, the bat of her booted feet reverberating through the abandoned halls of the castle.

With the last of the knives sliding into the sheath at her waist, she walked out in the yard, her poise commanding and unchallenged. As soon as she left the building, her eyes fell on Liam who was directing others to form up, having heard her coming. After two hours of rest and suitable armament, the rag tag band of shifters looked more like the fierce fighters that they were than the poor displaced hunters. Each man and woman of the group carried knives and bows, not willing to burden themselves with heavier weapons. Emma watched the Wolves gather round, taking each face, memorizing it for later, so she wouldn’t mistake them in the struggle. There were four lieutenants in the group, all answering directly to Liam, as he was the clan leader, and with a bit of snooping she learned their names, keeping quiet about it, as she wanted the effect of surprise and omniscience to follow her.

At last, Liam approached her with two others, the top lieutenants she surmised, two powerful women, one dirty blonde, the other brunette, both having their hair put in small braids decorated with black leather twines. Roma and Callie, the Savior had learned during her previous muster of the Wolves. As the three shifters came close to her, Emma directed them to the watch post on the wall away from others. While they hurried to climb up, the Sheriff directly transported herself up, not willing to race with the Wolves who were faster and stronger, and leaned against the breast high wall, looking out at the white covered forest, remembering what it used to look like in the fall, as she had walked through it with Regina.

“Savior,” Liam spoke softly as he walked up to her, the two women right beside him.

“The population of Safe Haven has been moved to the Charming’s Palace. I believe you know the place,” Emma spoke glancing toward the leader pointedly, before she looked away, her eyes focusing on something in the distance. “There you will look for a friend of mine, a Wolf named Ruby. Here she is known as Red.”

“Red Riding Hood is your friend?” the blonde, Callie, spoke in surprise before Liam silenced her with a clack of his tongue. Emma looked at the woman, reminded how her friends and family were somewhat of legends in these parts, and the mild amusement as well as annoyance rose up in her, almost making her say something flippant like  _ : Yeah, and the Evil Queen is my True Love _ , but now was not the time.

“She is my godmother, actually.” Oh, well, it couldn’t be helped. With a light chuckle, the Sheriff turned toward the others, her elbows on the wall behind her and sighed, before she continued on with her instructions. “You are not to speak of me, telling her only that you have a mutual acquaintance. But, before you reach the castle, you will need to hunt, as the castle is low on food and they need to be able to endure the most likely siege. Venison, mutton, rodents for all I care, but there must be meat.”

When Liam nodded in assent, Emma went on waving toward the sky. “Tonight is the first night of the Wolf Moon if my calculation is correct.” Another nod from the Wolves confirmed it for her. “And you will run tonight?”

“Yes, we are much faster in the other form and it will take us but a night and day, if we hunt on the way,” Liam answered in his gruff voice, pride in his tribe’s prowess evident. “Your Wolf, will she be running?” he asked gently, his countenance careful as he did not want to offend his newly appointed leader, for the Savior was indeed the leader of the forces of Light and Good.

“I suppose she likes running…” Then she thought of something. “If you happen upon her during the Moon, she would probably be accompanied by the woman warrior of the Empire,” Emma warned the shifters, her tone hard enough to deliver her order of not harming the woman. The deep blue eyes of the tall man glinted with understanding and there was no need for additional confirmation that her words would be heeded. With a small gesture of her hand, she dismissed the women, needing a word with Liam alone. After assenting nod from their direct superior, the women left the wall, joining the others in the courtyard. “Can you carry things with you?”

Liam crossed his arms in front of him, watching the blonde Savior that only reached his shoulders. “Aye, we mastered the magic of transformation. That what is on us shifts as well as our clothes. It is a useful skill to have, especially if we travel under the Moon.”

“Indeed,” Emma sighed before raising her hand that had been empty only moments ago, a metal flask, large as her hand with a swan on water engraved on one side that she had created seconds ago, but using the dragon magic she had summoned the ingredients inside. “I need this delivered to Belle. She will know what to do with it.”

“Belle?” Liam asked, taking the flask with care, it seemed heavier than it should have been as he placed it in a pocket of his fur cloak.

“You will find out who she is soon enough.” Then the Savior turned away with a heavy sigh, seeming tired, even though she had grabbed a few hours of sleep in Guardian’s cavern. The shifter leader suddenly saw a vulnerable side to the blonde hero, quite surprised that the woman would allow herself such luxury in front of strangers. But, also, he could feel the power streaming in her, the amount of it lying dormant in the woman making him on edge, even more than the regular full Moon anxiousness. Never before had he felt such power, and he had been around Guardian and other powerful beings, sorceresses and witches, the Queen one of them. He knew without a doubt that the hero in front of him was not to be pushed or tested, or even questioned, and that she was able to assert her authority with a simple glance or scoff, although she did seem somewhat mellow. One of his Wolves had asked him in the village why they should follow someone who was weak without the magic to help her, and he only cuffed the insolent pup, his own authority enough to cull the dissent. But, he had a feeling that they would need more show than just his orders because the pups around him did not see the innate strength and power in the woman before him, and he sensed that Swan was aware of the fact, for she was now looking at him, her eyes scrutiny his face, waiting for him to make a decision. There was a knowing glint deep in the green, and he bowed his head, understanding that she had heard and felt the doubt among his people. It was a shame for him as a leader that he could not command their complete loyalty. Suddenly warm leather was on the gruff beard covering his cheek, lifting his head. He looked and saw the Savior holding her hand on his face, absolving smirk on her lips. “It is a time of fear and doubt,” Emma spoke softly, her words sounding wise and forgiving. “I will prove to them that I can find my own way without magic, Liam.” And even before she finished speaking, she was gone, the wind carrying her last words as she displaced herself down in the yard.

Indeed, she had heard the dissent among the shifters and it was only a matter of time before Liam would need to fight to establish control over his people. The often outburst of questioning demands and inquiries, as well as doubting looks directed her way only spoke for the fact that she would have to earn their respect before sending them away to fight her battles.  _ If only we did this before my bath _ , she remarked wryly to herself as she took off her cloak, her move drawing the attention of the crowd. Next came her weapons that she had put on not an hour before. “It has been brought to my attention that you do not feel that I am capable enough to demand your loyalty,” she spoke clearly as she took off her belt and baldric leaving all her things on a convenient bench beside the wall. “Now, I am offering you to challenge me.”

“You have magic,” one of the people yelled back, a man in his early twenties, just leaving the puberty, his overconfidence obvious from afar. As the people around him grumbled in agreement, Emma only smiled.

“Yes, I have magic. But, I promise not to use it during this match. I give you my word as Savior.”

“And we are supposed to just trust you?” the man said crossing his arms in defiance.

“Kenneth!” Liam growled from behind the Sheriff in warning, but the man could not be deterred. “I may have a solution,” he offered quietly as he waved Roma forward to bring something. The brunette placed an upper arm bracelet made of white and yellow gold with runes written over it into his hands. He offered it with respect to the Savior who smiled in recognition.

“The suppression cuff,” she said softly, as she took the intricate detailed piece examining it with her covered fingers.

“It is said that it would suppress any form of magic, not just that of a Wolf,” Liam volunteered as he watched the people in the yard settle down, agreeing to the compromise. Then he blinked when Emma hummed in amusement before she placed it on her arm, feeling the binding effects of it instantly. It was similar to the suppressive chains Pan had used on her and Rumplestiltskin in Neverland, and she wasn’t about to bring up how that particular piece of magic had fared.

As Kenneth seemed pleased with her compliance, Emma directed her eyes toward others. “Weapons?” she asked simply.

“No, hand to hand,” Kenneth spoke pushing to the front, taking off his leather jacket, showing off his impressive washboard abs. The blonde boy had close cropped hair and hard hazel eyes that tried to pin her but she only smiled at him, satisfied that such a move made him bristle. Agreeing to a hand to hand match, she walked to him and carelessly placed her hands on her hips, smirking at him daring him to strike first.

And attack first he did, lounging at her, hoping that the brute force was enough to defeat her but his attempt proved fruitless as she moved out of his reach making him rush beside her, not even managing to graze her. Rubes had taught her the essentials of the fight with a werewolf and she was using it now, using agility and speed over strength. With an angry growl, Kenneth stalked her and directed a roundhouse kick to her head which she simply ducked, again stepping outside of his reach. Move after move, she avoided contact making the pup tire out and grouse more and more. “Fight back, damn it, this isn’t a dance!” he yelled at her after another near miss.

“No?” she asked impishly, crossing her arms. “And here I thought it was strange there was no music…” The poke was directed to piss off and it did do its job, the youngling roaring in frustration and jumping to her, unleashing a fury of kicks upon the Savior that Emma deflected successfully, the sounds of blows reverberating off the stone walls. Growing bored of the show, the Savior quickly ended the fight by throwing down the man and knocking him out with three surprisingly fast moves. Walking away from him, she dusted off her hands and looked over the others. “Any more volunteers?”

Some of Kenneth’s friends jumped in but before Liam could interfere she allowed all three of them to come at her, dealing with them in short order, one after the other ending on the hard ground near unconsciousness, not using a drop of her magic, her experience with the forms Mulan had thought her along with Regina’s fighting tips serving her well. Then for the sake of posterity, she challenged Liam’s lieutenants to fight her all together at once. After all they were the best of the best and victory over them would silence any disparaging comments of her prowess in fight, but she knew that was not the true measure of leadership, but the young pups had not yet learned that, but she had a feeling that the firsts of the tribe did know that particular lesson, and with a warning look she dissuaded them from throwing in the fight they were likely to surrender. She would win this fair and square.

And she did win, the poetry of her motions awing the people watching her, the whispers of admiration and respect going through the crowd as they dissected every action and reaction, every block, swipe and duck was followed with a surprised exclamation or wild cheering. However, each new maneuver was executed in a more and more brutal and malicious way, with the goal to not only repel and disable the attackers but to hurt them just for the pain. Not five minutes passed before Emma was the only one left standing, her posture stiff and cold as she dusted off her clothes, her expression marred with a satisfied gloating smirk that covered her face like an unfitting mask. Then she found Kenneth in the crowd, sitting on the ground held up by his fellow and taking off the suppression cuff she walked toward him. “Have I earned your loyalty?” she asked loudly, her voice brimming with terror inducing quality, the question not only for the boy but for the entire group as her eyes pierced the pup on the ground with such a cold and menacing glare. The loud cheer greeted her, unanimous and boisterous confirming her status as the leader, while the boy was watching her with apparent fear in his eyes because he had noticed her eyes flashing with the pale magic.

Throwing the gold jewelry to Liam, not even looking to see if he caught it, she crouched before the boy and extended her glowing hand, grabbing him by the throat. The weird thing was, no one moved to help him or to protest in her treatment of him. She realized that the Leader of the pack – and she having beaten most of the greatest fighters the group had certainly qualified – had absolute authority and punishment for disobedience and disrespect was at her discretion and if she decided to kill him on the spot, no one would challenge her or stand in her way. Repulsed by such blind compliance she clenched her jaw and pulled the man in her clutch to his feet, her hand sending a burst of healing magic into him, repairing the damage she had done unto him. As soon as she was finished she released him, watching him fall onto his knees and stepped away, not liking the disgruntled looks she was getting from the people, disappointed that she hadn’t killed the man in front of them. As her cold eyes passed over the crowd, she saw that not many were brave enough to meet her look. Actually none of them were, especially those who had expected her to slake their desire for blood shed. Scowling at them she scoffed in disdain and turned away, needing to move from them, disgusted.

“Nice group of savages you have here,” she groused at the chief as she passed by him, the sarcasm dripping off her in spades, and for the first time since he had become aware of himself, he was ashamed of his kinsmen, for he had noticed the bloodthirsty looks as well. Then, Emma grabbed his arm, and a jolting pulse of power forced him down on his knees, her anger flaring up. It wasn’t that she lost control, but she had a point to prove. “If I hear about any of your charges bothering the villagers without proper and reasonable provocation, I will flay all of you alive.” The iciness of her threat and the firmness of her voice was heard all over the courtyard even though she did not speak louder than a whisper, making the man in front of her shudder in fear, along with every other living being in the castle.

Getting a terrified nod in return, she scoffed again and waved towards the gates, making them open, the heavy wood and steel creek and clang in the movement, interrupting the stunned silence. The gesture was clear, they were to leave and not wanting to infuriate the Savior even more, one by one, the Wolves picked up their satchels and weapons and left, while Liam stayed behind for some reason, waiting on her to say or do something else.

Closing her eyes Emma sighed, closing herself from the magic, feeling the edginess abate a bit, taking off the sharp tension of her anger. After a moment of clearing her mind, she knew why she was particularly – well, evil, at that moment. The magic of the cuff was doused in blood magic, the blackest form of sorcery, the form even Regina enacted only in great need, as the price for it was too terrible. Also, the cuff had been suffused with samples of Wolves magic, with each generation of bearers leaving something of them in it. As it was too soon to the Moon nights, the magic itself was vibrant with violence and ferociousness of many Wolves. Ordinarily, it should not affect her but her own magic was nothing conventional and as such it was able to and did interact with the cuff, the viciousness of it clouding her ability to control herself. She still felt the vile taste in her mouth of the dark vestiges of the suppression spell and it made her stomach roll as she swallowed hard. With a flick of her wrist, a bottle appeared in her hand and dealing quickly with the cork she chugged down a large portion of the beverage, the tangy taste of wine masking the pungent scent of magic.

She walked toward the table that held her things and leaned on it, fearing that if she hadn’t she would have collapsed on the ground. Doing her best to hide the tremor in her hands she focused on Liam. “Get rid of it,” she spoke, her eyes directed at the gold in his hand.

“It’s a family heirloom!” the man complained weakly, his hand clenching around the object, as he directed his eyes at the pale Savior.

“It is a monstrosity.” Emma did not shout or even demand. She spoke evenly, the truth of her statement more poignant and he understood that her unexpected behavior toward him was a direct consequence of the cuff. “It’s brimming with evil, Liam. And every time one of you uses it, it gets stronger.” She looked up at him, her eyes finally showing some traces of warmth. “This isn’t the way.” Good god, she sounded just like her mother in that moment, the imploring tone of her voice and softness of her gaze included! Shaking her head at herself, she saw Liam nod in surrender offering her the bracelet back. But she only waved her hand, creating a small wooden box, not unlike those Regina had used to make for hearts, and opening it, she indicated to Liam to place the object inside.  At her insistent look, the Wolf leader lowered the cuff into the chest, his face betraying how painful it was for him to pass on this piece of family history. With the loud click, Emma closed the box and magicked it away, removing the temptation of snatching it back. Then she summoned a gaudy piece of jewelry out of the royal treasury, quickly transforming into a similar type of cuff, only now the gold bracelet had an inlaid swan surrounded by the edges reminiscent of a shape of a heart. Having infused it with the suppression spell of her own, Emma offered it to the man in return. “I hope this can serve you well.”

The man accepted it with a small bow and placing it on his upper arm immediately, he turned toward the gates, looking at his people waiting for him. Then he glanced back at the blonde, inclining his head in greeting before he stepped away, walking toward his band. He did not say anything but his eyes had promised allegiance to the sorceress in the castle the moment he accepted her gift.

As soon as he left the grounds of the castle, the gates closed with the ominous thud, the shimmer of magic flowing over them, sealing them to all but the Savior. Liam looked back one last time before lengthening his stride to catch up with his lieutenants. When he reached them he quietly but firmly relayed his orders, making sure that everyone knew not to talk about Emma Swan. Every once in a while he would reach up and touch the cuff on his arm, thinking about the woman who had given it to him, as he had realized that she somehow had known that he was well aware where King George’s castle was, giving him no other directive. The Savior sometimes had looked at him as if she had known him, reading his emotions better than most of his kinsmen. Also, the satisfied and happy, but surprised look that lit his nana’s face was a sight he had not seen since his father had died some years before. However, the village elder had refused to share with him what had made her smile in such a way, telling him only that the young woman had been the chosen one, the leader, and that he had owed her the utmost respect and fidelity. And, he could admit now, after many doubts and reluctance he had had since the blonde had shown up in their patch of the forest that the Savior was indeed someone he could, and most certainly would, follow, even though he hadn’t known her for long.

Directing his wolves onward, Liam devised a travel plan as well as one for hunting. After a brief consultation with his lieutenants, he took his position at the front, starting a long and difficult trek toward the Charming’s Castle.

Emma, on the other hand, decided to stay in the castle for a bit longer. Still rattled from the encounter with the blood magic of the shackle, she wanted to remain in a place that gave a barely there sense of security, hidden under all the memories and feelings the castle invoked in her. The quiet moment of perhaps not peace but relative content did a lot to settle her down and help her regroup. Although she did not show it as much with Liam, the dark power of the cuff and the subsequent effect on her had done much to disturb her, as she was unused to such feelings from her own body. Yes, her memories provided the examples as she had Regina’s history in her head, but to actually do something dark like that and with not much of a control over it… It shook her composure, and it shook it hard. She knew the warnings both Regina and Rumplestiltskin had been sprouting, about seductiveness of the dark side, but to actually feel that power and its pull – it was daunting and yet exhilarating. And the abilities she had developed under Guardian’s training only allowed her easier access to such type of magic. But, the encounter with the blood magic of the cuff had its benefits. No longer would Emma be surprised and unprepared to deal with such kind of power, helping her not to stray and seduced by the easy attraction of the dark magic.

With slow steps, Emma walked toward her favorite part of the Palace, the garden, using the time to plan her next move. She remembered the dragon’s instructions well, but she had been feeling the urge to join her friends and every moment that she spent away only made the incessant feeling that something was wrong grow further. But she had promised Guardian that she would ask the dwarves to join her, and that promise she would fulfill.

As she reached the slopes of the garden, she walked to the shoot of the apple tree in the circled stone wall. Looking at the small sprout of greenery, protected from the elements with her magic, Emma summoned her things, the memories of her vivid dream doing much to settle her down and prepare her for the next step of her quest. And, then with a last look at the symbol, in Emma’s mind, of Regina’s new life and the love they had, the Savior blinked out of existence, leaving the dark palace void of people once more, the sudden hum of protective wards falling over the place.

Following the directions she had received from her True Magic tutor, the Sheriff appeared in a small ante-cavern of a fairy dust mine, prepared to meet the rambunctious crowd of dwarves, upset for disturbing their peace and home. Or at least distrust and contempt, as the mine workers probably desired to be left alone. But, she honestly expected that with some convincing and talking, she would be able to gain their trust and get their support. After all, how hard was it, as her mother had the unwavering trust of the seven dwarves? Perhaps, the blood connection to Snow White would garner her much needed negotiation points.

But that was not that welcomed Emma as the magic of her transportation finished her displacement. No, it was the silence that greeted her, filled with barely there sounds of labored breathing echoing deeper in the mines. However, that wasn’t the reason the Savior felt the hair on her neck stand up, and her instinct flared up, making her draw the long knives out of the scabbards at her waist. Nor was it the way the entrance doors were barely hanging on their hinges, the scorch and force marks marring the surface of intricate carvings of the ancient wood. It was the scent, so vile and revolting, that caused alarm for the Savior. The deep, pervasive rancid scent of blood, cloying the air with unexpected yet sickening sweetness. And with it the scent of decay of the flesh, not yet in the advanced stages, but present enough to announce the grim truth. It was the smell of mass slaughter, Emma knew from many memories of deeds of the Evil Queen. Emma herself had not been awake for the aftermath of the Neverland fighting.

With caution, Emma walked slowly toward the entrance of the large hall of the mine, careful not to make a sound with her boots on the gravel and stone, her eyes and ears trained to catch any movement. After she had reached the high decorated door, she peeked inside, slowly shifting her weight forward, ready to jump back at the first sign of movement or trouble, expecting to see gore and horror inside, and already preparing herself for the worst. But, even with all the preparation she had done a double take at the scene before her.

The first thing she saw was the permeating crimson and rust of the blood painting every visible surface of the hall. But then she started to recognize the shapes, the gruesomeness of the sight making her already unsteady stomach to roll. There were bodies and bodies, haphazardly lying in all that blood, most of them torn apart, the limbs thrown aside, each new body part adding to the horror of the scene. There were dozens and dozens of bodies among the ruins of a former hall, Emma realized, and quite possibly more. But, when the Sheriff approached the closest of the victims, skipping over the overturned table and broken silverware, she noticed the traces of magical burns on the corpse as well. As she walked through the large hall, her eyes glancing over the carnage, she looked for survivors, as she also scouted the place, the relatively short training she had received from Graham about entering the premises of a crime kicking in, as well as her honed instincts to never leave herself exposed, the situation forcing her to turn off her emotions lest they overwhelm her. She knew that the images of this slaughter would join so many others in the library of her nightmares, but for the moment she would be in control and helpful, trying to deal with this catastrophe, leaving the emotional consequences for later.

Suddenly, she heard a rustle from the front part of the large hall and rushing off to investigate, Emma saw that one body part of many was moving, the leg covered in blood, and other things the blonde refused to think about, for it would certainly make her lose what little of composure she had left, was shaking. Quickly, Emma put away her burden, banishing it to the anteroom, as she knelt down, digging into the pile, moving away the obviously dead, in order to get to apparently the only one dwarf that had lived through the massacre. Finally clearing the body, Emma quickly activated her magic, the healing power enveloping the grievously injured victim, using her hand to wipe the blood of the dwarf’s face.

“Please,” she heard a soft murmur coming from her patient. “Mercy.” But, before Emma could ask questions or even make him open his eyes, the dwarf passed out, welcoming the mercy of the unconsciousness, the healing complete.

At least one of them survived, Emma considered, as she sat down, not even thinking about her clothes or the sticky liquid covering the floor. Her hope sparked with this solitary success, Emma focused her magic, trying to find more survivors by detecting their life force, another trick the dragon had taught her. At first, she did not expect to have any success, but soon she was pleased to see that there were people who lived through the massacre. After an indeterminate amount of time, the Savior managed to find more alive dwarves, all injured and barely hanging on to the world of the living, but alive nonetheless, fourteen in total. Moving them into the anteroom, Emma created a small infirmary there to accommodate them as she left them to the restorative sleep after using her magic to heal them, while she entered the hall once more, using her magic one more time, to vanish the blood and to order the bodies in rows, giving them at least some dignity in their death. Not willing to proceed to the burial before consulting one of the survivors for the funeral rites, Emma placed the stasis spell over them, bowing her head in respect, devastated by the sheer number of bodies lying on the ground. Then, she passed into a small but well-worn stone passage, the obvious traces of wooden door still existing in the ruble beside it, as she lighted a small lantern beside the entrance she walked deeper into the cavern, knowing that the path would lead her to the mines and the dust mill, hidden deep underground.

With nothing but the quiet bat of her steps and the clanking of her weapons as a company, Emma went on into the darkness, the lantern in her hand casting pale light onto the abandoned tunnel, before she emerged into the cavern holding the huge grinding stone and the mill for the fairy dust, not yet seeing the full scope of the area with the barely there light in her hand. After a soft murmur she allowed her magic to manifest as several shining orbs flying off her and circling the room, giving Emma more than enough light to gasp at the destruction before her eyes. The huge mill was lying down in shambles, most of its wooden parts burnt to cinders and the large circular stones broken into many pieces, while the bones of the structure rocked precariously, waiting for the smallest shift in the ground to come tumbling down. Farther beyond the mill were the empty shafts and passages of the mines, abandoned for the meal time, the signs of unfinished work everywhere around, from pickaxes lining the walls to the carts half filled with useless rocks. But, there were no more bodies lying around, and Emma surmised that everyone had been to the front when the attack occurred.

She did not even try to make sense of it, returning to the infirmary, checking on her new charges. Her gut was telling her that this was related to her mission but before one of the living victims was awake, she would not have her answers, and it was quite possible and more than highly probable that she would not have them even then.

Sighing in defeat and exhaustion, Emma walked to a small corner of the anterior room she had set aside for herself when she had summoned the infirmary, setting down. Having discarded the grime covered clothes, magicking them clean again and folding them beside her, the Savior, dressed only in her turtleneck, mail and underpants, took the book of poetry she had brought from the castle, trying to push back the horror of the carnage by the beauty and whimsical rhythm of the written word and intricate use of metaphors and other lyrical expressions, slowly letting her body regain the access to her emotions. It had been a trick she had learned when she had been a child, and had used it much in her life as a bail bonds person, separating her emotions from her actions, putting them away for later. It had been useful in her past when she had needed to act without being overwhelmed with horror or disgust or other similar strong emotion, enabling her to do what needed to be done. But, later, the reconnection would always be something hard and devastating, and she would often be drinking, allowing herself to sink into the haze of oblivion, blunting the sharp edges of the emotions swirling in her.

But, now, she did not have such luxury, for it was not neither the time nor the place to get drunk or to even drop her guard for a moment, so she endured the biting and unforgiving turmoil of her sorrow and fury, mixed with disgust and horror of the slaughter, in silence, hoping in vain that it would not haunt her too much. Forcibly focusing on the printed words of her book under the purposefully weak light of her magic, she read the poetry, whispering softly the words to her chin – feeling the serenity of the rhymes soothe the pain inflicted on her soul, but not enough to make it all disappear.

For hours, she sat there, reading, being a sentry for the fallen and a watcher of the injured, waiting for someone to wake up. And even though she had not slept for a long time, having lost count due to Guardian’s time spell, the Savior did not escape into the refuge of the dreams, alert and present. While she passed the time, the Sheriff considered the people she had sent toward the villagers of Safe Haven. It was after all the first night of the Wolf Moon and she had sent several dozens of Children of the Moon to her father’s palace in aid to the people under the leadership of Aurora and Phillip. Hopefully, Ruby would know what to do with them, Emma reckoned, as she turned the page, the rustling of old and musty paper loud in the quiet of the hall.

“Ser Knight?” a voice broke the silence in a soft murmur, making Emma snap her head toward the sound. Quickly, she rose, dropping the book beside her things before she walked toward the pallet in quick strides. “Oh, forgive me, my Lady,” the dwarf now spoke, having seen Emma’s features in the weak light. He tried to rise, his face immediately scrunching in pain and tiredness, before gentle hands pushed him back on the pallet.

“It is still too early for you to be up,” the blonde said gently as she knelt beside the makeshift bed, looking into the still hazy eyes of a chubby dwarf, the green of them offsetting the ginger scruff around his head and face. He seemed young, in Emma’s opinion, but she knew not to be deceived by appearances, for unless he had hatched in the year after breaking the curse, he was quite possibly older than her, because the dwarves of the realm are hatched already matured and ready for work. “I healed you but you will feel the aftereffects for a while, I am afraid. Can you tell me what happened here?”

“Healed me?” the dwarf said, his eyes widening in amazement. “Not many sorceresses pay attention to us, my Lady.” When Emma only shrugged in response, her gesture seeming both indifferent and sheepish at the same time, the emerald eyes focused onto the spring greens and a hand reached up, still shaking in exhaustion. Sheriff quickly caught it and held it on her own, waiting for her patient to speak, as he was want to. “A witch came demanding our dust, but when one of my brothers denied her, she unleashed her monsters on us as she used her magic against us, moving us aside before she entered the mines.”

“What did she look like?” Emma asked, containing her need to find out everything immediately, stopping herself from witnessing the attack by looking through the memories of the weakened dwarf beside her. Green, she heard him murmur before he sank back into unconsciousness.

“Her hair was red, and skin green,” another voice broke the silence. Emma turned toward it and saw her first patient leaning on his elbow as he watched her with curiosity in his eyes. “A very powerful witch. And she had her monsters, the flying and screeching creatures with their talons and jagged teeth sharp and devastating.” The dark haired dwarf watched his mysterious benefactor move toward him, adjusting his position to keep her in his sights. “She took everything.” Even though he was volunteering the information, Emma could sense suspicion in him, not blaming him in the least, not with what he had gone through. “Who are you?”

“Emma Swan. Some call me the White Knight, or the Savior…” Emma spoke already knowing the reaction that would most likely pass over his face, along with the expression of reverence and whatever else, the same one she had met times and times before.

“The Savior,” the dwarf shouted in his surprise, rousing his brothers. “How can we serve you, Savior?”

Emma gritted her teeth at the title, closing her eyes to escape the reverence that enveloped the room she was in as the others conscious dwarves started offering their thanks and awed looks, making her highly uncomfortable. “Brothers,” she heard from her side. “Brothers, quiet and let the Knight speak.” She turned toward the speaker and saw an old and frail dwarf that reminded so much of Doc that she almost called him by the name, but when the elder turned toward her, she felt the lump in her throat sink deeper into her belly, as she was hit with the differences and still fresh wounds on his face. It was not Doc and the ghastly cut from his forehead to the chin gave him even more startling look. “Your Highness,” the dwarf addressed her gently, inclining his head not able to bow in his pallet. Emma knelt beside him to ease the strain on his neck, her hand easing him down, as she shook her head.

“None of that,” she whispered, but her voice spread through the rocky cavern. “No titles or salutations. My name is Emma Swan.” The edge of something hard in her gentling green eyes made the obvious leader of this dwarf group nod in silence, his acceptance a guide for others. “I need information,” she continued slowly, as her eyes circled the room taking in the faces of dwarves looking at her. But a rough hand touched her palm drawing her attention to the chief beside her, the unexpected skin to skin graze making her narrow her eyes, as she contained the flinch that the touch caused in her. Quickly, the dwarf removed his hand, his eyes apologetic as he realized that the Savior was not used to touch.

“Knight Swan,” he said, making Emma roll her eyes in exasperation, but at least he hadn’t called her Savior or Princess. With a smirk on her lips, she allowed it, prompting him to continue, as she moved slightly away, leaning against the rough wall of the cavern. “The murmurs we heard speak of an alliance between the witch and King Midas, and the pirates of the Endless Seas. But, one of our brothers discovered that she is the mastermind behind the alliance, and that she is the one who forced Ogres and Trolls to plague the Enchanted Forest. Word is that she is more powerful than the Queen, and much more destructive.” He looked at the blonde listening to him, her eyes focused somewhere in the distance, shifting only when he had mentioned the villain that had cursed them all. But, instead of expected hardening of the Savior’s features and anger, or something along those lines, the tired face before him softened for a second, a lovely shape of smile fleetingly touching the lips before disappearing under the unfeeling mask of the warrior. “But, just before she stormed our halls, we’ve gotten a message that what is left of the Empire has aligned with her.”

“Damn it,” Emma murmured into her chin, knowing that the warriors of the Empire were among the fiercest in the whole of the Enchanted Forest, and that the army of them before the walls of her birthplace would most definitely make Mulan falter. And the rag tag group of defenders would not be able to endure under their attack for more than days. She was out of time, perpetually on a rushing clock, chasing after new enemies. It seemed that she never had time. But, a tingle of memory came to her, shaking her out of the resentment. “What of Agrabah?”

“No one heard of them after the curse had been broken, but the whispers say that the jinn and genies that survived Jafar’s persecution shrouded it in a magical barrier shielding it from outsiders.” The dwarf that spoke rose from his pallet and stretched his formerly injured shoulder. “They were always suspicious and avoidant of the affairs of the Enchanted Forest, but the relations sharpened when one of the Genies killed King Leopold on the Queen’s orders.” The dwarf scoffed at the words he spoke. “They would rather watch us exterminate among ourselves than help.”

“Tell me more of the witch,” the blonde turned toward the dwarf next to her.

“Nothing more to tell. Except her magic was green as well, and the creatures that she used in the attack vied for her attention.”

“Yeah,” another voice joined in. “She called one of them ‘my pretty’…”

“My pretty?” Emma repeated, something of the phrase familiar to her, her instinct niggling her to remember but the meaning of it escaping her. “Well, then fellows, I should be on my way.”

“Your Highness,” one of the young dwarves called after her, freezing after he realized how he had addressed her. “I mean, Lady Swan…” But the sharp glinting look of the green hard eyes made him swallow hard. “Er, Emma Swan…” he mumbled into his chin, cowering before the stalking woman that approached him, the black of her clothes making her seem as a dangerous cat ready to pounce on a blundering mouse. “C-could you f-fix the, the, mill?” the youngling managed to force out, despite the pallor of his skin and the shaking.

Emma passed right beside him and continued into the dining hall, throwing a dark but teasing “Sure,” over her shoulder as she allowed her magic to rise once more. A small patter of feet following her she did not mind as she would probably need directions to fix the large construction. Glancing beside her she was surprised to see the offending dwarf trailing after her, courageous enough to brave her company. “What is your name?” she asked gently, trying to ease his discomfort, as he carefully avoided looking at the arranged bodies in the hall.

“Cheeky, Emma Swan,” the youngling whispered, his eyes directed toward his feet as he worried his hands.

“Indeed,” the blonde spoke, smiling at the dwarf guiding him toward the mill, as she placed her hand on his shoulder in a light gesture of consolation. “I am sorry about your brothers.”

“You saved us. We are grateful. But, too many had died.” The short sentences portrayed the true sorrow the young dwarf was feeling and resentment toward the situation that had led him to lose so many of his family. But also, Emma saw a flicker of defiance rise in the youngling, making her heart squeeze in gentle affection toward him. The flex of his shoulders and prideful stance reminded her so much of her own son that she had to smile. Finally they reached the sculpture and the short statured man yelped in sorrow at the ruin. “Fix it, please.” Emma nodded and the magic flew out of her, weaving an intricate web of power over the destroyed mill, slowly putting it back together, and erasing all of the traces of devastation laid on the huge tool.

Suddenly, as she was finished, Emma felt her knee buckling, bringing her down hitting the stone surface hard and her hands flew in front of her bracing her from falling further. A burning sensation spread through her body following her own blood, singing her flesh bringing tears to her eyes. Magic. It was a magical warning that she was overusing her own body to host so much magic in it, without proper preparation and time allowing her form to get used to such power streaming through it. She knew that it had been only a matter of time that happened, since she hadn’t slept since the first hours in the dragon cave, and since then she had been manipulating extreme forms of magic, forcing herself to trudge on without rest, without pause and it was only so much her body could endure without complaining. And magic was not the answer for everything. She could not only heal herself and continue on without rest.

“Savior,” she heard the chief calling her after the pain dissipated. Only then she felt hands on her back guiding her down on the ground. “Savior, can you hear me?”

“Told you not to call me that,” she spoke softly, shaking off the stupor that had engulfed her. Shaking off the helping hands she jumped to her feet moving away from the group. Glancing toward the mill, she saw that it was finished, standing there as it had been before, its former look restored. With the satisfied nod, she stalked out of the hall, directing herself toward the anterior room, avoiding the cluster of dwarves relishing in restoration of their main livelihood. She needed to get out, even though her body screamed for a moment of rest. But she didn’t have time. And every moment she wasted, someone was dying. Reaching her things, she threw them on her quickly, not bothering with proper alignment of weapons and her bag before she directed herself toward the exit. But in that moment the floating orbs that provided the light for the room extinguished suddenly, leaving her and others in pitch darkness. She froze, feeling the beginning of the panic laden fear creep over her nerves.

_ No, no, I refuse to give in _ , she shouted in her mind, steeling herself against her own fear. She did acknowledge it but summoning the memories of her True Love and the children and the rest of her family to shroud her against the darkness swallowing her, she kept the fear at bay. Breathing deeply, she waited for someone to light a lantern or something, knowing that another use of her magic, so soon, would push her into unconsciousness.

“Knight Swan,” the chief addressed her gently when the torches were lit. He had seen what the woman had done in the short time she had been with them and, judging by the tired lines on her face, she had been keeping the tempo for several days, and if anything he knew about magic, it was that it always demanded a price. And the girl before him was paying it dearly, if the haunted look in her eyes said anything. He had heard the stories of the Savior child sent away to escape the curse. He also had heard of the young woman travelling the land with her mother, the former White Princess, looking for a way home to her own child. They might be isolated but the whispers of the winds of the Enchanted Forest reached them just fine. The Savior remained behind, sending away her family, a noble but unknown cause pushing her into this war. “Knight Swan, you need a rest.” Before, he would never dare to tell someone of the Royal blood what to do, or what they need, but this woman, this child deep in the clutches of Destiny and Fate seemed lost. She did seem like the avenging and righteous knight, but the tired lines of her face, the troubled look in her shadowed green eyes and the strained sharpness of her posture spoke of bone deep weariness.

Emma knew he was right. So she nodded almost imperceptibly and taking off her gear, she accepted one of the pallets as her place of rest. Using her cloak as a cover, she curled upon herself and closed her eyes, ignoring the worried glances thrown in her direction. The old dwarf left one of the burning torches close to the full pallet, knowing it would provide enough light and heat for the Savior to feel at least somewhat safe to sleep. And with it, he turned around, gesturing to his brothers to vacate, as they needed to deal with their fallen brothers and the mill. Also, they needed to find something to eat.

Sinking into the vestiges of her mind, Emma held the image of her family firmly affixed before her mind’s eye, hoping it would help against the nightmares that were sure to descend on her the very second she lost consciousness. But, as she felt her limbs get heavier and loose she surrendered to the torment that surely awaited her, knowing that she needed rest, no matter the price. 


	12. Chapter 12

As the sound of the heavy gate closing behind them pierced the evening air, the two women stood for a moment regarding the road in front of them. The warrior woman checked her weapons before stepping forward onto the paved way leading into the forest. She ignored the chuckle of her companion as she directed herself to the first outcrop of the wilderness of the woods before them. Regardless of the fallen night the warrior could see the shapes on the forest floor well enough to avoid tripping on the various roots and low branches of the bushes. Mulan knew the necessity that forced her companion into the wilderness that night, as well as she knew that the young and cheerful woman did not need protection in the forest. Not that night. Not during the Wolf Moon.

“You can still go back, you know,” a soft whisper reached her ears, the understanding note in it making the warrior shake her head.

“I told you, I am staying with you tonight.” The firm voice of the armored woman brook no dissent from the other one, the clear need to stay close by displayed in the hard edge of the words. A light comfortable and companionable silence fell on them as they walked away from the castle deeper into the wooded area.

“Thank you,” Ruby spoke after a while, as she gripped the covered forearm of her friend, squeezing it in appreciation. She didn’t need to explain it further as the warrior knew very well what it meant to her. In the past few days they had grown closer, working together on many issues arising in the castle, afterwards talking to the early hours of the morning, sharing stories and many drinks beside the hearths in their quarters. The Wolf dared to think that the often silent woman in her company knew her just as much as Snow once had, if not more. And she could claim with certainty that the warrior smiled and laughed more in her company, showing a rather charming side to the Child of the Moon in absence of others around.

Mulan only hummed in response, as the words were not needed. She looked at the woman beside her, the lines of the face she knew by heart hidden in the darkness of the night but the eyes were glinting in the dim forest air, the allusion to the beast hiding underneath clear. Lifting her leather covered palm she reached for her friend, her responding squeeze instilling acceptance in the still somewhat unsure werewolf. The warrior knew that Ruby was afraid to change before her friend because in her mind the visual of her turning into a beast would put off even the bravest souls from wanting to be near her. But, Mulan needed to prove her wrong.

“We are far enough,” Ruby spoke softly, looking around, satisfied that she could not neither hear nor smell the people of the Castle, as she reached for the clasp of her cloak. “Are you sure about this?” the young woman turned toward her friend. Mulan walked into Ruby’s personal space and taking off her glove, she reached for the soft cheek before her, forcing their eyes to meet, the glint in the shifter’s eyes visible even in the darkness of the night.

“You have nothing to fear from me,” the warrior spoke gently and assuring, enjoying the feel of a somewhat chilled cheek in her hand, as her thumb glided over the soft skin. The Wolf leaned into the touch closing her eyes, reveling in the warm puffs of air over her face, but before the warrior could lean it, the moment so precious and right for something she had wanted to do for days now, Mulan saw the change of color in the irises, the deep blue turning yellow. Understanding that the Moon would rise any moment now, the Empire woman unclasped the cloak and took it off, folding it gently over her hand, knowing how valuable and irreplaceable it was to the other woman, pushing down the regret of not having more time. “Enjoy your run, and if you need me I am close by.” With those words, Mulan stepped away, and it seemed it was just in time.

The Moon appeared in the clear night sky, the full circle of it lighting up the vast darkness, outshining the stars, and when its rays fell onto the earth, the woman in front of the warrior was gone, and in her place stood a majestic wolf, its dark fur the same color of Ruby’s hair, sitting on its haunches and watching Mulan with curious and fretful eyes. The warrior saw the expectancy in the yellow eyes as well as the presence of intelligent sentience, and smiling she knelt before the forest beast, slowly outstretching her hand toward the muzzle of her friend, allowing the wolf to smell her. After the skin on her palm was met with the wet tongue Mulan reached for the dark brown fur, her hand passing through its softness, her every touch and move telling of acceptance of Ruby and her other form. Still kneeling, Mulan enveloped the animal into a gentle hug, allowing her hands to sink into the fur as she leaned her head onto the beast’s neck, feeling the splendid power of the Wolf beneath her.

“Go now. Have fun.” Mulan murmured, sending the Wolf away, and laughed when the hunter animal barked in delight jumping away and starting to run, howling in the distance, circling around the warrior happily. Following the agile body skipping through the shadows, Mulan walked deeper into the forest, prepared to spend the entire night listening to the wolf’s sounds, a gentle smile not leaving her face as she thought back to the joyful skip in Red’s jumps, glad that she was accepted completely.

In the early hours of the morning Mulan jumped away from the tree trunk she had leaned on to rest for a bit. It was the persistent howling that woke her from unplanned doze, the chilling sound tearing the night silence, and it sounded like the whole pack of wolves. Not only that, it sounded like there were many animals panicking in the forest, too many that it was out of the ordinary. Shaking off her tiredness, Mulan pulled out her sword and directed herself toward the sounds, knowing that in minutes Ruby would join her, if the wolf was still awake. There was not a chance that the Wolf would miss this commotion, no matter how far away she might be.

The first thing that Mulan saw was a group of panicking harts, shaking and making pitiful noise, their prongs posed in attack positions, corralled by four wolves who only stood around, not moving to attack, but not allowing them to disband. The strange behavior of the forest animals only served to intrigue Mulan further, as she saw another group, this time of hinds, farther away, guarded the same way. But, before she could move away she heard growling behind her, the telltale jaw clicking making the hairs on her skin stand on its end. Turning slowly around she saw a whole pack surrounding her, surprised by the sheer number of wolves around her, and she lowered her weapon as she recognized the cognizant glint in the eyes of the closest wolves. They were all Werewolves!

“We mean you no harm,” a man spoke from the shadows, suddenly appearing in the small clearing close by, his empty hands in front of him in a gesture of peace. “Please, sheath your sword, you are putting them on edge.” The man continued as he stepped in the light of the Moon, still keeping his hands away from his body, not willing to provoke the warrior further.

It did not matter anyway, Mulan thought as she took the blade into her scabbard. There were too many of them anyways. “Who are you?”

“A friend with the shared cause and an acquaintance in common,” the man answered solemnly. When he saw the warrior frown he smiled offering his arm. “Liam.”

At that moment a sharp growl reached them, sounding from somewhere behind them, getting closer, as the wolves stepped away making way for one of them who snarled at every one beast it passed with bared teeth and dangerous glint in the sentient eyes.

“It seems that your friend found us at last,” Liam remarked with interest watching the famous Wolf approach him and the warrior, snapping at his tribe. As soon as Red joined them, Mulan covered her with the cloak and in an instant the woman stood before them, the change in appearances not diminishing the danger that emanated from the shifter at all.

“Who the hell are you?” The woman snarled at the newcomers, unused to such numbers of wolves in one place. Even Anita’s hideout had not held such numbers.

“Liam, chief of my tribe. I was sent here to help you, Red.” The man moved slightly to let his upper arm come into view.

“Sent?” Ruby repeated after him, coming closer to him, the glint of gold catching her eye in the waning Moon light. Reaching for his upper arm she saw the impression on the cuff and smiled at what it meant. “Is she well?” she asked, still looking at the swan impressed into the arm band, feeling the familiar tingle of her friend’s magic.

At the words that left her friend’s mouth Mulan relaxed her stance, understanding that the Savior herself had sent the Wolves to help them, and she did not doubt Ruby’s assessment, knowing that the Wolf wouldn’t just accept his word for it, or even something shown to her without proper confirmation.

“Terrifying, I must admit. But, she is kind, as well. I have sworn my fealty to her and her first demand was to help you and bring you food.” He opened his arms and gestured to the deer a smile playing around his lips. He chuckled at the surprised looks the women shared, communicating silently for a moment, before Red nodded, winking at the other woman.

“Chase them toward the Palace while the Moon is still out. We still have a half an hour left.” Ruby quickly understood the situation and commandeered it. “I’ll alert the guards.” And with a quick move she disrobed and even before Mulan managed to catch the red velvet of her cloak, the Wolf was already on her way.

“You know the way?” the warrior asked and when she received the nod, she turned to follow her friend, the wolves already howling and chasing the herd toward the gates of the castle. It was ingenious really for the wolves to bring them the living food, because if the meat was prepared properly right after the kill nothing would be wasted, and they didn’t need to carry the carcasses around, burdening themselves unnecessarily. So she ran, Liam joining her quickly, staying with her despite that he was most definitely much faster. The others were advancing, leaving them behind and howling, their blood curling sounds pushing the deer onward toward their goal.

Ruby reached the gate after ten minutes of breakneck speed run through the forest, knowing that she did not have much time to waste. At her sight the guards opened the gates, having been given the warning that if Ruby showed alone in her wolf form something had happened. Quickly, one of the guards alerted the Royals and the other members of the council, as the others prepared for anything.

But, it was clear that when the deer herd stormed down the paved road of the Castle several minutes later, neither the guards, nor the council members expected it. Rushing out of the way of the manic and panicked animals, and climbing the walls, the people watched the stampede with interest and fear. But what made them scream in terror was the entire pack of wolves behind the terrified animals preventing them from escaping, lining up before the entrance and the closest walls, keeping the herd in place.

However, before anyone could start firing the bolts into the predators the Moon set and instantly there were people instead of the Wolves, still preventing the deer from escaping the confines of the courtyard. Ruby walked in, in her human form and ordered the guards to lower their weapons and help with rounding the animals up. Prince Phillip strode toward the shifter, his sword in his hand, as he wanted the explanation for the commotion so early in the morning. But before he could reach her, with avoiding the prongs, hooves and ropes strewn across the yard, further corralling the wild animals, another reached for the Wolf. He immediately recognized his loyal friend, followed by another man that looked like those shifters suddenly crowding the Palace.

By the time he reached Red, Aurora managed to be right beside him, grasping his arm, offering support and silent strength to deal with the new and surprising situation.

“Your Highness,” Mulan spoke, her eyes enveloping both of her friends in her look, still breathing shallow after the forced run. “This is Liam, chief of the shifters.” Not explaining further in words, she only pointed toward the cuff on the shifter’s arm, and the shape of a swan visible under the light of torches on it cleared things up for the Royals, understanding enough not to ask more questions in the open. Nodding at the revelation, the prince stepped forward the man, extending his arm toward the guest that was immediately clasped in the strong grip.

“You are welcome to join us, Liam,” Phillip graciously offered, knowing that Emma had already welcomed the Wolves into their midst. “You will be given quarters and food as soon as this is dealt with.” Gesturing toward the herd, he smiled at the outrageous picture, made more unbelievable with the light of torches and lanterns.

After an hour of diligent and somewhat ingenious craftsmanship, several pens were built and the herd was dealt with. Aurora, taking the role of a hostess, assigned the newcomers the rooms, close to the back gate of the castle, allowing them easier return from the run, as she was aware that they had two more nights of the Wolf Moon. And as soon as it was done, the shifters retired, having been running for the whole day and night. Following their example, Ruby and Mulan retired, pleased with the actual confirmation that their friend had survived the fire at the Col.

Phillip updated Belle and Rumplestiltskin afterwards, using the protected halls of the War room to inform them who their guests actually were, as he had spent several minutes conversing with the gruff man that was the leader of the pack, and as other members of the council settled down, he asked them to calculate how long the new source of food would keep them in the case of a siege.

After several hours of dealing with new arrangements and the repercussions of the awe inspiring show of that morning, Phillip felt a gentle hand on his shoulder, drawing his attention from the plans and maps on the large circular table. He looked up and saw Belle standing there, watching him with concerned eyes. Then, he realized that he was alone in the War room, beside the gentle friend by his side. “You didn’t respond to my calls,” Belle spoke softly, pulling out the chair beside the prince. “Is something wrong? I mean, other than the usual.”

Phillip looked back to the maps and sighed, leaning his elbows on the table. “I have never waged a war before. I only fought against Maleficent and her minions, not the armies and kings… And, these people look to me to direct them as if I know everything there is to know about it.” Pushing away from the table, he started pacing toward the windows of the room and back to the seated woman. “What if I fail? What if I am the reason this war is lost?”

“Well, it seems to me that you are forgetting one quite important fact, my dear friend.” Belle rose from her chair and walked toward the slightly bewildered man, frozen in the middle of his stride. She could almost see the petulant pout on his lips as he was gripped in self-doubt and insecurity. “There is the reason why monarchs have the War Council, Phillip. To advise and help in these times. And, Phillip, you are luckier than you can imagine for this particular council has the former Dark One, Red, Mulan and the most experienced Black Knight in it. If anyone knows something about fighting and wars, it’s them.” Clasping his forearm, Belle smiled at him and turned away, ready to leave, but changing her mind at the last moment, hanging by the door as she looked toward her friend. “And, do not forget our Sheriff. With her on our side, how can we lose?” Smirking, Belle winked and ducked out of the room, greeting the guard stationed in front of it.

The thoughts that troubled Phillip were not confined to him only, Belle remarked to herself as she lightly stepped toward the main hall of the Castle. Many of the villagers shared his doubts knowing that Midas’s soldiers, hard and trained warriors, could devastate them in the matter of minutes if they were to meet them in the open field. And, that fear permeated every facet of their lives, making the preparations seem frantic and desperate, as even people seemed on the edge of panic. She and the others did all they could to ease their worries, but the knowledgeable woman understood that the expectation of the all-out war was too hard to ignore or diminish, even for the sake of the villagers’ peace of mind. They had lost hope when they had heard of Emma’s apparent demise, and that blow to the moral was not overcome, nor would it be until the White Knight showed herself to the people.

It was close to lunch time and the young librarian knew that her friend would soon be up, and she wanted to talk to Ruby about their new additions to the Castle inhabitants, missing their little talks. Things had changed since they moved and settled down in the Palace, their assignments leading them to the opposite directions most of the time. She could not miss the ever growing closeness Ruby had with Mulan, often amused by the similarities both strong willed and independent women displayed. It seemed that her shifter friend had found a kindred spirit in the quiet warrior, and she could not begrudge that to her friend. Not when she knew that Red had some kind of infatuation for her, and to see it directed onto someone else, was a relief as she did not want to be the cause of Ruby’s heartbreak. The Wolf deserved happiness, just as much as anyone else, and coveting after someone bound by True Love would lead only into misery. Wryly Belle noticed that Mulan was in the same position with Aurora, her keen eyes not missing the tender looks and sad smiles. But, that had changed as Mulan’s countenance was changed since the move into this keep.

“Hey!” a familiar voice interrupted her musings as a body slumped right beside her on the bench. Belle smiled at the relaxed form beside her, looking over her friend who had appeared as if her thoughts had summoned her. “Did you know that we are having a venison stew for lunch? Apparently, the offering our friends brought us has the pantries almost overflowing with surplus.”

“Well, I would’ve assumed, as there was a whole herd of deer,” Belle commented as she watched her friend move her hair out of her face. “How are you? With this?”

“The pack, you mean? I don’t know, it’s still too fresh.” Ruby shrugged as she turned around, watching the people in the hall mill around. “But, it’s nice to actually see that I am not alone,” she murmured as she glanced toward her friend.

“Even if they hadn’t shown up, you wouldn’t be alone. Perhaps the only shifter among us, but never alone.” The firmness of Belle’s soft spoken voice was unmistakable, and the piercing gaze locked onto the deep blue ones, driving the point closer to home. “And, I would imagine that our battle hardened friend would have something to say about that,” she added softly, allowing a light mischievous edge to show in her voice, watching her friend blush at the mention of the warrior. Seeing the shy duck of her usually brazen and open friend’s head, Belle pressed on. “Oh, this I need to know. What did our friend do to make you blush so?” the librarian spoke softly, her head coming closer to the Wolf, aware that they weren’t exactly in the privacy of their quarters. At the direct question, Ruby looked away, but even though she tried she could not hide the pleased quirk of her lips. “Come on, share,” Belle insisted as she pushed her finger into the Wolf’s side making her squirm in her seat, giggling at the exasperated glance thrown her way.

“She almost kissed me,” Ruby said softly, not looking toward her friend. “And she hugged me, after I had changed.”

“Really?” Belle said, somewhat louder than before, causing Ruby to shush her immediately. “Sorry,” she added hastily as she grinned at her friend. “That is great,” she continued in a hushed whisper. “So, what do you plan to do about it? Maybe trap her in a closet and demand to finish what she started?”

“Belle!” Ruby said reproachfully as she shook her head at the image and heat that spread through her body as a result.

“What?” Belle tried to reply with all innocence needed to pull it off, but the smirk gave her out. “But, really, you must be quick about it. All the new company might give her the idea that you would rather have someone of your, well, kind, than her.” Indeed, the bookworm (nickname that Regina had coined a long time ago, and had used it with some gentle affection in the later days, after all had been said and forgiven, during their time in the village, when the Queen would let her Savior rest or enjoy quiet moments with her son) had seen the warrior glare at the shifters, especially those who had come to be close to Red in the early hours in the morning, wanting to hear all about the legendary Wolf friend of Snow White. The jealousy and irritation had been apparent in Mulan’s eyes, for Belle at least, who had learned to read people just as well as books. “Seriously, now, she needs to know where she stands.”

“You’re right,” Ruby spoke, her eyes catching the Empire woman strolling into the hall. “But, then, you always are,” she added with a smile and a gentle pat on the shoulder for her friend before she rose and directed herself toward her target.

Belle watched them converse, and chuckling loudly at the picture of Ruby pulling Mulan away to the first room off the main hall, barking at the people inside to leave them for a moment. Pleased with the results of her talk Belle smiled softly. But, that smile might have been due to the familiar tap of the cane on the stone floor coming close to her. Turning around, she raised herself from the bench and walked toward her True Love, leading him toward their quarters, aware that Rumplestiltskin had spent the entire morning on the walls and parapets, directing the defense of the Castle to the best of his ability.

They enjoyed a brief moment of quiet as they lounged near the fireplace, the heat from the flames doing wonders to Rumplestiltskin’s stiff leg. All those stairs were making his old injury flare up in most inopportune moments, the debilitating pain making it hard for him to walk. So, more often than not, Rumple would retire right after lunch because of the leg, and he would leave their rooms only for urgent summons, spending his afternoons by the fire or in the warm bath, drinking tea with pain easing properties. Oh, how much he would enjoy being back in Storybrooke. The world had painkillers, cars, and no so many stairs.

“What is on your mind, my darling Belle?” he asked, after she sighed into his chest, the sound not portraying content but worry. His hand went to the soft hair, stroking it in soothing manner as he waited for his loved one to answer, if she wished, to his inquiry.

“I was thinking about Emma,” the woman responded softly.

“Oh,” Rumple spoke gently. “What about the Savior is troubling you?”

“Well, that’s it. I wasn’t thinking about the Savior.” Belle lifted herself up, sitting beside the older man, careful of his leg as she towered over his chest. “I remembered Emma, as a kind Sheriff who would often stop by the library just to chat, to see how I was settling in. I was thinking about the sheriff that came by to check on me, after I ended in the hospital with no memory. The woman who taught me some moves if anything like the first attack from Hook happened again.” She looked toward the dark eyes focused on her, the silent prompt to go on apparent in them. “She was so much lighter and relaxed then. And, I am afraid, Rumple, that with all that she has been facing, that she would lose herself, especially if she is alone.” She shrugged and moved slightly away, her eyes focusing onto the fire beside them. “I fear that there would remain only the Savior, hard and unflinching warrior, and that my friend will be lost.”

Rumplestiltskin knew better than to disregard her fears, so shifting in his place, he reached for the woman’s shoulders, pulling her back into his hold, as he considered his words carefully. “There is always danger of that, dearie. Not only with her but with any of us. That the goal would become too important and that we would need to sacrifice everything, including ourselves to reach it.” He tenderly swiped his hand over her back, as his other hand reached for her chin, bringing her eyes up to his. “But as long as she, or any of us, has a friend that is willing to remind her of Emma, she will not be lost. Misplaced for a while, probably, but not lost.”

“You really think so?”

“I know so. I would indeed be worried about her, if she did not have such a large family adoring her, and friends that love her, and a True Love that could literally show her the memories of her life. I do not deny that she would probably need time to heal and adapt, but in the end, I think she will be fine.” He then looked at his beloved, knowing that he had to add this part as well. “But, she is the Savior. It is part of her, just as the Sheriff, or Emma is.”

After that passionate speech about the Savior, they let the silence to fall over them, Belle thinking about it, and Rumple feeling the drowsiness of the comfortable heat engulf him, particularly as he was in the arms of the woman who loved him beyond doubt.

A knock on their door interrupted the silence and startled them. Belle jumped to her feet, gesturing to the man to stay where he was, to spare his leg from further movement, as she walked to the door. Opening it she found herself face to face with the chief of the werewolf pack. “May I help you?” she asked, not perturbed at all to find him of all people in front of the quarters she shared with Rumplestiltskin.

“Are you Lady Belle?” the chief asked softly, mindful of his size, not willing to give any cause to the woman who everyone had told him shared True Love with the Dark One. He had seen the woman at the council but they hadn’t been introduced.

“Yes,” Belle replied, her face portraying interest, but she still did not move from the door, waiting for him to explain his purpose.

“I need to talk to you,” he spoke, his earnestness convincing the woman to let him in. She stepped aside, gesturing him in, as she opened the door wider. As he passed by her, she closed the door and guided him toward the sitting area where Rumple had already sat himself on one of the lounge chairs, moving from the fur covered floor beside the fireplace. “Sir,” the wolf chief inclined his head in greeting towards the man.

“What is this about?” Belle asked, gesturing to the man to take his seat, as she went to prepare another batch of tea.

“I was told to find you and to give you this,” the chief answered, quickly taking out a flask out of his fur clothes, the swan engraving visible on it. He surrendered it into the woman’s outstretched hand, waiting for any questions or orders the couple might bestow on him. He watched as Belle traced the shape of the swan with her finger, a gentle smile coming onto her lips, before she removed the stopper from the top of it. The instant she did so, a strong scent of currents, primroses and peppermint permeated the air, the interesting mixture seemingly having soothing properties. Quickly, Rumplestiltskin moved from his place and took the flask, putting the stopper back in place as he touched the engraved swan with reverence and awe.

“Do you know what this is?” Belle asked him, intrigued by his reaction.

He nodded, not moving his eyes from the flask as he made sure that it was securely corked. “It is Fìorleigheas, and it is a very old kind of potion that its origins and ways of preparing are long lost.” His reverent tone was soft and lost deeply in the memory of a time past. “It means a true cure, a magical tonic that was so powerful that one drop of it could cure any injury or illness, and even bring people from the brink of death. It is a holy grail of sorts.” Rumple looked at Belle, knowing that only she would be able to understand the reference. “But, it must be used with caution. Too much of it is lethal, so it must be used only in very dire circumstances.” Returning the flask to the woman, he closed her hands over it with his gentle direction. “She intended this for you, and you shall keep it.” Then he turned toward their guest. “What I want to know is where she happened to find this precious cure.”

“She gave it to me, in the flask just before I left the Queen’s Palace to come here.”

“Tell me and leave nothing of the story out, however small,” Rumplestiltskin ordered, his cane reinforcing his sharp demand. And, so, the Wolf nodded, starting his story with Emma’s appearance in the village, knowing that no one disobeyed the Dark One without consequences, and he had a feeling that the blonde woman wouldn’t mind him knowing the truth. He talked about her meeting the village elder and the old woman’s blessing; then he talked about her transporting them from the Infinite Forest into the Queen’s Palace. He lowered his eyes in shame at the next part, but he kept none of the details of the fighting and challenging to himself. Then he told them about the cuff and Emma’s disgust with it, and her solution. He sensed the amazement of the couple before him and only then he realized that the Savior that he had met and the one they had known were not the same. Yes, in both cases it was Emma, but the time apart, and probably her time with Guardian had changed the woman so much that the differences were noticeable, especially in her craftiness with magic and physical prowess. But, he had sworn an oath to keep the existence of Guardian secret, so he was not able to share that particular tidbit with the couple.

“She managed to move fifty people over hundreds of leagues?” Rumple spoke with surprise after Liam had finished with his report. “And she was able to detect blood magic?”

“And she was able to find this Feeor-Lay-Huss,” Belle looked at Rumplestiltskin for confirmation if she had pronounced the word correctly, pleased to receive his nod. “Did she say where she was going after you left her?”

“No, lady Belle,” Liam answered. “But, she did want to find as many allies as possible, if that is any help?”

“Thank you, Liam,” Belle answered diplomatically, neither confirming nor denying the helpfulness of the information. And, it was a dismissal as well, which he obeyed instantly, rising to his feet and with an incline of his head he left them alone, rushing out in a hurry.

“What is it?” Belle asked Rumple after she saw him walk toward the balcony, opening the door as if he needed the fresh air. Surprised to see that the evening was already upon them, she reached for her beloved, shuddering at the brisk coldness of the air.

“I have always known that she was to be one of the most powerful, if not the most powerful creature that ever lived, but to actually hear it, Belle… It is humbling to know that the Savior, who apparently has powers to move Earth and stars, calls us her friends.”

“Rumple, power isn’t everything.”

“Oh, I know that. And, she knows that. But, that is not what I am talking about.” Rumple turned toward his chosen and engulfed her into his arms, trying to keep her warm. “People shy away from such power, putting labels on the practitioners. And, Emma would most likely endure gossip and whispers for the rest of her life.” And, that amount of power only made it easier to fall into the grasp of darkness - he knew but was wise enough to keep it quiet. If the Savior was to turn dark no one would be able to stop her, not even her Queen.

“Where do you think she’s gone next?” Belle asked, leaning into the hold of her man.

“From Regina’s castle? I don’t know.” He had prided himself in knowing motivations of people and his ability to predict the next moves, but the blonde woman had a tendency to make all his predictions and expectations wrong.

He brought them in, closing the terrace door as he watched at the ever growing darkness of the evening fall on the castle. A soft knock interrupted his silent rumination, and while Belle went to the door he sat back into his previous seat, eyeing the mysterious flask with curiosity.

“I can’t believe that December is almost upon us,” Ruby spoke as she went inside, only the end of her conversation with Belle heard. “Hello, Mr. Gold.” The werewolf looked at the old man and with some anxiety started. “Is there any way you can send a message to Emma? A note, or anything?”

“I don’t think so, but why?” Rumple said, thinking about it. There was a way, but he didn’t know if anyone in the castle could do it.

“Today is Black Friday.” Even though she did not explain further, Rumple understood her words instantly, and turned toward Belle with a heavy sigh, seeing her frowned expression. But before he could explain, Ruby jumped in. “Thanksgiving was yesterday, and it is kind of a big family holiday in America. Emma was really looking forward to sharing her first one with her family.”

“Oh,” Belle’s compassionate voice rang out. “What about birds?” she turned toward her love, her fast mind searching for another solution.

“I cannot summon them.” Rumplestiltskin said sharply, his hands both on the cane in front of him.

“But, perhaps Aurora can.” Ruby added, not perturbed by his dismissal, looking toward the windows, judging the time. “She is a princess after all.”

“Miss Lucas, you do not understand,” Rumplestiltskin started as he looked at the agitated shifter. “Contacting Miss Swan through ordinary means will only expose her to her enemies. The only way to do it without harm is to use the mirror magic, and I am afraid that the only person who could still do it safely for Emma is in Storybrooke.”

Ruby huffed in disappointment, seeing his point, of course, but it did not make her feel better or diminish the feeling inside of her that they were somehow abandoning Emma. “I never thought I would say this, but I miss Regina,” she spoke, again looking out of the window, checking the time. Turning toward her hosts, she smiled at them weakly. “I don’t like her being all alone for so long.”

“There is nothing we can do about it in our current situation, but if your timing is correct then we have another month of wait before they come here.”

“That was what Anton said, and he is the expert…” Belle spoke quietly.

“Well, then, have a nice evening,” the Wolf spoke with an unsure nod after uncomfortable silence fell over them, throwing a slight wave at her friend before she rushed out, feeling that the rise of the Moon was close, going to the courtyard, where other wolves had gathered. Mulan stood beside them, leaning nonchalantly against the wall, waiting for her, her lips quirking into a quick smirk at the girl’s appearance. After their talk that afternoon, the warrior seemed much more at ease around the wolves, however, her hard trained suspiciousness of anything she didn’t know or trust remained. Yes, the Savior had sent them and sworn them to duty, but it did not mean Mulan had to trust them. No, she would keep her own counsel about them, or anyone else for that matter.

“Are you sure you want to do this?” Ruby asked as she placed her glove covered hand on the hard leather of Mulan’s forearm. “You have nothing to prove, you know,” she added in a whisper, her face leaning toward the one of the warrior, so close that she could feel the heat radiating off the Empire soldier.

“I want to share something you enjoy,” Mulan spoke quietly, her eyes firmly focused on the Wolf’s face, her desire to be a part of Ruby’s life, accepting all aspects of it, evident.

“Then, after the Moon, we’ll do something you love. Like those form thingies you do in the morning?” Ruby said with an accepting smile, as she gently pushed the warrior with her shoulder. “But, do I have to get up super early for that? ‘Cause that might be a problem.” She added as they walked out, following other shifters. But before they moved away from the castle, Liam came to them.

“The clan is going to get familiar with the grounds tonight. Are you joining us, Red?” The name he spoke sounded like a title, as he lowered his head toward her. The red armored woman realized that her dear friend had a somewhat legendary standing with the newcomers and it wasn’t all because of Ruby being a werewolf.

Ruby glanced toward the stoic woman beside her and softly smiling, she shook her head. “Not tonight, Liam,” she spoke as she looked back at him. His reply was to tilt his head in acknowledgement and smirking at the two women he took off, taking point of his group, as he changed, almost in mid step. At the sight of the wolves, Mulan glanced up and saw the unmistakable glow of the Moon covering the skies. “It is time,” the shifter spoke as she drew the warrior’s look toward her. “I’ll stay close,” she added as she undid the lace of the cloak, taking it off, and suddenly instead of a woman, a familiar wolf stood, looking up at the armored woman, the yellow eyes glinting in the darkness.

Mulan knelt down and chuckled when the wolf licked her face with affection before running off. Taking the cloak and putting it in the satchel she had brought for the very reason, she put the strap of the bag over her shoulder and followed the wolf deeper into the forest, guided by the cheery yaps around her.

The next day went the same way and in the evening, the wolves spread out through the forest as a sentry of sorts, going far from the castle, as their speed and strength allowed them. However, it was one of the youngest that had strayed so deep inland, that when he realized where he was the Moon was already waning. What made him stop in his run guided solely by his animal spirit was the scent of many people, too many to reside in the forest. He thought of going deeper, scouting out the danger, but when he heard the unmistakable rattle of many weapons he knew he had to warn the others. The enemy was here.

So, the young pup put his mind to his legs, using every bit of his power, of his strength, making the scenery around him pass in hazy blur, to reach his people before the end of the night, but he knew he wouldn’t make it, not in time. So, when the morning came, and when he lost the innate power of the wolf, he reached deep into his body, his center and hoping he would succeed, he forced his shape to remain, something that only experienced and older shifters could do. And, when he saw the turrets of the castle appear in front of him, it gave him an additional burst of energy, as he was running on pure adrenaline now. As he reached the cobblestone pathway to the bridge he howled with all his might, alerting the insiders of his coming, and he continued on, his stride slower as his limbs grew heavier with exhaustion and the price of maintaining the forceful transformation so young and for so long.

When the door opened, with Prince Phillip and several of the soldiers rushing out toward him, the wolf lost grip of his magic and turned into a young man, his blond hair drenched with sweat seeming darker in the morning light, as he stumbled on, trying to reach the men. But as soon as he crossed the middle of the bridge he collapsed onto his knees, losing consciousness. If not for one of the soldiers catching his shoulders as he swayed, the boy would’ve cracked his head on the stone of the bridge.

“Kenneth,” Phillip heard a bark behind him, as the leader of the wolves came out running toward them, getting beside his kin in seconds. “Damn it, boy, what were you trying to do?” the chief groused, worried about his man, lightly patting his cheek. The move roused the boy and as unfocused hazel eyes were uncovered by the half-mast lids, Liam saw the urgency in them. “What is it?”

“Forty leagues west,” the boy gasped, clutching his chief’s hand in need to convey his message. “Aberson Creek, many men, weapons,” he managed before passing out again.

“Did he say what I think he said?” Phillip asked rhetorically as he looked toward the West, grim lines appearing on his face.

“They are here,” one of the Black Knights that had come out with them confirmed as he turned around to the castle. Their time was up, and now the real work began. It was lucky that the boy had gone that far ahead, as it had been the last night of the Moon, and they now had a warning and the advantage. Had he not done that, the army would’ve had them surrounded by the second night fall, entrapping them in the castle with no effective battle plans except outwaiting the siege. Now, they could prepare, especially because they knew the side the most of their enemies would come from.

“Sound the alarm,” Phillip ordered quickly as he sent off the men, after the corpulent chief declined their offer to help him carry his man. “You get some rest, and come to the council room in the afternoon,” the Royal spoke to the wolf as they walked back toward the castle. Seeing the man nod in reply, the prince left him as he walked onto the wall, interested in the defenses of the fort. His hands gripping the stone in front of him, he looked to the West as he battled the dread in him. He had known this was coming, but to actually witness it and be the one in charge, the one responsible for all the lives entrusted to him… He couldn't help but feel the fear rising in him and the weight of responsibility resting on his shoulders threatened to crush him.

* * *

_ The snow covered ground cracked under her boots as she stepped through a desolate field, as she looked around, trying to see where she was, her hand on her sword resting on her hip. The cold wind blew into her back, making her hair swirl around her face, its uninterrupted hum the only thing heard in the foreboding silence of the afternoon day. Following the slope of the hill, she walked up, frowning at the sheer number of tree stumps littering the view, and they all seemed rather fresh as the cuts hadn’t had the time to darken yet. The area she was at was once, quite recently at that, a forest, and as she imagined the trees in the place of the remains, she thought she recognized the location, the realization taking away her breath, and the heart starting to pump hard in fear. Climbing the hill in a short time, not caring about several missteps that could have ended in her death, she came to the top, seeing the whole valley before her for the first time since she had left it only several weeks before. _

_ The sight before her eyes drove her to her knees, as she gasped at the horror in front of her, not able to speak, to whisper, to even comprehend the vista she saw, one that she would never be able to unsee, to undo. Only then the wind stopped, making the silence ever more noticeable and the scene all the more terrible. _

_ Where once had stood the proud castle of her family, the sanctuary of the Safe Haven, the keep of her friends, now stood only a ruin, ten feet tall, all the walls destroyed and scattered around, burned by fire and magic, razed to the ground with nothing left standing. And in the dale in front of it the ground was covered by red snow, obscuring the lumps beneath it, as abandoned standards and banners had been stuck to the frozen ground painting the air above the rusty snow green and gold. Emma was looking at the field of bodies, men and women slaughtered and left for carrions to find. And farther, on the demolished bridge, very close to the missing middle stood a golden tent, shining in the evening Sun. _

_ Getting herself to her feet, Emma walked toward the place that had once been supposed to be her home, forcing the bile climbing her throat down, her forearm across her face trying to reduce the stench of the burned wood and flesh, blood and rotting corpses as she passed by the carcasses that she had known before, each life snuffed in a gruesome way, not spared and definitely not given a quick death. They all had suffered for daring to stand against the king Midas and the witch that had ruled from the shadow. Among the first to fall had been the wolves, probably trying to give time to others, as they had been fierce and powerful, then the Black Knights, then Phillip’s soldiers and the villagers, but she did not see the bodies of her friends anywhere, as she walked toward the tent, fearing what might be inside. _

_ As she stepped onto the cobblestones of the bridge, she heard something move behind her. Drawing her sword and summoning her magic in one fell move, she turned ready to fight as she stared down the intruder. But, in front of her stood no enemy. As she lowered her sword, she watched the person whose footsteps had alerted her to his presence slowly walk toward her, his face and clothes covered in blood and soot, his fist gripped so strongly around the hilt of a knife, pointed in front of him, as if to defend himself. Recognizing the person, Emma felt a fresh wave of tears stream down her face, the already too strong sorrow breaking her even further as she waited for the boy to walk up to her. _

_ “The Savior,” he gasped as he stood in front of her, his arm holding the knife shaking so much that the tip of his weapon weaved in the air in front of him. Emma gently reached for his fist, lowering herself onto her knees to be at the same level with him, and slowly opened his stiff hold, relinquishing him of his weapon. With a quick glance, she found the sheath for it and returned it to his belt, making sure that he wasn’t hurt. Apart from a few scrapes and burns, the boy seemed uninjured, but the haunted look in his eyes spoke of many horrors he had seen since she had left him in the village. “You’re too late,” Elias whispered, his voice flat. _

_ The even, distant tone of his voice, was the last straw for Emma’s grip over her emotions as she sat onto her bootheels and tried to stifle a sob ripping through her throat, her hands on Elias’s shoulders. “I’m sorry,” she mumbled through her tears, the guilt, the agony, the horror of the past hours making her voice crack. “I’m so sorry,” she repeated over and over in front of the stoic boy, who stood there unmoved, seemingly too much in shock to feel. _

_ “You are too late,” the boy repeated in the same manner before he continued on. “Where were you? You could’ve helped us. You could’ve saved us.” _

_ “I tried to get here in time, Elias. I tried the best I could.” Emma pleaded with the boy, knowing that it did not matter what she had to say for herself. Not anymore. _

_ “It wasn’t good enough.” He then pointed toward the tent. “They hoped for you to come. They shouted your name in the end. And, then they cursed it to the heavens.” Slowly he stepped around the kneeling Savior and walked on toward the middle of the ruined bridge. Emma frowned and rose, following him and stepping in front of him as they reached the gold sheets of the entrance. _

_ Stopping the boy from entering, Emma lifted one flap of the tent and walked in, and only seconds after that she lost the fight with her stomach, emptying it right there. After several dry heaves she wiped her mouth, and straightened up, looking back to the horrible sight that had greeted her a minute before. Her friends, the people she loved, had been displayed in front of her, chained to the floor and killed by the magic, their expressions of pain forever etched on their faces, while the foul odor came of them, not only because of decay of their flesh but because of the magic used on them, magic only souls steeped in darkness would use. Not even the rest of the Neverland children had been spared. _

_ “How is it that you are alive?” Emma turned toward the boy, who had entered the tent sometimes after she had been focused on the bodies of her friends. _

_ “She left me to give you the message.” Elias spoke absently, as he looked into Emma’s face, for the first time showing any kind of emotion and it was determination. _

_ “What is the message?” the blonde asked, not understanding what Elias was doing, nor what the witch had done to him. _

_ “You failed and the blood of all of us is on your hands,” he said as if he was speaking for someone else. _

_ “You aren’t dead.” Emma walked toward him, having a really, really bad feeling that something terrible was going to happen. _

_ “I am,” the boy spoke and suddenly, as if someone had hit a switch, the life in him was snuffed as his body toppled down, right beside the others, joining them in death. Jumping toward him, Emma held the boy in her hands, calling out his name in vain. Only then she felt a trace of dark magic in him, understanding of his condition flooding her senses. He had been left heartless and now the witch had crushed it, as he had fulfilled his purpose. And, as if the wind was mocking her, it picked up, its howls bringing back his words. “You’re too late.” _

She woke with a scream barely muffled with her clenched jaw, drenched in sweat, the wet shirt pressed uncomfortably against her skin with the weight of her mail, breathing heavily as she tried to calm her racing heart, her mind still engulfed with the images of her nightmare. Her hands tingled as she had summoned magic as she had awoken, the instinctive reaction subdued only by her weakness caused by overdoing it with her power.

“Emma Swan,” Cheeky approached her slowly, his hands in front of him, as he watched her every move. “We have found some food if you are hungry,” the dwarf spoke gently when she looked at him, still inhaling sharply, her wheezing breaths loud in the cavern, as he tried to get her to focus on something else than what had appeared to be a nightmare. He had been elected to keep watch over her, while the others took care of the burial rites they had been using in the absence of fairies.

“How long…” Emma groused before clearing her throat. “How long was I asleep?” she asked softly, as she moved the blanket away, sitting up in her cot, accepting gratefully a tankard of water the dwarf offered her, drinking it up in one go, before lowering it to the ground as she got up and walked toward her things lying untouched.

“Little over eight hours. The night has fallen.” When he had seen the Savior take off her shirt, he quickly turned around, looking toward the ground, his ears tinged red and matching with his hair, which was the color of copper and complimented his summer sky blue eyes.

“Eight?” Emma questioned in surprise, pausing in putting on her other shirt. She couldn’t remember the last time she had slept that long. Shaking her head, she continued dressing, mumbling softly to herself, “I must leave.”

“Emma Swan,” the dwarf called out in inquiry waiting for her to acknowledge him before continuing on. “We would like to share our meal with you, and Busy wants to talk to you,” he spoke after her answering grunt.

“Busy? That’s your leader, right?” Emma asked as she checked the straps of her hauberk, before replacing her tunic over it.

“Yes, and he said he might have news that might interest you,” Cheeky answered, his back still turned toward the Savior.

“And you mentioned food?” The blonde walked toward the young dwarf, tapping him on the shoulder. He smiled at her and nodded, leading her back into the great hall where all the bodies had been placed. Now it was devoid of deceased dwarves, and only one table was placed, at the back of the room toward the mines, for it was enough for the surviving miners.

As soon as others saw Emma up and about, they fell silent as they stopped eating, waiting for her to sit down at the head of the table, where they had placed the largest chair, covered in furs to make the hard wood softer for the Savior. She smiled at the kindness and respect they had offered her, despite the fact that she knew it was a way of their people – to show the ultimate respect for the royals and the people of white magic, fairies in particular. As she pulled out the chair, waving away the dwarf closest to her that had gotten up to help her, she looked around the table.

“Please, don’t stop on my account,” she said softly, taking a seat, pleased to see that Cheeky chose to sit by her, on her left, offering her a smirking smile as he pushed a plate filled with food toward her. Quickly, one of the dwarves sitting further away pushed a goblet over the table toward her, their chieftain catching it and filling it with a dark red liquid, as he took his seat to Emma’s right.

“Knight Swan, I am glad to see you awake,” the dwarf Cheeky had called Busy spoke offering her the goblet. As she took it, he continued. “I hope you are feeling better?”

“I am,” Emma confirmed, noticing the questioning edge in his statement, despite the fact that she knew that she was far from perfect health. In fact, she was sure that if she used magic too soon, the episode like the one she had had would happen again, but she didn’t want to admit her weakness before them. Sipping the drink, she smiled in appreciation at the sweet blueberry wine, mild and tasty, before she looked toward the dwarf beside her. “I hear you might have news for me?” she spoke as she drew the plate the young dwarf had intended for her, finding dry meat, cheese and boiled vegetables on it along with a small unleavened bun of bread.

“Yes, I have received information while you were asleep. The pirates are gathering in the Maritime Kingdom, waiting for their orders to sail to the Snow White’s castle. There is a talk about coordinated attack from both sea and land in five days from now.” Busy spoke as the Savior ate, knowing she would need as much as he could provide. “It is speculated that Midas’s men will be in place by that time.”

“And the Empire?” Emma asked in between her bites, her eyes catching the other dwarves that listened carefully to them.

“I don’t know, but they seem to be too far away to reach the castle in five days, as they are still in the Empire.”

Emma nodded in understanding, remembering the map of the Enchanted Forest, and also from Regina’s memories that the Empire was on the very edge of the Enchanted Forest, before the great Agrabah Desert. It did help a bit to know that not all the force of the Enchanted Forest was against the Safe Haven population, but the threat of both the pirates and Midas’s men was terrible enough.

“How do you know all this?” The White Knight asked as she finished her meal. “Can you trust your source?” she went on, not giving Busy the opportunity to answer. She leaned onto her elbows and looked at the dwarf to her right. She did not need to demand answers as the hard look she had given him was incentive enough.

“I trust him. He is a man of clergy.” The certain tone the dwarf spoke with convinced Emma that Busy thought the man irreproachable, and decided to keep her comments of all men being corruptible, even the people of the priesthood, to herself. “He has fought for the people for years now.”

“Can you send me his way?” Suddenly, the Savior had an idea. If the priest had insider information to all the happenings, perhaps he was placed at the center of the events, which meant that finding him might be a good start in her way of helping others. “If he is as good as you claim he might be able to help me.”

“Of course, Knight Swan,” Busy agreed immediately, nodding his head. “The last I know he was with his friends at the mouth of Twine Rivers.”

The blonde tilted her head thinking about the directions, as she sipped her wine. “That is over in Prince Thomas’s domain, right?” she asked, fairly certain she had gotten it right, but it never hurt to check.

“Yes, Knight Swan.”

Draining her goblet, the blonde rose from the table and with a light tone she thanked the others for the meal. As she walked away, she heard small feet follow her and she smiled, knowing it was the youngling that took a shine to her, and honestly she liked him too. Pushing the heavy door to the anteroom, she stood by letting Cheeky pass first before continuing on her path toward her things. She needed to leave, to be on her way and do something to aid the soon to be attacked village, and no matter how hard she tried she couldn’t figure out a way, not in these short minutes of her meal, and definitely not in the hours she had spent watching over the injured dwarves. She needed help and there were very few left. The Sheriff hoped Busy’s priest would prove as an asset because, honestly, she felt stumped.

“Can I come with you?” Cheeky asked as he watched her pick up her weaponry and place each piece in its proper place. “I could help?” he added hopefully when Emma turned toward him, her green eyes softened by emotion visible in the weak light of a few torches and lanterns.

The Savior lowered her bag and knelt in front of the dwarf, touched by his earnest offer, and as she looked into his blue eyes she saw his face crumple in dejection, as he understood her move. “It is a very dangerous world out there right now,” Emma started softly.

“It’s dangerous here, too!” the young dwarf complained, the attack that had taken so many of his family still very fresh on his mind and heart. But, he could see her point and the fact was hard on him, making his eyes tear up. “I could be of help, take care of your things. I can learn to fight too!”

Oh, how Emma yearned to grant him his wish, just so she wouldn’t be alone anymore. But, she knew that taking him directly into the danger’s path was not the way, and if he got killed, she wouldn’t be able to bear it. However, before she could speak, denying him, his small and warm hand reached for her face, landing on her cheek, startling her immensely. The isolation had worsened her touch aversion, and even before it, she had tolerated it from few people. But the dwarf in front of her had been named properly, and even though she hadn’t expected it, and the first instinct was to shrug it off, she allowed his hand to remain, willing to see what he was going to do, and offering this as a consolation prize for refusing him.

“I will distract you,” the youngling added softly as he held Emma’s cheek, smiling sadly in understanding. Then, as if he had never asked her anything, his demeanor changed and his eyes focused onto her own. “As you leave, there is a small dene three miles north. The wild horses of Camelot come to water there, usually in the early hours of the morning.” After he had spoken in a whisper, he watched as realization flew into her eyes.

Because of Regina, an expert on all things about horses, as it had been the only thing to keep her feeling close to Daniel, Emma had the access to the important facts, such as the truths and legends about the Camelot and its horses. After the fall of King Arthur and disbandment of the Knights of the Round Table, Camelot had fallen to ruin and desiccation, with most of its surviving inhabitants retreating to Avalon, along with the king’s body. And, because there had been no one to take care of the immeasurable herds of horses, they had been released into the wild, living in the planes of the former kingdom. As the legend had told, the pure breeds had magic in their blood as in the beginning their lines had been mixed with those of Unicorns and Pegasus horses, making them highly intelligent and loyal, fast and enduring. However, they had been impossible to catch and break though many had tried, finally forcing the fairies to take the animals under their protection. It seemed that with the fairies gone, that particular duty had fallen to the dwarves.

“Will you get in trouble for this?” Emma asked the young dwarf, reaching for his hand, understanding the magnitude of his help.

“Probably, as it wasn’t my secret to share. But, you are the White Knight, of pure heart and light magic.” He said as if it was enough explanation, before he added with a smile. “They will let you come near them, but you must treat them with respect.” As Emma nodded they heard the door opening one more time, Busy and other dwarves entering into the cavern. Quickly, the blonde rose to her feet with another appreciative squeeze of Cheeky’s hand and turned toward the others.

The chief of them approached the Savior and offered two small satchels, one three times as big as the other. Pointing toward the bigger one, Busy spoke “We packed provisions for you, some dry meat and vegetables,” before he took her water flask, sending one of the dwarves to fill it. “We also managed to scrounge what was left of the fairy dust, and while you slept we ground some more,” he added pointing toward the smaller satchel with reverence. “We have no use of it, with fairies gone, but perhaps you will find a way.”

Emma thanked them profusely, and when the water flask returned accompanied with a smaller one, filled with blueberry wine, she smiled gratefully at the dwarf that had brought them to her. As she turned to leave, only Busy and Cheeky came to follow, seeing her out. She asked the chief not to warn his source of her coming in advance, and not to share with anyone that she had been there or that she was even alive, impressing that secrecy was of the utmost importance at the moment. Then she turned toward the young ginger friend. “There will come a time when we will see each other again,” she said instead of goodbye, bending down onto her knee.

The boyish dwarf flew, throwing his arms around her neck, unperturbed that a multitude of rough objects pressed against his belly and chest. Not a word did he speak, but the gesture was the message enough for Emma. Patting his back, and chuckling at the aghast expression on the face of the elder dwarf, she smiled at the youngling, before she placed her woolen scarf over the lower part of her face and neck, and lifting her hood over her hair, that she had previously put into a braid. Opening the door leading to the outside, she paused, turning back and with a fist over her heart, she inclined her head in greeting, before she ducked out, leaving the two dwarves behind.

So, the youngling had said north, Emma mused, trying to orient herself in the darkness of the night. Luckily for her, the Moon was still up, and judging by its position she found her way and started walking. Even though it was a cold night, the light trek kept the Savior warm enough not to feel the bite of winter, and yet cool enough not to sweat under her clothes. Slowly, she marched to her destination, paying attention to the ground, careful not to twist her ankle or anything else. And, so, after a half an hour, she reached the small hirst, split by a small brook, its water too fast to freeze over. Listening to the gentle gurgle of the stream, she found a spot to sit, leaning against the wide trunk of centuries old oak as she watched the Moon reflecting off the rippling surface of the water, waiting for the herd to appear. And, as soon as the Moon set, the sound of hooves reached the seated Savior, as she turned in the direction of the thuds over the frozen ground. Only minutes later Emma was graced with the most beautiful sight she had seen in a while.

Horses, led by a magnificent white stallion, came to the water, sniffing the air for danger. Emma was in awe of the beautiful coats the animals displayed, ranging from pure white of the stallion to champagne and earth colors to the darkest of blacks. The group that had come to the water had around twenty animals, foals included, the nobility of their lines obvious even to the nescient by their regality and perfect lines.

Emma rose to her feet slowly, her move drawing the attention of the leader of the herd as he turned his head toward her, neighing softly. Encouraged by his lack of hostility, she approached the group, not making any sudden moves, taking care not to make noise either. Then, as she stepped among the creatures, she stilled, remembering Regina’s instructions –  _ the best way to choose a horse is to let them choose you _ . So she waited as the animals approached her with interest, sniffing the air around her, their snorts and neighs amusing for the Savior. The leader of the herd came to her and his intelligent blue eyes looked at her knowingly before he shook his head, sounding as if he was laughing. However, immediately after, a dark head hit her in the shoulder, making her turn to see an ink black animal, almost invisible in the predawn darkness, the whites of the eyes seemingly glowing as the irises dark as coal focused onto her face. If the horse wasn’t so stunning and the Savior so used to avoid jumping to conclusions, Emma would’ve thought that it was a steed of darkness, a demon itself taking form.

But, after several seconds passed and the horse eased its scrutiny, it tapped Emma gently into her chest with its nuzzle, having lowered its head in offer that the blonde immediately took, placing her hand onto the forehead, scratching it lightly as she watched the ears ease into more relaxed position, noticing how the black leather of the gloves matched the darkness of the coat on the horse, chuckling softly at the coincidence. Sinking her fingers into the mane and coat, the Sheriff patted the horse lightly, her hands passing over its back and sides. Satisfied with her examination, she had learned that it was a young mare, only four of five years old, but fully matured. More than sixteen hands high, the horse’s shoulders were taller than Emma herself, and the majestic built of the mare only spoke of its endurance and speed.

“Will you let me ride you?” Emma spoke gently as she patted the mare’s neck, her question directed more as a musing observation than the real inquiry, and when the horse neighed and lowered itself somewhat by spreading its forelegs wide, the blonde gasped in surprise. As if she was dawdling, and in shock she indeed had been, the mare turned its head toward her and pushed her, startling her into action. Climbing on the bare back, the Sheriff made sure that nothing on her bothered the animal beneath her, taking care with her weapons and sack. As soon as she settled behind the horse’s shoulders, the black mare straightened up and waited for directions. “Oh, right, sorry,” Emma mumbled as she grabbed the mane and guided her ride in the direction she needed to go. Urging the horse onward gently, she yelped in surprise as the mare rushed off, making her grip the animal’s sides with her legs rather strongly as she wove her fingers into the mane, afraid that she would be dislodged by the sheer speed of the horse, never mind the low hanging branches of the trees in their way and joyous leaps the mare did over the small crevices in the ground.

Only when they reached the shore, the horse stopped, quite suddenly at that, making Emma slide down with a huff and a scowl as she felt her muscles ease from their stiff grip. She glared at the horse that only shook her head in false innocence, before snorting cheerily. “Yeah, really funny,” Emma grumbled as she rose to her feet, dusting off the wet sand of her breeches. Then she looked around, trying to ascertain where she was, but drawing blank, the Savior turned to her horse. “Why did you bring me here?” she asked, as if expecting an answer, mildly irritated that the horse had veered off course toward her destination, but when the mare walked toward the water coming onto the sand in small and calm waves, its right front hoof tapping the water, Emma frowned as she tried to understand.

Then, an idea struck as she realized that she was at the shore of the Endless Sea, probably somewhere in the line of the Hangman’s Island and a day’s ride north from the Safe Haven, right in the middle of the route the pirates would take to the Charming’s castle. And, the Endless Sea was a home to a particular kind of creature that might even help her, especially as they were part of the magical folk. Guided by her True Love’s memories, she picked up a shell from the sand only several steps to the left and having cleaned it from the sand and seaweed, Emma puffed her cheeks, ready to blow. The shell created a horn like sound, spreading over the water, as the Savior waited for someone to appear, taking off her sack and her cloak, expecting to at least step into the water at one point. To her surprise, when a head broke the surface of the water, it was the same redhead Regina had dealt with making the Sheriff wince in anticipation of rejection, however she stoically waited for the mermaid to come closer before speaking, hoping that the invocation of her mother’s name would grant her at least an audience with the redhead.

“I am the daughter of Snow White, the prophesized Savior and I need your people’s help,” she spoke as she stepped ankle deep into the water waiting for response. But when the mermaid only swam closer, keeping her mouth shut, looking at her helplessly, Emma frowned looking back in her memories, trying to see if Regina had used a special language to communicate, but finding nothing of the sort, she tilted her head, looking at the pretty woman lounging in the waves. “Will you help me?” the blonde asked, imploring the red head to react in any way. Only when the girl reached for her throat, her eyes affixed on the Savior did Emma understand, sighing at the punishment her True Love had assigned to the mermaid. Waving her hand, the blonde hissed, feeling the painful tingle of the magic, the results evident immediately as the girl spoke.

“What do you want?” Ariel asked with suspicion, feeling cautious, for she knew the price in dealing with sorceresses.

“In a few days, a fleet of pirate ships is going to pass this way to attack Charming’s castle with the villagers of Safe Haven in it. Can your people do anything about it?”

“You are fighting against the Witch?” the mermaid asked with a surprise, as most people had aligned with the rampageous practitioner. When Emma only nodded, the redhead swam closer. “What is in it for us? For me?”

“I do not know what the merfolk desire, but I think I can offer something to you, Ariel,” Emma answered, knowing exactly what would entice the woman to cooperate, hating the fact that she had to bargain with the girl, but she needed help.

“We desire to be left alone, not to be hunted and killed by men!” Ariel spoke indignantly. “You may know my name, but you do not know me and definitely you know nothing of my desires!” The anger of the sea creature was evident in the sharp flicker of the green fin, making the water foam in the shallows.

Closing her eyes, Emma sighed and with an intake of air, she looked toward the mermaid and spoke one word. “Eric.” And, the effect was instantaneous. The mermaid froze, before she came closer, almost crawling through the shallows to reach the blonde. The Savior could not bear it so she stepped deeper into the water, schooling her face not to react when her breeches came in contact with the icy water, waterlogging her boots.

“What do you know of him?” Ariel demanded of the Savior, as she reached her.

“I know where he is,” Emma spoke softly, crouching down, thinking that if she had already gotten wet, there really wasn’t any difference how wet she would get. Thanking the Gods that Regina had spent the first years of her reign in Storybrooke walking the piers in the early morning, and thus knowing that Eric had been a fisherman in the town, the Savior hoped to somehow insure Ariel’s loyalty, at least for a little while. “He was taken by the curse, and now lives in the town created by it, Storybrooke, where I am from. In about a month, the ship will arrive to take me home. I can take you to him.”

“I don’t need you to cross realms,” the mermaid scoffed, ready to swim off but Emma’s knowing voice stopped her.

“You need me to walk,” Emma spoke firmly, making the woman stop in the water and glancing back toward the Savior. “Help me, and I’ll figure out a way for you to have your legs whenever you need them,” she said as she watched the mermaid hesitate, already knowing the process of making the cuff, just like Regina had had.

“And, you want me to stop the pirates? That is what you ask?” Ariel spoke, uncertain, and still suspicious of the Savior.

“Yes, stop the pirates and I will craft a way for you to walk on land and swim in water whenever you wish it,” Emma promised, standing straight. “I give you my word,” she said, placing her right fist over her heart.

“Swear it, on your life. No, on the thing that is most precious to you.”

Emma didn’t complain, nor did she roll her eyes, because she understood the need of insurance, the desire to protect oneself, and in this world, a word of a royal still meant something, and she was glad to give it, for she knew that Snow had always been a good judge of character, her childhood sins aside, and if she had forged a friendship with the mermaid before her, then Ariel was a good person. “I, Emma Swan, daughter of Snow White and James, the Savior and the Sheriff, swear upon the bond I share with my True Love, that I will find a way for Ariel, Lady of the Merfolk, to take her steps on the firm ground when she wishes it, and swim in the sea, when she does not, in exchange for her and her people stopping the pirates directed at the Charming’s Castle.”

Something in those words made Ariel’s face appear softer as the woman swam back toward the Savior. “You are touched by True Love?” she asked gently. Emma didn’t bother responding verbally as that question demanded a very complicated answer. Touched? Did being made of it count? So she only nodded once, stiffly. “Where are they?”

“Storybrooke,” she replied shortly, her voice terse, before she turned away to leave the freezing water, honestly not understanding how the fish and other marine things could live in it. In the second before she had turned, she had seen the astonished expression on the redhead, who clearly had not expected that.

“I’ll do it!” the woman yelled from the waves, making her choice. “I’ll organize my people and we will stop them.” And, then she simply dove into the water and disappeared, not waiting for any response that the blonde might have given her. The Sheriff hoped that it would help, that she had not just trusted someone with the information only to be betrayed and exposed, with pirates not stopped but helped on the way. In her gut, she knew that Ariel wanted to reach Eric and that she would do anything to get to Storybrooke, but the Savior just hoped that the mermaid would do it the proper way, helping her.

Emma turned toward the black horse that had simply waited for her at the same place she had left it, watching the whole exchange with interest, before shaking its head gently. Her hand went to its side as she leaned into its shoulder. “You are a very clever horse,” she said firmly, the praise obvious in her voice. “And, you need to have a name because I cannot just call you horse.” Standing a bit away, Emma pulled the horse’s head down, to look into its intelligent black eyes, as she scratched it under its chin. “So something black, huh… Kiera?” The horse neighed, its nostrils flaring in displeasure. “No? Brenna?” Emma could actually swear that the damn horse rolled its eyes at her. “Hmm, Mei? No? Raven!” The horse snorted at her, before neighing firmly. “Alright, alright…” And, Emma continued speaking out names that had something to do with darkness, night, blackness, then when nothing gained favorable reaction from her mare, she continued with the speed related names such as Arrow and Swift. But, then the mare tapped its front hoof, digging into the sand, and in the Sun of the day, Emma saw the shading silhouette of the horse covering her and the hole in the ground, giving her an idea. “How about Shadow?” And, the mare tilted its head to a side before she pushed Emma gently in the shoulder. “You like it?” the blonde asked again, needing to confirm and the same reaction followed. “Alright, then. Shadow it is.”

Taking her previously discarded things, the Savior started walking toward the land, needing to dry out first, her boots uncomfortably sloshing with every step she made. She was reluctant to use magic, even for such a small spell to dry herself out, as the effects of the removal of Ariel’s silence spell had been the warning enough. Finding a small stone niche nested in the snow covered earth and some twigs and stunted and shriveled shrubberies, Emma quickly built a fire, chuckling when she saw her horse lie down beside it, as if it was expected of it. Despite the fact that she had never seen a horse do that, Emma felt glad to have someone close by. Sitting on her cloak, she took off her leather breeches, along with her boots and her long underpants, thankful that the fire was hot enough to keep the cold away, as she sat there half naked, wrapped in the cloak. As she waited for her things to dry, as she had rubbed them in the fresh snow to take the salt out, she took out the package of food the dwarves had packed, pleased to find some dried carrots in it. Taking a piece of meat in her mouth, she cut one of the carrots in half an inch bits, offering them to her mare. “It’s all I have,” Emma spoke imploringly when the horse sniffed at her measly offering and shook its head. Reconsidering, the black head came back and took the food, a disgruntled snort heard over the munching.

Emma hated that she couldn’t just use her magic unsparingly, but also, she would feel glad for the opportunity to rough it, as she had called it whenever her mother would talk about her bandit days, if not for the very important fact that she was really pressed for time. However, as she chewed the meager meal she had taken for herself, she appreciated the time to think. At least she wouldn’t be on foot, and if her calculations were correct, her new horse was really damn fast, at least twice as fast as her previous bay. Then, she needed to figure out what to do next. Yes, she could find the clergyman but what then? Does she go after the witch, or after the king? If she went after the king’s men, she would be able to ease the pressure on the keep, but not for long, not with the Empire inbound. But, if she went after the witch, which promised to be a hard endeavor indeed, could she do something more than waste time and energy? Would subduing the witch stop the war? Or would it make it more desperate and wild?

“Think of it as a game of chess,” Emma spoke to herself after she felt her thoughts were going in circles, as it would help her arrange her ideas and thoughts, and direct her toward working strategies and tactics, but there was another problem. She didn’t know all the pieces on the board. There were the villagers and her friends, along with fifty of the Wolves, facing thousands of Midas’s army. Then, there were the pirates, and supposedly they would be delayed, in best case stopped by the merfolk and Ariel. And, there was the infamous witch who was apparently green and very powerful, who had some kind of power over trolls and ogres, who secured the loyalty of the Empire’s army, and who has winged creatures at her disposal. Someone who started showing up only after Emma’s supposed death…

Someone who needed her dead before exposing herself, and probably orchestrating the whole peace bullshit, figuring it would take the Savior out of the way. Emma straightened up in realization, as she gasped. Magic. Emma was the only one with magic in their group which would leave the others vulnerable, as no one else was capable of using the crafts, but what if it wasn’t all? For the whole get rid of the Savior plan seemed a bit over the top, but that was only her opinion, and she was fully committed to the idea that all the fairy tale people in power were absolutely crazy. However, she decided to go with that line of thought, the one where the woman didn’t need her just gone for being a sorceress but for something else. What if the woman needed access to a place Emma had protected, needing time and insurance that there wouldn’t be interruptions? Regina’s palace had been untouched, but Emma hadn’t checked the other place she had placed under the magical lock – Rumplestiltskin’s castle. Suddenly, she had a direction in mind, with a part of a plan forming. Soon, but not right away, Emma would come forth into the light; and the revelation would probably drive some heat away from the people of Safe Haven. But, not yet. First, Emma would check wards around the Dark One’s home, and then find the priest and his friends, and somehow convince them to go toward the Empire.

Deciding that her clothes had been dry enough, the Sheriff stomped out the fire and with hurried moves urged the horse up, directing Shadow toward the Dark One’s castle, urging the mare to speed up. Probably feeling the tension in the blonde, the horse followed the directions, swift as a gale, as they passed through the sparse area of the land, veering off inland, toward the familiar mountains. An hour later, after they had passed the distance any other horse would need a day for, Shadow stopped before the pathway leading to the fortress, refusing to go even one step further, propping itself on its back two legs, front ones wild in the air, as Shadow neighed defiantly. Trusting the horse, Emma slid down looking around, as she took the bow, ready for a surprise attack that could be coming any minute, for she did understand her mare’s reluctance to go on. Making sure that her scarf and hood were on, and stepping away from the horse, for she didn’t want the noble mare to be caught in the crossfire if a fight did occur, she scanned the surroundings, feeling eyes on her.

After her enemies had made sure that she was indeed alone, one of them clambered on the road, proudly showing his gold colors of his uniform. “Stop right there,” he said, pointing his sword in her direction, but Emma heard others surrounding her, and judging by the clanging of armors and the heavy boots on the stone, there seemed to be five of them. Still holding her bow with an arrow notched, she watched the spokesman come closer, weaving his weapon threateningly. “You are surrounded, drop your weapon,” the man spoke again, glancing toward the bow with some nervousness but pretending not to be bothered with it, this time when he was three yards away, and with others visibly posted around her.

“You have no power over me to demand such a thing,” Emma replied haughtily, in a deeper voice, asserting her false persona of a black knight, seeing that she was already dressed as one, and she knew enough of Regina’s kingdom to pose as one, using the distraction to glance around, judging her opposition. Luckily, not one of them had a bow or a crossbow, so she knew she could fight back without getting a bolt in her back. It wouldn’t have killed her, due to the mail she was constantly wearing exactly for these reasons, but it would have still been painful. “Let me through, and no one will get hurt.”

“So much confidence, Black Knight, for a lonely thug. But, where is your Evil Queen?” the soldier in front of her mockingly asked as he stepped a foot closer. “Where is she to protect you with her evil sorcery?”

“I do not need her protection. It is I who protect her, and her interests in this world.” Emma spoke calmly, allowing the others to come closer, as she already calculated how the events would unfold, knowing that the soldiers would react in quite a brutish way, counting on overpowering her, as if she had a gift of premonition. But, in truth, it was her former job of a bail bonds person that had given her the insight how most of the situations like these would go down.

“I will have your head,” the front man scowled at the masked Savior, lifting his weapon, ready to attack. “Just as our king will have hers when she returns,” he added before rushing toward Emma, his intention of killing clear in his eyes and moves. Not sparing a second, the Sheriff released her arrow, right into the chest of the man, jumping aside to avoid his falling body, her hands already notching another one and sending it off into the eye of the furthest soldier on the road. Another arrow found its way into her hand, and not even bothering with the bow anymore, Emma stuck it in the neck of the closest brute to her, stopping his motion right before he was about to cleave her head in two. Pulling her weapon out of his flesh, grimacing at the spray of blood that followed, she turned toward the remaining two, nothing but her eyes visible, and they were shining with cold precision and death.

They attacked her at once, from different sides, but she quickly saw who the most experienced fighter was and with swift moves, she got rid of him, stabbing the arrow in her hand through his underside of his chin upwards. Then she turned to the remaining one, a boy really and as she raised her hands, in one of them holding a knife from her belt, her posture telegraphing her readiness to end the fight rather quickly and lethally, he dropped his sword and knelt in supplication.

“Please,” the young soldier spoke, terror evident in his eyes, as he lowered himself down even further. Kicking his sword away from him, Emma grabbed his chin and brought her face to his, lifting him up, his knees hovering half an inch above the ground, using her pure strength, having built up her muscles with all the stone carving and carrying the blocks.

“Why are you here?” she whispered harshly, her quiet tone inducing more fear in the soldier than the prowess she had shown. She more felt than saw him gulp heavily and shake incessantly, as he tried to focus his eyes on hers but failed, as he brought his hands to her chest in the vain attempt of imploring her to ease the pressure on his face. 

“The witch wanted us to wait for the Dark One to come, and to seize him.” He spoke finally through his teeth, his speech somewhat garbled with the tremble of his fear.

“A hand of soldiers against a Dark One?” Emma scoffed imperiously, but she knew that the boy was telling the truth, or what he believed to be the truth. She had been wrong however. It wasn’t the caste the witch was interested in, but the Dark One himself.

“She told us he had lost his powers and that now he was only a frail old man.” So, the witch knew that Rumplestiltskin wasn’t powerful anymore, Emma sighed with conclusion, as now things made more sense. The spies of the village probably informed her and the king, giving them the green light to attack. That could be the reason why they hadn’t attacked earlier.

“What do you know of this witch?” Emma asked as she released the soldier, letting him fall down onto his knees, but she never glanced away from his eyes. The amount of fear the boy was radiating told her that he would tell her everything just to stay alive, and the feeling inside also suggested that the soldier was not committed to his king, making it all the easier for him to speak to the enemy – the black knight in front of him.

“She is not of this realm,” the boy spoke, rubbing his jaw and sitting on his haunches as he looked up at his captor. “I heard people say that she was from another world, something starting with Oh,” he added, almost absently, as he prepared to rise.

Oh. It tickled Emma’s memory, as the information started assembling in her head. The green skinned witch, winged animals, different land starting with Oh… The knowledge she needed was there, she was absolutely sure of it, because she had seen and heard it all before, or even perhaps read it somewhere. The story of a witch with the green skin and flying monsters… The Savior gasped as the answer came to her.

“Oz?”

“Yeah, that’s it.” The soldier said as he dusted off his knees, completely oblivious to the Savior’s raging thoughts.

_ Oh, you have got to be fucking kidding me _ , Emma screamed in her mind.  _ This is getting ridiculous, and utterly insane _ .  _ Now, not only that the Wicked Witch of the West is real but also I am up against her?! _ However, her outward expression never changed, as she nodded in understanding. “What does she want?”

“I don’t know. Something with the Evil Queen, but no one knows for sure what.” Shrugging accompanied his answer.

And she could feel he was telling the truth, and no more information on the woman he could give. Now, Emma was left with a conundrum to solve. Should she leave the boy alive, as her heart was demanding, and impress unto him the dangers of crossing her, or should she kill him – as the saying of her world went -  _ two can keep a secret if one of them is dead _ . It would be safer for her to kill him, no one to expose her until she is ready, but she had a feeling that his young face would haunt her, especially because she would not kill him in the heat of battle but in execution, coldly and calculatedly. Shaking her head, she placed her bow onto her shoulder, hoping her next move wasn’t going to bite her in the ass.

“What’s your name, boy?” Emma asked as she gestured to him to help her with the bodies, needing to search and hide them. While they worked, she learned that his name was Jonas, that he was previously one of squires in the castle, under Knight Frederick, but with the curse and destruction, the king had relegated him to mere soldier, with no authority, but he had been placed in a good company, until he had been sent out there with the others, as everyone he had known had been sent toward the stronghold where the villagers were. Then the blonde instructed him to lead her to their bivouac, listening to him talk about his court life, how Frederick had been like a father to him.

She had met Jim, later Frederick, several times before and after breaking the curse, and all in all, she liked the guy. He was kind and respectful, never trying to assert his supremacy in arguments, unlike some other knights and royals that had found their way over in Storybrooke. He was perfect with Kathryn, and for that alone she liked him very much, as the woman had suffered enough and deserved someone good and mindful. But she couldn’t tell that to the boy, because her knowledge of Storybrooke would be a dead giveaway for her identity.

After looking through the sacks and bags of the soldiers, and the saddlebags on the tied horses nearby, Emma gained a quick understanding of who these people had been. The rag tag group of scoundrels had found themselves in the army, and given uniforms and weaponry. And, listening to the soldier talk, the blonde understood that the boy was not happy with his posting, or with the decisions the king was making, or even with the whole war. If not for constant supervision he would’ve deserted a while back, joining the villagers. Rising up, as she had made her decision about the young man in front of her, she grabbed Jonas by his mail and drew him close to her. “Listen to me very carefully. I am going to let you go and you are to go straight to the king’s camp.”

“No! I’ll be executed for disobedience!” the boy shrieked in fear as he tried to get himself out of Emma’s grip, afraid that he had escaped death from the black knight, only to be killed by his own people.

“You won’t be,” the Sheriff replied calmly, waiting for him to settle down as she looked into his darting eyes. “You just say that they left you in the middle of the night, disappeared from the camp and you waited at the castle for days, however, you didn’t know what else to do, so you came back. They’ll believe you.” And, as soon he understood what she was telling him, the boy calmed and nodded, as he had known it had been only a matter of time before the men returned to their unsavory ways, bored with the watching post. “You will not speak of what happened here, or you will regret the day you have laid your eyes on me.” Her voice suddenly got colder and more menacing, causing him to lose all his color. “Am I clear?”

“Ye-es,” Jonas said softly.

“And, then, if you feel comfortable, you can see who feels the same as you about this war…” she offered a suggestion, almost as if joking, but she knew that the game she was playing could very well end with his life on the platter. However, throwing dissent in the lines of soldiers in front of the keep could only help her cause. Releasing the boy, she set him down, expecting him to run away, but he looked at her with something akin to awe as he settled his armor in place.

“The Queen, some people said she was evil incarnate,” Jonas offered conversationally, as he packed his things, throwing his glances in Emma’s direction. “And that her servants were nothing but heartless thugs.” He added, surprised not to get any reaction from the person beside him. “But, I don’t think that’s true,” Jonas then spoke softly, almost afraid to voice the thought, not looking at the black dressed knight beside him.

“What makes you think so?”

“I don’t remember the Enchanted Forest having a queen that ruled her domain alone, and I think that people were afraid of the change, of possibility of the women being in charge, so they made her seem more evil than she was, because they considered her dangerous.” He spoke quickly, barely breathing in between the words. “And, there is the whole magic thing. She didn’t need armies to protect her, nor the strongholds or keeps, she had herself – and that too was unusual, especially because no one could assassinate her, and take her down from her seat of power.”

“Interesting,” Emma said, considering his thoughts. Of course, she knew that Regina had done some truly despicable things and that her knights more often than not had been thugs and some had been heartless, but the whole Evil Queen had been somewhat exaggerated if someone took the whole context into account.

“Are you from the village?” the boy asked gently, seeing the faraway look in the green eyes that just minutes before had made him freeze with fear. “Is it true – she and the Savior were lovers, and she is now away?” he continued as he saw the knight nod.

“They never said it outright, but I think so,” Emma answered, staying in the character of a black knight. “And, she will come back. For the Savior, at least.”

“I don’t want to be in the king’s army when she does come back. When she learns that he has sent the Savior to her death. I’d rather you kill me now.” Jonas replied honestly, as he put his things on his back, nodding in greeting to the black figure in goodbye. He had grown up listening to the tales of horrific and vengeful feats the Queen had committed in the name of her fury toward Snow White.

“Jonas!” the blonde called out to him. When he glanced back, she stepped closer to him. “If you help us, help her, she will spare your life – I will vouch for you.” Emma offered to him, willing to give him at least some kind of reassurance.

“I thank you, kind knight,” the boy answered gently, not believing her, but whether he didn’t believe in the black knight’s honesty, or her chances of survival Emma wasn’t sure. She did not try to convince him of either, sending him off with the trademark greeting of knights, her fist upon her heart, as she watched him smile sadly at her, before he climbed atop his horse and went away.

Emma watched the boy soldier ride away, leaving her behind, alone in the camp, her heart filled with concern for the young man, as he was clearly one of the ‘good guys’ but in a very bad situation, with no easy way out. The Savior cursed the war, as she had done time and time again, since the beginning of her exile, for it was destroying what was left of the Enchanted Forest, its kind people included. And the young men who were supposed to become knights were forced into an army to fight a mindless war, where surely innumerable lives would be forever lost. Shaking her head with the helpless sigh, Emma turned around and sending the remaining horses away, free of their burden, she made sure to hide the things that had been left in the campsite in case someone came to check.

Walking toward the stone covered pathway to the front gate of the Dark Castle she greeted silently the black horse waiting for her, patting her mare’s flank with newly formed affection that was returned in the form of a gentle push against her chest with the dark forehead, as she guided Shadow toward the entrance of the familiar building, murmuring softly nonsensical words into the horse’s neck.

After she was completely sure that there was absolutely no one around but her and her horse, Emma allowed her magic to rise within her, the soft buzzing trickle of it still causing the uncomfortable tingling in her body, and unlocked the protection spell she had left on the place and opening the heavy door, she slipped inside, guiding the mare along, not caring that the horse was tracking mud and dirt all over the marble floors of the entrance hall. The minute she was in, though, she closed the door quickly and reinitiated the protection of the place, taking Shadow to the cleverly hidden stables through the Castle halls, rather than the open courtyard, afraid to leave any traces visible for the eventual spies that the witch might put to work around the Dark One’s former home.

Finding some leftover grains and hay in the abandoned stables, Emma brought food to her horse, filling the trough with fresh water, as she watched the black mare decimate the feed with gusto. All the while she moved around the empty stalls, looking for things that she might need, the blonde talked to the noble steed, wondering aloud if the mare would let her place a light saddle on her, or a bridle. After a detailed search of the place, Emma unearthed a simple leather saddle with shiny iron stirrups, along with a fancy black bitless bridle, that seemed to match the dark coat of her horse. With those, she also found a dark wool blanket, obviously used for padding under the saddle. Bringing it all next to the stall where Shadow was, Emma stood next to the black horse, and taking a brush from the shelf beside the stall, the Savior took care of her ride. First, the thorough brush down and checkup, using all the memories Regina had on caring for the noble animals, then cleaning the tack and reassembling it to see if it matched Shadow’s size, and if the horse was comfortable with it. Then, after she received an approving neigh from the intelligent beast, Emma pulled a warming blanket onto Shadow, promising to be quick in the castle and left.

As she walked the halls of the place she had spent hours and hours in, studying and preparing for her task, and later for her disappearance, Emma was gripped by a strong feeling of longing followed by the pictures of her family brought up in her mind, tearing her up from inside, and seizing her lungs making it impossible for her to breathe. A startled sob rose from her throat as she placed her hand on the wall, trying to hold herself up as her face was suddenly awash with tears. Another shuddering sob pierced through her and she felt her control snap, disintegrating as it had never existed in the first place, and all the emotions she had been suppressing these past several days gushed out of her, overwhelming her completely as she slid down the wall and curled into herself, weeping hopelessly into her hands, all the anger, the pain, the longing, the desperation, the fear, mixed into one overpowering tide, destroying everything in its wake. The memories, her own and Regina’s, flew through her mind, reminding her of everyone and everything she missed, she wanted, and each moment of her past that had been tied to her family that passed before her mind’s eyes only served to remind her that she was completely and utterly alone in this world devastated by war and wickedness, her dreams and remembrance providing enough picturesque proof of it. Emma Swan of the past, of the years before Storybrooke, would be perfectly able to cope with this solitude, but the Savior had tasted what being a part of a family meant, she had learned what loving and being loved in return felt like, and going back to the old and emotionally poor Emma was not only impossible but outright inconceivable.

Nothing better to drive the point that you are alone than fighting the armies around you by yourself, Emma thought to herself, as she took a moment to restore her breathing to normal levels by the techniques she had learned from Mulan. Her cheek was resting on the hard stone floor, feeling each groove in the rough surface, as her hands were clutching her knees to the chest, each breath of air causing dust to swirl in front of her face, leaving her mouth with a shuddering hitch, while she tried to calm herself down after the ravaging storm she had endured. After the crying jig she had, she felt empty and dizzy, a pounding headache, making it almost impossible for her to think.

Up, she urged herself. Up, up, the word ringed in her mind, forcing her to move, to stand, giving her strength to continue as a mantra for this moment, to overcome this hurdle. Get up, she said to herself once more, moving her limbs stiffened by the time spent on the hard ground. Unlocking her arms, and straightening her legs she slowly pushed herself up, first to her hands and knees and then, with the help of the wall beside her, she righted her body, wincing at the cracking sounds coming from her back and shoulders. The headache eased somewhat but Emma knew that she needed water and food, and also she needed to gather what she wanted from this place and move on, as the time, as always, was of essence. As she had left her pack and cloak in the stall beside the one she had placed Shadow in, with the only source of food and water there, she decided to finish first with her search before going back and taking a small break.

Stumbling into the laboratory, the Savior walked on her shaky legs toward a small hidden panel in the corner of the room and took out a small wooden box, roughly the size of the heart chests Regina and Cora had used, and opening it, the blonde was pleased to see the vials she had secretly stashed away still there, replenishing and healing potions orderly placed in the container. She hadn’t used the ones from her sack yet, but as she thought she wouldn’t be coming to the Dark Castle again during the war, she thought to take these with her as well. But, before she left the room, she took the case holding the remaining cursed fire bombs and placed it into the hiding place, not willing to risk anyone finding it, in the event of breaking the spells she had placed over the castle. Nor did she want to take them with her, her principles not allowing her to use them against people, as she had too much death on her conscience already. Ignoring the pain of her body, she placed undetectable wards over the hidey hole in the back wall, destroying any trace of it ever existing.

Going through the library, she searched for the map stitched on the treated leather, specifically as it would endure all the rough conditions she expected to befall her in the future. In her pursuit she came upon the small booklet filled with tactics and formations the Empire soldiers used, and deeming it necessary, Emma took it along as well.

Coming to the stables, she was not laden by many things, and carefully lowering them down on the ground beside the saddle and the rest of the tack she had prepared, Emma took her own sack, and started packing. Having unearthed a particularly durable saddle bag with two side pockets and several accompanying satchels, the blonde economically packed her things, making the necessities more approachable than the rest of her cargo. At last, she finished with the organization of her things, managing to make the size of her backpack twice smaller, filled only with her clothes. The rest of it was placed in the saddlebags and the weaponry was left aside to be placed on her back.

Finally, she sat down and broke her fast, eating the last of the food the dwarves had provided of her and drinking plenty of water, looking up at the horse that lazily munched on the grain glancing toward her from time to time, as if it understood perfectly that Emma needed space to reassemble her composure, but, knowing what she knew of the Camelot horses, it was quite likely that Shadow more than understood the Savior. So, when she rose to her feet, she patted the wide forehead of her noble companion in assurance that she was fine, getting a roll of dark eyes that for some reason reminded her of Regina’s unbelieving expression so strongly that she chuckled, unable to help herself. “Yeah, yeah, I know,” Emma murmured to the horse softly, “but, it’s the best I can do.” In answer, she got a nuzzling on her neck, before Shadow neighed gently.

Gently placing the tack onto her mare, taking care with each strap, buckle and twine, and making sure to put the saddle blanket underneath the hard leather, Emma talked to the horse, explaining what she was doing with each move she made, easing her companion into it, quite aware that this was the first time for the steed to be wearing such contraption. Then, after she was done, she looked for any signs of discomfort on Shadow. Getting none, she placed the bags and satchels behind the saddle, including the sack filled with feed for the steed and the cover blanket for Shadow. As soon she was done with burdening the horse, she placed her weapons on her person, the sword and the crossbow going on her back, over the cloak she had fastened. Looking down at herself, she made sure that everything was in its place, the mail hidden from sight, and then she called upon her magic and changed some of the features, her hair turning several shades darker, making it brown, and her jaw getting more defined. She did not feel comfortable with obscuring herself completely, and with the widely recognizable blonde locks gone, she was satisfied with her mask.

Having already taken out one of the vials of energy replenishing potions, Emma took the reins and guided Shadow outside, all the while she used her magic to first lower then restore the wards she had put over the place. At the gate, the Savior closed her eyes, using the newly found knowledge of magic to place a new set of wards over Rumplestiltskin’s former home, just like she had done with the Queen’s castle after she had brought the wolves to this side of the mountain range, wanting to be completely sure that no one, but her, could enter the premises of the Dark One. Feeling the drain and pain of the magic, she removed the cork of the vial in her hand and drank it, feeling the easing properties right away. Not wasting any more time, she jumped onto Shadow’s back and, under the cover of the falling night, she urged the horse to go on, directing her toward the last known location of the preacher with the group.

The black horse flew over the freshly fallen snow, thundering down the neglected road toward the abandoned town on the coast, before turning inland toward Prince Thomas’s kingdom, darting as an arrow, quickly through the land, making Emma’s eyes water from the punishing wind in her face, the brisk air burning the skin on her nose and cheeks, the only visible parts of her face, despite the fact that her head was bowed down, almost reaching the animal’s neck. Luckily, she had anticipated the speeds her horse was capable of, so the Savior knew how to counterbalance the force kicking her from the front, nearly flattening herself over the shoulders of the powerful steed, and using the shortened stirrups to ease the jostling from the storming gallop the horse used. Emma’s hands were gripping the reins but she did not tug on them, instead bringing her fists onto the mare’s lower part of the neck, gently twining her fingers with the mane whipping in the wind. When she was sure in the knowledge that she would not be unseated from the horse, the Sheriff relaxed and finally allowed herself to enjoy the powerful body under her and the speed the world was passing her by. Regina had been right, Emma thought, as she felt almost like she was flying, untethered to the nature around her. The rhythmic pounding over the frozen ground created a steady beat that brought the Savior into a trance-like state, where her head was cleared of all thoughts, worries and pressing issues and only feelings and senses remained, the adrenaline coursing through her body, making her heart pump hard and fast. Her whole body was vibrating with the motion, rejoicing in the illusion of freedom that the ride provided.

All too soon, Shadow slowed down, going into regular gallop, then lazy canter, allowing Emma to get used to the change of pace before slowing down even more as the black animal approached a river, a strip of darkness surrounded by the snow covered shores, the water too fast to be frozen over. Looking around, Emma tried to guess the location of the second river, guided by the sound of hustling water, as she couldn’t see anything in the darkness of the night. Dismounting, the Sheriff took the reins and slowly started walking to the left, hoping that the loud noise of the water signaled the mouth of two rivers, and that the camp was near. After several minutes, she came upon the second body of water, pleased that her guess had been right; all the while she paid attention to her surroundings, using her instincts and ears, not willing to be ambushed. Following the water closely, she came upon abandoned hearth, cold and with the fresh snow around it, covering the tracks of many people that had traversed it. The camp had been left, a while back, but if the information the chief dwarf had given her had been current, and he had assured her that it was, the men hadn’t moved on before the morning of that day.

With a heavy sigh, Emma used her foot to clear the snow from the hearth and the place around it, deciding to settle in for the night, as she could not track the group properly in the darkness as she didn’t want to use magic, and she didn’t want to lose them in the forest.

“Well, I guess we are staying here,” the Savior spoke lightly, glancing toward the mare. “Stay here, girl, I’ll go get some wood and perhaps some food for me…” Emma tied the reins onto the saddle to prevent Shadow from getting caught on a random bush or a branch, before directing herself into the forest. If she was lucky, she would be able to snare a rabbit or something else of the kind, if not, she would try the river in the morning. Still buzzing from the potion, she didn’t plan to sleep much, but catching an hour or two of shut-eye wouldn’t hurt. Picking a good place for a trap, Emma used the knowledge Ruby had taught her only weeks before and went on in search for enough kindle to last her till the dawn. Bringing a full armload of wood to the hearth, she quickly assembled the fire, lighting it with a rock and her knife, in the move Snow had taught her on their previous journey to the Enchanted Forest. While she waited for the blaze to take, she unsaddled Shadow, leaving the bridle on, but placing the cover blanket over the huge horse. “You hungry, girl?” Emma asked as she fiddled with the sacks, arranging them to serve as somewhat comfortable bedding. Receiving a denying neigh in response, the Savior sat down, taking off her cloak, making herself comfortable beside the fire.

With the gentle sounds of crackling fire and the breathing of the horse standing nearby, Emma was lulled in a sleep-like state, where her body and mind were resting while her senses remained sharp, paying attention to everything around her. It wasn’t as restorative as a good and proper night of sleep but it had to do, since she couldn’t drop her guard. Too many creatures existed in the darkness of this world and the Savior was sure that even the tenants of these realms didn’t know each and every one of them. It was bad enough that the trolls and ogres roamed the wilds, but the danger of manticores and other magical animals driven feral with hunger by the curse and subsequent desolation was more that real, but looming over any traveler who dared to leave the protected walls of their dwellings.

After two hours of resting, the Sheriff rose from her place and stretched, silently remarking that she was already used to sleeping on the hard surfaces of convenient spots and that her body didn’t protest much against the rough conditions, having been conditioned to the grueling life demands of the lost child in the streets. With a sigh, she looked up and saw the Moon lighting up the sky and hiding the stars with its brightness, and leaving the cloak beside the fire, Emma stepped softly toward the trap she had set, in order to check it if she had caught something to eat.

The first thing she heard when she approached her snare was the soft whining sound coming from many mouths, and then she saw several lumps on the snow covered ground. As she came closer, under the light of the Moon she recognized the shapes surrounding her trap, the view breaking her already more than raw heart. A large white hare was caught in the snare, its body and snout lying on the ground helplessly as five younglings surrounded it, burrowing in the older one for heat and comfort, whimpering in fear. At the picture before her, casted in the eerie light of the Moon, Emma felt her throat close and any idea of food fled from her mind as she felt her eyes fill with tears from the empathy flooding her. There was no way she could harm these innocent creatures, regardless of her need for food, and as her rolling stomach objected strongly at any mention of meat, the Savior knelt down beside the animals, moving really slowly. Using her nibble fingers to clear the bindings from the hare, the woman made sure not to startle the creatures, calling upon her True Love magic, allowing the traces of it to bleed into the air, its very presence soothing for the animals, as they could innately recognize the white magic. Mindful of the risks of using magic so openly, Emma took precautions not to actively do anything with the power shoring up in her body, as well as using the True power to mask the traces of it, as she released her prey and with a gentle nudge sent them off on their way. The hare did not need convincing, hopping away, closely followed by the youngs, while Emma watched them leave her, going deeper into the forest.

Still kneeling on the ground, Emma leaned against the tree she had placed the snare by, not unaware of the irony that the situation presented to her. If the hare had been alone, she would have killed it and eaten it without a thought to its possible progeny left alone in the wild, at the mercy of other predators and starvation in the cold of the upcoming winter. But seeing the pitiful balls huddled around it, crying in the brisk night air, their snouts forming small whiffs of mist did completely change her mind, her unresolved guilt and anger for leaving Henry, and being left to fend for herself for the sake of the prophecy influencing her strongly, along with her newfound sympathy of a protector asserting itself. Shaking her head at herself, she rose and walked slowly toward her camp, lowering herself by the fire churlishly, the rational side of her loud in her head, showing her the logic and nature of the chain of food, and necessity of it in one’s survival. “I guess I am not hungry anymore,” Emma spoke sullenly after a loud sniffle came from above her, Shadow having come closer to her and looking down at her with gentle dark eyes, in an expression that on a human face would be portrayed as worried.

In order to distract herself, the Savior pulled her notebook and under the light of the blaze, she started penning down the events that had happened since the last time she had written in the leather bound book, her dreams and thoughts, as usual, included. After putting down the hare incident into the words meant for Regina, Emma paid attention to the dates she had marked in her previous entries and frowned, as she calculated the date of the next day. It was the early morrow of December 1 st , the last day of the Wolf’s Moon, and the forty first day of her self-imposed separation from her family, which meant that Regina would have another batch of beans in something more than two weeks, at the earliest. Two weeks before the love of her life appears in the middle of the raging war, endangering her life and presenting a target to the witch if Jonas had been correct. Fifteen days…

As soon as she came to those numbers, the sense of acute panic gripped the Savior. She was out of time, and she couldn’t waste any more. Carefully packing the notebook away, she jumped to her feet and hurriedly, packed up the things, saddling Shadow in the matter of minutes. Sparing only moments to make several torches, she lit one of them and snuffed out the fire, taking the reins into her free hand and started walking, following the barely visible tracks under the snow, going in the direction of the group she was searching for, using the torch to light her way, everything else forgotten, forced aside by her fear and anxiety, her need for time pushing her onward through the night.

In the light of early morning, the Savior came upon a still warm fireplace and the obvious camp that had been abandoned not long before, and the woman smiled, finally feeling the anxiety that powered her through the night and forced her on ease. Not stopping for a moment, she continued, pleased that the tracks were easier to follow as the snow hadn’t yet covered them. It took her another hour to get closer when the tracks suddenly vanished, stopping in the middle of a forest.

Damn it, she swore silently, her right hand going instantly for the sword as she looked around. She was watched, that much she knew but whether they were friendlies or not she couldn’t discern on her instincts alone. Releasing the reins, Emma reached for one of the long knives she had placed in the front of the saddle and drew it, her eyes constantly searching the trees around her, unbothered by the hood or the scarf across her face at all. Understanding her gentle nudge, Shadow moved away, letting the woman stand alone, while the Sheriff settled her breathing down, and closed her eyes – Mulan’s words guiding her as she expanded her remaining senses, listening for the sounds that didn’t belong in the forest, for another person breathing or shuffling in place, the creaks of the forest floor, letting her own body sense the danger inferring out its presence.

Suddenly, she heard a screech coming from above her, joined by another and yet another. Looking quickly up, Emma saw the creatures that the dwarves had described, that the literature of her world called a flying monkey, and seeing that they were coming straight at her, their sharp talons visible in the daylight and terrifying teeth put on display, the woman readjusted the grip on her weapons and waited for the pests to descend. Only seconds after her blades passed through the air, the sound of their fast movement created a pleasant whistle, as her hands constantly moved in practiced motions, dispatching her winged enemies quickly. However, she was aware that more were coming, joining in, trying to subdue her and kill her, two more joining the pile on the ground after several economic swipes of the sharp blades. The remaining two suddenly fell from the sky, as the piercing whistles of arrows screamed through the air, the simians falling at her feet.

Savior’s body whipped toward the approaching men, ready for the attack, as she watched them suspiciously, counting them as they came forth from their hiding places, frowning at the number of arrows and bolts pointed in her direction. A man stepped forward, leaning onto his longbow, his posture relaxed while he was dressed in the green and brown forest garb, his face covered in dirty blonde scruff, his blue eyes watching her curiously.

“Consider those a warning,” the man spoke conversationally, glancing down at the arrows sticking out of the corpses of the downed monkeys. “Magnanimity, and all that,” he added with humor, before coming a step closer. “Now, who are you, good sir, and why are you following us?”

Emma smirked at the man, her left hand going to her dark scarf, pulling it down as she shrugged off her hood, revealing her face and waiting for his reaction. “I don’t give my name just to anyone,” she spoke, her smirk still obvious as she watched the men falter as they realized that they had a woman in the sights of their weapons.

“Milady, apologies,” the leader spoke again. “But, you haven’t told us why you are here.”

“She is the king’s spy!” came a shout from behind her, but the man fell silent at the cross look from the leader.

“I’ve never heard of a female black knight before,” a huge man with dark curly hair, closest to the two of them, spoke, his stature reminding Emma of Anton. “But, perhaps she was mistaken for a man all along…” the dark haired man finished.

“What is your business with us?” the man spoke, directing her gaze at her once more.

“Well, I figured that you are not part of Midas’s regiment, or the Empire, since you are here.” Emma spoke putting in the disdain she had for the enemies, seeing that she had the front man’s attention. “I am looking for ways to help Prince Phillip with the siege.”

“A Queen’s Knight on the side of the good?” The disbelief was quite obvious in the leader’s voice.

Emma huffed in amusement at his scowl, putting her sword back into its scabbard, mentally reminding herself to clean it later from the black oozing blood of the creatures. “Ever heard of the saying ‘As goes the captain, so goes the ship’?” Seeing the confirming nod coming from the man, the Savior continued. “The Queen has allied herself with the Savior, and left us at the White Knight’s disposal. As the Savior had perished in service of the people of Safe Haven, our duty lies with Prince Phillip.” Her voice was assured and strong, portraying the truth, well mostly the truth seeing that she was still alive, but it was hard for her to obscure that fact, and she could see that her explanation and her resolute tone was enough to convince the people around her. The leader whistled softly and the men relaxed, lowering their weapons, as he walked closer to her, extending his arm.

“Well, then, we welcome you.” Taking Emma’s right forearm, he gripped it in greeting as he inclined his head. “I am Robin and these are my Merry Men.”


	13. Chapter 13

“Locksley,” Emma murmured with a chuckle, not even surprised to find another book or a movie come to life in front of her. Having met the Sheriff of Nottingham in Storybrooke, she had reasoned that Robin Hood had been true as well.

“And, may I learn your name, or will you only be known as a black knight?” Robin asked her with humor again, still holding her arm in his, but his grip firm and demanding.

“Nolan,” Emma supplied quickly, internally rolling her eyes at the name she had spoken, but going with it, for it was a good name, as any other. “You may call me Nolan.”

“That’s a man’s name,” one of the men spoke, coming to the two of them, his eyes passing over her in scrutiny that was only steps away from patronizing, causing the Savior to focus on keeping her reaction in check. It was not the time to act rashly, as she was want to do, for it would blow her cover and hurt her cause dearly.

Emma looked at the newcomer and raising her eyebrow at him, she leaned her head to the side. “It’s my father’s name, the only thing I have of him beside blood.” Well, that was true as she had nothing of David’s with her. But she did not need anything, because she knew that her father loved her, and for a child, later woman, who always yearned for a family, that was enough.

“It’s a strong name,” another man added passing by them, nodding to the woman in greeting. “A name of the champion. May you serve it well.” He said, before gesturing something to the leader and quickly stepping away.

“Nolan it is, then. Now, come, we have work to do.” Robin led Emma toward a small ledge. “The simians you slew were the vanguard of the approaching convoy of soldiers providing support for the King’s army.” Gesturing toward the caravan traveling down the neglected road in the distance, the carts obviously heavily loaded with supplies, a small regiment of Empire soldiers guarding it. “We have been intercepting their supply chains,” he explained as he gave a signal to his men.

“But, as much we destroy, we cannot match the steady growth of power they send out each time,” the second in command, Little John, added as he sidled beside them, his look passing over the convoy from the vantage point. “Each time they increase the number of soldiers accompanying the cargo.”

And, so it was, as the Savior watched the caravan come closer, more than a hundred soldiers surrounded it, all dressed in the familiar red lined armor, with pointed helmets on their heads. Amidst the fallen snow, the row after row of synchronized people stepping forward, their weapons clanking in rhythm of the march, the black, red and bronze of their armor mixed well with the colors of the forest – the Empire soldiers presented a magnificent picture, one that would make Emma almost fawn in awe over it if she were watching it for entertainment value, as Macy's parade. However, it was her enemy, her highly trained, more than well-equipped enemy that threatened to crush her friends and obliterate the people of Safe Haven, and all feelings of awe and admiration were substituted with grim and grudging respect.

“We can at least slow them down,” Robin murmured to himself, glancing toward John, their silent communication not comprehended by the Sheriff in between them. “Give the order,” the man added grimly, as he prepared to rise up and lead the attack on the convoy. However, a black gloved hand landed on his shoulder, stopping him in tracks.

“What are you doing?” the Savior asked, her eyes narrowed and piercing the leader of the Merry Men. She had quickly understood what he had been about to do, throwing his life and the lives of his people away in the frontal attack on the much stronger enemy – a mistake that he had been about to make, because he had been used to confronting small caravans, not guarded with so many men, and robbing empty places. These weren’t soldiers and had no discipline of one, and that would be their downfall, Emma thought as she waited for Robin to answer her, or at least push her away in indignation. “You’d get killed,” she said firmly, knowing that a thirty strong group of ragtag thieves was no match for hard professional soldiers of the Empire, especially not in the direct assault Robin was about to instigate.

“Well, what do you suggest then?” John asked from behind her. “Our arrows cannot pierce their armor from afar,” he complained.

Emma smirked at the purely childish pout on John’s face and shook her head at the men, allowing her defiant attitude to surge forward, giving her a commanding and authoritative edge, the side of her that still felt relatively new to the Savior. “Do you need the cargo?” she asked, her hand still on Robin’s shoulder, waiting for him to catch up to what she was implying. “Do you want it to survive the skirmish?”

“No, we want it destroyed, so Midas can’t have it,” the dirty blonde man answered as it was the most obvious thing in the world, making the Savior smile at him. It was the indulgent quirk of the woman’s lips that clued him in on the misstep in execution he had kept making, used to preventing the damage to the valuable things of the people they had been attacking. “The cargo,” he spoke quietly as it came to him. “We attack the cargo, not the men.” He nodded to Emma in gratitude, before turning to John and two other men that had come when he had lifted his hand. Leaving them to adjust their strategy, the Sheriff walked away, wiping the long blade with a handful of snow she had picked on her way.

She came to Shadow and leaned her head against the forehead of her noble horse, breathing out softly. In several minutes the men would flock down onto the convoy, and most likely she would be among them, so she needed a minute to herself, just to breathe, to empty her mind, and if she could, her heart. The price of being the Savior, even if no one here knew who she really was, was steep and Emma was paying it every day. And, it seemed that she was paying it with her conscience, among other things. And after that day, her dreams would only get worse, making the Savior dread the next nightfall – but in a perverse sense, Emma was glad for it, because as long as she was bothered by the killings she had to commit, there was still something left of her goodness, goodness that she had started to doubt in the hours she had spent alone.

When she heard footsteps behind her, Emma moved slowly away from Shadow’s head and placed the knife into its scabbard, taking her crossbow and sword off her back and placing them on the saddle, before she took off her cloak. With nothing there to limit her moves, the Sheriff took back her sword and placed its belts back onto her shoulders, drawing the blade out to clean it. Only then she looked at the person coming to her, and she had a strong suspicion of who it was. Proven right in her assumption, Emma raised her eyebrow in question at Robin, while she grabbed another handful of snow, rubbing it over the tainted steel.

Understanding the questioning gesture, the leader started explaining the plan his men and he had come up with, all the while watching the mysterious woman in front of her. She did seem to be in the service of the Queen, the respect she portrayed while speaking about the monarch was evident, but she was unlike any other black knight he and his group of men had ever met, as all of them had been callous and violent, wearing those obnoxious helmets. The woman hadn’t flung any insults at them, she hadn’t disparaged them or considered them a bunch of idiots hiding away in the forest. Instead, she guided him toward the safest way of doing what they had intended, in the short time they had, gently and only with a few pointed questions, not asserting her supremacy as a soldier who had probably spent some time at war against Snow White and Prince James, only offering another solution. And, judging by the quality of the leather things on her, the leggings and the tunic, the woman was one of the higher echelons of people in the Queen’s service, which meant that she had been a highly valued member of the Queen’s court. So, if she was truly trying to help, and Robin wholly believed that she was, the woman would be a useful source of knowledge and experience.

“The thing is, we need a distraction, something to make them stop,” the leader finished his explanation, looking at the woman pointedly, making Emma chuckle at not at all subtle imploring.

“How far are they?” she asked, sheathing her now clean sword in its place on the back as she walked by him to the rest of his men. When Robin remarked that they were a couple hundred yards away, she told him to gather the strongest men and start chopping down one of the trees as close to the road as possible, but as quiet as possible as well, having remembered the story Snow had once told her.

“We have cutter blades, they should do the work,” the man said, directing four of the woodsmen, pointing them to the man wide tree right beside the road, after a turn in it. “But, if they see the tree falling, the first thing they will do is search the forest,” he added softly, only for her benefit.

“No, if the people attacking the convoy are already in front of them,” the Savior replied just as softly and tapped two tall and corpulent men to come with her, one of them dark skinned suggesting the blood of Agrabah in him, while the other having a bearing of an experienced fighter, or at least brawler, and while she walked down to the road, she learned their names. The man of Agrabah was Nasir, while the blonde blue-eyed brawler only called himself Much.

Emma quickly explained what she wanted to do, reattaching her scarf to her face, making it cover her hair as well. Walking close to the road, she stood right in front of the place where the tree was supposed to fall, Much joining her holding his quarterstaff, waiting for the first men to appear out of the bend. And, just as the vanguard came close, the creak of the falling timber could be heard before the large trunk slammed into the ground, frightening the horses and startling the men. Using their commotion, Emma climbed onto log and crossed her arms, as she watched the Empire soldiers defiantly, Much leaning on the trunk with leisure, fiddling with his staff and Nasir joining her up, his crossbow ready. The Savior saw several of the soldiers trying to pacify the berserk horses, the carts in danger of being overthrown, while the front men drew their weapons having seen the three of them standing in front of them. With a quick shouted order, the rest of the men not busy with the animals prepared for an attack, their attention focused to the front while their eyes darted perfunctory over the shrubbery surrounding them.

Finally one of them walked up to the three and with his sword drawn, and Emma recognized the captain marks on his shoulder, meaning that he was in charge and that this was a battalion of one hundred men. “Just because one is insane, it does not spare him of his death,” the man spoke calmly, his implied threat clear.

“But it does make him unafraid of his end and fearless in the face of danger,” Emma replied, seemingly not bothered by the number of people in front of her, knowing that her devil may care attitude was putting the captain on the edge, for no one could foresee how a mad person would fight and what they would do to win. “However, this need not end in death.”

“You are here to rob the convoy, are you not? What other end than death can you expect?” The man said incredulously, oblivious of the fact that more than twenty five arrows that were aimed at the five carts had just come ablaze with oiled fire and ready to be sent off to their targets.

“Rob you?” Emma laughed, jumping down from the log, her move pushing the captain away making him unsteady on his feet for a moment, as he slid in the snow covered road. “We are here to collect.” As a cat playing with a mouse, Emma started walking around the captain, making him turn in place to keep her in his sights. “You see, you are travelling on the Prince Thomas’s roads and in his name you owe us the toll.” Ignoring the chuckle coming from the blonde man with the staff from behind her as she had used one of the ploys vastly used by the Merry Men, she added. “Pay the toll, and we’ll let you cross.”

“And, if I don’t?” the captain asked, his snide attitude shining through, as his obvious incredulity at her request colored his voice.

“Then, you will not come farther,” Emma replied seriously, her voice ringing with certainty.

“You are mad! You think you can stop us?” Bringing up his sword, he stepped forward to Emma, his moves bringing the blade threateningly close to her chest, but she did not move away, nor did she flinch at the closeness of the weapon. “I can kill you where you stand.”

“You can try,” she spoke calmly, before she whistled sharply. The instant the sound traveled through the air, the whoosh of arrows descended upon the caravan, the treated canvas of the wagons catching fire immediately. The captain only needed a second to understand the situation before attacking the apparent leader in front of him, swirling his blade in a move that would most definitely decapitate the man in front of him. Well, it was supposed to, but Emma recognized the form, driven into her by countless repetitions of the moves Mulan had taught her and stepped forward, bending her knees a bit, just enough to bring her into his space, and grabbing his sword arm, she held it tight, breaking the bones of his forearm, the limp hand now not capable of holding its weapon, while her other hand went to the man’s throat, kicking him sharply in the windpipe, the crunching sound and following gurgle loud in her ears. Unable to breathe, the captain went down, his helmet falling off during his fall, uncovering handsome features of an Asian-like man, the almond eyes wide in terror and panic. However, before he could even struggle to take in the air, Nasir put a small dart through his eye, killing him instantly, stilling his trashing with the shroud of death.

At Emma’s slightly surprised look thrown his way, the man aimed his crossbow at the first of the attacking soldiers coming toward them. “It was a mercy,” he only said, releasing the bolt downing the attacker, and the Savior understood promptly. By many people’s counts, there was no more terrifying death than the death by drowning or suffocation, while the person was aware of their impending end. A mercy, indeed, she agreed.

Drawing her blade, the Sheriff joined the fighting, helping Much by dispatching quickly the three men pinning him down, giving him enough space to defend himself with his staff, the whooshing sound of the hard wood swinging through the air interrupted only with the cracks of breaking bones. Quick with her weapon, she managed to carve a path through the throng of the soldiers toward the burning cargo, and seeing that the carts were ruined, she cut through the bonds that kept the animals tied to them, setting the horses free and making them run away from the blaze licking at their hinds, running over the soldiers in their blind terror, making her job even easier. She heard and saw others join in the scuffle, the arrows and bolts unheard over the metal clanging and screams of dying men, and slowly, the Merry Men came on top, decimating what was left of the battalion. When it was over, with no more people in red standing or even breathing, Emma walked away from the massacre and clambering over the log, she stumbled into the ditch beside the road, on the other side from where she had come out of the forest before the attack, sinking into the fresh snow. Kneeling down, she let her sword slip from her grip, her hands barely holding her up as she dry heaved into the undisturbed snow, the rolling sickness rising from inside her. She glanced down and with a frown noticed drops of blood sinking into the clear white, the liquid coming off her leather, not yet congealed, forming an outline of her form in the canvas of the forest floor, the picture doing nothing to ease her rolling stomach.

Dropping herself down, she sank into the foot high snow and rubbed it over herself, allowing herself a moment of apparent insanity, grimacing at the amount of pink going through her fingers. She would need to clean her clothes properly and she couldn’t do it in snow, so she gave up, the grim defeated sigh coming out of her. As she climbed out, she glanced back and saw a four square yard patch of pink and red disturbed snow surrounded by the pristine white. Her shoulders slumping, she walked toward where her horse was, leaving the others to deal with the burning carts and bodies of the slain soldiers, needing to be away from the smell of burning flesh and blood in the air, away from the deeds she had just committed in the name of the good.

It wasn’t long before several men of the group found her and patting her on the back directed her to follow them toward their new camp, ignoring her sullen features. Walking beside Shadow, the Savior watched the men talk about their feat and the black knight’s assistance, her grim expression stopping anyone from bothering her with a well-meaning question or a ribbing comment. The apparent boasting of the people around her bothered the Savior, clearly still not used to the fact that such wars, and slaughters were part of everyday life in the Enchanted Forest and that it didn’t present much shock to the people who had grown up in these lands, and that they would behave like it was nothing but a friendly match of football.

They reached the camp and Emma saw that several men and women were there, tending to the food and drink, having created a comfortable atmosphere for the returning men. But, it was a young boy that startled her by his sudden appearance, jumping out of pile of blankets with a happy screech and running toward the leader of the group, his excited exclamation of ‘Papa’ spreading through the forest as he was lifted up by Robin and twirled around, the man laughing with him his love for the boy more than obvious to everyone around, making her think of the kid she had at home, and his new sibling, the one she was surprised to find missing, even after knowing him only for several short days. Letting his friend spend time with the child, John made quick introductions with the rest of the Merry Men to Emma, making a pointed remark of her allegiance each time he would present her to a new face, making the people around her turn instantly suspicious and wary of her presence, but the woman didn’t mind the distance, choosing a place for herself slightly away from the main fires, not ready to participate in their community, deciding to occupy a small niche with a fire pit all by herself. The scrutiny she would endure for being one of the infamous knights would serve her well because not many would dare approach her and it only served her to ease her nerves, not needing to invent stories and anecdotes of her supposed life.

The afternoon passed in laughter and hearty meal with stories and songs exchanged merrily, reminding Emma of old films of Robin Hood she had seen as a child, the joyful and deceptively carefree environment unnerving her, making her feel out of her element, as her skin crawled with barely hidden judgment. It wasn’t the laughter or the merriment that was so strange for her, it was the fact that the men seemed to shrug off the battle of the day as if it hadn’t happened at all. And, then the first tales of the ambush were spoken, the words artistically weaving the story that drew the people in, even though most of them had witnessed, and participated in the very event the man was speaking about, and Emma listened, finally remembering why had the man’s name sounded so familiar to her. The man John had called Alan was Alan-a-Dale, the minstrel of the group and apparently a very talented bard, his ability to paint mind pictures with hushed whisper and gentle timbre enticing even the Savior, the permanent scowl and frown at the celebratory laughter easing from her face.

She had closed her eyes and leaned onto the saddle she had taken off her steed, letting the story awash over her, making the events of the day seem like a vivid story she had heard before, rather than her own memory. She didn’t mind pretending, if it would grant her some moments of peaceful sleep, unmarred by the dreams of guilty consciousness.

“Don’t mind them, knight,” a voice came from above her, as Robin lowered himself beside her into a cross-legged seat , offering her a bowl of food and a skin of something that smelled suspiciously like a beer. After she looked at him with her impassive face, her confusion shown only in her eyes, he waved at the men huddled around the bard. “They are still holding on to the belief that winning a fight is a cause of boasting and celebration, especially if they are on the side of good. They haven’t had a chance to be disillusioned with the war, and learn the wisdom that follows the hard choices of warriors.” And, Robin could see that the woman before had suffered through her share of hard choices, her glower at the brash boys of his company only one of many indications. But, he had seen her fight that day, quick as a shadow, deadly as a curse, expedient and precise, downing enemy after enemy, with such poetry of motion with her sword, showing skill that even the men of the Empire, the best warriors of the Realms seemed to fear and envy, gravitating toward her, attacking her mercilessly and falling from her blade, almost surprised to be killed so quickly. By the time the fighting stopped, Robin had seen that the unusual knight had downed more than a third of the battalion by herself, her clothes covered in the blood of her enemies. But, unlike his men, she didn’t show any of the exhilaration of victory nor the excitement of the fight. Her green eyes looked around in pity and disgust, before the emotions had been hidden under an unapproachable mask as she had walked away from the cheers. And, it had bothered him, because it hadn’t been the behavior of the black knights he had heard stories about. But, not only that. It bothered him because it shamed him. It made him fill the sting of disgrace for rejoicing at the death of so many, for feeling glad that he had been part of it, of fighting, part of the winning team, and part of celebration.

“There is no wisdom in war,” Emma replied after a moment, her voice flat, her eyes focused onto the meal she had been offered, her spoon going through the oatmeal. Seeing no point in continuing the discussion on the subject, she ate slowly, feeling the scrutinizing eyes on her form and face, as Robin was not the only one watching her with interest. Alan had finished his story by now and the people were intrigued by their guest, the soft whisper spreading through the camp.

“Perhaps not,” the Prince of Thieves reluctantly agreed, knowing that the knight had seen more of the wars than he had ever had, judging by her skill alone. “You are not what I expected, I must admit.”

“I have ways of surprising people,” Emma said, for the first time something like humor tingeing her voice since he had met her, before she stuffed the spoon into her mouth.

“The black knights I have heard about, and met, were callous and vicious, enjoying their assignments and power. But, you, you are different.” He had to mention her behavior, so different from the others, so unusual to witness from someone in the service of the Evil Queen. However, no person would declare them in the service of the Queen if they hadn’t truly been hers, for the association with the Evil Queen was not likely to inspire trust or amicable reception. He had expected a comment or a defense, but the woman beside him remained quiet, eating in silence, as if he hadn’t even spoken. Accepting that she would say nothing on the subject, the man sighed, considering whether he should push or simply leave the woman be.

“When people hear about the black knights, they have this idea in their heads, the image that is true – for most of the time – because it portrays the Heartless,” Emma spoke softly after a while, as she lowered the now empty bowl down. She glanced toward her host, before she pulled the cork of the skin in her hands, offering him the first sip. “But, there are we, the ones who have offered our hearts, lives and loyalty willingly. We also are the knights in her employ but used for more… delicate matters. Some say that we are the worst, because we follow her willingly, while Heartless have no choice.” Retaking the drink skin from Robin, she sipped the home brewed beer, relishing in its slightly bitter aftertaste, as she watched the minstrel pick up his lute, her attention drawn with the soft notes spreading through the evening air. “In my line of work, you quickly realize that there is no glory in war – only death,” she added softly, her words a belated answer at his comment from the beginning of their conversation.

Just as the man beside was about to ask another question, Alan’s clear voice passed over the camp, his gentle tone beautifully following the sentimental tune he was playing on the lute, the words perfect for the melancholic mood of the evening, as the people wound down, getting ready to rest. It was the last verse of the song that stayed with Emma that evening, the haunting pitch of the bard enhancing the power of the words tenfold: ‘ _ As darkness looms, a dream of hope blooms on this winter’s eve _ .’

Not so long ago, Emma had been attributed as the personification of hope, her status as the Savior being the burning beacon for the masses of Storybrooke and Enchanted Forest. And, what made the words seem prophetic was the darkness did loom over the Enchanted Forest, the blight of war and terror covering it from shore to shore. It seemed only fitting that, once more, when people needed hope, salvation, she was there, put in place by Fates, the duty of making the necessary spark heavy on her shoulders. A dream, indeed, she groused quietly at the words of the song, as she knew that it was up to her to resolve the situation with the Empire, and preferably before Ariel did her part of the deal.

As Robin wished her good night, having seen that he had lost her attention for the evening, Emma took out her diary out of the saddle bag and started writing, wanting to put everything down while she still could, as she never knew when she would have the time next. Under the influence of the song, Emma wrote her lines, as if she was talking with Regina herself, pouring her heart out into the pages of her journal, explaining everything that had happened during the day. Under the light of the fire, she penned down her thoughts, before she focused onto the book she had taken out of the Dark Castle, searching for new insights on the Empire. Only when the whole camp quieted down, everyone but the posted guards sleeping did Emma settle down, closing her eyes, hoping she would manage to grab a few hours of uninterrupted sleep, as she turned to her side, covered with the blanket. She knew that even if she was in a deep sleep, her steed would guard her, the sensitive horse more than capable to watch over her.

Woken by a rustle of leaves in the predawn breeze as the fires had gone out, Emma sighed heavily, flexing her shoulders to ease the stiffness from them. Judging by the still burning coals in front of her, she had slept only for three or four hours, but alert and wary, she knew that she wouldn’t be able to go back into oblivion that night. Slowly, with care not to wake up anyone, the Savior gathered her things and saddling her horse, she walked to the direction of river, not going far from the camp, thinking of doing some time practicing the forms her friend had taught her, as well as getting rid of the rank stench of blood that had seeped into her clothes. As she came up to a small patch of the river bank, cleared from trees, judging the distance from the camp enough, Emma released Shadow, leaving her to sip the water lazily, while she brought up her magic, mindful to keep it cloaked, as she took off her weapons, having only her sword in her hand. Closing her eyes, she felt the thrum of power vibrating in her blood, directing it toward her clothes, her orders for it heeded immediately, as she no longer sensed the rancid smell of the carnage from the day before, her leathers smelling of the pine smoke and fresh snow.

Satisfied with the cleansing, she started going through the forms, keeping her eyes closed and her senses widely focused on her surroundings, feeling her limbs limber up and the tension knots ease up, as her mind wandered, considering her next step, thinking how to approach the army. In a whimsical thought she even remembered the Marbh Teine she still had in her pack, an errant idea of detonating it in the army’s main camp becoming tangible before she discarded it with a pang of disgust, the rolling hiss escaping her at the thought of becoming similar to the beast she was fighting – the enemy she had deemed evil. She may have turned a killer, but there were still lines she wasn’t willing to cross, even in desperation to win and save the people she cared about.

Having finished with her exercise, she opened her eyes and smiled at the two people watching her from the small hillock on the bank. She had sensed them approach a while before, but as they hadn’t disturbed her, she hadn’t stopped with her motion, letting them watch as she placed some flare in her moves, slightly showing off. She had heard the boy’s excited chatter as he would exclaim in awe as she had fought imaginary enemies, not heeding the gentle hushing from the dark man keeping watch on him. But, as soon as she looked up to them, Nasir lifted the boy into his arms and stepped toward, holding the gushing kid close to him, still wary of the female knight before him. He had been, and still was, in awe of her lethal skill, having witnessed her demonstration the day before, judging her cold and fearless. But then he had seen her reaction to the people celebrating the kill, his perception of the killing machine before him changing. However, it was the gentle indulgent smile offered to a child that had him confused. The woman before him had been flabbergasted with Roland’s presence in the camp, her expression turning pensive and yearning for a moment before turning to stone, the previous scowl etched firmly in the lines of her face. Nasir had been the closest to the knight, and the only one positioned to properly see the minute expression flicker, he had been sure that he had been the only one to witness it, getting him a unique insight into their new ally.

He watched as the woman lowered herself onto her knee the minute he allowed Roland to walk away from him, waiting for the boy to come near her, her face alit with a gentle smile, that somehow seemed out of place on the woman’s face, and yet very practiced, almost as if she hadn’t done it in a very long time, but used too, quite often at that. “What is your name?” he heard his charge ask the knight, approaching her with no fear as only children were capable of.

His eyes focused onto the knight’s face, he did not miss a flicker of deliberation pass through her powerful green eyes, as if she was thinking if she should indulge the boy with a real answer, or just give him the one she had given the Merry Men the day before. “I have many names, sweetie,” she murmured, as her eyes passed over his dark features, soaking the innocence he was radiating. But, when the boy frowned at the non-committal answer she sighed. “Eirwen,” she added after a while, making Nasir lift his eyebrows in surprise at the very old name, the one traditionally given to royalty of the Realms. It did make sense in a way, the Agrabah assassin concluded, for the innate authority the knight possessed was not one earned through rank and experience, but born of conviction and blood.

“Can you teach me how to dance with a sword like you?” the boy asked, oblivious to the startling silence radiating from his keeper, but Emma had seen the man flinch at the mention of the name she had picked for herself, immediately thinking that she had made the wrong choice of going deeper into the elaborate con she was running. But, after a second of scrutiny she saw his eyes dim in confusion, not suspicion, so she sighed in relief, returning her attention to the cute little one in front of her.

“Maybe when you get slightly bigger,” Emma replied seriously, her hand tickling the boy’s belly, the move she had seen Regina do time and time again with Henry and Kyle. “It is very hard,” she added, glad to see that the beginning of his pout disappeared in a gleeful chuckle as he stepped back, running away from her searching fingers. The curious boy then wandered off to her horse, the intelligent beast mindful of the little one before her, as Emma rose to her feet, knowing that the assassin would make a comment of sorts.

“Not many noble women become knights,” the dark skinned man spoke, his eyes darting between the woman beside him and the boy currently patting the huge horse’s head. “In fact, it just simply isn’t done. The scorn of the society alone would be an incentive to keep away from such a fate.” He turned toward her, with a curious look in his brown eyes. “What could have made you choose such disgrace?” Not that he thought that being a knight was a disgrace, but royalty simply did not lower themselves in such ways, always choosing to be in the positions of power, not of obedience.

“The first time I even touched a sword was to save my son,” Emma replied absently, offering a plausible explanation and very true fact, hoping it would sate some of the man’s inquisitive mind. “It was my father’s sword and I had to kill for the first time, fighting to save my own flesh and blood, for there was no one else there.” Apart from Regina, her mind added, flashing back to the moments spent in front of the elevator in the library under the clock tower. “I simply hadn’t put it down since then.”

“Where is he?”

“Under the protection of the Queen, away from here,” Emma said, as she walked toward Shadow, taking the reins and lifting the boy into the saddle, having noticed his attempts to climb up the stirrups. “Hold on tight, sweetie,” she added to the boy, placing his small hands onto the straps beside the saddle to help him keep his balance as the mare ambled on at a steady but slow gait.

“So, you serve, in exchange for his safety?” Nasir said, his question sounding more like an observation than the real inquiry, his assumption of the Evil Queen quite obvious.

“The thing is, assassin, her Majesty would not see him harmed, no matter what I do or don’t,” Emma remarked with a smirk, her pointed comment cutting. She had no doubt that the words they shared would be retold to the Prince of Thieves the minute they reached the camp, so she carefully considered what to say next. “I serve, as you said, because I believe in her, and because she has earned my loyalty and respect.”

Nasir nodded, recognizing the end of the discussion for what it was, his opinion of the knight changing yet once again. The woman before him was a mother, a fighter, a person of noble blood, an enigma. The knight was not what she seemed, the assassin was sure of that, but he couldn’t say that she was an enemy, or a spy, but rather someone he would be honored to fight alongside with, as he already had. As they walked back into the camp, he took the boy of the knight’s horse and went to find his friend and leader, needing to report on the woman he had been ordered to watch over.

The next two days passed too quickly for Emma, as she still didn’t know what to do next. The Merry Men went on attacking another smaller convoy of support caravans, but they all knew the futility of such endeavors since the might of the Empire’s army was coming at them, and in the hours they had been engaged in the second battle, they learned that many more had passed right by them. Keeping to herself, Emma participated in the fight, but stood aside when they were recuperating or celebrating the fact that they were alive to fight another day. The only company she suffered willingly was the curious boy who demanded stories of her, the man of the cloth who would often make her snicker with his boisterous claims and well placed mocking puns about the men and women of the camp, making Emma appreciate the friar’s candor. She could see his good heart and will to help; she had even seen him sneak off to send word to his friends in the hidden mine. Robin would often walk up to her, inquiring about tactics or something completely unrelated to their situation, making their time less fraught with nervous energy, intermittently broken with levity of child’s humor. Only one more person deigned themselves willing to spend their time with the knight, only now it wasn’t in the watcher’s capacity but as a grudging compatriot, or perhaps even a friend. Despite the fact that he was reproached by his fellows for spending so much time with the knight that belonged to the Evil Queen, Nasir often spoke with the woman, his respect for the stoic warrior growing with each hour.

It was only at the twilight of the third day that a way to change the balance of power presented itself, hidden in the wake of a tragedy.

Emma felt her horse bristle beside her, as she was walking at the rear end of the moving procession, while the Men were looking for another place to settle for the night. She did not need the following thump of the black snout in her shoulder to bring her attention to the forest behind her, so she lightly touched the forehead of her steed, shushing her softly as she turned around, her eyes searching the bushes and trees around her, looking for the source of disturbance the keen senses of her horse felt. Her ever present shadow noticed her suspicion and with a designated whistle brought the leader to them, while the others continued on.

“What is it?” Robin asked, his bow ready in his hand, as he passed over to Nasir. With only a gesture toward the knight, the assassin led the man to the woman, careful not to make any sudden moves, as John joined them, his suspicion of such gathering evident on his scowling face.

Before any one of the men could reiterate their inquiry, Emma shushed them with a move of her hand as she narrowed her eyes, trying to see deeper into the shadows of the forest, her own instincts tingling now as she surmised that they had been not only followed but rather pursued, and with a large number of people, the silent wildlife of the woods giving her an approximate idea of the direction from which the threat was coming from. Climbing to a low hanging branch she let her senses stretch, as she consciously ignored the sounds coming from the men walking on, and the displeased grumbling from the large second in command from beneath her. After several seconds she saw a glint of something passing through the shadows of the bush, the rustling leaves barely visible in the low light. Not even daring to blink, in case she missed anything, Emma saw a familiar outline of the Empire helmet peeking out of the cover of the trees, the presence of it making her swear rather viciously as she jumped down, ignoring the rather taken aback expressions of the men surrounding her at the crassness of her language. If the scout was that close to them, then the others weren’t far behind, leaving them way too open for the surprise attack. Not even bothering to plan in advance, the Savior allowed her honed instincts to take over, as they had not yet led her astray. Having familiarized herself with the Empire’s tactics and strategies the evenings before, the Sheriff had a feeling that their enemy was coming at them only from behind, following them until the proper layout of the land allowed them to be boxed in, using the numbers against the woodsmen. Her mind already swirling with the countermanding ideas, she pulled Robin to her with her fist clenching his shirt, the abrupt and violent move stopping the questions that brewed from the others. “We are about to be attacked,” she whispered slowly but firmly, her words making an immediate impact on the men around her. “Your men don’t stand a chance, unless you take them away from here, and make sure that they do not walk into a trap,” she plowed on, not even waiting for them to complain.

“And, you?” John replied with scorn, crossing his arms at his chest, trying to stare down the woman unsuccessfully. “You’re going to betray us, aren’t you?”

“What I am going to do,” Emma pushed through her clenched teeth as she released Robin from her grasp, turning toward the irritating oaf, her mind to deck him hard to the ground half made, “is to provide you with some additional time.” The proclamation she made as she turned away from them, her hands going to weapons at her belt forced Nasir and Robin to surge toward her, too slow to actually reach her but their move did not go unnoticed, as Emma turned toward them offering a tired quirk of her eyebrow. “Go, protect your people,” she told the leader before her soft clack of the tongue brought Shadow next to her, as she continued on toward the position she had seen the scout.

The rustle behind her told her that the outlaw had listened to her, and perhaps it was the warning enough to save the Merry Men, for she had no intention of laying her life for them, not when there were so much more important things to do. It might have seemed rather callous of her, sacrificing forty people for her own survival, but she had excused it with the fact that if it hadn't been for her, Robin would have thrown their lives at the Empire caravans anyways. But, it didn’t mean that she wouldn’t do what she could to help them out.

Taking the bow of the saddle, throwing the quiver over her shoulder, Emma climbed to another tree, satisfied with the vantage point, as it would allow her to take at least some of the men before coming too close to engage in a face to face attack. Satisfied that she could no longer hear the chatter from the people behind her, she notched the arrow, pointing the weapon toward the place where she had estimated one of the men would appear at. However, it was not her arrow that caused the scout rising from his cover to topple down, dead in the blink of an eye.

Glancing down, she shook her head in exasperation as she saw Nasir and another of the Merry Men with their weapons notched and ready for the second volley. On the other side, Robin and John stood, the long bows in their hands presenting a glorious threat to the soldiers daring to attack them. “I told you to go,” she said from her position in the crown of the tree as she raised her head, focusing onto the people roaming the woods in front of them.

“You told me to protect my people,” Robin answered, his easygoing tone belying his focus as he released arrow after arrow into the forest, each of them true, the whistle of the silver tipped missiles unmistakable in the rustle of the shadows. “That is what I am doing.”

“And, the others?”

“Tuck and Arthur are quite capable of taking care of them for the time being,” the Prince of Thieves answered, before he motioned to John to pay attention to his flank, as the soldiers approached them with their swords and crossbows ready. Emma used her somewhat covered and elevated position to take care of the sharp shooters aiming at her fellows, her thoughts inanely counting the number of the downed soldiers, adding the tally to her already bloody list of dead. But, the counting didn’t only serve as her conscience’s torture tool but as a guiding force as well, for she had recognized the pattern of the attack her enemy was using, and that particular swarm would work if there weren’t too large numbers of soldiers executing it, so in her estimation about two hundred of Empire warriors had been set upon them, and now only two thirds of it remained.

However, as she jumped down, ready to engage in a sword fight with the rapidly closing attackers, a loud shriek pierced the air, signaling the presence of the hated flying pests, making her grind her teeth. Of course, nothing could be easy, she groused as she looked around to assess the situation. “Take them down,” she heard Robin shout at Nasir, while she slashed with her sword and one of the long knives, mowing down through the throng of the soldiers, and immediately after she heard the twangs of bow strings, no doubt the assassin following his order.

However, it was not enough. As soon as the soldiers realized that there was no chance for them to overwhelm the warrior bringing so many of their comrades down, they sounded a retreat, the horns blowing reverberating strongly through the forest. The flying monkeys screeched loudly in defiance of the order and four of the remaining ones swooped down, too quick in the darkness of the night and grabbed Robin and John right out from beside Emma and the two others who were too occupied with the remaining stragglers. Realizing the distraction, the Savior growled and in a bout of anger, the firm control over her magic, always thrumming in her blood, slipped and it fueled her hands, overpowering the men surrounding them as she cut through them as they were nothing but a weak weed in her way, dispatching with the ones keeping Nasir and the other one busy. Immediately after the assassin was freed from the struggle, he reached for his bow aiming at the disappearing shadows in the sky, but the woman stopped him grimly. “You’ll only kill them too,” she said in explanation, before she turned toward the other one. “David, right? Go to the others and tell them what happened.” Savior spoke quickly as she whistled, using the red cloak of one of the dead soldiers to wipe her blades before placing them at their scabbards. “I am going after them,” she said shortly as she mounted her steed, offering her hand to the assassin, knowing that he would want nothing more than to help her in rescuing his leader.

“Keep an eye on Roland, David,” the assassin spoke grimly instead of goodbye, as he threw his leg over the back of the mighty animal beneath him, not saying anything more as he watched the young man rush toward the others, taking his orders rather seriously, especially in light of losing their chief.

“He is not losing his father just yet,” Emma mentioned as a reassurance before she clicked her tongue, directing Shadow to pursue the winged beasts, loosening the reins. “You better hold on,” she cautioned, bringing one of her hands behind her and reaching for Nasir’s reluctant arm she placed it over her belly, ignoring the stiffening of the man behind her, her serious countenance breaking with a light chuckle as Shadow surged forward in a breakneck speed, startling the assassin, forcing him to throw his both arms around the rider in front of him, making Emma chuckle heartily at his terrified squeak.

“Oh, the almighty spirits, save me!” he mumbled into her back, as the black mare developed such a speed over the grounds that it seemed as if they were flying themselves. “What sorcery is this?”

“I did warn you,” Emma spoke gently as she searched the skies for their prey, knowing that the Camelot-born under her would have no problems keeping up with the simians that had taken the two of the outlaws. Finding them wheeling off deeper inland, toward the Forbidden Fortress, the Savior hummed in consideration, as she realized that leaving the place unchecked apparently was a mistake. However, Maleficent’s old domain was not too far, especially not on the back of the racer with the magical blood, so she decided not to use her magic in transportation just yet, already wary about it from the earlier uncontrolled use, as she had not only used her magic in anger but with the clear intent of murder on her mind, and it worried her deeply.

“They had never done that before,” the man behind spoke after having some time to acclimate to the rapid pace Shadow traveled with. At the knight’s absent minded murmur, he brought himself closer. “They usually kill their prey or scout for the others, but I have never seen them kidnap anyone before,” the assassin elaborated on his comment.

“Taking the leaders of the group was a clever thing to do, especially if taking them alive would garner some information on them,” the woman said with some detached quality to her voice, as if she was commenting on the waves of the sea. “Which would only suggest that the monkeys are smart creatures, not only blindly following orders, but capable of making their own decisions.” It was the voice of a commander, hashing out all the information before formulating a plan, the dark tanned man realized, perturbed with her capability to seemingly turn off her emotions and consider things coldly and rationally. He did understand that the great leaders were supposed to have such ability, but it didn’t make it any less unnerving to witness – especially after seeing what the woman before him was able to do on her own, with just two blades in her hands.

Gently guiding Shadow over the slopes of the hillocks, Emma summoned the memories Regina had about the layout of the place, needing it for the advantage. It was only luck that the former Evil Queen never had too much trust in the blonde witch, having researched all the weak points of the lonely castle in the mountains, anticipating the need to attack it at some point in the future, as it now gave the Savior the much needed edge in their approach, especially being able to use the underground tunnels for it, obscured by the cliff growth. With unexpected grace in her steps, she dismounted off the horse and patting its head, she whispered softly to her companion, aware that the intelligent mare understood much more than anyone really knew, before she picked her things of the saddle, placing them over her shoulders, keeping a torch in one of her hands. Then, she turned toward the dark man, her face composed into an empty mask, while her eyes flashed with determination, a short shrug with her shoulder gesturing to him that they should move on. Striking the hilt of her knife along the stone wall of the hidden entrance, she lit the torch and ducked under the thick cover of the climber plants, disappearing from the view instantly.

“How did you know about this?” her companion asked softly, following her in step, his surprise quite evident in his accented voice.

“Queen Regina made a point of knowing everything about her allies,” Emma replied, leaving her answer vague on purpose, not willing to delve into the magical memories and lies she would have to invent to cover up for it. With her status as Regina’s trusted knight, the simple supposition that she had been part of the Queen’s research endeavor would do much more than anything she could think of. But, even as such, the memories she had looked up were not perfect, as Regina herself had not walked these underground tunnels and halls, but she had known about them from plans and scouts’ reports, making orientation somewhat trickier for the Savior, her attention fixed upon the small guiding marks across the slime covered walls, her every step careful and measured, expecting a trap sprung after each one. With a glance back, she warned the assassin to be quiet and to follow her moves perfectly as she walked on, deeper into the belly of the castle, her knowledge of the fortress telling her that the path would take her to the lower bowels of the keep, where the dungeons were placed.

Slowly, they managed their way out of the secret passageways, and passing by the cells she noticed the large number of slumbering soldiers resting in the compartments, all stripped of their armor and weapons. Not even slowing down to investigate, Emma frowned at the conundrum it presented to her – was the Empire an unwilling ally to the witch and Midas, or these were the mutineers that were too valuable to be executed in short order? Quickly, she slinked off to the barred gate leading into the main part of the building, careful not to let any sound be created by her motion. Finding some of the soft wires on the nearby guarding post, left unattended for the moment, Emma fashioned the burglar’s tools out of them with practiced ease and dealt with the lock with the speed of an experienced thief, aware of the scrutiny from the man standing behind her – knowing that her behavior was mighty confusing for him, as he had already considered her to be a royalty turned knight – both casts purportedly guided by honor, but the knowledge of the less savory trades would put a wrench in his idea of her.

Using the shadows of unmanned halls, Emma guided them to the center hall, the place where surely the captives would be interrogated, mindful of the winding turns of Maleficent’s home, unsure of the proper directions. It was Nasir that helped her stir through the confusing corridors, her eyebrow rising in unexpected resolution to her problem. “We were here before, I still remember the way,” the assassin spoke softly, quickly explaining their attempt to rob the witch in the years before the Curse, which ended with one of the newest members of Merry Men betraying them and disappearing off to an unknown world. Working with his knowledge of the halls, the two of them found the place they were looking for, and despite the castle itself seeming empty of the guards, the center hall was roaming with people and simians alike. But, what drew Emma’s eyes was the presence of mirrors at the dais, where once the throne used to stand, and one of the men, dressed as the Empire general was conversing with them. Only when she reached a better scouting position did the Savior see the person in the mirror, realizing that it was most likely the famed Wicked Witch. From her place, the knight could only see the flaming red hair and a patch of green skin, as the rest of the form was hidden by the portly build of the soldier in front of the mirror.

There, in the middle of the room were the two she had set out to find, bound to the floor with chains, kneeling in front of the dais, surrounded by the four Empire soldiers standing on guard. Further away from them, stood another row of soldiers, Emma counting more than twenty of them along the each wall, making them sixty in total, along with a dozen of the winged animals perched around the podium, and then, beside the dais were several more men, bound and gagged, looking immensely more haggard than Robin and John, their features depicting them of the Asian-like origin, Emma connecting them with the soldiers in the dungeons. After taking the full scope of the room, the Savior called upon her magic to see if there were any nasty surprises of that kind waiting for someone to spring the trap, but either the witch was too lazy to secure the place she wasn’t at, or she had never expected anyone to be daring, or as Regina would suggest, foolish enough to attack the despised blonde witch’s keep.

As she didn’t have time to engage with each and every soldier in the throne room, only to risk the lives of the men she had come to save, the Sheriff decided to unveil herself, or at least to use her magic in securing her victory, but luckily, she remembered a pouch of the fairy dust at her belt, the gift from the dwarves coming handy at this moment, as it could be used to make a powerful sleeping gas, along with the potions she still had in her possession, and yet postpone the inevitable reveal for just a bit longer. Ignoring the inquiring looks from the man beside, Emma quickly rummaged through her pack, taking out the vials with the sleeping draft out of their protective covering, and along with the addition of the alcohol from the wine, and the dust, the Savior smirked to herself, as she clearly remembered stints with the stinking bombs made in chem labs at schools she had had the pleasure of attending. Using one of water skins she had glimpsed in her previous scouting, the Knight mixed up the solution, corking the skin before some of the gas escaped its confines, explaining to Nasir in hushed tone what it was supposed to do, gesturing to him to place the scarf over his mouth and nose, as she did the same.

Silently counting to three, she threw away the skin, aiming for the center of the room, where most of the people were, just in time to see the liquid canister get stretched beyond its means and explode in a loud burst of noise, spreading the oddly pinkish glittering mist over the people in the room, making it almost impossible for anyone to see the intruders until it was too late, and most of the soldiers collapsed helplessly to the ground, followed by the screeching beasts toppling over their positions at the platform beside the now empty mirrors. With precise moves, both Emma and Nasir shackled most of the soldiers in the room, previously disarming them, throwing their weapons to a pile in the corner. Only when the room was secure, did the knight even cross to the Prince of Thieves and his second, using the blade of her sword to cut the bonds from their limp bodies, leaving waking them up to Nasir, as she jumped toward the general passed out at the dais, trussing him up instantly, having previously searched his pockets and jaw for hidden poisons or means of escape, judging that the information he would be able to provide her might more than just valuable but essential. Then, she pulled him down, closer to the Merry Men, before she walked toward the other prisoners, kneeling in front of a still handsome but obviously malnourished man, who had suffered the most out of the five men lying unconsciously in front of her. His build portrayed him as a hard and wiry warrior, living the way for many years, as Mulan would say, the naked torso showing the finely defined muscles, still visible even after the poor treatment he had received at the hands of his captors. And, there on his left shoulder was a tattoo of a red Imperial dragon, drawing Emma’s attention to the other prisoners, realizing that all five of them had the same brand, the mark of the Imperial Guard, the best of the Empire’s best. Following her hunch, the Savior exposed the general’s shoulder and seeing the pristine skin instead of the tattoo, the idea of the mutiny of the soldiers in the dungeons had suddenly more merit.

The sounds of awakening thieves brought Emma to them, trusting that her traveling companion had already checked them for injuries, and she was pleased to see that apart from the scratches gained from being in the hold of the simians, they were unharmed. Robin was the first to come to, his clear eyes latching onto hers in surprise after he had seen the aftermath of the pink haze that had enveloped him. He did not speak, for there were no words to express his gratitude, or wonder at what she had done, so he only accepted her hand to get back onto his feet and patted her shoulder gently, letting the silent gestures speak for him. Pulling down her shawl, she allowed her lips to quirk in a barely there smile in response. Right beside him, John watched her with amazement, as he quietly conversed with Nasir by his side.

“Can you walk?” the Knight asked softly, her eyes passing over the room vigilantly. Hearing the confirming murmur, she motioned for them to start toward the door, as she went back to the Imperial Guards, nudging the man she had examined first awake. But before the man even opened his eyes, the Savior felt awakening of the power from behind her, where the mirrors were standing, alerting her to the imminent danger as she straightened up, turning toward the dais, her sword ready.

A woman appeared in the centerpiece of the mirrors, her flaming hair falling down her shoulders, offsetting her grass green skin that for some reason did not detract from her beauty. The minute her eyes grazed over the room the expectant expression turned to rage, the icy blue eyes finding Emma’s green ones almost immediately, the seething edge in them seeming familiar to Savior for some reason.

“Who are you to dare to enter my dominion?” the woman sneered at Emma through the glass, her darting eyes deeming her inconsequential.

“Someone who knows this place doesn’t belong to you,” the Savior answered flippantly, her jibe meaning more than just Maleficent’s castle. Adding insult to injury, she relaxed her posture, as if there was no threat around her.

“Do you even know who I am, you ignorant girl?” the witch leaned into the mirror, still not crossing over, even though the desire to eliminate the obstinate woman before her was clearly portrayed in the flashing pale blue eyes.

Emma placed her glove covered hand onto her chin in a mockingly thinking gesture and frowned. “Let me guess, Bastinda? Theodora? No?” She smirked at the fuming woman, but oddly intrigued by her own desire to learn the name of the villain, the first two she had spoken being from the book and movie depictions of the Wicked Witch. “Elphaba, then?” she asked at the off chance that the Wicked had gained more accurate glimpse of the truth than other works.

“My name is Zelena!” the woman screeched in indignation, her tolerance of Emma’s antics at the end.

“Such a letdown,” the Savior murmured to herself, shaking her head. “So, what? You are the Wicked Witch of the West, and if I am not mistaken, you are far from home.”

“Oz was never my home, just a place I was sent to,” the witch replied before visibly collecting herself. “So, you know who I am, but who are you?”

“Does it matter? I am going to stop you.” Emma saw the interest glint in the woman’s eyes. “And, didn’t Dorothy kill you already?”

Zelena laughed, her head thrown back in an expression of amused glee before she focused back onto the knight before her. “Oh, please, you sound just like Glinda.” Then the redhead smiled viciously at her audience. “Really, dear, why would a bucket of water kill me?”

It was the use of the dear that made Emma frown, as the somewhat erratic behavior of the woman in front of her reminded her of Cora and her first adventure in the Enchanted Forest. Shaking her head, thinking that she was seeing connections where there were none, she returned her attention to the conversation at hand, prepared for anything she could think of. “Because you are allergic?”

The Witch chuckled, before her eyes found the green of Emma’s, narrowing in the sudden realization about who it was standing before her. “You!” the woman exclaimed sharply as her eyes danced over her chin and the recognizable color of her eyes, the familial marks clear for someone who knew what to look for. “You are supposed to be dead!”

“Yes, well, here is the thing,” Emma said as she climbed the three steps of the dais, coming closer to the mirror. “I rarely do what I am supposed to,” she spoke with a shrug, her hands going up in a careless motion. “It often works just fine for me, because it gives me some unpredictability.”

“Oh, my, aren’t you a clever girl, Savior…” the witch commented snidely before suddenly a heart appeared in her hand, with such a startling speed that Emma had thought for an instant that it was just pulled out of somewhere. “But, if you think I am going to let you gain something from my men, you are seriously mistaken,” the Wicked Witch said, squeezing the glimmering lump in her hand, her motion followed by a shuddering death rattle from the general lying on the ground, his skin going deathly pale as soon as his heart turned to dust. “Enjoy the spoils,” Zelena commented and suddenly every glass surface exploded, shards flying toward Emma, guided by the witch’s magic as the mirrors’ surface rippled before the shards from those followed the others.

If it weren’t for Emma expecting something of such sort, the remaining people would have been shredded to pieces with the guided missiles, her included, as her face was unprotected. As it were, she honestly imagined their conversation only ending in an explosion of some kind, so she kept her magic close to the surface, ready to defend herself at a moment’s notice, knowing that her instincts would keep her somewhat safe. Therefore, when she had seen the glass cracking she raised her shields, enveloping herself, and the five men now fully awake, into a protective barrier, placing herself in the way to the entrance door, keeping the lethal shards away from the Merry Men, not even reacting at the glass bouncing of her wards and flying around the room.

Robin and Nasir gaped at the woman standing in front of the dais, the words spoken in the room brought to them by the clear acoustics of the hall. The black knight before them was the famed White Knight, the Savior, the woman who was destined to guide them to victory, and suddenly so many things made sense, and yet so many others didn’t, for the Savior was the woman of the different world, someone who by the words of the people of Safe Haven, did not belong in the Realms of the Enchanted Forest. But, the knight had never given them a reason to believe her the odd one out, despite the strange circumstances of their acquaintances.

“So much of that,” the Savior spoke to herself with resignation, looking over the carnage in the hall, as she lowered the wards, dusting off her glove covered hands, using the remnants of her loose magic to release the Imperial Guard from their chains, as she turned over the clearly dead leader of the Empire forces.

“Your Grace,” the man Emma had seen first among the prisoners came to her in a supplicant bow, using the title the Savior had heard only the trolls use, apart from Regina that one time, making her raise her eyebrow at him in question. “I have fought against some vermin who were more than happy to tell me about a woman capable of destroying them in a blink of an eye,” the man added, still hunched over, his fist covered by his palm in front of him, his show of respect clear to Emma.

“I was under the impression that the trolls were in alliance with the Empire,” the woman commented, as she saw Robin and others enter back into the hall and walk toward her, the knowing and awed expressions on their faces telling her that the secret was out. She motioned to the man to straighten up, as she sheathed her sword.

“They are, unfortunately, but the Imperial Guard is not, and they stand with me. My name is Li Cheng, the High Commander of the Imperial Guard, and I am at your service, your Grace.” Emma saw the other four stand firm beside him, their agreement with his words portrayed in their fists reaching their chest.

Pleased that something was going her way, the Savior nodded in acceptance. “I think the rest of your men are in the dungeons. Set them free and equip them, we will set out shortly.” Emma gave her orders, dismissing the men gently, as she walked to the huge hole in place of the former panel of glass looking over the small mountain lake, her eyes directed toward the clear stars of the pre dawn skies.

“I was about to come here and ask you why did you lie to us, but then I realized that you did mostly tell us the truth,” Robin spoke softly as he came to stand beside her, a step away in deference to her status. “Even the name you gave us was a clue to your true identity – as Eirwen Nolan could be literally translated to ‘White Knight’.” Taking in the silent woman beside him, he caught a glimpse of longing in her eyes, before it cleared into a sharp gaze focused into the distance. “But, surely you know by now that we, that I can be trusted, Savior?” he insisted, crossing his arms at his chest.

“Trust is a luxury I cannot afford to have,” Emma murmured, her eyes still lost in the distance. “And, it is not like a name would change much, Robert of Locksley,” she added pointedly, glancing toward him before sighing, her hands going to her back. “Under the curse, Prince Charming was David Nolan.”

“And, yours?” Robin asked slowly, accepting her point for secrecy. “What is your name?”

“Is it really important, as long as you know I am the Savior?” the woman asked absently, her voice suddenly seeming tired and detached, before she turned away from the view, leaving him behind, straightening her shoulders as she walked by the other two who inclined their heads in greeting, John finally showing some sense of conformity toward the woman, if only for learning her true title. She inspected the room, seemingly not perturbed at all with the sight of her prisoners slashed to death by the ravaging glass, not expecting to find any survivors, but deeply inside her she mourned for the pointless loss she had witnessed. “Search the place, see if you can find something useful,” she ordered before leaving the grand hall, needing to act quickly as her reveal would undoubtedly put some events in the motion, needing to speak to Rumplestiltskin, and for that she would need privacy. Emma rushed to the top of the highest tower, her mind lazily commenting on the need to summon the vast fields of the thorny briars, her own tribute to the Disney classic. Shaking her head at herself, she turned toward the east, and when the first rays of the morning Sun grazed her face, she closed her eyes, feeling the warmth of it as it was a physical touch, the moment in time not unlike like the time Regina had brought her to the Tri-point, the gentle caress of the light soothing her heavy thoughts.

With the light on her face, she allowed her magic to rise once more, enveloping her completely, as she initiated the transportation spell, directing herself to Rumplestiltskin knowing that he would be up with the first light without a doubt.

Using her newfound magic abilities, she appeared in a room that was closest to the man she was looking for, masking her presence with a cloaking spell, as the first sound she heard coming from the man was a slightly bored ‘What do you want, Zelena?’. Drawn to him because of the name he uttered, Emma looked over and saw the old imp leaning heavily on his cane while he looked into the mirror hanging in the living quarters of his suite, the oval glass hanging on the wall opposite to the terrace door, the now familiar face shown in it.

“Is that how you greet your best student, Rumple?” the Witch spoke with a fake pout. “My, my, how the mighty have fallen… What happened to you, Dark One? Your precious Regina messed up the Curse?” Even though Emma had spoken to the woman only a short time back, she could already recognize the envious spark in the woman, mixed in with anger and spite, and that made a horrible combination. And, the fact that the woman knew Regina and Rumple only promised another headache for Emma.

“As a matter of fact, she performed admirably,” Rumplestiltskin spoke genuinely, his candor only enticing the woman further in her scorn, as he thought back to his daughter and his son. “And, again, what is it that you want?” he added with a bored sigh, his cane tapping over the stone floor, using his every ounce of experience in deal making to keep the façade before the dangerous woman in front of him.

“I want to offer you a deal,” the woman said. “I can make you the Dark One again, if you join me.” She made a flourishing motion, so much reminiscent of his trademark flick, thinking that the sole mention of his old power would be enough to sway the man out of his allegiance to the Savior.

“You found the keys to the Dark Vault,” the former imp commented uninterestedly, while his insides trembled in fear for the power to access the Dark Vault should not be given to anyone, least of all people yearning for more power, as he looked down at his nails. “What makes you think I am not where I want to be?” he asked with a sigh, his mask intact, but his mind already turning, searching for a way to contact Emma, to find her and warn her about the newest villain, one that he had known once intimately.

“This? This is what the greatest dark wizard is aspiring to be? A pathetic and weak cripple?” Zelena sniffed at him in disgust before she flicked her hand. “No matter, the offer is made. But, I warn you, I will show you no mercy if you stand against me.” Then she threw him a winning smile, something wicked glinting in her eyes. “As I showed none to that girl of yours. Pity, I thought she would’ve given me more of a fight.” With that she disappeared from the mirror, her cackle heard as the mist took away her form, and only then Emma saw Rumplestiltskin react, and his skin getting paler by the second, the news of supposed demise of the Savior hitting him hard.

“Boy, isn’t she a piece of work?” Emma spoke, deciding to come out of her hiding, her voice startling the old man immensely, that his cane flew out of his hand while he reached for his chest, letting out a strangled rattle as his eyes found the body the voice belonged to.

“Miss Swan!” Rumplestiltskin tried to put some firm rebuke in his breathless tone, but the startling effects of her sudden appearance still plagued him and he only limped to a chair, crashing down listlessly, shaking his head in dismay. Then he looked up at her, his eyes gentling at her presence and he lifted his hand, wordlessly calling her to him, the oddly weak move making Emma kneel before his chair, suddenly worried for his health. “Emma,” he gasped with the pleased edge in his voice as he touched her cheek gently. “You’re here.” Then he shook his head, confused. “What are you doing here?”

“I had questions about our newest friend,” the Savior spoke, her head gesturing toward the mirror as she lifted herself into the seat beside the man, shifting the weapons to make her position more comfortable. “I figured you would know who she was,” she added but her eyebrow was raised pointedly, intuiting that there was much more to the story.

“Does she remind you of anyone?” Rumple asked, his heart finally managing to calm down, after seeing the evidence of Emma not being destroyed, as the woman herself was sitting right beside him.

“As a matter of fact, she does,” the woman said, but not adding anything more, waiting for him to continue, aware that she didn’t have much time to go back to the others. And, it was the morning of the day of the supposed joint attack, and Emma really hoped Ariel would keep her word.

“That’s because she is Cora’s firstborn.” Rumple stood up and walked toward the pitcher of water, absently thinking that a glass of whiskey would suit him better at this moment. “I knew that leaving her alive was a mistake,” he murmured to himself as he sipped the cool liquid.

“Wait, what?!” Visibly taken aback by the news, Emma gaped at the man. “That is Cora’s first born? But, I thought Regina was the only child?”

“So did I, at the time of her conception. Only later, when Regina was already on her way of becoming the Evil Queen did I learn about Zelena and Cora’s deception. It was then that I learned that my power of precognition was not as good as I hoped.” He turned toward the Savior and leaning against the side table, he frowned. “The raw power in her was like nothing I had felt before, but the time in Oz actually helped her focus it. Too bad that her psychological strength was not up to snuff.”

“Are you telling me she is insane?”

“Aren’t we all?” Rumple replied philosophically, but then he shook his head, not capable of labeling the woman as such and leaving it like that. “Her issues stem from abandonment, not unlike your own. But, she uses it to fuel her anger and envy, making her rather… unpleasant to deal with. And, if I am not mistaken, the main focus of her anger and jealousy is Regina, the sister that got to stay with Cora.”

“She really has no idea about the woman, does she?”

“You are a lost child yourself, Emma. Isn’t any kind of a parent better than no family at all?”

The Sheriff understood his point. Children of the system often accepted the crappy people for their parents because even the idea of having someone was better than being left alone, in the group homes, abandoned time after time. Logically, she knew that it wasn’t true, but a tender heart of a child still harbored the romanticized notion of a family, and would do anything to belong to one, no matter what kind. “Does Regina know?” she asked, needing to know more.

“I really don’t think so. It was one of Cora’s most guarded secrets, and I found out only because Zelena searched Regina out and I happened to find her first.” He sighed once more, his hand rubbing his chin as he thought back to the woman’s offer. “However, that particular story can wait for just a bit longer. The issue here is her ability to access the Dark Vault.” For a brief moment in time his voice held a wistful note, before he shook it off, afraid of what it meant for him.

Emma recognized his fear and also she noticed that he was intrigued by the offer, the realization making her scowl at him as she rose to her feet, bringing herself to her full height, stalking toward him, her eyes glinting dangerously as she reached for his tunic, leaning into his face. “You cannot seriously think of accepting it?” she hissed at him, lifting him up by the cloth on his chest, her low simmering anger strong enough to fuel her body without magic. “Are you going to actually betray your family again and choose power over love?” The overwhelming terror she inspired in the old man made his sputtering ineffective at answering her question, as he grabbed her hand. “Are you that much of a coward, Rumplestiltskin?”

And, it was the shame of that one word that had marred his whole life that brought him back, freezing out the seductive thoughts of being the Dark One once more, seeing the Witch’s ploy for what it was, an entrapment and a way of controlling him. “No,” he murmured against Emma’s hold. “I’ve learned from my mistakes,” he spoke clearly as he grasped her shoulder, gesturing for her to set him down. “Just needed a reminder,” a whisper escaped him as his feet reached the hard ground.

“What is it that is drawing you to it?” the Savior asked, as she stepped away, satisfied with her impulsive intervention. “What is it that makes you forget about the promises you have made, the oaths you have sworn to your flesh and blood, to your True Love?” Leaning back at the wall at the other side of the room, she watched the man reach for another cup of water, suddenly looking centuries old and haggard.

“The easy solution, Emma.” His broken tone spoke more of his exhaustion than the greys that covered his temples, the tired lines carved into the corners of his face and the still gray tinged skin. “The easy way to protect the ones you love.” Rumplestiltskin glanced toward the Savior and sighed heavily, a countless number of times since the moment he had risen from his bed, the morning before. “We can see the army sitting before our gates, and we know that the minute they decide to attack, we are going to be overrun, because there is not a chance that we can withstand such numbers deployed at our doors, Emma. And, knowing that, knowing that no matter I do, the future is hopeless… It does things to you, to your integrity…”

The Sheriff leaned her head to a side, considering the man before her and closed her eyes. “She contacted you before,” Emma concluded, finally seeing the impossibility he had felt at the overwhelming odds shown to him, understanding his torture, for he had surely chosen to suffer it in silence, as the people of Safe Haven did not need more bad news. “What is it that she has shown you? The Empire? The pirates?”

“We cannot stand up to one army before us, least of all three of them from different directions,” Rumple said instead of the answer, not even commenting on the fact that she had known about those two.

“And, yet you have the allegiance of the most powerful magical being in this world,” Emma replied somewhat flippantly, making the man scowl at her ill-advised humor. “Do not think me cocky, old man, for I am far more powerful than you even can conceive off,” she warned coldly, before waving her hand, instigating the wards over the whole castle, this particular kind preventing any outside magical influence, such as the mirror magic, as well as fortifying the walls from the fire of the trebuchets Midas’s army was sure to use.

“How did…?” Rumplestiltskin’s eyes widened at the impossible show of magic that left no trace in the air, as his body tingled with the wards instituted over the castle. He might have not been the Dark One anymore and had no magic of his own, but his body still could feel the presence of it, especially at the strong signatures such as this particular one. “What did you do?”

“Buy you some time,” the Sheriff replied softly before she strode up to him, her hand reaching for his head, holding it gently, her thumb resting right on his cheek while the other fingers wove into his hair, as she peered into his eyes. “I don’t have much time, and I need to know everything you do about Zelena. I apologize in advance for any pain you might experience.” Without much more preambles Emma used the skill the Guardian had shown her and dove right into Rumplestiltskin’s mind, keeping her intrusion as gentle as possible, wanting him unharmed. In her mind, the power she was using was much like the projecting spell she had used on Pongo almost a year before, only now she did not project memories upon a surface of the dreamcatcher, but directly into her own mind, learning the whole history of the elder daughter of Cora’s that he had known in a matter of seconds. As well, she learned about the Dark Vault, deciding to destroy it at the first opportunity, for having its power at the hands of the enemies was something she was not willing to risk. The reading, as she named it, was extremely exhausting, especially because she was using it for the first time in such a way, fighting against the innate protections of Rumple’s mind, gently coaxing information out of him as she had no desire to make him a mindless husk, as it was a danger of using such magic, especially if the person tended to be slightly overzealous. But, there wasn’t only the problem of the human fragility at play, but also the rough transplantation of memories was not easily accepted by her own mind. It was far from the seamless current of memories she had shared several times with Regina, where the connection she shared with her True Love established a gentle flow, soothing as the warm water of the relaxing bath filled her up. But this link she had instigated with Rumplestiltskin was anything but gentle, reminding Emma of hail storm, the ice pelting her, stinging and burning sensation following each new memory. Perhaps the mind of the former Dark One was much more guarded than the others, but Emma had a feeling that it had to do more with the price of magic she was expected to pay.

“Rumple, I need you to…” Suddenly, the door to the private quarters opened and in stepped Belle, freezing at the entrance when she saw the man she loved captured by an unknown dark haired person, armed to the teeth, seen only from behind. But, before she could even reach for the knife at her side, she felt immobilized completely as her body floated inside the room, the door closing silently behind her. Then she saw the person holding Rumplestiltskin captive move, releasing him from their hold, seemingly unharmed but for the deeply troubled expression on his face.

“One day, you are going to tell me what actually happened to you,” he spoke gently as he looked into Emma’s eyes, seeing the green of them dull, making them seem almost gray, the sight of it making his heart break for the woman before him, as he had never seen her that much haunted, burdened with such a heavy weight, the fate of many resting solely upon her shoulders. He did not reach for her, for he knew that she would not allow him to show her any sign of pity or anything of the sort, so he only gestured toward the young woman still standing frozen at the center of the room.

“Sorry,” Emma murmured sheepishly, removing her magic and instantly Belle rushed toward them, her hands first reaching for her True Love, checking to see if he had sustained any injuries before turning toward the intruder, recognizing her friend only when brought face to face with her.

“Oh, dear gods, Emma,” Belle gushed at the sight of the Savior, her eyes filling with tears instantly at the sharply defined lines of her face, the unhealthily pale skin and dark purple shadows under her eyes. But it wasn’t her face that made the young woman so distraught; it was the detachment she saw in the eyes, barely recognizing the green orbs. The woman before had suffered enormously, all for the sake of others, and her woe was not over, not by a long shot, Belle knew. Unable to stop herself, she extended her fingers toward the Sheriff’s cheek, touching the cold skin under the bruised eyes gently, almost whimpering at the slowly closing lids, showing that Emma had not seen kindness in the time she had been away, and now the very show of it brought her pain.

The Savior reached tenderly for the hand resting on her face and pulled it down, avoiding looking into the clear blue eyes of the kindhearted librarian. She couldn’t bear the gentle touch for it would only break her, shatter her control, her composure, and she couldn’t afford that, not when so many things were depending on her, when she had so many things to do and too little time. “I need to go,” she murmured softly, turning away from the two people remaining in this world that were the closest thing to a family to her. “The Empire is not coming just yet, and you do not need to worry about the fleet,” she spoke in a whisper to hide her voice shaking, keeping her back to them, her hands clenched into fists, as she tried to reign in her desire to sink into the comfort her friends were offering – as it was too tempting to just close her eyes, forget the world outside and let someone, anyone, else deal with the wars, deaths, invasions and green witches.

“Sheriff, you need to be careful,” Rumplestiltskin cautioned softly. “What you just did… It’s not…”

“I am gathering allies as we speak, and know this, you are not alone, and help is coming.” Emma ignored the implication that her mentor was trying to speak directly about, the fact that invading someone’s mind could be constituted as a very dark magic. It was nothing she didn’t already know. Nothing she hadn’t already considered.

“Emma!”

“I will come here soon, and then I will need you to call the Council into session,” the Savior continued on, as if Rumplestiltskin had not spoken, before calling upon her magic. Then, she turned toward them, directing an anguished turn of her lips, something that attempted to be a smile but failed miserably, to them and sighed. “I have already seen and done too much of this war to come out of this unsoiled,” she spoke wisely, her comment the only answer to Rumplestiltskin’s worry, doing nothing to ease it. “Stay safe,” she murmured at last before letting her magic bring her back to Maleficent’s castle, needing the power of her will to walk away from them.

Belle watched as the Sheriff simply disappeared from her sight, without the familiar mist of her magic she had grown to expect from the transportation spell. Turning toward Rumplestiltskin, the bookworm took in his rumpled features and brought him to the closest couch, sitting right beside him, her hands covering his, as she glanced back toward the center of the room where Emma had stood just moments before. “What did she mean when she said the Empire’s not coming? And, what fleet?” Belle had known the man was deeply worried about something, however as the last day passed, he had grown desperate, spending most of his time away at the War room, pouring over the maps, the tactical approaches and what not, not even going to bed the evening before. And, the silence he offered her along with a slump of his shoulders was the answer enough for the clever woman. “You thought they would join the war at their side?”

“They are at their side,” the former imp replied softly, looking up into the understanding blue eyes. The woman before him knew just as good as him about the might of the Empire’s soldiers, and at the moment there was only one fleet worth mentioning, so he wasn’t surprised at all to see her connecting the dots. He knew the very moment she had come to her realization by the slight frightful widening of her eyes and unavoidable gulp of air. But, before she could ask more questions, he decided to tell her everything, everything that Emma had taken by herself from him, knowing that keeping his involvement with Zelena would only hurt him and Belle in the future, and there was a slight chance that the incredibly smart woman beside him could see another way of dealing with things.

The second her feet felt the solid floor beneath her, the Savior dropped to her knees, not even registering the pain the bruising collapse brought to her caps, as she finally allowed herself to absorb the knowledge she had taken from her mentor. The memories of a girl wanting nothing more but to be accepted and loved for who she was floated through her mind, along with each lesson the cruel taskmaster Rumplestiltskin had been, with each taunting remark, each mockingly giggling laugh. She had thought that his behavior with Regina was beyond reprehensible, but as it turned out he could do much worse. And, had done. That only meant that Emma now felt sympathy for the woman, a trace of compassion for the apparent villain, something she couldn’t afford right now because too many innocent lives were at stake to simply hesitate over stopping the Wicked Witch of the West. Not only the people of the Safe Haven, but all the fighters of this war, for they were forced to participate one way or the other, be it by magic, duty or simply fear.

Standing at the topmost floor, exposed to the brisk air of the morning and the warm rays of Sun, the Savior remained on her knees, sitting on her haunches, her head bowed as she allowed herself a moment to settle down. A moment to simply breathe, with nothing more on her mind but the penetrating brightness of the snow-covered slopes reflecting the light of the clear sky Sun. Moment to feel nothing but the refreshing bite of winter air on her cheeks and a soft tickle of the breeze in her hair. A break in time to simply be, not the Savior, not the Sheriff, not Emma, not a mother, a True Love, a good person, a warrior, a survivor… Just… be.

Deeming a minute of her time was everything she had to spare, Emma rose to her feet, flexing her shoulders and stiffening her spine. Using magic, she restored the original shade of her hair, letting it fall down her shoulders in unrestrained curls, and returned her jaw to its previous look, bringing back her birth given features, knowing that further deception was not warranted and it would be a relief to actually see herself in the reflexive surfaces around her.

As she walked to the throne room, she noticed that the soldiers wearing a gold trimmed black armor, identical to the red ones of the Empire, stood at attention wherever she would pass, the entire chatter stopping. She didn’t even have to open the door as one of the men opened it for her, bowing his head in respect, before moving out of her way. Still looking at the young face of the man who was obviously uncomfortable with her scrutiny, Emma noticed that the center hall had grown quiet with the sound of the heavy door moving. Nodding to the boy, she strolled in, her decisive steps bringing her to the four men standing at the dais, Li Cheng standing slightly aside from the Merry Men, dressed in what apparently seemed to be the uniform of the Imperial Guard, the gold trim well meshing with the black treated leather, his helmet in his hand at his hip. In the time she had been gone he had obviously washed and found some nourishment, as he didn’t seem like he had been captive for long, his sharp features telling her that he was ready.

“Your Grace,” he spoke, inclining his head as he felt her eyes pass over his face in inspection.

“I see that you have found your men, Commander,” she replied, ignoring his address, as she turned around to look over the rest of the people in the room. “How many?”

“Two hundred, your Grace, all battle ready,” the man said proudly, before lowering himself onto his knee, his hand going to his heart, his head bowed in supplication, every other man of the Guard following his example, moving as one. “By the rules of our ancestors, our lives are yours, your Grace, to command them as you see fit, until such debt is repaid. Our oath is sworn and our loyalty yours.” The commander spoke clearly, his voice ringing out in the great hall as he remained bowed before her, waiting for her orders.

Stopping herself from shaking her head, Emma wanted to groan for having forgotten how dutiful the Empire men and women were, but instead she placed her hand onto Cheng’s chin, raising his head to meet his eyes. “As is the way, I accept your oath and your lives,” she proclaimed releasing him, following the protocol of his people, enjoying his surprised blink as she added a blessing to his honor bound service. “Now, rise, commander Cheng, and prepare your men for setting out.” Not even waiting to see him rush to the others, his orders heard clearly in the silence of the room, Emma stepped to the outlaws, her eyes finding those of the Prince of Thieves. “What have you found?” she asked, not waiting for them to greet her, interested to learn if this castle had something more to offer. She had noticed that the bodies of the soldiers were cleared out, probably stored somewhere in the bowels of the fortress.

“Nothing much,” Robin replied, looking at the woman before him, unsettled with the distance she had seemed to put between them, not knowing if it was a comment on his behavior or something else. “Some food, weapons, pallets… A surprising number of horses, though.” He added, as he saw her nod.

“Horses?”

“Hmm,” he confirmed, and watched her glance toward him in inquiry. “There are outside pens by the forest, the latest counts are going around dozen scores.”

“You are telling me that these people had more than two hundred heads stuck in this small valley?” Emma asked incredulously, not because she did not believe him, but that she had missed to notice such a number of animals around the castle on her approach, and later from the tower.

“Yeah, I mean, they were a bit away from the walls, up to the east,” Robin said, shrugging his shoulders. The woman in front of him shook her head, grumbling under breath and waved off the topic. “What do you want with us, Savior?” he asked slowly after a moment, not sure how his question would be received. He had not sworn his allegiance to her, nor did she demand it of him, but for the moment, he was satisfied to follow her, but he did mind not knowing the next step.

“What I want?” she murmured with a mirthless chuckle before motioning for him and the others to follow her outside, as she started talking. “What I need from you is to help me end this war, any way that you can. Can I count on you for that?”

“Of course, Savior,” the Thief spoke immediately, the other two agreeing with him.

“Well, then, I need to talk to the commander and see what is actually happening in this Godforsaken country,” the blonde commented before she stepped out of the castle, whistling shrilly the second she had cleared the gate. “Get saddled up and pack up some rations,” she left them with instructions as she stepped toward the rapidly closing horse, the hooves thundering over the stone covered yard. Within seconds, she was up on Shadow, guiding her toward the majority of the roaming Guards, having seen Li Cheng organizing his troops there.

“When they said the Savior was White Princess, this is not what I pictured,” John spoke softly, his eyes glued to the black clad blonde, riding off on the darkest horse he had ever seen, her hair fluttering behind her. “Something more in the line of dresses and magic…”

“That is the Evil Queen you are thinking of,” Robin said with ease, patting his friend’s shoulder. “I remember the time when Snow White’s face was on every post throughout the Realms, and knowing all the stories floating around her, I am not all that surprised that this is her daughter.” He had heard the whispers of her return from the year before, and her meeting with the Queen of Hearts, and he had heard the legends spreading about the blonde fighting the army of heartless corpses, after just learning who she had been. Something more than a year had passed since then, by his calculation, and the woman he had met those days before seemed like having lived through centuries of battles and hardships, not only a year… With a slight shake of his head, he moved them along to find their ride and saddle up, as the Savior had told them to do.

“Li,” the blonde addressed the soldier in front of her as he directed the last few of his men to form up, dismounting beside him. “Walk with me,” she spoke after his acknowledging incline of his head. “What do you know of your people’s side in this war?” she asked, as she grabbed the reins and guided them toward the front part of the courtyard.

“Emperor was against it, but then he suddenly had fallen ill, the executive power over the Realm falling to the High Council, and they decided to join Midas in his conquest,” the officer jumped into the story without any hesitation, knowing that she would need as much as he could give her. “However, it soon became clear that the real power of the council lied with five men, one of them was the general now dead. Advisor Kim is now at the Imperial City, holding the reigns there, along with general Xia, using their power to keep the non-combatants under control, while the armies are put in place. The other two are somewhere coordinating the supply lines and other things, one of them embedded in Midas’s main camp.”

“I need numbers, Commander,” Emma prompted the man, knowing that he would have at least the approximation she wanted.

“I am not familiar with the current state, but as of ten days ago, the main part of our forces for deployment was stationed at the border, counting sixteen thousand footmen and four thousands of cavalry. Apart from that, there are three supply regiments, two thousand souls each, and the five hundred at Midas’s camp.” He further explained the general position of the checkpoints of the chain, showing the Savior a map with crudely etched locations. The man then contemplated something. “The rest of the army is policing the Empire because of the people so close to the revolt. Our Emperor was a beloved man.”

Emma recognized the signs of mourning in the man’s face, telling her that the soldier before her had been more than simply acquainted with the ruler, and with a light touch she reached for his shoulder, her silent condolences accepted with a simple glance. “And the Guard?” Emma asked after a moment of quietude.

“This is all that is left,” Cheng whispered heavily as he watched over his men. “If I hadn’t been sent onto a secret scouting mission we would have perished with the others, slaughtered as the traitors of the Empire.” He glanced toward the Savior and saw her hard look. The woman greatly unnerved him, because he could not even begin to guess what is on her mind, and he had prided himself in being a good reader of people. He knew, deep inside himself, that the blonde was someone to be respected and, yes, feared, not only because of the immense power she had but for her cold calculated look she would often direct at the men around her.

“Let’s make sure you can rebuild it, then,” the Savior said softly moving away from him, clearly having made a decision about her next move. “You are going to help me destroy the supply chain, to ease the pressure of the village,” Emma spoke clearly, outlining her plan for the man, telling him to take his men toward the most fortified checkpoint, explaining him that she would meet him in one day’s time there, but to also avoid getting caught in the escarpment of the Forbidden Fortress as he didn’t have much time to lose. “Watch out for the trolls and ogres, as they are no doubt roaming around,” she added with a smirk, remembering the first words the officer had spoken to her. Then, she took his left forearm and conjured a gold band, intricately meshing with his gauntlet, the front side of it having an inlaid design of a swan, similar to those she had already bestowed on the wolf, accepting it as her own symbol, or a calling card.

“Cygnus, your Grace?” the commander inquired softly as he traced the design when the woman released his hand.

“Swan, as my name,” she explained shortly. “If you get in any trouble, whisper it over the sign and I’ll know.” She had made it to function similarly to the radios of her world, activated by a specific code, thinking it the most suitable for the occasion. Even though she had not seen any trace of deception in the honorable man before her, she didn’t feel right just letting him go without ways to communicate with him. “If I need to talk to you, it will burn. Again, whisper my name over it.”

“Yes, your Grace,” the man said, with understanding, his right fist tapping his chest in salute.

“Any chance of convincing you to drop the address?” Emma asked with a raised eyebrow, the barely there smirk showing the good nature of the question.

“No, your Grace,” the officer replied with a smirk of his own, before he placed his helmet onto his head. “By your leave,” he added before ordering his men to move out, understanding that her segue was the dismissal enough.

Emma jumped back onto her horse and watched the two hundred men ride out of the Forbidden Fortress, before she turned to the three still waiting on her. With a simple hand gesture she motioned for them to join her, as she looked toward the palace. She couldn’t just leave it there unattended as it had proved itself quite useful for the enemy, right under her nose. So, with a snap decision she instigated the wards over the place, barring entrance to all but her, enchanting the spell with her particular brand of magic, convinced that it would keep even the most persistent people out. “Can you contact your people, Robin, or you must go to them?” she asked as soon as she finished with weaving the spell, turning toward the Prince of Thieves.

“They were to retreat to Sherwood and hide, until Tuck got word otherwise, I came to them, or they decided I was dead.” Robin spoke, shifting in his seat, unused to the saddle. The two others did not fare any better, Emma noticed with an interested blink. For some reason, she had been under a belief that all people of Enchanted Forest were more or less natural with horses, her ignorance and stereotyping shown in its light.

“Alright then, I’ll inform Busy to relay the message,” she spoke with a nod, reaching for a piece of paper, ignoring the way all three pairs of eyes focused on her in bewilderment at the mention of the dwarf, using her magic to compose a brief missive to the dwarves, including a greeting for her young friend, sending it off immediately, making it disappear in a swirl of colors. “But, first, I need to have a meeting with some people. Would you join me?” It wasn’t a question, the men knew it, as they followed her down the road, not daring to voice their thoughts on her seeming omniscience, while they rode on in the direction of the shore and the Charming Palace.

* * *

“What is it?” Phillip spoke as he strode onto the watch post, joining Mulan, surprised to see her out of her armor, a thick fur lined cloak covering her frame, as her hand rested on her sword at her hip. He had been informed by a harried soldier that the warrior had asked for his presence on the wall, and knowing that his friend would not ask for his time unless it was of utmost importance, he had rushed to meet her, not realizing that she was not alone. But, then, he should have known better, he remarked to himself, as the particular Wolf could hardly be found more than several feet away from his dear friend, their friendship, and as Aurora claimed, something more, flourishing even under the constant pressure of the siege and impending attack.

“Ships,” Ruby replied, her eyes stuck to the horizon over the sea. “It seems the pirates have joined in for the party,” she added with a hard scowl, her enhanced vision giving her the view of the whole fleet before them. “Black Beard is leading them.” Turning toward the Royal, she leaned against the wall, having recognized the flag on the front ship.

“We cannot fight both on the land and sea,” Phillip spoke helplessly as he took the spyglass from Mulan, needing to see the fleet for himself. “Damn it,” he whispered as he took in the numbers of the sails before him. As he hit his fist over the stone railing in mute rage, he noticed his friend’s calm face beside him. “What?” he snapped at her, but instantly his eyes widened in apology, and he was glad to see his friend ignore his outburst.

“We do not need to fight at sea,” Mulan remarked softly, a wonder tingeing her tone, as she took back her spyglass pointing toward the high seas and at the thunderstorm that was building over it. The appearance of the storm clouds seemed so sudden, and yet, Mulan was not surprised, for she had faith something like that would have happened eventually. Especially after what had happened that morning.

_ It was a light tingle that passed through her arm that drew her attention to her sword, the habit of resting her hand on her hilt so ingrained into her that she hadn’t even noticed she had been fingering her weapon, before she heard a soft curse escape her companion. With a confounded look, her eyes met the deep blue she had grown to cherish deeply in the days that had passed, noticing the same confusion in them. “Magic,” Ruby whispered softly, her skin visibly bristling at something that had obviously passed through the castle, as she lifted her head cocking it to a side, stopping with her previous action. “Emma,” the wolf murmured with realization, wrenching open the door to her quarters and striding out quickly, knowing that the warrior would follow her immediately. With rushed steps, they reached Rumplestiltskin’s quarters and without any hesitation the wolf barged in, sniffing the air around her. “Where is she?” she asked the startled couple, not even looking at them as she turned around the room, feeling the familiar scent fill her nostrils. It was relief that had filled her heart as soon as she felt the recognizable notes of the Savior’s smell, but too soon it was followed with consternation. Where was she? _

_ “Already left,” Rumplestiltskin replied softly, bringing the attention to himself. “But, she did say she would return shortly,” he added tiredly. _

_ “It was her that used that magic, wasn’t it? What was that about?” Ruby asked, dropping beside Belle, throwing a light greeting smile at the woman beside her as she leaned back into the sofa. _

_ “A warding spell,” came the answer but it wasn’t from the old man, nor from the librarian, but from the warrior who still stood awkwardly by the door, having closed them after coming in. The way she kept glancing down to her hilt gave the answer how she actually knew about it. “But, I haven’t felt it this way before, it’s different,” she added softly, her dark eyes rising up and meeting the former imp in a questioning gaze. Having an enchanted sword offered one a great deal of insight about the feel and layout of magic in the world around them, and Mulan was nothing if not persistent to learn everything that could be used for an advantage, especially as she did not have the magic herself. _

_ “Her magic is different,” Rumplestiltskin answered gravely. “And, I believe there was a reason she left it so glaringly obvious, and that it wasn’t solely for our benefit,” he added, his keen eyes knowing that the warrior would understand his implication. _

_ “She announced herself,” Mulan whispered with a nod. _

_ “Are you sure it was really Emma?” suddenly Ruby asked, her voice tinged with doubt as she glanced toward her friend, frowning at the glazed look Belle had at the mention of the Savior’s name. The sight of the kind woman crying squeezed Ruby’s heart uncomfortably, but before she could even offer a soothing touch, the librarian rose to her feet and stepped away, her hands going to her face, wiping out the traces of her momentary lapse of control. _

_ “It’s Emma,” Belle proclaimed with strong assuredness in her tone, as she smiled encouragingly at Ruby and Mulan, only then noticing the state of her friend. The warrior was out of uniform, a sight so rare for the Empire woman that the bookworm blinked in surprise, taking in the leather brigandine covering her friend’s torso quite flatteringly, at that. “She was just giving us a heads up,” she added as she walked toward the balcony leaning on the ledge as her eyes surveyed the view of both the shore and woods before her. “Tell them,” she spoke with a whisper to her True Love, a gentle order clear in her tone, for she knew this burden was not only his to carry. _

_ With clipped words, Rumplestiltskin explained about the witch and the additional enemies, his eyes peeled to the stoic woman standing still before him. The news of her kin being on the opposite side had made her blanch for a second, until the calm and collected mask covered her features, as she listened on. She did feel relieved when the former Dark One remarked that Emma mentioned the Empire was not coming just yet, intimately familiar with the power and skill of its soldiers, as she still considered herself one of them. _

_ It was only later that she allowed herself a heavy sigh to escape her lips, as she leaned against the wall of the topmost watching post, searching the high seas for the expected pirate fleet. Warm hands circled her upper arm as a body leaned into her side, offering a silent comfort she didn’t even know she needed. Shifting her head slightly, she smiled gently at the woman leaning into her, her lips grazing the closest cheek in appreciation. _

_ “What is on your mind?” Ruby asked softly as she nuzzled into the warmth, aware that she had only a short window of time to get it out of the warrior, seeing that they were alone for the moment, as the next pass of the guard would occur in half an hour. _

_ “Hmm,” Mulan just murmured as she breathed in Ruby’s scent, not even knowing her own thoughts, as they were swirling in her mind, too loud for her to even try to understand them. And, the shifter understood. The woman in front of her knew that there were no words for the moment. _

_ Ruby moved slightly, turning so her back would lean against the parapet, as she pulled the warrior toward herself, her gloved hands circling the slim waist under the cloak, gently massaging the stiff muscles she found there. Mulan had left her hands resting on the stone fence, her attempt to resist the woman in front of her feeble and half hearted at best, as she lowered her head slightly, just enough to bring her lips within reachable distance from the Wolf, a slight quirk playing at the corner of them as she looked into the gentle eyes, glimmering with so much emotion that it almost left her breathless. The connection between them was new, fresh, unexplored, but still it felt like she had spent years sharing her life with the shifter before her, obtaining the ease she felt with her. Never before would she so blatantly accept consolation, especially not in the open, but with Ruby she felt safe and encouraged to do just so. And, oddly, it did not make her feel weak at all. _

_ “I have this feeling inside of me,” the warrior started softly, after a while, the soothing touch of the woman in front of her doing wonders in helping her organize her mind. “Like something strange is about to happen, inevitable and yet…” Mulan shook her head at the ridiculousness she felt as she tried to explain to Ruby the peculiar feeling she had. But, it was Ruby that helped her once more. _

_ “Unexpected?” _

_ “Yes,” the warrior sighed in relief as the woman in her arms understood her. “I know Savior is going to surprise us once more and quite soon. I can feel it.” The conviction in her voice was hard to miss. _

_ “So, you are not worried?” Ruby asked kindly, as she watched the dark eyes skim her face. _

_ “I am, but not about today. The Empire, Ruby, it’s…” Shaking her head she closed her eyes. Soft hands reached for her cheeks and a light kiss grazed her forehead. It was acceptance, recognition of the stories that were held in the past, the undoubted history Mulan had before joining with Phillip. It was the understanding of the daunting realization that to survive and defend what she loved, Mulan would have to stand against the very Realm she had sworn her loyalty to, and to the woman guided by duty and honor that was an ultimate test. She looked into the deep orbs watching her with admiration and was it love? And, suddenly her fear and pessimism didn’t seem just as strong, not while she had this beautiful and brave woman by her side, to remind her that it wasn’t just for the side of the Good that she was fighting, but for so much more, so much personal goals. “How is it that you know me so?” Mulan asked in wonder before she sank into the welcoming arms, accepting the soothing peck over her lips, her own hands gliding up Ruby’s back and into her lush hair that fluttered gently in the wind. _

_ “Does it really matter?” Red murmured, not moving away from the kiss, using the last seconds she had alone with the woman to the very best, before she moved slightly away, allowing her partner to assume a more ‘professional’ outlook in front of the guards that were coming. “I know how hard to stand against your own family and kin is. I know the confusion and pain it brings.” Ruby murmured softly, knowing that only the warrior’s keen hearing would catch her words, as she looked out to the sea, standing beside the woman. She thought back to Anita, before shaking her head, getting rid of the images going through her mind. _

_ Mulan nodded, as she had heard the story, told in the early hours of the morning, when they had been suffering from restlessness caused by stress. Finding comfort in each other, they spent most of their time together, more often than not sharing their histories, feeling free to do so, perhaps for the first time in their lives. She didn’t need to say anything more as she placed her hand over Ruby’s on the wall, squeezing it gently, conveying everything she wanted to say through the simple touch. _

_ “They are here,” Ruby spoke softly after a while, pointing toward something in the distance. _

The Prince looked out to the sea, his frown at the darkened clouds evident, as she leaned onto the wall. So entranced by the view and the rising wind sweeping over the water he missed the company that had joined them consisting of the former imp, Liam, and Belle, closely followed by Princess Aurora. As the sudden gust of freezing wet air slammed into the side of the tower, they all shuddered from the change in temperature, further flinching from the rolling thunder sounding off the high seas, as lightning tore through the dark skies. “I’ve never seen a storm build so fast in nature,” Phillip commented over the roar of the wind, turning slightly as he felt a gentle touch of his wife on his forearm.

“That is because this storm is not natural,” Rumplestiltskin offered as he strolled to the wall, his gaze pinned toward the ships with interest, his worn features easing somewhat as he realized what was happening, the grim countenance he had been sporting for days turning into a surprised blink.

“You are telling me,  _ that _ is created by magic? The Savior has such power?”

It was eerie hearing Rumplestiltskin laugh with joyous glee, his eyes twinkling in the poor light of the stormy day, as the Sun was covered by the heavy clouds. “The power Savior wields is unimaginable,” he commented looking at the prince, his sharp voice heard over the gale, portraying that he had spoken with experience, before he turned back to the sea. “But, no, this time it is not she who commands the weather. But, rather the allies she has managed to get us.” He pointed to the waves surrounding the ships and with the bolts of lightning connecting with the foamy and wild waters, shapes could be seen in the surfs, swirling around the hulls.

“Mermaids,” Belle whispered in awe as she watched the rough sea, her amazed voice almost drowned in the freezing rain that started falling. “But, Rumple, they are dangerous creatures,” she said to the man beside her, grabbing his arm.

“So is Emma,” he spoke to her earnestly, patting her hand with his, his gentle smile soothing her as he watched the pirate ships try to fight off the attack from the mer-people in vain, getting capsized and sank by the never ending waves and pushes from the sea dwelling creatures, inevitably drowning in the restless sea, and where a frightening fleet of scrounged ships that had caused terror at the high seas had stood at the beginning now only stormy waves existed, the waters tinged with dark indescribable colors, and the foam of the surf gleaming in the darkness. Ruby could have sworn she had heard the screams of the sailors lost to the deep waters and the monsters of the sea farers’ tales, but she chose to ignore it, watching the destruction happening before her very eyes.

A soft squeeze on the Wolf’s shoulder brought her attention to the one battalion of people camping out farther up the shore, and following Mulan’s hand, she saw the surprise of the soldiers looking helplessly at the horizon, as the sea refused to release its victims. “They are frightened,” the warrior whispered into her chilled ear, her soft breath making her shudder in the cold rain. Mulan’s voice was calm, factual, but the shifter knew the woman beside her enough to realize that even the stalwart warrior was unsettled by the view.

“They should be. We all should.” Then, she took Mulan’s hand and guided her inside, away from the horrific show and the freezing rain, nodding to Rumplestiltskin in understanding as he motioned toward the War room and moved his lips, silently enunciating Emma’s name. Yes, they would need a meeting, and soon, but first she needed to change out of the drenched clothes and to do something that would erase the vicious battle she had just witnessed. And, perhaps the woman she was holding on to would be willing to help…

Immediately after, others followed inside, Phillip telling the soldier coming to him to alert the other members of the War council that they would convene in one hour. Without a word, they all went their separate ways, their thoughts burdened by the destruction they had seen, as it was still incomprehensible to them to see such a number of ships gone, obliterated in the blink of an eye.

* * *

“Are we just going to ride by the siege and into the caste?” John complained incredulously as he looked over to the Savior in front of them, his tone directed at his leader riding right beside him, somewhat irritated that she hadn’t slowed down the tempo for the past two hours they had been at it, and his bottom was in serious danger of falling off. Robin clucked his tongue at him, glancing toward the blonde, not knowing what she would do if she heard his dissent, and honestly that woman scared him.

“We have time yet,” he murmured to his second in command. “With this speed we’ll need a day’s ride at least to reach the place,” he said trying to ease John’s nerves, but hoping that they would try something as crazy as riding through the entire Midas’s army to get to the castle.

“Well, actually,” Emma spoke, as she pulled the reins of her horse, turning it slightly to the side, her eyes meeting the men behind her, the sharp tone of her voice making it clear that they weren’t quiet enough. “We are not riding there at all,” she said as she patted the neck of the black steed beneath her. Scowling at the large man barely hanging on to the saddle, she blinked slowly, considering her options. She did not need them with her, especially not the man who had done nothing but snidely comment on her every move since the day she had come upon them, the new revelation of her status only making him voice the words behind her back and not to her face. And, after two hours of his incessant grumbling she was more than sick of it. But, leaving him behind was not an option, especially not in the wilderness teeming with dangers – she wasn’t that cruel.

Allowing her magic to rise, she looked toward Robin, her eyes pinning him down in place and she knew that he was expecting reprimand for his man’s behavior, his shoulders awkwardly hunched as he sat on his horse. “What are your orders, Robert of Locksley, for the rest of your men?” she asked him, her voice carrying the edge of authority, making him flinch, and she couldn't help but not feel glad at the slight flush covering the blond man’s ears.

“To stay put until otherwise told,” Robin spoke, not quite clear what the Savior intended to do. He glanced toward John, suddenly afraid for his life as the blonde woman was looking intently at his second in command.

“Did you understand your leader, or do you need a written order for your elders in the camp?” came the Savior’s snide comment, cold and haughty as she guided her horse toward the man, her eyes looking over him in contempt. “Now is not the time to be silent, speak!” she added, leaning over her saddle, bringing her face to him, making John get paler with each inch of space lost between. With a mutter, he nodded, a weak yes escaping his lips, as his dark eyes sharply darted to his leader and back to the cold green before him. “I trust you can deliver a simple message, yes?” Emma spoke and waved her hand over him, making him disappear into the thin air, the sudden displacement making others exclaim in surprise. “Oh, he is fine,” she said exasperatedly before turning to Nasir. “Would you like to join him?” This time her voice was much kinder, portraying that she was offering him a way home earnestly, not as a threat. The assassin only shook his head, cocking his head to a side, the amusement her gesture caused him evident in his dark eyes that just made Emma smirk at him.

“Oy! Where the hell did you send him?” Robin sputtered, forcing his horse between Nasir and the Savior, his indignation overriding his senses.

“He is with the rest of your people, where he is infinitely much more useful, I assume.” It was the scathing tone that she used to speak the last words that brought Robin to his senses and he fell silent, understanding that she had actually done him, and John, a favor. This way, his people would have a real, tangible proof that he was alive, someone to reassure Roland, and John would be much happier with his friends than on this journey as his actions of the past hours proved beyond any doubt. “Now, if you don’t mind?”

“Forgive me, Savior,” Robin murmured, clearly not used to saying the words.

“Here is the thing, I am going to sneak us into the Palace, and I would appreciate cooperation from you. But, if you are unwilling, or unable, I can send you to your people. The choice is yours. But, if you stay, you need to understand that I am in charge.” 

“I understand.”

“Good, then.” Emma dismounted and gestured to others to do the same. “Hold the reins tight, this can be frightening for them, and we do not need them running rampant.” After she saw them follow her instructions, she wove the displacement spell, guiding them into the royal stables of the castle, remembering its layout from her last visit to the place, knowing it would be somewhat desolate and hidden from view, and perfect for her to appear at. No doubt by the moment they reach the Palace, the pirates would be long discovered and hopefully dealt with, but in any event, she had time for an impromptu council session, and for many reasons she wanted Robin there, to meet the other figures of this war effort. She did not worry about the usage of magic, feeling completely restored in the two hours she had taken to recuperate from sealing the Fortress, pacing herself with the expenditure, as she couldn’t afford burning out too soon with reckless usage. As the spell took hold, she smiled, actually looking forward to the meet.

She found herself in the stables, Robin and Nasir standing beside her. With a quick look around, she found empty stalls and motioned to the others to take care of the horses before she turned to take the saddle off Shadow when she heard soft footfalls on the hay covered stone floor and a startled gasp from behind her.

“Emma?” a voice of a child trembled with hope and tears, the blonde instantly recognizing the boy. Turning toward him, she lowered herself to one knee and opened her arms, knowing that the affectionate child her family had picked up in Neverland missed her greatly. “Eli – Elias said you were gone…” the sweet boy spoke through his trembling lips as he stepped toward her, still not believing his wide eyes.

“I am here, Bobby,” she whispered gently and it was her voice that made the boy jump into her arms. After their adventure in the Pits, Emma had made a point to visit with the boy, enjoying his cheery smile, and aside from Elias, he was the only one of the Neverland children that would approach her, others uninterested.

“I knew it,” Emma heard and looked up to see Elias running toward them, also joining them in the hug, his usual restraint forgotten at the sight of the blonde. “I knew you’d come back!” The deceptively strong small arms of the boy went around her neck, and it was then that Emma realized that the dream she had had before had troubled even more than she had guessed. Having the boy, unharmed and alive, in her arms, eased some of the nervous currant she had been under the past several days.

“Elias,” the blonde whispered softly, her gloved hand reaching for his tousled hair as she smiled at him warmly, completely ignoring the two men behind her. She was more than aware that those two had not seen her that affectionate with anyone in the time she had spent with them, even Nasir who had seen her with Roland. “Still watching after the horses?” she asked softly after rising to her feet, keeping her hand on Elias’s shoulder and Bobby’s back as she guided them toward Shadow.

“They think we are best to be occupied,” Elias answered smartly as he saw the horse Emma brought him to. “She is beautiful,” he whispered in awe as he reached forward, offering his hand to the black mare in greeting.

“Smart, too. One of Camelot's.” Those words did not make only Elias gasp in surprise, but the adults tagging along, as well. Well, Emma supposed, having a horse out of a legend would do that… “Can you take care of her while I am here?”

“Yes, yes, sure,” the boy murmured, his hands already passing over the silken hair of the horse’s flank. “I can find you a better saddle, too,” Elias added, glancing toward the Savior in askance, obviously noticing the ordinary craftsmanship of the gear. Receiving approving nod from the blonde, he and Bobby started filling the buckets with water and feed.

“Help them, and stay out of trouble,” Emma spoke to the men, gesturing to Nasir to help with taking the saddle and the tack of the tall horse. “I will come and get you when I need you,” she added to Robin, her underlying order to stay put clear, as she took off most of her weapons and burdens, leaving only her dagger at the belt and sword at the back, leaving the others beside her saddle bags Nasir had already taken down. He did understand that, for he was not familiar with the castle and roaming the halls would only get him lost. With a nod, he joined the boys, leaving the Savior, Emma, to her business.

The woman shook her head and pulled her hood over her head, using a shortcut to the kitchens, as she was in need of sustenance, having not eaten properly in what amounted to days, and all the best information was to be gathered in the bustling areas of the castle. She had no doubt that the master cook would be willing to indulge her, so with a smile she sneaked off to the heated halls of the cook’s domain.

“Out of the way, you lug,” someone addressed her as she crossed the threshold into the working area where she saw familiar faces preparing lunch. Stepping aside to let a young man carrying a sack of what seemed to be potatoes, she chuckled at the boy, knowing that if he had known who he had addressed as such, he would’ve fainted on the spot. “Lunch is not for another hour at least,” the man grumbled as he walked off to a working bench, preparing to peel.

“What are you on about, Harold?” the familiar voice groused from the side of the room, where William stood, cutting up the freshly skinned meat, his hands diligently moving.

“The lad here just stands in the way,” the potato man spoke pointing at Emma with his knife behind his back, not even deeming her important enough to look over to her.

“What lad?” William asked, looking up and then when he saw the person standing in the corner by the entrance he wiped his hands off his apron. “Yes?” he asked, scowling at the interruption but he knew better than to snipe at one of the dark knights. But, then, he did not think one of them would wander in the way before lunch, not without a specific need.

Emma only lifted her head, allowing the man to fully see her face and watched his expression turn from scowl to complete bewilderment and then poorly hidden elation and joy. “Gods be blessed, your Highness!” he whispered, walking toward Emma, almost skipping to her. She shook her head as she glanced around and nodded off to a nook to a side, telling him that she would sit there. He clasped his hands and bowed lightly, rushing toward his station, quickly ordering others to pick up his part of the work, while he gathered some things around. In the matter of minutes, the small table where Emma was sitting was overflowing with fresh bread, a bowl of venison broth and grilled vegetables, as the cook joined her, positioned in such a way to hide her from the rest of the room. “You look terrible, your Highness,” William whispered, a tinge of worry evident in his voice as his eyes passed over her somewhat gaunt face. “When was the last time you ate?”

“It hasn’t been a priority, William,” Emma replied slowly, taking his offerings with a pleased smile. “And, it’s not like I have the Royal larders at my disposal.”

“I hear we have you to thank for that,” the cook spoke carefully, throwing his glance around, pleased to see that all the others were too busy to listen in, his hand cautiously landing on her forearm before he snatched it up, aware that it had been a breach of protocol. But, the blonde’s smile put him at ease, as he relaxed into his seat.

“What else have you heard?” She had been right, the servants usually knew much more than anyone gave them credit, and she was about to hear all the relevant gossip and opinions. “Fill me in,” she commanded gently, as she ate, immensely enjoying the meal.

And, William did fill her in. She learned that in twenty minutes from then a War council would start, to discuss the strange storm right at the shores of the castle that apparently took out an unknown fleet right before their walls. He told her about the high tensions running in the castle as the people were terrified with the army at their door and no way out. It did not make it easier that they housed a bunch of werewolves, as the people were still very wary of the supernaturals and magic. After telling her the main points, William gave her the details on her friends and the children, knowing that she would want to know that they were alright for the time being. Emma was informed that the entire East wing was sealed off in anticipation of the arrival of the White family, and that apparently she had her own quarters there. So, as she ate, she soaked in all the tidbits that she could find useful for later, infinitely pleased that Ariel had come true for her.

“You are not staying, are you?” the old man spoke softly as she pushed out the bowl away from her. He looked at her knowingly, his eyes showing sadness at the prospect of her going away into the unknown once more.

“My work is out there, William.” She replied to him gently, knowing that the man for his all hard glares and stickling to the protocol was fond of her, and she could not help but share that feeling. Patting his shoulder, she rose from the nook and sighed, pleasantly full for the first time in a long while. With a tight smile she nodded to him and slipped out of the bustling kitchens, as if she was never there. And, if there were no dirty dishes beside him, William would sincerely doubt that she had ever been there.

Walking in the stables, she found the men entertaining the two boys with the tales of adventures Robin had with his men before the curse, chuckling at the awed sighs coaxed from the children. Stepping into the light, she drew attention to herself. “Sorry, boys, we need to go to the War room,” she announced and Elias nodded in understanding. After light departing hugs, Emma guided the men to the meeting place, using her knowledge of the castle to bring them up unnoticed, wanting to surprise the people in the War room, quite aware that it would be considered dramatic and highly unnecessary. Seeing the guard standing in front of the heavy wooden doors, she smiled, taking off her hood, enjoying the surprised gasps of the two men. “Am I late?” she asked with a teasing edge to her voice as she looked into the familiar faces of the soldiers, placing her hand onto the shoulder of the soldier standing to the left, recognizing him from the gate duty in the Safe Haven. “Are all in there, Gareth?” Emma spoke gently, allowing him to gather his wits before a large smile covered his face as he nodded. “Am I allowed in?” she whispered to him, as he made no indication to move, prompting him into action.

“Yes, Savior! Of course,” he spoke quickly, opening the door for her, blushing at her smile directed at his floundering. She motioned for the two men with her to enter first as she hung back just a bit longer.

“Do you think it would be possible for the people to somehow learn that the Savior is here?” she asked the soldiers, listening to the rumble coming out of the room. “Perhaps, not right away, but during the changeover for lunch?”

“Of course, Savior,” Gareth spoke, his dutiful manner restored. “Anything in particular?” He asked looking at the woman he had thought dead.

“Just that I have found friends and that we are working from the outside to end this,” Emma replied as she turned to go in.

“Savior?” Gareth whispered before she passed him. “I am glad you are here,” he added, staring straight ahead. In response, she only patted his shoulder and as she went in, the door closed, letting all the eyes in the room focus on her.

With nonchalance she took off her gloves, tucking them at her belt and shrugging off her cloak, she walked over to the round table, ignoring the soft spoken questions directed at her, picking a seat for herself, summoning two more chairs for her companions. As she sat down, she smiled at her godmother, the gentle gesture enough to make the shifter jump into her arms. “Gods be damned, Emma,” Ruby murmured into her shoulder, “I missed you,” hugging the life out of her. “You look like hell,” she added as she moved slightly away, the worried deep blue eyes passing over her face.

“I’ve been told,” Emma replied, patting the wolf’s shoulder, before she leaned back slightly and nodded to the stoic warrior seated beside her godmother, noticing the scrutiny in her eyes as well. “I am fine,” she spoke clearly, her words not meant to her friends only but to all gathered there.

“As promised, Sheriff Swan,” Rumplestiltskin spoke loudly, bringing attention to himself, “the Council.” She did not miss his pleased look as he considered her, noticing that she did already look somewhat better than that morning. Then, he turned toward the guests and frowned, recognizing the blonde man immediately. “And, I see you’ve brought friends.”

“Be nice, Rumple,” Emma spoke as she gestured for them to sit down. “Robin Hood and Nasir of Agrabah, everyone.” She didn’t even bother to introduce others to the Merry Men, knowing that Robin knew most of them by reputation if not by face and it would only take the precious time of the meeting. “So, now that this is out of the way, how do you like your new keep?” she asked looking at Aurora and Phillip, her eyes gentling as she watched the Princess smile at her in gratitude.

“We are forever in your debt, Savior,” Aurora spoke regally as her eyes connected to the tired ones across from her. “Yet another instance of you saving our lives,” she said, smirking as she noticed Emma scoff softly at the play of words. “But, it could not have been easy securing the alliance with the Merfolk,” Aurora went on, not willing to waste time on small talk, quite aware of the pressing issues.

“It is a personal favor, but no doubt there would be Realm wide stipulations. However, I will make sure they are fair to both sides.”

“Of course, Sheriff. We will abide by your ruling.” Aurora replied gracefully, her proclamation followed by an agreeing nod from her True Love, telling Emma that the only remaining Royals, apart from Midas, in the Enchanted Forest would agree upon the deal she would strike with the notorious sea dwellers.

“And, this talk of the Empire, is it true?” Phillip asked, leaning forward.

“Yes,” Emma replied shortly, turning her head to Mulan, knowing that the next part of her news would be hard on the woman. “The Emperor is dead, and now the crux of power lies with the corrupt council led by Advisor Kim.” She ignored the hardening of the woman’s features and the mumbled oath that only she and Ruby heard, the sharp words making the shifter raise her eyebrows in astonishment. “However, we have managed to secure what was left of the Imperial Guard to our side, led by Commander Li Chen.” The impact her words made was instantaneous. Mulan knew the man in question and was quite pleased to hear of his survival. And, honestly, that was the only recommendation the Savior needed for the man. With some hesitation she went into explanation about what she had found at the Forbidden Fortress, not drawing any attention to Aurora’s startled gasp and Phillip’s darkening face at the mention of the place, further delving into the news about the Imperial Guard, her eyes apologetic for bringing such terrible news to her friend.

“What does that mean in practical sense for us, Savior?” the lieutenant of the Black Knights, Damian, spoke respectfully after the silence elapsed for more than a minute.

“They are not ready to ride out in full force just yet, and that gives us a little bit of time,” the Savior said as she rose from her place, spreading the large treated leather map over the table, using her magic to fashion small figurines portraying known positions at the current theater of war, knowing that the military minds at the table would appreciate the visuals. “So far, they only have three regiments deep within our territories, acting as a supply chain for the army here,” she explained the positions of the entrenched battalions, telling them about her idea to decimate them with the Imperial Guard at her side, lightening the pressure from the Castle itself, and eventually attacking the army from the West, pinching it against the walls of the keep. “Hammer and anvil, if you will,” she remarked, seeing the nods follow her suggestion. Then she let the people around discuss the various tactics and plans, as she watched the map, considering all the numbers she was holding in her head. The numbers of dead, of enemies, of victims… Her dreams weighted heavily on her, especially as she paid some attention to the ideas some of them offered. Emma heard Nasir talk with Mulan about fighting the small regiments of the supply chains, portraying her fighting skills with awe, completely oblivious to the fact that it had been Mulan who had taught her how to wield her sword in such a way. The mention of so many kills darkened her face.

“But, you are not going to do it that simply, are you?” Belle inquired, noticing the shadow passing over Emma’s eyes as she looked over the map. The blonde looked up into the gentle pale eyes filled with cautious inquiry and realized that Rumplestiltskin had filled his chosen in on the green witch, which meant that Belle was fully aware what kind of sorcery Emma was against, which in turn made her understand the choice laid before the Savior.

“Not, if I can help it.” She leaned onto her fists, her hair falling down over her shoulders. “I am pretty sure, most of the people involved in this are not volunteering, and that makes them innocent.” The heaviness she felt over that choice was felt around the room, evident in the silence that followed her words. No one wanted to be responsible for the deaths of many innocents, despite belonging to the proclaimed ‘good’ side, and Emma knew that they had left that decision to her because it was easier for them to excuse it as a necessity, if the ‘all-mighty’ Savior said so… It was the selfish desire to be absolved of guilt and responsibility, one that Emma herself felt but had no reprieve from, so she could not blame the others for doing so. However, she could not tamper down the resentment she felt for them, leaving such a decision in her hands, letting her to pay the price all by herself, regardless of the choice she would make. The hopeful glances thrown her way from the two Royals, three soldiers, the chief of the wolves and her companions from the Sherwood prickled over her skin, irritation sparking in her, and the need to lash out, to destroy their hope, to stump all over their belief in her rose within her. However, she fought against it, recognizing that nothing good would come out of it, gnashing her teeth in her attempt to control herself. But, it wasn’t until she heard Robin’s offhanded comment whispered to Nasir that she snapped.

“Why not kill them all right away, as they are sure to fight to the death?” he murmured to his friend, crossing his hands on his chest as he leaned back into his seat, his eyes darting over the map. “Why waste time on saving someone who cannot be saved?”

She moved before anyone could even react to his comment, snatching him out of his chair and slamming him into the wall at the far side of the room, her magic flowing out of her, rampant and fueled by the building anger, bleeding into her eyes, her skin, making her appear glowing with terrifying gleam, her pale skin seaming even paler, contrasting sharply with her dark clothes. With the golden tresses fluttering behind her in the non-existent magical breeze, she was both beautiful beyond measure and petrifying, making the blood of the people present freeze with the cold fear streaming through them. This woman, this force, was nothing like the kind Sheriff of Storybrooke or the valiant Savior of the Safe Haven. This was another entity entirely, mighty and awe-inspiring, reminding Belle of the stories of mercurial Gods from the mythologies she had read in the town library. An angel of vengeance, dispensing the divine justice upon the Earth, merciless but righteous… 

When Nasir moved to help his friend, he was welcomed by a blade upon his neck, the woman warrior beside him giving him a warning look not to interfere, while others stood by, too startled to move, and yet unwilling to step in, as they all had heard the comment and judged it foolish, leaving the Sheriff to deal with it as she saw fit.

“Who gave you the right to decide the lives of others?” the Savior spoke coldly, her hand holding the taller man high in the air, pressed against the wall, as she watched him struggle to breathe. “Who gave you the right to decide who is not worth saving?” she growled at him, bringing him down so she could lean into his face, all the menace shown in her pale blue eyes glinting with power, as the air crackled around her, pressing, shifting around her. “Are you that conceited that you would willingly command thousands to die just because they are of inconvenience to you?”

“Emma,” Belle tried to interfere, not because she thought the blonde was wrong but because she didn’t think the Sheriff would want this on her conscience. “Emma, he doesn’t know,” she implored as she moved away from the table, slowly walking toward the woman, gently encouraged by Rumple’s light squeeze on her upper arm as she passed his seat.

Still holding on to his neck, the Savior brought Robin down to his knees, easing the pressure somewhat, allowing him to gulp in some air, as she turned to look at the kind woman who by some twist of fate was her in-law, watching her approach with interest, waiting for the librarian to continue, listening to the calming tones of her friend. “Doesn’t know what?” she asked, cold anger still evident in her tone, but not directed at the approaching girl.

“He doesn’t know the suffering you have endured for choices you had to make and that have been made for you,” Belle answered, already knowing what would reach Emma, having thought about this in the moments she had been worried about her friend. “He cannot know the burden you wear on your shoulders, none of them can.” And, it was the truth, no one, not even Rumplestiltskin could know what it was like to be the Savior, to be the answer to everything, to be a mortal with the duties of Gods. “They do not know the pain you have been through, and the sacrifices you have given for them.” Speaking clearly, she was no longer trying to convince Emma to stop, as the Savior had been focused on her, relaxing her grip on the Thief. She was trying to make others understand that Emma was not a god given answer to their every problem, she wasn’t their absolution, despite her title, and the change in Emma’s eyes, the barely there warmth that peaked through the magic showed her that her friend recognized that.

“No, they don’t,” Emma agreed, blinking slowly as she allowed her magic to recede slowly. However, she still had Robin in her captivity, and focusing back on him, she brought him to his feet. Seeing the change in his countenance, the blind fear giving way to his remorse and admiration, she scoffed at him coldly, repulsed by his quick change of heart and apparent acceptance of her will. “I do not need your sympathy or your admiration. All I need is your compliance and your fighting skills. And, if I cannot have that, then you go back to whatever hole you were crawling in, left to fend for yourself. Do I make myself clear?” There was no mistake in the ultimatum she had posed to him, and Robin knew that he had crossed the line that day, one that he might never manage to recover from, and recognizing that his one moment of flippancy had cost him plenty, he gave the only answer possible.

“Yes, Savior.”

“Good.” Stepping away from him, she stalked out of the room, effectively ending the meeting, wrenching the door open with the remnants of her magic, ignoring the calls after her as she directed herself to the east corridor.

“Hello, stranger,” Belle spoke as she reached for his neck.

“Thank you for saving me,” Robin spoke as he turned to Belle checking him for permanent injuries. “Again,” he added with a smirk as he had recognized the woman that had helped him out of the cells of the Dark Castle.

“I didn’t do it for you,” Belle spoke softly, satisfied that apart from the bruised throat, the thief before her had not suffered much. “I am glad she didn’t kill you,” she said at the startled look in his eyes, “because I know your death would have weighed heavily on her conscience the minute she calmed down.” Patting his shoulder, she shook her head in disappointment as she looked over him. “For one who would dare to steal from Rumplestiltskin for his love, I had higher hopes, especially in understanding her, as no price is too great if a life could be saved.” The kind librarian then turned around, as her eyes connected with Rumplestiltskin in a silent conversation, she gestured to her shifter friend, knowing that the last thing Emma needed now was to be left alone, and as Ruby and she were the closest friends the Savior had at the moment, Belle made the decision for both of them, as Ruby wholeheartedly agreed, jumping to her with her preternatural speed, leaving the others in the frenzy of the aftermath, the two visitors left under uncomfortable scrutiny of the remaining people.

“Why do you follow her obediently so?” Nasir asked the warrior woman beside him, a mix of awe and fear in his voice heard by Mulan, making her scowl at him as she nodded in acceptance when the shifter threw her an explaining look before leaving. Then, she turned toward the assassin and looked at him hard, sheathing her sword with force, making it ring out over the sounds of murmurs, stopping all conversation.

“It is not obedience,” the warrior spoke sharply, purposefully letting her voice be heard by all of them, specifically the thief that still stood by the wall, rubbing his throat. “I do not follow her blindly, nor would she want me to. The reason I do it is respect. Respect she has earned time and time again by making choices I admire her for. By not doing things the easier way, but the right one, by doing everything in her power to bring peace to all… I follow her because I know without any doubt that she would do her best. There isn’t a person here she hasn’t saved at her own expense, when she could have just walked away, saying that it wasn’t her business – and with every right as she had no interest in this world.” Then, she stepped toward the Royals, accepting Aurora’s gentle touch on her forearm and Phillip’s approving look.

“She is slipping,” the shifter commented sadly as she followed the scent left by the Savior, deeply concerned about her goddaughter and friend. Her only answer was a deep sigh leaving the petite woman’s lips as they rushed toward the quarters they had set aside for the Charming family, not even surprised that Emma had somehow found the room her things had been stored at.

Carefully, the Wolf opened the door of the Crown Heir quarters, slowly peeking in to see if it was safe to enter. Her eyes glided over the dark room, her enhanced vision able to pick up a figure standing in front of the wall beside the shutters leading to the terrace, bracing itself with hands against the surface, with head bowed down and back turned to the door. Entering the room, Ruby walked to Emma, noticing the shaking shoulders and hitching breath the instant she was close to her. “Oh, Em,” the girl whispered as she drew herself behind the Savior, only inches of space between them.

“I’m fine,” the blonde tried to say, but her cracking voice stopped her, as she flexed her shoulders, bringing her body closer to the wall. A scratch of a match was heard behind them and the sizzling whoosh of a wick on fire, followed by a point of light illuminating them, throwing their shadows onto the stone wall, made Emma flinch, pressing herself harder away from the light. “I don’t need…” she spoke, but Ruby placed her hands onto the shaking shoulders, familiar with the effects of the adrenalin crash.

“What you need is a couple hours of sleep,” the Wolf spoke calmly, but insistently, pulling her goddaughter away from the corner and toward the now illuminated sitting room, appreciating Belle’s quick work with lanterns and candles, the soft dancing light strong enough for their needs and yet not intrusive and sharp on eyes. “Ems, you need a rest.” Ruby knew that Emma would fight her on the subject, so preemptively she started speaking, pushing the girl onto the sofa there, kneeling before her. “I know you think you don’t have the time, but if you don’t take the time and go nuts, we all are going to die, regardless of what you want. So, you need a break.”

“She is right, you know?” Belle added softly, taking her seat beside them. “You can’t keep running on pure adrenalin and magic.”

“When was the last time you slept?” Ruby pressed her hands on Emma’s thighs, looking up into the deeply bruised eyes, the contrast getting even stronger in the last several minutes.

“I don’t remember,” Emma whispered, shaking her head. “When I sleep you are all dead,” she added absently as she slumped back into the sofa, giving up the fight, making both women beside her frown in bewilderment.

“I don’t understand,” the shifter looked at her friend in question.

“I think she means her dreams,” Belle spoke sadly, gently pulling the despondent blonde into a more comfortable position against her shoulder.

“Nightmares,” the Savior murmured with some irritation for them talking as if she wasn’t there. “Whenever I sleep, I see people I killed, I see you tortured and destroyed. I see…” Suddenly, Emma struggled to get up, her countenance changing. “No, I need to get back, I need to find Chen and…”

“Emma, you told us that you need to go to him in the morning,” Ruby gently stopped the blonde from rising out of her position, using her strength to restrain her friend. “Come on, let’s get you in bed, and like the last time, I’ll watch over you, keep the dreams away.”

“I’m not a baby,” Emma complained, but without fire in her voice, sagging with exhaustion.

“No, you are not. Just our friend who is very, very tired.” Ruby took the blonde’s hands and pulled her up to her feet, guiding her to the bedroom, as Belle scurried in front of them to light several more candles. With tenderness, Ruby and Belle managed to disrobe her, making no comment at the presence of the chainmail and the hidden weapons. Leaving her only in the undershirt, Ruby guided Emma into the downy bed, settling beside her as she covered the blonde with the warm comforter. “Sleep,” the shifter encouraged softly, seeing that the soft bed was destroying what was left of Emma’s fight with her tiredness. “We’ll watch over, you are safe.” And, it was only then that the Savior surrendered to the pull of unconsciousness, her features still portraying stress she was under.

Belle sat on the other side of the bed, her knees curled in front of her as she pushed away the blonde locks from the pale face, before she looked up into the worried eyes of the werewolf on the other side. The shifter was leaning against the headboard, turned toward her goddaughter, her intent as a protector clear, as her keen eyes watched over the blonde’s features, ready to intervene the second Emma showed any sign of distress. “She’s lost weight,” Ruby commented in a soft whisper, sensing the eyes on her. “I don’t think she can go on like this for much longer.”

“I know,” Belle murmured in agreement as she shifted into a more comfortable position, still keeping Emma in between them. “But, with rest and warm food, maybe we can give her more time.”

“To do what?” The shifter asked in anguish, purposefully keeping her voice low, her attention drawn to a whimper escaping the blonde. Immediately, the girl placed her soothing hand onto Emma’s shoulder, gently rubbing calming circles into her back. “She may be the most powerful creature to ever walk these lands, but not even she can stand alone against twenty thousand soldiers,” Ruby spoke after a moment, pleased that her intervention worked.

“She is not alone.” It wasn’t Belle that spoke but the warrior woman standing in the doorway of the bedroom, mindful of the quiet atmosphere inside. With light steps Mulan walked over to Ruby’s side and placed her hand on the woman’s shoulder in rarely shown affection, she looked over the curled body of the Savior, the blonde woman looking nothing like the commanding and larger than life person she usually appeared as.

Belle noticed the greeting smile Ruby directed at the warrior, the presence of it making her own lips twist in one, as she rose from the bed, pressing down the front of her dress. “I need to speak with Rumple,” she quickly invented a reason for leaving them, speaking of it before either one of the women could ask her where she was going. “I’ll bring back some lunch later, if you want?” she asked as she turned to leave, knowing that giving those two the time alone was the right thing to do. And, she indeed needed to speak with Rumplestiltskin. Just before she left, she glanced back and smiled at the scene. Mulan had sat beside Ruby, holding her hand in hers, as they looked over the sleeping hero, huddled in a hushed conversation.

The minute she left the quarters, a hand circled around her elbow, and another woman followed her in step, letting her direct them to their next destination. “How is she?” Aurora asked after several moments as they ventured into the familiar rooms, meeting their loved ones inside, Rumplestiltskin already offering Phillip a cup of watered wine.

“Sleeping,” the librarian spoke as she closed the door behind her, her eyes going to her True Love. “I think her nightmares are getting much worse,” she told him, accepting a chalice for herself before she took her seat. “And, there isn’t much we can do for her.”

“You are doing what is needed, darling Belle. She needs to rest and put away her mantle for a while, and in a few hours she will be recharged and ready to go on.” Rumple sat beside his beloved, taking her free hand into his. “She is a strong one, dearie.”

“She has already stopped one attack on us, perhaps even more,” Phillip spoke as he pulled Aurora into his arms, letting her head fall onto his shoulder. “The Empire’s army will not reach us before ten days of hard march at least, and with the elimination of the chains, I do not think we have much to fear from Midas’s army. Especially not in this weather.” He gestured to the window, where the light of day was obscured with heavy snowfall, the earlier rain having tapered off. “I think that gives us a bit of leeway.”

“I agree,” Rumple nodded at the prince before he sipped his drink. “But, it wouldn’t do to grow complacent now. We still don’t know what the Wicked Witch exactly wants.” He could assume it had something to do with Regina, but what, and in what way, he didn’t know.

“So, what can we do to help Emma?” Aurora asked earnestly.

“Nothing we aren’t already doing,” the old man murmured softly looking at the Royals across from him. “We can only wait for the moment she needs us and follow her directions. Until then, we do our best to stay safe and survive.” His words were followed by a heavy silence as others contemplated the future.

Two hours later, Belle ushered in two kitchen aids carrying food into the quarters Emma currently resided in, motioning for them to keep quiet as she opened the door to the sleeping chamber. As soon as she walked in, Mulan moved to help out, her deadly skill perfectly used in setting down the overflowing platters without sound, her eyes widening at the amount of food on them. Due to their situation, the kitchen had been under strict orders to use prescribed portions for the people of the castle, to prevent overindulging on the supplies, but it would seem that in this instant that order was countermanded, or more likely, outright ignored, as she knew who exactly the man in charge of the food was. As she glanced toward the bookworm in inquiry, Belle only smiled in explanation.

“She looks better already,” the librarian spoke as she stepped to the bed. Ruby nodded in response, her hand on Emma’s back, in constant motion.

“I think her magic is making her better,” the Wolf commented, as she too had noticed the lessening bruises and fresher skin on the Savior’s face. Accepting the plate with nibbles from the warrior, the shifter ate slowly, as others made themselves comfortable on the large bed, content to continue their vigil in silence, letting the hours pass.

It was late afternoon when they moved, alerted by the soft murmur coming from the wakening blonde. “Hey, Ems,” Ruby spoke gently from her place, letting her friend open her eyes slowly. “Hey there,” she whispered with a smile, as Emma groaned quietly in response, before she turned to her back. “How are you feeling?”

“Better.” The sleep roughened voice of their friend eased their worries. “Did you all stay with me?” Emma asked in wonder as she saw all three of them around her, pulling herself up in the seated position, keeping the comforter around her body as she leaned against the pillows Ruby helped her place against the headboard.

“We did promise to keep you safe,” Belle said with some humor, giving Emma a cup of water.

“Guys, really,” Emma started, somewhat uncomfortable with such show of care, but a gentle squeeze from the werewolf at her side silenced her further words, so she drank the water and later, ate the food given to her without complaint, involving her friends in mindless chat, enjoying the light conversation for the first time in a long while. It was only when Ruby suggested a warm bath that others moved, willing to give her privacy.

“Belle,” Emma asked after the woman as others left, Ruby taking upon herself to fill the large copper tub in the bathing chamber adjacent to the bedroom, and Mulan off to bring the saddlebags from the stables. When the petite woman waited for her, the blonde pushed herself out of the bed, ignoring her state of undress and reached for Belle’s hand. “The diary. I am going to need it back.”

“Of course, Emma. I’ll go get it.” Seeing the Savior nod in relief, Belle approached closer to the blonde, squeezing her hand in support. “You found a way to send it over?” the intelligent woman asked, smiling at the inquiring eyebrow lifted her way. “Well, as you were dealing with mermaids, I just thought…”

“Yes,” Emma confirmed softly, interrupting the smart librarian. “They need a warning, and I am going to give them one.”

“Do you trust the messenger?”

Emma snorted as she sat back down onto the bed. “Not particularly, but I trust her desire to find her own happiness. And, once upon a time she was Snow’s friend.” Belle nodded with a light chuckle, considering the situation very lucky for the blonde – finding the one mermaid who had been a friend of her mother’s… But, again as she turned to leave, a soft call of her name stopped her, and this time she recognized the expression on Emma’s face. “I… Thank you. For…” she tried to say but a gentle hand on her cheek stopped her, bringing her face up to meet tender light blue eyes, the compassion in them evident despite the poor light in the room.

“You are welcome,” the girl said softly, as she forced Emma’s eyes to stay connected with hers. “But, I don’t think you were going to seriously harm him, despite your anger,” Belle spoke with assurance and honesty.

“I’m not so sure,” Emma replied warily, looking away.

“I am, and as you know I am a good judge of character,” the kind woman pushed through Emma’s insecure response, her pointed tone making the blonde smile in acceptance. “Now, I’ll leave you to your bath, while I get the diary. Oh, a point of style? Now that you have announced yourself as alive, perhaps you should wear something more… dashing?”

“I am not taking my father’s armor,” Emma replied firmly, shaking her head. “It’s heavy and cumbersome, and I already have protection.”

“No, I was thinking more in line of wearing clothes of better quality,” the woman said, gesturing toward the wardrobe where she knew that Emma’s things from the village had been stored, including many pieces from Regina’s castle. At Emma’s raised eyebrows, Belle chuckled. “You are the Charming Heir, and the Savior, and the Sheriff, and perhaps a carrier of quite a few more titles. You should look the part. It would make the people you meet on the way more receptive.” It was the way of this world, as people had been conditioned to respond to royalty in such ways.

“Freaking snobs,” the blonde woman muttered as she walked toward the wardrobe, but before she opened it she noticed the weapon situated against it. It was the sword Regina had given her, along with the beautiful scabbard the Queen had magicked for her, the silver details gleaming in the candle light, and the leather twine belt had been wrapped around it, the tipped edges of it matching the craftsmanship perfectly. The Savior picked it up reverently, her hand going over the familiar hilt in tender caress, the sword evoking so many memories of those two days she had spent with her True Love, making her smile, lost in the past. Seeing the faraway expression on her friend’s face, Belle left quietly, not willing to disturb Emma out of her pleasant moment, rushing off to get the notebook she had been entrusted with.

After a long and relaxing bath, Emma dressed into robes Ruby had left for her, not yet willing to put on her clothes, and walked to the study desk situated in the sitting portion of her quarters, noticing that Mulan had already brought the rest of her things there. With a careless wave of her hand, she lit the remaining lanterns in the room, before she summoned her new diary out of the bag, opening it at the last written page, the quill and inkwell ready for her on the desk. This entry, she knew, was the whole point of sending the diaries across the borders of the worlds, and she could not but be nervous about what she was about to put down in words for her True Love to learn. So, with a heavy heart, she called upon her courage and took the quill, penning down the lines with care, continuing the tale from the last place she had stopped, leaving nothing out, every event explained and followed with her reasoning. She hesitated over introducing the Witch by her name, the quill leaving a large blot on the paper for being still for too long, but then, Emma blinked and continued on, her hand shaking slightly as she wrote down her encounter with the green enemy. Finishing up, she left the ink to dry while she walked toward her bed, thinking about what to wear.

She anticipated being outside in the cold for most of the time, and she needed to dress accordingly, so with consideration, she took one of her thick turtlenecks, putting it on over her tank top, spending only seconds on remarking how lean and muscled she looked, her body seemingly carved out of hard stone. The fitted pants she chose were made of pliant black leather, the lining made of the softest wool and silk she had ever felt, making them warm and stylish at the same time. Then, she set aside the chainmail, the leather tunic she was to wear over it and the fur fitted velvet cloak that completed the combination.

“There, you look better already,” a voice made her roll her eyes as she glanced toward the intruder, not surprised at all to find the shifter leaning against the door to the bedroom, the keen eyes going over her frame in scrutiny. “No, really,” Ruby continued at Emma’s scoff. “You look sleek and dangerous. Sexy.”

“Careful, Rubes, I am taken,” Emma spoke in jest as she passed by her friend, checking her lightly with her shoulder on the way, chuckling as she strolled over to the couch, knowing that with Ruby’s presence others would come soon enough, as she had expressed her wish to leave before the night’s end.

“As am I, but it doesn’t mean I cannot tell you how hot you actually look,” Ruby replied teasingly before stopping in alarm, realizing what she had actually said to her goddaughter. “I mean…”

“Yeah, about that,” Emma said, smirking at her friend, letting the uncomfortable silence build, enjoying the light blush on the woman’s cheeks, before she decided to have mercy on the girl. “I am happy for you,” she added earnestly, her eyes shining with happiness she felt for the shifter, as she had needed only seconds in Mulan’s presence to realize their connection and the depth of their relationship. “For both of you, actually.”

“It’s a strange thing,” Ruby spoke after a while, her blush gone as she sat down beside the blonde Sheriff, their position reminiscent of so many times they had chatted in Storybrooke before the curse breaking. “We bonded over your death,” the shifter spoke uncomfortably, looking away from the other woman. “She was… Everything that I needed then, and after, it just… She plays with my wolf.” Emma smiled at the apparent adoration in Ruby’s voice, not missing the awed look in the deep blue eyes. “She sees me, not Red, or even Ruby, or whatever, but me. And, in turn, she lets me see her for who she really is.” Ruby turned to Emma, her blush returning at the smug smirk directed her way. “But, you already know this.”

The blonde only shrugged noncommittally, calling out for others to enter when a knock sounded at the chamber door. As she expected, it was the rest of the small council formed at the village, the two royals, Rumple with his beautiful True Love and Mulan, followed by two people carrying platters with food. At Emma’s inquiring look, Mulan shrugged. “Master William’s compliments,” she only said, but it was enough explanation. Her comment about larders might have had something to do with it. The evening was spent in easy conversation, everyone abstaining from heavy topics as if it had been agreed upon, focusing mostly on the humorous day to day interactions in the castle, providing a much needed tension relief for most of them, not just Emma. She even offered Ruby to write a letter to Granny, which the girl took gratefully, using the supplies already strewn on Emma’s desk, still participating in the conversation. The keen green eyes connected with the dark ones, her offer the same, but the old man smiled gratefully and shook his head, and Emma understood. The former imp wasn’t much for words anyways.

During dinner they ate in her quarters, the blonde learned that Phillip had placed the two men that had come with her in the guest quarters, informing them of someone getting them when the Savior was ready to move. The young royal also mentioned to her about dealing with the people suspected of treason, all of them sequestered in the dungeons of the keep, under guard. The presence of Wolves helped out, Emma concluded, as their keen senses could sniff out the traitors under Mulan’s careful directions. She also learned more of the commander she was about to meet from Mulan, the warrior telling her of her time serving under him. One piece of information did surprise her though. “The Emperor was his maternal grand uncle,” Mulan spoke softly while others were engaged in deliberation of something else. “The closest thing to a father he had. His death must have been hard on him.” Shortly after that, all but Rumple and Belle retired, urged on by the Savior as she had seen their drooping expressions, the two of them deciding to see the blonde off, despite the lateness of the hour it would occur at.

Two hours before dawn, she stood in the stables, saddling up Shadow with the new light saddle Elias had provided, much more suited for a warrior than the one she had been using previously. Beside her, Belle was petting the magnificent animal, thoroughly in awe of the rare breed, while Rumplestiltskin stood aside, leaning onto his cane and watching his darling whisper gently to the horse. As the heavy thud of footfalls announced people coming, Emma left the stall and stood by her teacher, her arms crossed over her chest. She had decided to leave most of her things behind, as she could pop up to pick them up if she needed, and apart from her weapons, and small satchel filled with what she deemed as necessary, there wasn’t much she needed. “Two days,” she said to Rumplestiltskin, answering his unasked question about her return. “The wards should stop her mirror magic and keep you safe from the barrage.” At that moment, Robin and Nasir walked in, led by the lieutenant of the black knights. “We’re leaving shortly,” she told them before calling Damian to her side. “I hear you have been instrumental in organizing the defense of the keep,” Emma said to the man, her appreciation clear in her voice as she waved away his bow. As he respectfully waited for her to continue on, she took in his outlook. When she had sent word that she wanted her companions brought down to the stables, she hadn’t expected him personally to deliver them, knowing that the man was one of the key people in the military structure of the castle. But, as she had seen him lead the two men, his face portraying obvious displeasure toward the thieves, Emma had realized that he had done so out of respect for her. Respect that had nothing to do with her titles, or origins, but with who she was to their mistress. “Thank you.”

The knight only inclined his head in acknowledgement, otherwise unmoving under her look. But, then he shifted, squaring his shoulders. “If I may, Savior?” he asked in a gruff whisper. Emma nodded graciously at him, as she glanced toward others, deeming them too busy with horses to listen in. “When I learned of your Highness’s demise at Wolf’s Col, I thought the world was lost. Not because the village did not stand a chance against the much stronger army, but because the minute our Queen was to learn of your death, all our lives would be forfeit.” He sighed before continuing on, uninterrupted. “We all would give our lives for her, gladly, if she demanded it of us, but we did not want to witness her pain.” He then glanced toward her with a barely there smirk on his lips. “But, then we came here, and soon after the Wolves came, bearing your mark, Savior, and I felt relief.” Damian placed his hand onto his heart, the gauntlet covering his fist creating a clear sound as it met the metal of his breastplate. “I do not wish to be the bearer of bad news, Savior. Not to my mistress.” Even though his voice was respectful and quiet, Emma recognized an edge of order in it, making her smile at the soldier who had the audacity to demand of her to be careful. Oh, she liked him, very much, and her grip on his elbow along with her wink told as such.

“I’ll do my best,” she responded grinning, sending him away to get some sleep. Then she turned to the others. “You ready?” she asked the men and receiving their nods, she took the reins from Belle, accepting the gentle hug that followed from the woman, and a silent squeeze of her shoulder from the tired old man, before she started her magic, taking them away to the forest where the Imperial Guard was waiting on them, the last thing she did before disappearing was to smile and wink in reassurance at the two, the typical careless gesture of the Storybrooke Sheriff bringing a watery chuckle from Belle.

Having already ascertained the position of the commander via her magical senses, Emma allowed her power to bring them right in the middle of the camp, careful not to land on anyone, the sudden appearance causing a slight commotion among the soldiers. But, as soon as people recognized her, the crowd eased and parted for them, one of the men pointing toward the tent they had erected for their commanding officer. She noticed that the men with her were more than happy to escape the bitter cold of the open night air, their breaths visible in the sporadic lights of torches, so when they ducked the flaps of the tent, both Robin and Nasir went directly to the bustling fire at the center. It was then that she appreciated her ‘new’ clothes, as she did not feel particularly chilled and she did not use magic to warm herself, walking directly to the man hunched over the desk, pouring over the detailed map of the area.

“Your Grace,” Cheng greeted her, his eyes only leaving the parchment for a moment to acknowledge her, before going back down. He pointed toward the depiction of the valley, the sharp coal tracks showing the palisade built in the middle of it. “My scouts tell me that there is a convoy ready to leave the fort at the first light,” he spoke before he launched into a detailed report of his findings, as he pointed toward the corresponding points on the map.

Quickly, they devised a plan for attack, Emma deciding to sneak in and to deal with the commanding officers first, with the hope that in the absence of them, Cheng would be able to step in and acquire the obedience of the remaining troops, if the men still subscribed to the laws and customs they had been brought up with. That was the hope, as she was much unwilling to erase two thousand soldiers out of existence.

Using the cover of the dark, cloudy night, the Savior brought one quarter of the Guard with her into the makeshift keep by magic, along with Robin and Nasir, and as they all had been briefed on the goals beforehand, the men slinked off to their tasks, their steps silent and almost unnoticeable in the shadows. The four of them stepped toward the most prominent tent, guided by the banners that flapped on the sharp wind, expecting to find the chief of the keep and one of his captains, still asleep as it was still dead of night. With a quick twang of the bow, Robin dealt with the two guards posted in front, downing them without a pip, guiding the rest of them inside, as he looked around to see if anyone was suspicious of the events going on, assuming the position of one of the guards. It was Nasir and Cheng that jumped onto the two men resting on the crude pallets, overpowering them quite easily, and bringing them in front of Emma, pressing them down onto their knees, as they still struggled against their hold.

“You know who I am?” Emma addressed the older man, assuming he was the one in charge, as she turned the knob on the lantern above her head, making the room in the tent brighter. With only the defiant narrowing of his eyes, the blonde concluded that yes, he did know who she was. “Surrender, and I will spare you and your men.”

“Never, you undeserving bitch!” the man spoke before Cheng cuffed him across his face in punishment. Emma only looked up at her ally and minutely shifted her head to the right, before she focused back onto the kneeling man, now sporting a split lip, and she let her magic speak to her, as she had a hunch about the man, especially after meeting his strangely empty eyes. And, as her suspicion was confirmed, she sighed, bringing her glove covered hand to her neck, not knowing what to do next.

“Your Grace?” the commander questioned as he saw her somewhat odd behavior. He truly expected her to repeat the offer or do something that would change the prisoner’s mind, but the blonde just stood there, watching him with a frown on her face, deliberating something.

She could not let him go, for his heart was in the hands of the witch, or one of her minions. And placing him under arrest until further notice left too many variables for her and others to deal with, along with the fact that the living commanding officer would complicate matters with assuming control of the keep. Yet, executing the man for falling prey to someone else seemed like a wrong thing to do. It was the least complicated solution, but her heart was not in it. “He is without his heart,” the blonde spoke at last, her words directed at the man holding the prisoner down. Cheng frowned as he understood the implication, and with a quick and resolute action, he snapped the man’s neck, letting his body fall forward onto the ground.

“We cannot afford liabilities,” the commander spoke calmly, aware of the flash of anger Emma directed at him, not flinching under the hard glare, as he was absolutely sure in his actions. “Not with so many against us.” He watched her breathe through her nose, nostrils flaring as she ground her teeth, the green eyes pinning him down in anger and indignation, before she nodded briskly, letting it go. Then, she turned toward the other prisoner, cocking her head to the side.

“Seems you are promoted,” she spoke coldly to the captain, her hand sweeping over the dead body. “What do you say on my conditions?” the Savior asked as he looked up at her in terror, not even bothering to move out of Nasir’s firm grip. Unlike the other prisoner, he had all his body parts with him, and Emma hoped that he would turn out to be a better bet than the previous one, as she did not want a repeat. She did understand Li’s decisive action, in fact, she would probably have done the same after some more heavy deliberation on the topic, but she didn’t like it. She didn’t like it at all. But, it had been done, and in a small petty way she was glad that she hadn’t been the one to do it.

“I surrender,” the man yelped instantly, looking at her with his wide eyes. “I surrender,” he repeated, as his eyes darted toward his fallen master. “Please, I don’t want to die.”

“What is your name, Captain?”

“Yao,” the prisoner spoke with a mutter, but as he glanced toward the Commander standing beside Emma, and seeing his narrowed eyes, he hastily added the honorific he had heard the man use. “Yao, your Grace.”

With a hard and long look, Emma nodded, accepting his answer before she gestured to the assassin to let the man up. “Betray me and you will wish for death,” she warned him, and watched as he gulped at the promise in her voice.

“He knows that his life is worthless now, your Grace,” Li spoke, leaning onto the support pillar, right beside the blonde, as he watched the captain try to compose himself. “Even if he manages to evade you long enough to reach the enemy, he, and any man with him not carrying the executive orders from his chief would be executed for treason and dereliction of duty.” Then Cheng smirked coldly at the prisoner. “Of course, that would be after a long chat with general Xia’s men,” he added, his tone more than clearly implying what that particular talk would entail – and Emma had heard snippets of stories of interrogation techniques and tortures that the Empire had at their disposal. “That is, if he manages to slip out of your grasp…”

Nasir scoffed sharply at the commander’s comment, joining in the talk. “You haven’t seen her fight. Even without magic, she is… devastating.” He then continued to tell what seemed to be his favorite tale of the woman, the defeat of the convoy on the first day they had met, going into intricate detail about it. The blonde would’ve scowled at the story if she hadn’t seen the captain grow paler at each new tidbit of it, visibly flinching when Nasir would exclaim, too involved in his telling, and she decided to use his fear to spur him on into action, for time waited for no one and she had places to be.

“I think it is time for you to announce the change of leadership, Captain Yao, don’t you?” she said, addressing the man, ending the conversation between the two men beside her. The captain nodded and adjusting his uniform he scurried forward, leaving the tent. The others followed him in step, Robin joining them outside, as Nasir filled him in.

With a smirk, the blonde watched as the prisoner walked to the main guard post at the center of the keep and entered inside, he kicked the chair under the soldier sleeping at his post, startling him awake. Smothering the chuckle that bubbled up at the reaction of the man who was so rudely woken, she listened to Yao order for the assembly alarm, her eyes skimming over the still peaceful camp. So far, they did not have any trouble, the Imperial Guard she had taken with herself obviously having done what she had ordered them – incapacitate the roaming guards without raising the alarm. Noticing two of Cheng’s men not far away from there, she drew their attention with a simple hand gesture, calling them to her. As one of them jogged up to her, bowing his head as soon as he reached her, she went on with the second part of the plan she and Cheng had created.

“Everyone in their places?” Emma asked just in case, as she hadn’t been used to things going so smoothly, but the man nodded in the affirmative. “Open the gates, and summon them in,” she told the man, sending him off, before turning toward others. Yao was waiting for her signal to sound the alarm, too afraid to move without her explicit permission. Not a minute passed as two flaming arrows flew into the sky and the gates opened, the sounds of the heavy wood creaking too loud in the quiet predawn morning. It was then that she nodded, knowing that the men would be too disorganized to pay too much attention, as it wasn’t the gong used for attacks or other similar situations, but the trumpet the soldiers used to wake the camp at the first light, as nothing was out of the ordinary.

She stood in the center and watched as the soldiers woke, leaving their tents, going about their business and stopping in their steps as they noticed that it was still too dark, but then they would shrug it off as a quirk order of their master, moving on. It wasn’t until the sound of hundred and fifty horses pounding over the frozen ground of the valley, rapidly approaching the wide open gates of the keep became too loud to be ignored in the hubbub of the camp. Only then people started noticing the black and gold armors of the Imperial Guard lining the palisades, each man with his bow notched and pointed toward the men inside. Logically, Emma knew that now the situation was very precarious, and one wrong move could turn it into a bloodbath, but she hoped that the practiced eyes of the soldiers, still confused from the early start of the day would see no point in fighting. Every member of the Imperial Guard was superior to ordinary soldiers, their skills and experience surpassing them beyond compare, and having them in far better position, up on the walls, against the men who still hadn’t put their armors on properly or grabbed most of their weapons – interrupted in the middle of the morning ablutions – the odds were clearly in their favor. However, she did not let her hope blind her, her magic ready for any spark that would escalate the tense situation, as it would take one hothead for it all to devolve into a mess.

Hours later, she walked into the command tent and sat down, taking the cup of water Robin offered her, as she took off her cloak, leaving it on the bench beside her. When one of the lower ranked soldiers moved to take it and hang it up, she only placed her hand over it, her wish clear, before she shook her head, making the man scurry away to his previous post.

“I didn’t think it would be this easy,” the Prince of Thieves spoke softly, sitting across the table, leaning onto his elbows as he watched Emma drink. He was mindful of his tone, but he was honestly surprised by the smoothness of the events of that morning. “If you continue this way, you will have the entire force of the Empire behind you when you confront Midas.”

“Don’t let this fool you, Robin,” the blonde spoke slowly as she pushed away the cup. “The only reason this was easy, as you say, was pure luck. And, it is bound to run out, at some point, so I would rather not count on it.” But, she did agree with the man, it had been easy. Captain Yao called the assembly, explaining that the Savior herself had spared their lives in exchange for their peaceful surrender. There had been displeased grumbles in the crowd, mostly because they had been trained to fight to the death, not yielding to their enemies, but the discontent had been quickly quelled when Cheng stepped up to the platform, announcing himself as a faithful follower of the Savior. And, apparently all she needed to win those two thousand men to her side was the respect of the beloved Emperor’s honored grandnephew. So, right after Li’s impassioned speech on fighting for the right and true honor of the Empire, the soldiers, all as one, knelt and started reciting the pledge of loyalty. It had been surreal for Emma to hear so many voices speaking as one, believing in the words they spoke, as she hadn’t been able to catch even a tingle of dishonesty from the men before her. In appreciation for their gesture, she had changed their armors, the red accents turning black, but she hadn’t given them the gold ones, for it would be a dishonor to the Imperial Guard. Therefore, she had settled on metallic silver-white, giving them some flair, with one more detail. Each newly sworn soldier had a depiction of a swan on his left side of the armor, right above their heart, the silver mark very distinctive on the field of black.

After the pledge, she had spent hours with the top echelon of the keep, learning the news, the plans and all the while she had been under constant vigilance, her magic ready to be unleashed at the moment’s notice. It had been a truly grueling experience, arguing with the stubborn military men over the best approach in attacking the remaining two groups of supporting deployments, monitoring for any trace of betrayal or any kind of deceitfulness, and keeping the power pulled in herself, tense and wired. But, it had been finally over now, and she could allow the magic to taper off into nothingness, as well as enjoy the silence of the tent, pleased that she didn’t have to listen to the annoyingly nasal voices of the officers in the camp, as she had left Cheng to deal with them, the pounding headache enough of an excuse to leave him there.

“They are yours, now,” Robin spoke gently, breaking the silence that had fallen over them, eyeing the new uniforms, his words meaning much more than what they seemed. He had learned the real name of the Savior while they had been at the palace, and he knew why the swan was such a pervasive motif around the blonde. However, he noticed that nothing of Emma’s bore the symbol, at least nothing that he could see, and it struck him as strange. People of power usually adorned their things with their signature marks, a proof of ownership or something. However, he had learned that the blonde before him never had wanted to be the Savior, accepting it only in dire need. She hadn’t placed the swan picture on her for it was a symbol of her burden, he had been made to understand, something she needed no reminder of. He had seen the resigned tightening around her eyes that would appear each time someone would address her as Grace, or Savior, and it was that more than anything that clued him in on his wrongdoing at the council meeting. As Belle had said, he hadn’t known the price she was still paying for being the Savior. “As am I,” he added solemnly with a bow, before rising from his seat and leaving her alone with her thoughts, hoping it was but a first step in making it up to her for his thoughtlessness.

“Robin,” she called after him as he approached the entrance. He stopped in his step, glancing back, waiting for her next words, his blue eyes gentling as he saw a brief shadow of discomfort pass over her face. “I may have overreacted…” she started slowly, and he blinked as he realized that she was trying to apologize to him.

“You had every right,” he spoke immediately as he returned to the table, only this time he crouched beside the blonde woman. “I was in the wrong.”

“It doesn’t make what I did to you right,” she said softly as she gestured to his still bruised neck. “I can heal it for you,” she offered timidly but he shook his head, taking her hand into his, pulling it away from his collar. Robin did not react as she removed it out of his hold, her discomfort at unsolicited touch clear in her eyes, but he continued on, as if nothing happened.

“I needed the lesson,” the blond thief spoke. “And I proudly bear the proof of it.” She sighed at his flippant response. “Do you need anything else?” he asked after a moment.

“They are going to need guides through the Enchanted Forest,” the Savior spoke softly, her hand lazily going around, as she looked down at him. “You know the land better than anyone here, I presume?”

“Then, I will stay with them,” Robin accepted what seemed to be his assignment, but Emma only smiled at him and shook her head.

“No, I’ll take you to your men and your son. Then, you will all move to meet Cheng.” She rose slowly and gestured to him to follow her, Emma walked out of the tent, throwing her cloak back onto her shoulders, squinting against the light of day, as she had spent hours in the dimmed tents. “Your boy has been without a father for too long, and I cannot keep you away from him in good conscience. Not, when there is a better way to get what I want.” Throwing him a pleased smirk, she called the commander to her side, before returning her focus to Robin. “First, I need to see someone, but then, I will send you and Nasir to Merry Men.”

“Your Grace?” Cheng spoke as he fell in step with them.

“You can deal with the next entrenchment all by yourself, Commander?” Emma asked earnestly, looking into his sharply defined face.

“Yes, your Grace. With the added numbers, it should be of no problem.” The commander replied honestly, not even bothering to imbue his words with arrogance of his position, as he knew that the blonde leader beside him would much more appreciate his candor. “Will I still be able to contact you in the event of unforeseen circumstances?” he asked after she considered his reply.

“Yes, whenever you activate it, I will be able to sense it,” Emma spoke reassuringly, patting the man’s shoulder, deeply surprised and honored by his voluntary show of trust. “I will be leaving shortly, with these two,” she motioned to Robin beside her. “As soon as you deal with the rest of the supply chain, if nothing is changed in the meantime, set course to Sherwood and meet up with Robin’s men there.” Emma included the thief in the conversation, “You will take them toward the Palace, but mind that you will have thousands of people in need of traversing the forests. Don’t get too close, we need the maneuvering space.” With several more instructions for both of them, Emma walked to her horse, pleased to see that Nasir was already there, with the two horses he and Robin had picked for themselves prepared to go.

Placing her hand on the black forehead in front of her, she scratched her horse in affection, smiling as the warm poof of air flew into her face. “Good luck,” she offered to the commander as he inclined his head toward her in goodbyes, before she engaged her magic once more, making her and the two companions, along with their horses, wink out of existence.

It was the strong scent of salty sea air and the deafening sound of surf that clued Robin in where they had appeared, still disoriented by such a mode of travel. Clutching the saddle of his horse, he leaned into its side, fighting the nausea as he breathed deeply, as he felt the ground beneath him shift, and his feet sinking into the wet sand of the beach. It seemed that each new time his tolerance for it was getting worse, actually. And, by the sounds of it, Nasir didn’t have it better. He looked up and saw the Savior shake her head at them, unperturbed by the jump, as she patted Shadow on her neck, whispering something to the horse and chuckling at the neighing response she had gotten. She took a small leather bag of the saddle and with a look, directed them to stay where they were, placing the strap of the bag over her shoulder, as she turned away and started walking toward the water line, her boots and cloak leaving trail behind her in the waterlogged sand.

As she strolled toward the foamy water, the overpowering hush of the waves and wind eased her mind, the headache she had been battling for most of the morning, actually dulling, as she could not hear her own thoughts. Nothing but the rhythmic roar of the surf, so alike the sound of breathing. So, she followed it, using water as her meditation focus, each time the water would lap at her boots, she would expand her chest, taking in all the sharp air she could, and force it out as the water would retreat, repeating the process over and over again, until the pain behind her temples was gone. However, regardless of how she seemed to be wasting time, she didn’t, for she was waiting. She knew that the minute her body, and her magic, touched the water, Ariel would know she was there, and Emma had a feeling that this meeting she could not rush, or force. So, she waited, her eyes closed, as she was facing the water, feeling the curious looks of the men digging into her back.

She didn’t know how much time had actually passed when the air changed. She blinked slowly, her eyes skimming over the water, before finding their target in the shallows, the red hair surrounded by the white of the foam. “You came,” Ariel spoke, looking at the Savior, her tone showing her surprise, as the girl had surely expected some kind of betrayal from the sorceress.

“It is not often that I make promises, Ariel, but when I do, I do my best to keep them,” Emma sighed with insistence, knowing that the creature would hear her over the waves. “Did you have any casualties?” the blonde asked, as she stepped further into the water, using her magic to keep herself dry and at the water level, the bible imagery passing through her head for a split second, before she disregarded it completely. As she slowly walked toward the mermaid, she pulled her magic into her hand, silently working on her part of the deal, waiting for the girl to decide whether she was going to answer her question.

“Some injuries, but nothing fatal,” the redhead replied, watching the Sheriff’s approach curiously, not moving from her place, recognizing the worry for what it was – bewildered by its presence in a human. “Nothing we cannot handle. Humans, though; none of them was left alive. My kin were pleased to finally get their hands on the men of Black Beard’s crew – they had a score to settle.”

Emma had no doubt what that particular score was. “I offer my services, should you need them,” she only said, not commenting on the vicious gleam that followed Ariel’s statement, knowing that it was there only to provoke her into an expected reaction – the one she really did not feel inclined to indulge in, especially not over the death of a monstrous pirate such as Black Beard.

“We prefer not to deal with outsiders,” the girl spoke firmly, the directive clear – Emma was not to meddle, but there was the underlying gratitude as well, and the Savior recognized it, as well. It was the tone of a person who had been given hope after a long time spent in desperate darkness.

“Very well,” the blonde said simply, an intricate, yet elegant bracelet appearing in her gloved right hand, made of silver threads, wrought into several slim chains making a beautiful mesh with a design made of aquamarine stones. Reaching the fiery woman, Emma crouched and extended her left hand in invitation. “Give me your hand,” she spoke gently as she watched the girl eye the bracelet and the offered hand warily. The Sheriff did not make another move, understanding the fear that was currently holding the girl immobile, her heart tingling uncomfortably at the heartbreaking hope shining out of the unbelieving sea blue eyes, but overshadowed with fear and expectancy of yet another betrayal. Slowly, the girl extended her right arm, the pale limb landing cautiously in Emma’s palm, and the blonde could feel Ariel tremble under her touch. In a moment she fastened the bracelet over the girl’s wrist, smiling as the light metal wrapped around the soft skin, forming a brace of sorts, the pattern of the blue stones forming a very familiar shape on the front side of the forearm. Smiling at her masterpiece, Emma grasped Ariel’s fingers into a gentle hold, pulling the girl up, her move followed by her gentle encouragement. “Come, take a walk with me,” the Savior said as she watched the mermaid glance down in surprise, seeing the legs under her for the first time after a long while. With a firm, but gentle and reassuring grip on the girl’s arm, Emma guided her toward the shore slowly, mindful of the freshness of the experience for the woman beside her.

“You really did it,” came the amazed response from the mermaid as she stepped onto the sand, her bare feet wriggling in the sand as she made her first step without Emma’s supportive hold. “Now, I can finally find him,” she added with a smile, already turning back to the water, her goal clear. But, a hand on her elbow stopped her and she froze. Turning her head to the Savior, the woman frowned, the sea blue eyes sharpened, glaring at the sorceress. “Are you reneging?” a hiss left the woman, as she waited for the trap to be sprung, angry for daring to believe that her hopes would finally come true.

“No,” Emma replied calmly, her hand still on the woman’s elbow. She noticed that the woman was shivering now, out of the protective magic of her kind and out of the water, her skin rapidly turning blue under the harsh air of the winter. So, she took off her cloak and covered the girl, her hands squeezing the trembling shoulders in front of her, sending out pulses of warming magic. “But, there are things you need to know first, about Storybrooke. And, I need another favor from you.” Before the girl could scowl at her, Emma lowered her head, as she connected their eyes. “It will not delay you, nor prevent you from reaching Eric, I promise.” Seeing the earnestness in the Savior’s eyes, the mermaid nodded in acquiescence, her hands gripping the lapels of the dark cloak, silently marveling at the chivalry of the woman before her. “You do not need to take off the bracelet to change shapes, as it will cater to your wishes. You only need to want one form over the other and it will accommodate. But, if you do take it off, the fin will return immediately.” Emma motioned for them to continue walking, as she delved further into the explanations Ariel would need, knowing that the light exercise would keep them both warm and calm enough. “However, I have charmed it so only you, and I, can unbind it, so no one can steal it from you.” The relieved smile that followed her words made the tension worthwhile. “There is one more thing. The town you are going to is under a strong protection spell, and I had to place a specific enchantment on it to allow you within the borders, but I am not sure how it will react with the spell, so be careful. Most likely, it would feel like a disturbance in the barrier, calling forth the protectors to investigate. If you tell them I sent you, and show them the symbol, they will believe you.” The blonde gestured toward the gems, taking notice how the red head traced the pattern with her fingers gently, realizing the connection between her name and it.

“What is it that you need me to do?” Ariel asked after a while, as she made sure that she understood everything the Savior had told her, sensing that there was something the blonde was not telling – something very important.

Emma seemed to hesitate as she looked over the girl, but a hand reached out, landing on the leather covering the blonde’s right wrist. “You need me to take a message to your True Love, perhaps?” Ariel added with understanding, as she watched the Savior swallow. In the minutes she had spent listening to the woman explain the situation, so the girl would be safe, Ariel realized that the Savior was truly one of the good ones, much like Snow had been in the past.

“Something like that,” the blonde finally spoke, fiddling with the strap of her bag. “I need you to take this to Snow,” Emma said, placing the bag into the waiting hands, her fingers flexing over the sturdy leather, reluctant to release her precious cargo to the other woman, and yet needing to do just so, “and to tell her to give it to Henry’s mother. She will know.” The strange avoidance in the Savior’s answer sparkled the mermaid’s interest, but she chose not to inquire about it, respecting the woman’s privacy.

“Now, I give you my promise that I will do so, Savior.” Ariel could sense all the manner of protective enchantments over the bag, probably keeping it safe from the elements and other magic, as she placed the strap over her shoulder, removing the cloak in the process. “When this is all over, what can I expect for my kind?” the woman asked at the last minute, her desire to leave to find Eric overshadowed by her fear for her kin. She couldn’t just abandon her people, especially in these turbulent times.

“There will be a peace treaty. The hunt of your folk will be outlawed and punishable to the highest extent.” The Savior proclaimed, already having thought about the issue, her assured tone reassuring the girl about the fate of her people. “But, your kind will have to follow the rules as well,” the Sheriff added sternly, not blind to the acts of vengeance the mermen had enacted in the past.

“As long as they are fair,” the redhead spoke, looking into the green eyes, knowing that the woman before her would do her best to manage it so. “Good bye, Savior,” the woman said gently, giving back the black cover.

“Wait,” came the sharp order from the Sheriff, as the blonde followed her to the water. “There is peace in Storybrooke now, after the curse is broken. I cannot have you interfere with that.”

“What do you mean?” Ariel asked, cocking her head at the woman.

“Do not mess with the peace and let Snow deal with everything, regardless of who you see in the town,” the Savior ordered, her tone showing not only authority but also absolute certainty that if Ariel was to disrupt the status quo, hell would follow, the sharp edge of the until then gentle voice making the girl shiver.

“I promise,” Ariel said timidly, as she turned toward the woman, touching the intricate chains of her bracelet, using the motion to ground her. “I promise I will not meddle.” Seeing Emma nod and relax, the mermaid stepped into the water, walking into the surf before she wished for her fin to return, gasping at the instant and seamless transition. Wasting no time, the red head disappeared into the depths of the Endless Sea, eager to meet her destiny.

“Well, that’s it,” Emma murmured into the wind as she watched the other woman leave. A warning had been sent and Regina wouldn’t be walking into the war torn county unaware and unprepared, and Emma hoped it would be enough to keep the love of her life, and the rest of her family, safe. Fixing the cloak onto her shoulders, the blonde pushed her hair out of her face, letting the curls fall over the black velvet of the cape, as she directed herself to the men patiently waiting for her several hundred meters away.

“Now, let’s talk about you going home,” the woman spoke when she neared them, rubbing her hands together.


	14. Chapter 14

Three days. That was how long their luck had held. Three days. Before it all went to hell.

Li leaned against the rock he had sought cover from the relentless volleys from the hill above his position, where the last regiment had been stationed, tiredly wiping his forehead, wincing as his touch irritated the graze that had finally stopped bleeding. He glanced to the left and frowned as he saw most of his men huddling behind the measly covers of the moss covered rocks and bare trees. A nudge to his side drew his attention to his lieutenant offering him the skin of water silently, as they waited for a break in fire, or for anything really that would allow them to move, as they were pinned, and the harsh turn of the weather did not help at all.

He sipped the icy cold drink as he thought back to that morning, when things had changed. After a very successful campaign against the second regiment, where he had managed to subdue the men without much force and get them to join him in the matter of minutes, after dealing with the heartless commanders first, he had ordered the soldiers to march toward the last keep, entrenched deep in the mountains, still high on triumph. And, then things had started happening. First, one battalion of scouts he had sent out in front of the main part stumbled into a manticore controlled area, the slippery snow covered ground making them lose their footing right beside the resting pride. It had been the terrible shrieks and screeches of the winged creatures, and the screams of his men that had told him about the danger ahead, forcing him to stop the advance. More than a hundred men lost their lives, and many more had been injured, before the vicious beasts could be put down. Deeply shaken by the battle, he had checked on the injured men, watching the field medics deal with the wounds; he had still attributed it to a random chance, ordering the men to move out, on with their mission, bringing them into a narrow valley and clear path to the top, his idea of swarming the defense still having merit.

Then it had started snowing, the light feathery spots turning into a full blown blizzard after only half an hour, completely obliterating the visibility and covering the ground into a very unstable layer, making their way even more treacherous to tread. What had been worse, his plan of approach to the keep had been rendered useless, leaving his men out in the open, without much cover and exposed to the attack from above. However, he still hadn’t sounded a retreat, needing just one small chance to force his will, willing to wait for it, at least for a little while.

But, that had been before by some odd twist of fate, or as he was rather inclined to believe, magic, all the ways out of the valley had been sealed shut by landslides and avalanches, more than four hundred men finding their deaths in the ice layers and crushing rocks, and suddenly the army he had been leading had found itself trapped, left to the mercy of the winter storm. However, it hadn’t ended there, as the loud noise of the slides had brought ogres upon them, forcing them to engage with the huge creatures out in the whiteout.

A warm tingle from the cuff brought his attention to his hand, relief at finally getting some response from the Savior apparent as he gasped her name, instantly bringing the metal to his lips, opening the communication. “Swan? Your Grace?”

“How are you holding up?” he heard the Savior speak as if she had been right next to him, her voice sounding oddly pinched, but in his relief to finally hear her voice, he ignored it. Not even bothering to comprehend the magic that enabled that, he sighed heavily, slumping against his cover, glancing around as he assessed the situation. The night had fallen, bringing the temperature of the air way below freezing, and they were in serious danger of dying of hypothermia, if the arrows and mortar fire didn’t kill them off first.

“Still alive. Most of us, anyways,” he spoke tiredly, mindful to keep his voice in the hushed whisper, not wanting anyone to overhear him being downtrodden, the never ending day hard on his composure. “We’re pinned by the east ridge, right underneath the main compound, but Ling’s men are by the south, facing the brunt of the attack. They are getting decimated as we speak.” The commander then closed his eyes, remembering the gruesome truth he had learned hours before, not that he could ever forget the horrific images he had witnessed. “The simians. They were humans once, but bitten by the blasted monkeys and they turned.” The bloody creatures had descended upon them as soon as the blizzard had stopped, in the early afternoon, tearing through his ranks too easily. And, as if it hadn’t been enough, their enemies started firing upon them, cannons and arrows alike.

“Shit,” Emma responded after a moment of stunned silence. He couldn’t agree more. “I am coming,” she spoke once more, terminating the connection with the short reply, urgent and up to the point. Li lowered his hand and moved slightly, peeking out of the cover, trying to judge the situation, but the instant the top of his head cleared the rock, the sharp whistle of arrows made him jump back, barely managing to avoid the sure death as the metal tips scraped the stone right beside his face, spraying him with stone dust and friction sparks.

“Damn it,” he grunted, settling back into his previous position. It would seem that the people up in the keep either knew he was there, keeping his position under the heavy fire in the hope of hitting him and thus ending the opposition, or they kept the pressure everywhere with equal measure, which meant that the number of marksmen in the compound was much higher than it was assumed. He groaned, as it was rapidly turning to be the worst military campaign he was ever part of, and he had been in many wars. And, he was the one in charge here.

Once more, his wrist heated up. Without delay, he whispered the code. “Can you organize your men?” he heard the Savior speak, not even bothering to hear his acknowledgement of the open line. “I might have an idea, but I need to know if the men can actually follow the directions.”

“I can get orders relayed, but will they be followed to your satisfaction, I do not know,” Cheng said honestly.

“That’s good enough,” Emma’s voice confirmed. “Alright, the minute I distract them, get the closest soldiers below the north-western wall, it is the easiest entry point. You will need the suppression fire, and someone on the east to keep them further diverted.” Cheng listened carefully, realizing that the Savior was somewhere nearby, as she clearly could see the compound and the layout of the valley. Feeling like they actually had a way out of that mess for the first time since the avalanches, the commander sighed in relief, as he quickly relayed his orders to the lieutenant beside him, trusting that the word would reach the necessary parties via hand gestures and light signals the Imperial Guard frequently used, and now he was more than happy that he had asked his men to show the others most of the language, thinking it would come in handy. “Oh, and cover your ears, it’s going to get really loud,” he heard the warning, before she broke the connection. Absently relaying the order, he watched his men use loose bits of bandages, torn cloths and other things, to follow the directions, he himself still confused about it. However, several seconds later he really regretted his slow attempt to comply with the orders.

A very loud boom was heard, reverberating over every surface in the valley, the echoes of it actually becoming louder, as the ground vibrated with the force of it. With a hiss, Li brought his hands to his ears, feeling as if something was tearing out his eardrums, and wincing, he heard another boom, followed by several more, each more terrifying than the one before. As soon as the echoes stopped, he stuffed his ears with some loose moss, feeling that the noise part of the distraction was not over yet. And, to be frank, it scared him, as he didn’t know what the Savior exactly had in mind. Suddenly, the air was filled with howls, most horrific wails he could hear even over the obstruction, his skin raised in goose bumps. If he had thought that he had been cold before, now he was petrified with his blood turning to ice out of fear the grisly sounds invoked in him, his mind calling up the various legends of monsters, some of which he had the distinctive displeasure of meeting. Which, he presumed, was the point.

Then he saw light. Right above them, high up on the cliffs, there was a very bright light, almost blinding in the pitch darkness of the night. And right in the middle of it, on the ledge stood a lone figure, with their swords drawn, unrecognizable against the light, but Cheng had a strong suspicion about their identity. “Yield!” he heard the familiar voice shout, the Savior’s tone ringing out in the air. “Yield, or you shall perish!” she said, pointing the sword at the keep below her, conveniently drawing all eyes to herself. Using the obvious stagnation in the attack, the commander ordered the move out, just as the Savior had told him, as he watched his leader stand tall and unmoving, her cape fluttering in the wind behind her.

He flinched when a volley of flaming arrows rose up to the sky to meet her, almost leaving his cover to shout a warning to her, but he saw her just stand there, defiantly, as the arrows came closer to her, and suddenly, the bolts stopped in the air, turned around and were flung back, their whistle loud in the following silence, each projectile hitting the men who had sent them out, killing them instantly, their bodies pushed over the walls. It was a gruesome picture - the carcasses alit with blaze toppling into the darkness, their fall highly visible in the blackness surrounding the walks.

Then, something came off the cliff, tumbling into the keep, destroying the topmost level of one of the guard towers, as if a trebuchet had hit it with a heavy load, the spire crumbling upon itself and falling down, its collapse followed by the panicked shouts of the people inside. And with that, Li moved, grabbing the moment to lead his men out of the pincer and end this thing once and for all, rushing toward the west wall, placing his archers to give the cover fire to the advancing soldiers, deciding to stay with them.

But, before he could bunker down his cuff burned again, indicating another communication. “Swan?” he shouted as he held a bow he had picked up along the way, firing bolts at any visible men at the wall.

“Change of plan, order retreat to the east slope. There are just too many people in play.”

“They’ll be out in the open there!” He argued, as he notched another bolt, sending it off into an unlucky chap that had leaned over to see the advancing army, hitting him in the neck.

“They are getting slaughtered here, Cheng, and as much as I hate to send people to fight ogres, right now that is the lesser evil. And, three thousand should be quite capable of dealing with a dozen of measly overgrown bastards, shouldn’t they?” Even though he couldn’t see her, he could feel her smirk and goading in her tone, the uncaring edge sharp in her voice. Yes, three thousand Empire soldiers should be able to withstand legions of the smelly menaces, but his men were rugged down by this eventful day, freezing cold, and everything else. She had been cold before, but he had never heard her this – well, cruel, he would guess the word was.

“East slope, you say?” Cheng asked, in acceptance of her orders, quite aware that she was his Mistress in effect as he had pledged his life to her and she was there to rescue him, as he ducked into cover, finding one of his lieutenants beside him, ready to relay whatever he said.

“It has the most coverage,” Emma explained with annoyance. “And, it is somewhat easy to travel.”

“Fine.” With whisper and hand motions he told his subordinate the orders, nodding as the younger man relayed them further. “You still need cover,” he added to the cuff, as he gestured a new set of his commands. “We’ll meet you at the entrance point.”

“Commander, I do not require you to commit such sacrifice. Don’t worry about me; get your men to safety.”

“I am not leaving you behind, your Grace,” Cheng spoke firmly, as he watched the soldiers retreat down to the designated point, his Imperial Guard staying with him. With one gest of his fist, the men started approaching the west wall, ducking the arrows and mortar expertly, as another explosion sounded deep within the keep. “And, it’s not fair for you to have all the fun,” he grumbled as he could see another watch turret go down, turned to rubble in a matter of seconds.

“Fun?” He heard Emma’s mirthless chuckle in his ears, the sharp tone freezing him in place as it made his skin crawl with dread. “Then, who am I to stop you…” she commented coldly, before cutting the signal. Recognizing his ill-advised remark, he sighed as he scuttled toward his goal, their advancement slow but steady, with minimal casualties. With finally some luck on his side, Cheng brought his men close to the wall, hunkering down on the uneven ground, using the misshapen rocks as protection. The only thing that remained for him was to wait for the Savior to let them in, and until that happened, he would stay there, protected by the flimsy cover, occasionally peeking out to ascertain the situation. Also, using the time, he grabbed a fistful of snow, wiping the side of his head, wincing at the stinging sensation the cold and the cut caused. It had finally stopped bleeding and he wanted to get rid of the sticky feel over his left eye. 

* * *

“Is there a reason why you are standing here, out in the cold, in the wee hours of the night, staring at the water, or you are just escaping whatever it’s bothering you?” Ruby spoke softly as she leaned on the wall, her eyes idly scanning the forest, as she pulled the lapels of her cloak tighter against the bitter sharpness of the air. She glanced toward the blonde sitting cross-legged on the ledge, careful not to make any sudden movements, as she didn’t want to send her goddaughter to a plummeting death, but she could not help but be slightly worried for Emma, to find her in such a position. Not only that the blonde was balancing on the edge, she was not wearing her cloak, the black leather of her tunic reflecting the light of the torches hanging nearby, as well as the polished silver of the sword’s hilt, tilting to the right shoulder.

“Yes,” Emma replied lightly as she smiled at the wolf beside her, taking in the concern in the deep blue eyes, her blonde locks fluttering in the light shift of the air.

“Which?”

“Both.” Then, Emma took mercy upon her friend, offering a distraction that they both apparently needed. Mulan and several other men had decided to leave the safety of the Palace, in order to try and gather some information on the enemy, and their absence had created a muted hush within the walls of the keep, with the people who had been familiar with the mission feeling the tension and worry growing by each hour the warriors were away. And, the only reason Red hadn’t gone with them was because the Empire woman had sneaked out before the shifter had learned of the plan, leaving her behind, in the safety of the castle walls. The Savior understood Mulan’s motivation completely, but she also knew that there would be hell to pay, the second the woman came back, and she did not envy the warrior at all. “I was waiting for you, actually,” she spoke, as she rose to her feet, still on the wall, her moves elegant. Stepping back, she landed beside the dark haired woman, bumping her on the shoulder in greeting. “Knew you’d find your way to me, eventually.” It only spoke of how much Emma cared for the shifter, knowing that the girl’s restlessness and worry would drive her to seek comfort in her friend. And, she did not mind providing it, especially tonight, when it was easy to give.

“You’d know if something was wrong?” Ruby asked softly, timidly, not daring to look into the kind eyes that spanned through generations, fearing the answer in them, her anger toward her loved one muted by concern. “Right?”

“I would know if she needed help,” Emma answered soothingly, her hand going toward Ruby’s shoulder, rubbing it gently, as she watched the girl sink into the touch, consoled with the simple reassurance from the Sheriff.

“Still no luck with sleeping?” the shifter diverted their conversation, not letting her relief show. “That’s why you are here?”

“Yes,” the Savior said shortly, before she pushed away from the wall and walked toward the bell hanging in the middle of the open space, her hand reaching for the cold bronze of it, tracing the markings on it. “And, no,” she continued as she looked back at Ruby. “I always had a thing for heights and sights. My apartment in Boston had this perfect view of the center of the downtown.” Smiling with sadness and recrimination, she shrugged. “When you look down, and everything looks so small and inconsequential, it helps you put things into perspective, and your worries aren’t as heavy as before.” She raised her hand and swiped it, showing their surroundings, the mountains, forests, the sea… “It calms me. And it keeps me close to her,” she spoke softly, not needing to specify who she was, “because she is the only one who can fully understand that feeling.” Not only understand it, but cherish it, Emma remarked to herself, knowing that the sole purpose of the cottage at the Tri-point was the access to the vista the cliffs afforded.

“You haven’t mentioned her in a while,” came the soft reply from her friend. “At least, not in this way.”

Emma only smiled softly in response, swallowing against the knot forming in her throat. Even though she had tried to compartmentalize her emotions, the fact that Regina was never far from her mind was evident in her knowledge of the land, in her behavior, in her tactical mind… The indelible mark the former Evil Queen had made on Emma was visible to all who knew the women. And, the memories that the thoughts of the woman brought forward were always bittersweet, only enhancing the yearning that Emma never stopped feeling – desire to be home, with her family. All of her family. It was strange, though, the blonde remarked to herself, to feel such attachment for those people, people she had known for only two years, people she had accepted as her family only several months before. After a lifetime of being alone, abandoned, unwanted, she had more than she had ever hoped for. Two loving parents, a son, another boy she already loved even though she had spent only scant hours in his presence, and a woman who she couldn’t imagine her life without.

However, before she was pushed into answering the comment, and by the look in Ruby’s eyes, the shifter was about to press about it, the Savior turned her head, as if she was sniffing the air, feeling the shift in magic, the tingle she had been watching out for most of the night, grateful for the interruption. Glancing toward the lights in the distance, where the soldiers had made camp, she felt her lips stretch into a pleased smirk before she offered her hand to the Wolf beside her. “Come, we have places to be,” Emma said, urging her friend to take the gloved fingers.

Ruby complied, looking up in worry, but curious nonetheless. Placing her hand into Emma’s she took comfort in the fact that the Savior was not concerned about their adventure. If she were to guess, the blonde seemed pleased about it, almost giddy, but with the edge of mischief, like a rambunctious child in the night of the Halloween. Feeling the tendrils of magic envelop her, the Wolf sensed the ground disappearing from beneath her feet, her boots suddenly sinking into a foot deep snow, as the bone snapping cold pushed through her, making her gasp and shudder. However, the feeling of freezing didn’t last for long, because the second she looked toward Emma to say something, an unknown warmth covered her, soothing her skin, making it easier for her to breathe again. Taking in several deep breaths, she noticed that they didn’t seem as cold as before, even though she knew that the air hadn’t changed. She looked to the Savior and saw her a foot away, still holding her hand, as she kept her eyes closed, head tilted slightly upwards. Ruby’s enhanced eyes were able to see Emma’s face in the pitch darkness, the fair complexion and blonde hair jumping out of the blackness of her clothes, and it surprised her to see that the Sheriff was looking… Serene. But, then, she saw an almost unnoticeable flicker of jaw muscle and the illusion fell apart, reminding Ruby that Emma was very good at putting up convincing masks, hiding her inner turmoil, even from the people who knew her well. The shifter understood. Emma was pushing down her emotions, her mind now focused on whatever had brought them here.

And, here was… nothing. The Wolf looked around. They were in the forest, the abundance of trees made that clear. They stood in pristine two feet deep snow, in a small ditch formed by the uneven ground, undisturbed but for their presence. Her superior senses told her that there was not a life form present for hundreds of yards around, the still air of the night quiet. Tugging on Emma’s hand, reluctant to speak in fear of breaking the silence, she drew the Savior’s attention to herself, her eyes posing the question. The only response she got was a roll of the green eyes as the blonde tugged them forward, climbing the short incline of the ditch, guiding them through the dark, keeping the Wolf’s hand firmly encased in her own.

After five minutes of silent trek, Emma stopped and bringing Ruby to herself, she pointed to a side, her lips going to the Wolf’s ear. “Do you see them?” the blonde breathed out, her voice just loud enough for Ruby to understand the words. Narrowing her eyes, she noticed four lumps against the white of the snow, prone on the ground. Before she could move toward them, her mind already frantic with worry for seeing the castle scouts unmoving, Emma squeezed her arm, hard, stopping her in place. “They are fine,” she hissed in warning. And, just then, Ruby saw one of the men move carefully forward, looking at something over the rise they were laying against. Relaxing in the Sheriff’s hold, the girl nodded, waiting for Emma to continue with whatever this was, thoroughly confused with her friend’s behavior. “You see, I told her that trying to sneak up onto them would be pointless because of the many wards put all over the place, but she insisted on confirming it for herself,” the blonde said conversationally, as she glanced toward their friends. “Now, she has found out that I was right, but she still stubbornly refuses to give up. Because, you see, that would mean that she pissed you off for no good reason but her pride.”

“Not like you wouldn’t do the same,” Ruby spoke absently, her heart warming up at Emma’s words. She knew her warrior, and being cooped up for so long, with nothing to do but to wait had been unbearable, so she did understand why Mulan had snuck out, needing a mission, a task, to distract herself from the arduous waiting for the assault on the Palace to start.

“Yes, but, I am me,” Emma replied flippantly, with a smile. The Savior, the one who defies conventions and expectations…

“Why are we here?” Ruby asked, after she had shaken her head at her friend, nudging her with her elbow.

“To take them home. They have no magical protection against the cold, and knowing Mulan she would be stubborn enough to freeze to death, before returning empty handed.” Emma then looked at her friend and chuckled softly. “But, first, I want to scare them.”

“Ems,” Ruby started but the roguish glint in Emma’s eyes stopped her. “How?” she asked, changing her mind.

“That is up to you,” the blonde spoke, releasing her grip as she gestured toward the scouts. “The magic will keep you hidden until you desire to show yourself. In this, I will follow your lead.”

And, finally, Ruby understood. Instead of forcibly removing them from the forest, the Savior wanted the woman warrior embarrassed, not only for her stubbornness that could get her killed, but for leaving Ruby behind. They both knew why Mulan had left her, however it did not make it easier on the Wolf, and it did not mean that Ruby agreed. Giving her this opportunity, Emma gave Ruby a more or less harmless way of retribution, one that would not harm their relationship and yet prove Emma’s point. The brunette looked at the Savior with a smirk. It was a very parental thing to do.

The Wolf reached for Emma’s hip and taking the knife there out of its sheath, she walked toward the people lying on the snow, unnoticed by them as she stepped forward, her goal clear. Emma followed her, watching with interest. She climbed up and found a seat, only a foot away from Mulan and the other three men she had with her, still unseen because of her magic. In the meanwhile, Ruby knelt down beside her partner, the blade of the knife going into the snow only three inches away from Mulan’s still unaware face, the warrior focused onto the shimmering air farther down the slope.

Suddenly, Ruby had an idea what to say, ending the enchantment Emma had placed over her. “What’s this?” she spoke clearly, barely holding in the chuckle at the sight of her girlfriend freezing on the spot in surprise, before flinching away from the knife suddenly appearing in her periphery. “An Empire hero caught off her guard?”

Emma, having caught the reference, exploded in laughter, appearing in front of the stunned people. She patted the nearest soldier in front of her, still chuckling, their flabbergasted faces only prolonging her mirth.

Mulan, on the other hand, did not feel like laughing. At the first sound of a voice beside her, she froze, but then her instinct flared and she grabbed her weapon before she even understood whose voice it had been. Only when the second teasing remark came to her, she realized it was the shifter who had sneaked up on her. The added surprise of the blonde laughing so hard, and breaking the silence of the night with such abandon, left her unsettled, especially after hours spent in the quietude of the forest. She had been caught off guard, and the very idea was disconcerting for her. The fact that it had been Ruby and Emma to do so helped none of her mortification.

“Damn it,” the warrior cursed, relaxing into snow, her keen mind already coming up with the explanation. She glanced up at the Savior still sitting above her and shook her head sheepishly. “I thought,” she started but Emma only raised her hand, silencing her instantly, her merriment gone in an instant, her face serious. She then pointed at her men, all shivering with cold, their skin tinged with blue. The glare the Savior directed at her was forceful enough to heat her blood in shame, as she realized that her refusal to admit defeat had endangered her men. But she had needed to do something, to feel useful, and she did go a bit overboard with it.

With a compliant nod, Mulan brought herself to her knees and waited, settling herself in a position of repentance, knees apart, her hands on the ground beside them and her head bowed before her master, or in this case the Savior. It was what her honor, her upbringing demanded of her, even though she knew that Emma would never ask such a show of her. A hand found its way to her face, lifting it up gently, and she looked into the piercing green eyes of the woman crouching in front of her, relieved by the gentle expression on the Savior’s face.

“I understand your restlessness, Mulan, and it is not the reason I am here,” the blonde spoke softly, knowing that only the warrior in her hand and the Wolf would be able to hear her voice, sparing the woman of further embarrassment of the men hearing her dressing down. “They are on the verge of falling asleep, and you know that once asleep in this cold, they would never wake up,” she added, the reproach in her tones clear, but still tempered by kindness. But, the point was made, her reluctance to accept defeat had purposelessly endangered the men under her command, and that was why the Savior decided to intervene. It had nothing to do with her leaving the castle, or the scouting mission. When Emma saw that the woman before her understood, she transferred them all back to the castle, sending the men directly to the warm bath chambers in the lower halls, knowing that they would be fine on their own. But, she brought Mulan and Ruby to Ruby’s quarters, not needing any excuse for it as she noticed Mulan’s embroidered silk shirt on the chair in the corner.

With a flick of her hand, the fireplace roared with blaze, immediately warming up the air in the room and Emma directed the half frozen woman to sit in front of it, pleased to see that Ruby was already grabbing a blanket to cover her lover. “I do appreciate the initiative, but I don’t want you throwing your life away for this,” came the soft whisper of the Sheriff, as she lowered herself into a cross legged seat in front of the two women, sharing the heat from the hearth with them. “I need you to be here when the battle actually starts. I need you to lead the people.”

There was hardness in Emma’s voice, the edge that Mulan recognized easily. The first time she had heard it in the Savior’s voice had been at the roots of the beanstalk, when the blonde had ordered her to cut the stalk down after ten hours, with or without her back. There had been a moment when the warrior had commented that the Savior’s mother would not like it, and she had been surprised with Emma’s response.  _ That’s why I am asking you _ , Emma had said then, recognizing the fact that the warrior had been experienced in making hard choices.

Phillip had assumed a leadership role, but he had no viable experience in wars. And all others had been used to being given orders rather than giving them themselves. So, Mulan understood the Savior’s point – she was the only one but Rumplestiltskin who was capable of tactical and on the ground leadership of the defense forces, and the old man was impeded by his leg and age. With a heavy sigh of responsibility, Mulan nodded in acceptance of her role, sinking into comforting hold of the girl behind her, not perturbed at all to show such vulnerability in front of the Savior.

“I should let you rest,” Emma spoke after a while, growing restless in the silence. She waved away the invitation to stay longer, smiling at the two women before she left, her feet guiding her toward her own quarters. There was an air of anticipation around her, as if she was waiting for something bad to happen, but she didn’t know from where the storm would strike. Cheng had been quiet after his successful capture of the second part of the supply chain, which only meant the good news so far. Robin had sent a message that his men were ready to move out toward the prearranged meeting point. So far, everything was fine – but the feeling of danger hung in the air, the sense of it making her bristle.

Not feeling like sitting still, or even going to the watch post, Emma decided to entertain herself with some manual work, something she hadn’t done in a while. So, she placed a towel over her working desk, cranking up the light in the room, and summoned a vial of tempering oil from the blacksmith’s shop. It wasn’t what she needed for this particular task but it would do, she knew. With deliberate moves she picked up the oiled canvas bag and took out her firearm out of it, dismantling expertly on the desk, her hands not needing instructions as they remembered the moves perfectly. The pistol was nothing but a noise maker in this world, helpless against the magic, but it did have some uses, it was only a matter of finding a proper way of using it to her advantage.

She scrubbed every millimeter of the metal, oiling every spring, every slide with care. Then she counted the ammunition, checking the clips she had. She even took care of her back up, and the belt and holsters for them. As her fingers passed over the cool surface of the shiny weapon, Emma started wondering if she should again start carrying the weapon. She had become quite proficient in other weaponry, as many could attest to that, but the edgy anticipation made her feel as if having something familiar, something of her arsenal from Storybrooke with her, would make her feel more in control.

So deep in her thinking she was that she flinched when a knock sounded from her door, dropping the pipe she had in hand. As it cluttered on the hard surface of the desk, she turned away from it, calling out for the intruder to come in, knowing that it could be only one of the handful to dare to disturb her this early in the morning. And, as the door opened, she smiled in welcome, gesturing the man in, not moving from her seat, her invitation for him to join her clear. Rumplestiltskin raised his eyebrows at the weaponry on the desk, but walked toward it without a word.

“What brings you here at this hour, Mr. Gold?” Emma asked kindly, with light teasing, as she returned to her task, masterfully reassembling all the pieces together, along with the trademark snap of the slide. Placing down the pistol, she looked at him, waiting.

“Fancy a game?” the man asked after a moment of consideration. Rumplestiltskin had watched the blonde these past two days, and he had seen the restlessness growing in her. After telling him that she had sent Robin and his assassin away to act as guides for the turned Empire soldiers, and that she had sent a message to Storybrooke, she had withdrawn from others, wandering the halls of the palace, or standing alone at the topmost watch post. Spending only minutes with people she considered her family, and always in passing, excusing herself quickly away, preferring the solitude of the empty halls… He had known since the moment he had met her that she wasn’t a patient woman, but this waiting was torturous for her. So, he thought a distraction, and a silent offer for conversation, might help.

“You came, at dawn, to ask me to play chess with you?” Emma asked incredulously, as she chuckled, pushing away from the desk, facing the man fully.

“Do you have something better to do?” Rumple only remarked, leaning his chin against the hand resting on his cane.

“Not at the moment, no,” the blonde spoke quietly, before she moved to the table on the other side of the room, more suitable for the game, and summoning the board, she arranged the pieces, waiting for the man to pick a side. “Breakfast?” she offered, as she stepped back toward the desk, pulling out a leaf of paper, with quill already ink tipped.

“If you don’t mind,” the old man spoke, as he sat down at the side hosting the white pieces. He watched her scribble something on paper before she sent it away with magic. “You seem rather comfortable with magic now,” he commented as she crossed the room to him.

The Savior sat down, not stressing the fact that he had left her with the black pieces on the board, before she answered his pointed observation. “It is a matter of substitution.” Pulling the chair closer to the table, she leaned her elbows on the polished wood, looking at the man across from her. “At home, I would send a text, here I send a letter. It keeps things less weird in my head.”

The man hummed in acceptance of her answer and started the game. Quickly, as they had used to, they turned to small talk and philosophical discussions about the Enchanted Forest, Rumplestiltskin seeing Emma’s new perspectives on the races and cultures of the land. He didn’t pry, but he could see that she had grown in the time she had been away, learned many things and gained much deeper understanding of the world around her – and only something hugely profound could inspire such development. And, he knew, by the ever present shadow in her eyes – something life changing and more than challenging had happened to the blonde in front of him, not just the separation from her family and the stress of the war efforts, but something infinitely more. However, the woman kept her quiet on the topic and he knew better than to ask.

“You grew up in a different world, Emma,” he spoke, as he focused on her question of changing the way things worked in the Enchanted Forest, not only regarding magic but the laws as well. “In the world that has science instead of magic, where monsters are hidden in the shapes of men, not visible outright…” He moved his bishop, taking out her knight, as he continued talking. “And, it is a huge advantage for you, because you can tap into that huge well of inspiration of your world to help you deal with ours.”

“I don’t understand,” she said after a moment considering his words, as she retaliated with her own move.

“The stories you grew up with, the films, even the games young Henry has affinity for… They all offer a way of dealing with things – and ‘the real world’ as you call it, has a multitude of such scenarios. That is the difference between us and you; you know it is possible, because you have witnessed the concept before. It is not something beyond the realms of imagination for you – because you’ve seen it before.”

“So, because I have seen fantasy movies, I know how to fight a war?” Emma replied skeptically, her eyes narrowing at the old man.

“No, but you know more tactics you can use. For the people here, harnessing the lighting is out of the realms of possibility, and telling them that people can fly without magic will only make them claim you are insane. But, we know it’s possible. Just as we know, that democracy is possible.” He knew he wasn’t explaining things properly – but it was a very difficult subject to explain. “Take your magic for instance. In order to control it, to make a demand for it, you need to have a clear idea in your head of what you want, right? You need to focus on directing it the way you want it to play out, by telling it exactly what you want it to do – a clear set of orders, if you will.”

“Yes,” Emma agreed, following his analogy quite easily. “If I lose focus, or get confused, magic cannot comply.”

“Again, as you said before, you use substitution. The hailing system you devised for your men, you equaled it to your police radio, correct?” Emma nodded in answer, waiting for the rest. “You used Regina’s poetry book the way you have seen it done in a film.” Again, the blonde only nodded, prompting him further. “You use the ideas you have seen in your world to your benefit. What I am trying to tell you is that you have a whole world of possible solutions for you to explore, and maybe some of them will help you in this war – help you guide your magic more effectively.”

“I am still not quite clear on your point,” the woman said in frustration as she tried to grasp the reasoning behind the man’s speech. “Let me try,” she spoke right after, before Rumple could huff in defeat. “You are telling me that because I am an epic fantasy buff, I may have more ways of dealing with this war than anyone here? Because I have seen all these movies and played the games?”

“Yes!” Rumplestiltskin quickly agreed. “It is easier to use someone else’s ideas than to create one’s own.” He then smiled. “And, it will give you an added edge, for using ideas of your world would surely throw Zelena of balance.” However, he could see that she wasn’t there yet. Deciding to let it go, before further frustrating the Savior, he sighed in relief when a sharp rap came from the door, announcing their breakfast.

Emma invited the kitchen staff in, with thanks gesturing them where to leave the food and drinks, still contemplating what Rumple had said to her. Sending the men away with gratitude and offer of appreciation for the cook, she sat back at the table, continuing the game, as they ate in silence, somewhat awkward after the talk.

“I am going to look for the vault today,” the Sheriff announced after finishing the game, check mating her mentor.

“Are you taking someone with you?” the old man asked with concern. He was well aware that she hadn’t asked for his permission, nor that his questioning on the topic would be welcome, but he did worry about her going there.

“No, I am going in blind, and I cannot predict how they would react to whatever is there.” Emma rose from her chair and strolled around the table, leaning against it beside him. “I’ll be careful,” she promised, sensing his apprehension. “I’ve dawdled enough here, and if I stay one more day doing nothing, you’d wish for the attack to start.” She picked up a goblet, filling it with watered wine, not in the mood for the well water. Bringing it to her lips, she sighed as she thought about the decision she had made. “I cannot just leave it there,” she offered to the man. “Not in her hands.”

“It may well be a trap,” Rumple cautioned needlessly, pouring himself a drink as well. “Regardless of Zelena, the vault is the place where every Dark One used to store things too dangerous or unstable to deal with. There is no way to tell what might be in there waiting for you.”

“I know,” Emma replied with resignation. “But, could she resurrect the Dark One? The dagger is gone, and the magic is destroyed…”

“No one really knows how the first Dark One came into being,” Rumple spoke after contemplation. “It is all shrouded in mystery and legends. The story I learned spoke about needing to make a counterpoint to the light magic in the world – focusing it into one being – thus restoring the balance. But, it made no sense, because dark and light were always present…”

“Balance…” Emma repeated after him, something Guardian had said niggling in her mind. There was that word again. She was learning to hate it, just the same as destiny and fate. “Nevertheless, the truth is that we don’t know what is there, and what she wants.” Emma drank the wine and placed the cup down before she rose to her feet. “Leaving it unchecked can bite us in the ass, and I cannot risk any more surprises. Not with so many lives.” She looked at the man, a determined shadow passing over her face as she picked up her shoulder holster for the gun, filling it with spare magazines and the weapon itself. “Not when they are about to come back,” she spoke softly, the true cause of her worry shown. If there were no delays, Regina and her family would be there in a week, ten days at the most.

“You are becoming too reckless, Emma,” Rumplestiltskin spoke with caution, watching her put on her belt, as she checked her dagger. “You are rushing.” She turned to him scowling, but not stopping her preparation. “It will only get you killed.”

“Then, what do you suggest?” the Savior snapped, as she placed her cloak onto her shoulders, making sure her holster was covered properly. “That I just sit and wait?” The almost frantic motion of her hands, as she made sure everything was in its place clued Rumple more into her state of mind than her words. The waiting game was driving her mad, and she was ready to climb the walls. At this point, he understood, keeping her confined was counterproductive. “I can’t, Rumple. I have a really bad feeling about it, and I need to see if I am right. I need to know.”

“I don’t like you going alone, Emma.” He tried with a softer approach, lowering his voice, imploring her. Slowly, he stepped toward her and reached for her cheek, painfully aware of the cautious eyes watching his every move. Eyes that had grown colder with each day she had spent with them, as the walls she was putting up grew thicker. He wasn’t alone noticing the distance she had been placing between herself and others. His darling Belle knew it as well, shedding quite a few tears on Emma’s behalf, her kind heart understanding that it was more than hard for the Savior to be in their presence, to be their friend. She had retreated into the solitude of the command, the protection of the distance that the title of the Savior provided, knowing it was the only thing that was keeping her sane – for the time being. But, the pressure, the expectations, the fears – they were steadily growing, and breaking Emma’s mental defenses. Rumplestiltskin knew, without a shadow of a doubt, that this war needed to end much sooner rather than later, if they were to have Emma back. If she were to survive this. If any of them were. So, yes, he understood her urgency and the need to do something, but still, he didn’t like it.

“Anyone I take with me becomes a liability I cannot afford,” Emma spoke quietly as she looked into the dark eyes before her. “And, anyone I would like to bring because I trust them, I cannot sacrifice. I consider them friends and leading them to their death…” She shook her head, as she closed her eyes, breaking their hold over the old man. The blonde gently moved out of his reach and finished with her preparations as he watched her, trying to find his words.

“I know sacrifices are hard, but we all have to make them. I am sure everyone within these walls would gladly give their life for yours.” And, yes, he did include himself among those, his firm voice making it certain for the Sheriff who glanced at him with a flicker of amazement before she tilted her head in denial.

“There is a big difference between sacrifice and betrayal, Rumple,” Emma whispered quietly, for a moment allowing her eyes to show the pain she felt over the fact. “And, what you are suggesting is betrayal, at least in my eyes. There will be too much blood on my hands soon enough, no need to add more…” With a slow move, she put on her gloves, drawing Rumplestiltskin’s eyes toward her hands.

“You cannot save them all,” Rumple tried again, his voice breaking, as he watched the strong woman before him show despair over the role she had been given in this world. The role that no one could fulfill. Not alone. Not sane. No matter how powerful or smart they were.

“I can try. It is, after all, my name. My title…” She approached him and took his face into her glove covered hands gently as she leaned over him, using the fact that she was taller to add more effect to her imposing figure. “You always say – all magic comes with a price,” she whispered gently to him, her lips quirking into a sad smirk as her eyes darted between his dark orbs. “Remember the words you spoke to me several weeks ago, of the prophecies you thought were concerning me? That me being the Savior was more than just about your curse and me saving Regina and Henry… Well, you were right, and my existence is about so much more than just this war, and curses, and whatnot. One day I will share all my titles with you, Rumple, so you might understand, but know this – being the Savior is something I cannot escape. And, saving as many as I can – that is the price I pay, every day, among all others. And, it has always been mine to pay, despite your curse…” For it was the truth she had learned with the Guardian. Even if Regina had not casted the curse, Emma would have been born of the True Magic, and she would have become the Keeper of the Balance. The only difference would be that life would not have prepared her for the responsibilities of the calling, and her hard gained insight in the gray areas she had achieved by living in the ‘real world’ on the streets and in foster homes would not be there to help her. Nor would she have Regina, for her True Love would have possibly been dead by the time Emma would have come of age.

Her words pierced his heart with such a potent feeling of relief and guilt, he had to blink his tears away. The green, almost gray, eyes watched him with keenness and understanding, making him feel so transparent under Emma’s gaze, naked and ashamed under her scrutiny. She had known all along that he had felt guilt for placing such a burden upon her shoulders by using the potion made of her parents’ True Love. She had known, and never used that knowledge to her gain. Now, she even decided to spare him of it, absolving him by telling him that regardless of his deeds she would have been in the middle of the happenings, probably having to make the same choices and same sacrifices. She was telling him that her pain was inevitable, and it broke his heart. The tears slipped out of his eyes, as he was helpless to stop them, against the anguish he felt for the damned woman before him. And, he knew, his tenure as the Dark One had taught him that there was only one way a hero like Emma, casted by the higher powers, would attain peace. Experience had taught him, it was only possible through death.

Emma witnessed his realization and the stark horror it brought into his eyes, and yet, she could still see the flash of selfish relief he had obviously felt the second he had understood the meaning of her words, however she could not begrudge him that, not when he had stood by her and guided her in this world without any reservations. Nevertheless, she did keep one important piece of information for herself – one he would come to learn soon enough. True Love was indeed the answer to everything. And, Regina was coming…

Using his temporary inability to move, or even speak, she smiled at him kindly and disappeared, the tendrils of her magic engulfing her mentor in a soothing smoke as she vanished from his sight, off to another potentially deadly mission.

Appearing a quarter of a mile away from the place where Rumple’s memories supposed the Dark One’s Vault was at that time, as the mystical containment field often moved, making it harder to be penetrated and trifled with, Emma shook her head at herself, knowing that it was the emotionally taxing moment she had shared with her mentor that caused her to overshoot in her travel, getting much closer than she intended. However, it seemed that she was in luck, with no one around her, as she scanned the empty, snow covered field. The visibility wasn’t much, as the fog rolled over the chilled ground, the Sun not yet up enough to chase it away, but judging by the silence and undisturbed white powder - nothing had interrupted the serenity of the place since the last snowfall, which had been the day before.

However, Emma knew not to be deceived by such tranquility as it could be quite easily faked. Her magic ready, she pulled out her sword, prepared for any sudden move or tingle in the air, her instinct telling her it was a setup, a trap she was walking into willingly – in order to gain information on her enemy.

However, no matter how prepared she was, how expectant of the treachery she was, she didn’t… she couldn’t anticipate what happened next.

There, right in front of her, in the recognizable swirl of magic a woman appeared, her so familiar features almost bringing Emma to her knees, not envisaging seeing those particular eyes connecting with hers. The Savior could not breathe, as her eyes darted over the vision before her eyes, feeling torn apart by the burgeoning hope that flooded her, against the ever growing sense of dread and caution, warning her that the mirage in front of her was a lie. A horrendous lie, meant to ensnare and damage her.

The dark caramel eyes looked into her own and the punch that the recognizable sight delivered to her chest left her unable to breath, distracting her enough, albeit only for a moment, to lose control of her magic and get trapped into a suspension field, freezing her out in spot. One brief second of lost focus was enough for Emma to lose every advantage she had had, standing helpless before the woman who bore the looks of her True Love.

It might have been Regina’s face in front of her, the line transecting her upper lip so intimately introduced to Emma months before, but the Savior knew – knew with every fiber of her being that it wasn’t her beloved standing there but an impostor. She could feel it in the uneasiness on her skin, the tingling feeling in her bones, the revulsion and iron tasting saliva in her mouth. The woman standing there, in cinched dark red dress coat might have the body of the former Evil Queen, mannerisms and walk, but because the energy that the blonde had felt from the moment she had seen the Madam Mayor that day two years before was missing, that tension that only bespoke of their true and deeper connection was absent, the Sheriff confirmed her doubts. This was no Regina.

But, for one blissful part of a moment, it was nice to hope. It was impossible not to feel the elation of finally being reunited with her lover. It was impossible to deny herself one, just one blip in time where she wasn’t so utterly alone against the world. One measly second where she was looking into the form of her lover, rejoicing the return of her family.

However, it was that one moment that caused her to make the mistake and get lost within the illusion, springing the trap. The second her magic faltered, the green mist of the containment field surrounded her, pinning her down in place. She did not fear the magic as it was too weak to actually harm her, but it was powerful enough to stop her, for a while, at least. And, Emma applied her magic to work immediately, cursing herself for the failure. It was just like her work with the suppression cuff, only on a much larger scale, and that demanded time – time she didn’t think she had.

“I really don’t see the appeal, dear,” the woman masquerading as Regina sneered as she stalked toward the trapped blonde, shaking her head at the Savior. When she came a yard away from the immobilized Savior, the brown eyes narrowed in blatant regard, passing over the woman’s body and finding her lacking. “I don’t know what she sees in you.” Stepping around the Savior, the impersonator tilted her head. “There is some prettiness about you, I suppose, but nothing worth such bother…”

Emma kept her silence, not reacting to the scoff from the other woman, as she worked on liberating herself. Rumple had been right, the raw power of the Wicked Witch was immense, and she needed her wits about her to break through the hold. Oh, yes, she had realized, or more accurately confirmed who her captor was the second the faux Regina had spoken. It may have sounded like the Evil Queen, but it lacked the certain type of flair that only Regina was capable of. But, Emma couldn’t but feel a slight pang of pain, hearing those words spoken in Regina’s voice, her deeply rooted feelings feeding on those malicious comments.

“I hoped you would bring the old man with you, as he would be easier to control, but I guess having a Dark One made out of a Savior is a better deal, after all…” Zelena mused, parading around in Regina’s likeness, as she turned away from the blonde, her hands making a motion, calling two men forward from the small covered part of the clearing, several hundred yards away, hidden among the shadows of the looming forest. “Think of the all blithering fools and their surprised faces when their beloved hero turns on them,” the Witch spoke with malicious glee as she waved her hand, magically removing the snow from a pothole looking cover on the ground, inlaid with strange designs and symbols.

“You don’t have the dagger,” Emma finally spoke, looking for something to distract the woman, as she felt the tendrils of the magic holding her weakening. It didn’t help that she was feeling the light burn in her left hand, the sign that one of her newly acquired friends was asking for her, most likely needing her help – while she was detained in the presence of an insane witch, bent on who knows what.

“I do not need the dagger,” the other woman said absently as she studied the markings of the lid. “All I need is a willing sacrifice, a vessel and the essence of the Dark. When you know all the ingredients, it’s actually quite easy to make a Dark One.” Outstretching her hand, she motioned to one of the approaching men to take a small oddly shaped thing out of her palm and to proceed, while Emma watched, her instinct telling her that she should be worried, really worried.

“How do you know all this?”

“How one knows anything. Simple, dear - research.” The woman then turned toward the blonde and smiled with a smirk. “You do know how to read, don’t you?” Moving away, the witch lost her glamour and appeared in her true form, the red hair pinned atop her head, under the dark green hat, while her skin stood out violently against the surrounding snow. She nodded to the man who knelt beside the circular cover, her order clear in the sharpness of her move.

The man took off his gloves and carefully handling the metal peg-top looking piece, he placed the slim end of it into the middle of the cover, turning it counter clockwise, the loud scraping of metal on metal heard in the clearing. For several seconds nothing happened, making the redhead frown, but before she could move, the kneeling man started screaming in pain as he gripped his now smoking hand, the object obviously scorching it. Before he could place his singed hand into the soothing coldness of snow, his life was ripped out of him, and his body toppled down, face first into the pile of snow beside him. As the sound of his carcass meeting the ground passed over the space, a mechanism underneath the cover could be heard, sounding really ominous. It was a chuckle from the green witch that broke the tension, but it didn’t ease Emma’s discomfort. She needed a minute, maybe two more, but it seemed that she would not have them, as she watched her enemy walk toward what appeared to be the entrance into the vault.

Zelena placed her hand above the hole that was opened in the ground and smiled as a delicately designed black jar flew into her hand, followed by several others. Quickly, the witch gave the others to the second man for safekeeping while she kept the black one in her hands, passing over the etched symbols with something akin reverence in her eyes. “This is the dark magic in its purest form, distilled and created eons ago by the wizards whose names are long forgotten,” the witch said softly, her tone showing the awe she felt toward the container in her hands. With care, she opened the dark jar and suddenly, the Sheriff was feeling the power emanating from it, making her skin crawl with disgust and natural fear. The feeling was similar to what Emma used to feel when in Rumplestiltskin’s presence, only this time it was a thousand times stronger, the pungent and dank scent of magic causing her to visibly swallow against the revulsion invoked in her. Small tendrils emanated from the jar, swirling in air, as if they were sentient, snake like creatures, probing the space around them, searching for a new host. Turning toward the blonde, the three swirls pointed to the Sheriff making the witch chuckle in pleasure.

Approaching Emma, she reached out and in a lighting fast move she plunged her hand into the blonde’s chest. Or, at least, she tried. The Sheriff grunted against the force slamming into her, the immobilization spell keeping her suspended and unable to roll with the impact, the power of it reminding the blonde of a baseball bat directed at one’s ribs, as she clenched her jaw to stop herself from expressing her pain. It was the fact that someone did scream in pain that made her smile, as she watched Zelena’s face crumple in agony, shaking her hand, and pulling magic instantly to heal it. It seemed that her hauberk had done its job, preventing a magical attack on Emma, stopping the witch from taking her heart.

“How?” Zelena gasped as she tried once more to penetrate Emma’s chest but something denied her entrance. Enraged by the smirk the Savior had on her face and the impediment, the green woman made a slicing motion over Emma’s front, her magic cutting through the leather, exposing the mail, the metal shirt glowing in response to Zelena’s attempts of reaching for the Savior’s heart.

“The Queen of Hearts herself could not take my heart,” Emma mocked, knowing that she was only seconds away from being free, finally managing to dismantle the spell keeping her bound. “What makes you think you can do better? I may be new to this world but I am not an amateur!”

The witch could not answer because in that moment the barrier fell, and the blonde surged forward, her hand reaching for the woman’s throat, while the other one grasped the jar, somehow managing to wrestle it out of the red head’s hands. Startled by the sudden move, Zelena stepped back, releasing her hold on the container, and by accident, letting it open. Realizing what she had done, and in what danger she was in, she sent a pulse of pain into the hand holding her hostage, needing to get away from the unstable power of the Dark, not willing to be enslaved, not even with the powers of the Dark One. With one last parting shot, she watched Emma wince at the shock she had received from her, and with a wave of her hand she initiated a transporting spell, taking her man and her away as she saw the blackness escape the jar. “Good luck dealing with that, Savior!” she said as she disappeared into the swirl of emerald green fog.

Not even feeling the anger for losing the hold of her prisoner, the blonde focused onto the black swirl growing around her. It reminded her so much of the blackness inspired by the Curse she had been under, the terrorizing scene of her nightmares fresh before her eyes, but the feel of it was different – much different. Where the blackness of her dreams presented oblivion, nothingness, the Dark now surrounding her reeked of malice and nastiness, its putrid and charred scent making Emma’s stomach rebel and send bile up. It was Evil in its pure form searching for its new host, and it wanted her. Yes, it  _ wanted _ , because the blonde could sense intelligence behind the power, intent.

She didn’t know what the ritual of creating a new line of Dark Ones entailed, but seeing that Zelena had tried to go for the heart, she assumed that she was at least somewhat safe from the hateful brand of magic. Led by her instincts, she focused on her Savior’s magic, the one powered by True Love, thinking it had been the only thing to tame Rumple, and perhaps it was the thing to fight the Darkness. Focusing her thoughts on the people she was missing, she realized that she would have to allow herself to embrace those emotions fully in order to properly power her magic, needing it to fight against the mist that already started climbing over her.

As she had needed to put a tight lock on her emotions in order to actually be functional in the time apart from her family, distancing herself from the full scope of her feelings, Emma understood the consequences of allowing herself to actually feel the loss and the love, and all the rest of the yearning sentiments. And, she knew that doing that would be potentially catastrophic for her state of mind, but the alternative was to try and evade the dark and malevolent mist, and avoid becoming the next Dark One. However, she could see that running was not an option, as the power already started gathering over her body, seeping into her skin, testing her magic – every touch of it lingering more and more, the revulsion she felt against it turning into something different. Something seductive, dark, inviting… Something that Emma’s rebellious nature would cherish and welcome, but the Savior fought against it, receiving shocks of pain and poisonous scents as the power whispered to her, showing her many opportunities, making countless promises, solving her every problem – if only she would yield, embrace it, welcome it home.

“No,” she murmured, as she fought, dropping to her knees and hands, her head bowing down as she shook. She could feel  _ it _ entering her, sinking into her skin, changing her, challenging her True Love magic, and for some reason it didn’t sound as terrible anymore. Would it be so bad to stop feeling this emptiness? Would it be so horrible if she stopped caring? She had done it once before… “NO!”

Henry. Just picturing his face made her breathe easier against the constant slew of the power. The boy who had stolen her heart from the moment she had met him at the door of her apartment. The first person she ever truly loved, flesh of her flesh… The first person to ever believe in her - staking his life in that belief, and proving her that the fairy tales had been real. Her kid. Her son. Her True Love.

It was the memories of him that slowed the descent into madness caused by the Darkness, making the enticing whispers quiet down, just a bit, not ringing out so loud in her mind, but it did not stop them from making sense to her – and it definitely didn’t stop them calling to her, tempting her to sell her soul – for the darkness surely was the Devil.

Snow and David. Her parents, the heroes of the stories… She loved them too, in her own way, and some days even accepted them as her parents, not just friends who share blood. There was still some resentment and fear in her heart regarding them, but she tried to ignore it for her own sake, calling up her positive feelings toward them to fight It.

That is when the leading force turned violent, discarding the gentle and swaying promises, and feeding her doubts, her fears, reaming her with lies and words that were fashioned to destroy her faith, her belief in the affection of the people she loved.  _ They gave you up. Sacrificed you for their happiness. What can they do with a daughter older than them? The only reason they are acknowledging you now is because you are the Savior, the greatest hero of their time… You are alone, abandoned yet again, left to fight someone else’s fight, someone else’s doom. They are using you. _

“No,” she gasped against it, shaking her head, trying not to take the words as the truth, but she couldn’t help but accept them on some level – as she had already thought these thoughts before, in the darkness of her mind, doubting her own worth to the people around her. What good was she to her son, he already had a mother, a good mother he loved, at that? The doubts grew, fueled by the nasty magic, swallowing her capability to summon the love she needed to fight the power. Her fears compounded onto the growing torment engulfing her, making her an easy prey to the malicious swirl now in her, and to her terror she could feel her skin changing, the rosiness of it darkening and turning into earth colors, with the metallic shine to it. She was losing to this power, and soon the Savior would be no more. She had failed. She was lost.

_ You are loved, my Knight, and you are not alone. And, you’ll never be. Never again. No matter how it seems at the moment _ .

The words spoken all those weeks before in the comfort of the room she had shared with the former Evil Queen passed through her mind, making the transformation stop. Just the memory of her voice, and the look the woman had on her face when she had said them brought some semblance of hope to Emma, helping her keep fighting.

_ I cannot bear the thought of a world without you as a Savior in it. _

Regina. The woman filled her mind and her heart, all the instances the dark haired woman looked at her with kindness and affection shining out of the caramel eyes swarming through her thoughts, and it was then that Emma felt it. Her magic instinctively awakening and fighting against the intrusion with renewed power, this time actually managing to stop it. The Savior focused onto the woman who was her chosen, her beloved – her own salvation, and opening her heart to the full impact of her emotions, she allowed the love she felt for the woman to fill her up completely, as she ignored the uncertainty thrown at her from the mist, ignoring the doubtful thoughts about Regina’s love for her. She already had proof – the curse breaking kiss that had saved her life once already. Regina was her True Love, beyond any doubt, any disbelief. And, it was that belief, that knowledge - that turned the tide of her fight.

It was then that the power retaliated with pain and torture, burning every inch of her body, punishing her for rejection. Screaming in agony, Emma brought forward her memories of Regina, using them to disassociate herself from the hurt, sinking into the soothing gestures of the Queen of her heart she remembered from the time Regina had taken care of her. She remembered their talks, their shared memories, their love making… For the first time in seven weeks, she allowed herself to remember everything – every small interaction between them, every loving gesture, every whispered word, every teasing touch, soothing presence, every kiss, and more… It hurt, it tore her apart, seeing everything and missing it, but it helped against the darkness, pushing it away, pushing it out, destroying it. Her magic reactivated and turned her skin white, glowing with the tendrils of gold and rainbow shimmer as the essence of Dark crumbled against its power, disappearing without a trace into the crackling air the second it was forced out of Emma.

Her hands fisted in the snow, hurting as if she had been clenching them for hours, stopped carrying her weight and she collapsed down, face sinking into the cold as she cried, the sobs tearing her throat, her heart painfully trying to reassemble itself, as she tried to convince herself that her imposed exile would soon be over, as Regina and the others were sure to come within a week, or ten days. Shaking from the emotional exhaustion and the shuddering sobs still rocking her frame, the Savior felt the burn on her hand, and finally remembering that she had people counting on her she took a deep breath, and another, and yet another, until she somewhat calmed down, turning herself onto her back, disregarding the snow soaking through her clothes. Ragged wheeze leaving her mouth in irregular gasps only spoke of the complete obliteration of her defenses she had implemented to remain functional during this war. For a long time, she could not focus on anything but the pain in her chest and throat, followed by the remnant ache from the evil poison Zelena had sicced on her, her eyes directed upwards blindly as she tried to collect herself enough to be the Savior again. Looking up to the sky she frowned as she saw the twilight of the evening, surprised that so much time had passed. She had spent most of the day fighting against the Dark Essence, and assembling what was left of her afterwards… It reminded Emma of the day when Regina had fought against the Death Curse from the well, and that painful memory only shocked the Savior into action, for if the woman could do it alone, for her son – Emma definitely could do it for the people who depended on her, and for the woman herself who would not want her wallowing in misery but braving forward until they met again.

Jumping to her feet and making several staggering steps that only spoke of her long term immobility and lost balance, the Sheriff walked toward the Vault, and feeling nothing but uneasiness emanating from it, she used her magic to seal it, destroying the cover’s mechanism, searing it shut and melting the top, the grooves and runes on it becoming unrecognizable and then, indiscernible. Whatever was in there, only she had access to it, and she wasn’t about to let something like the Essence of Darkness escape into the world.

Turning away from it, she ignored the body of the man Zelena had left there and waving her hand over herself, she fixed her appearance with the magic, carelessly noting that her tunic was restored to its previous condition. If only she could restore her walls and defenses just as easily…

Finally feeling collected enough the Savior traced the summons she had felt and contacted the Commander, hoping that he was still alive as she was responding hours after his initial summons. “How are you holding up?” she asked instantly, ignoring his fumble as he answered her call, relieved to hear his voice – and he sounded reasonably well. She was aware of his plan to storm the third keep on that day, but assured with his superb tactical abilities and obvious advantage in numbers, she hadn’t thought he would face much trouble in his quest to seize the entrenchment. Hearing his report she swore, knowing that the fact about those flying creatures only made the things that much gruesome. “I am coming,” she spoke shortly, not allowing her still raw temper to seep too much into her words, as she was truly in a mood to do some damage – needing a way to exorcize the anger, the frustration and annoyance out of herself, and if she wasn’t still slightly unhinged by the experience of the day, she would be worried immensely that her first way of coping was destruction and bloodshed. However, as she allowed the magic to take her away – the concern for what was left of her purity of heart was furthest from her mind – her only worry at the moment was to get Li out of the hard situation alive, the cold and calculated part of her telling her that she still needed him.

Feeling the solid ground below her feet, the Sheriff opened her eyes, knowing exactly where she appeared in relation to her men and the keep. Higher above the small mountain castle, hundreds of feet above the highest watch towers, the very top of the mountain loomed over, with a cliff as its topmost point, clear of snow because of the constant wind sweeping it off it. Looking around, Emma had unobstructed view for miles, the darkness and the snow storm doing nothing to impede her magically enhanced vision, her previous encounter with the Dark Power leaving her supercharged and bursting with need to use her magic, the very air around her crackling with the magical bleed emanating from her. She did not need much time to assess the situation before her, the position of the Imperial Guard and the men loyal to her clear to her, as well as the camp of the enemy soldiers, along with its defenses and population. She had seen the problem instantly, and quickly she started considering further plans of action, calling Li once more. Explaining to him what she wanted to be done, she took out her gun out of its holster.

It was as Rumplestiltskin had said, she had the imagination of her world to help her. And, she also had a weapon of her world to use, and in a way, it was a perfect way of creating fear for the people of the Enchanted Forest. The loud explosions of the firearm would undoubtedly be too noisy in the enclosed space of the ridge, and the sounds would draw the remaining Ogres to the keep rather than to the men below. Furthermore, she could use every tenet of every horror film she had seen, knowing that the Empire soldiers were susceptible to fear just as any other, and if she could get them properly frightened and in panic, perhaps she would manage to get them to surrender without much of the fighting. So in addition to the booming of the gunshots, she was gearing up to use the special effect of various beasts she had heard in her lifetime as a movie goer – using her memory as a database, projecting the sound outwards, enjoying the terrified silence that followed her performance.

Then, she summoned the light, making it as bright as the stadium lights, white and harmful to the eyes, as she protected herself from it. Purposefully she made it burn from behind her, giving her an edge, as the flare was keeping her features in the shadow, making her seem taller and more imposing than usual – but she would learn later from Cheng, even though he was truly frightened to witness her on the ledge, she was much more terrifying in broad daylight. With her gun empty, she returned it to its place, having replaced the magazine, deciding she would need it later, and unsheathed her sword, making the light from behind her reflect on the polished surface of the blade, as she directed it toward the keep below her, knowing she had drawn attention of the enemies.

_ Move, you bloody idiots _ , she thought as she issued her demand, irritated that Cheng was not seizing the opportunity. Finally! She almost shouted in relief, as she watched the Imperial Guard crawl into the direction she had told Li to point them to. Scoffing at the ineffective response from the people of the castle, Emma didn’t even bother to move her hand, her magic responding to her thoughts just as well. Not even deigning to speak again to the enemies, as she was done playing for the day – her encounter with Zelena seriously draining her will and ability to be merciful, she considered her next step.

Then, an idea came to her. Closing her eyes, the blonde directed her magic to the stones below her, giving them form, giving them life, giving them mission, as she sent them off to the keep, purposefully directing them into the towers, knowing they would do the most damage there – and watching her creations, the twenty feet tall stone monsters demolish the hard stone walls of the pylons, she watched with detached amusement, not touched by the screams emanating from below her.

But, with so many men exposed the soldiers on the wall had too easy of the job decimating her people, her distraction not enough to divest their attention. Quickly she contacted the commander, telling him of the change of plans, almost growling at his insolent comment of having fun, before she broke the connection, letting her magic fill her up, relishing the opportunity to play up to some of the superheroes she had grown up with. “There is no spoon,” she murmured to herself as she stepped off the cliff, her magic keeping her suspended in the air, her feet continuing on. She was walking on nothing, the light from behind making the fact that there was no pathway beneath her feet too obvious, soldiers from the keep pointing to her in fear and awe, in the moments they could spare in dodging the stone monsters she had sicced on them. The cloak fluttered behind her, just like a cape, as she walked toward the point right above the enemy fortress, her magic keeping the projectiles fired at her at bay, turned around onto the flying monkeys that constantly tried to grab her out of the air, downed by the ‘friendly’ fire from below – until there were no more simians left, their bodies crashing down below.

Once more, her hand closed over the grip of her gun, other one holding the hilt of her sword as she stepped off the imaginary ledge, relishing the swirling air around her as the ground hurtled toward her at the rapid speeds, the adrenalin and exhilaration of the moment almost making her shriek with laughter, but she kept it quiet, focused more on her landing – deftly manipulating her magic to achieve the effect she wanted, slamming into the stone covered center courtyard of the fortress, the impact of her landing making the dust and stone fly away from her position, leaving her there kneeling on one knee, her sword pointed downwards as she held it in her left hand, while her right knee was bent with her forehead lightly resting on it, her right fist clenched over her weapon. For a second, she looked like she was bowed in a prayer, a noble knight paying her respect to her host. But, then she started moving, quick as lightning, not even blinking at the hundreds of men surrounding her, and already attacking her, all at once. Her weapon fired, bullet after bullet, downing the closest of the rushing soldiers, the loud noise making others falter for a moment, but pressed on by their peers, they forced on, surging toward her, attacking her.

Fueled by her magic, further helped by her fury and irritation, the indignation and her need to lash out, to punish the world for saddling her with the responsibilities as the Savior, she moved quicker than humanly possible, mowing her enemies down, soon enough joined by her sentinels of stone, their joint forces demolishing the forces inside the keep, one soldier at the time, with a slash of her sword or swipe of her magic. When Emma ran out of bullets, she used her magic to cast explosive grenade-like balls, her rampage completely unrestrained, destroying the walls, bringing down the parapets, dismantling the fort brick by brick, stone by stone, heeding none of the screams and shouts of the frightened men trapped among the exploding blocks, not stopping for a moment, seeking another target methodically. So lost in the destruction she was that it took her a minute to realize than no one was coming at her any more, the weapons dropped and people scurrying along the remaining walls, trying to escape her rage, hiding behind the Imperial Guard that had stormed what was left of the fort in the middle of the fighting. Even the soldiers bearing her own sigil stood in terrified awe, watching her as blood flowed around her.

It was only when she came across of a young soldier who knelt before her in supplication, bare chested despite the freezing cold, showing his neck in offer of his life, begging for the lives of his brothers that she regained some restraint over her blood thirst and revel for utter annihilation. He shivered in front of her, unflinching as her sword swung down toward him, the blood of so many wasted lives showering his naked front, his breath leaving him in a gasp as she stopped the blade just before it pierced his skin.

Breathing heavily, Emma looked down at the boy and, blinking out the haze that had gripped her, she lowered her sword, carefully pulling it away from the soldier’s neck so she didn’t nick him. Leaning onto it heavily, the Savior slowly landed onto her knee, as she grabbed the soldier’s chin with her free hand, peering into his eyes. “You are either very brave, or very foolish to stand before me in this way,” she whispered to him, her voice only portraying detached amused interest, as her eyes scanned the remnants of the keep, taking in the damage she had inflicted, along with her two minions. The fires burning, rubble everywhere, along with broken carcasses of monkeys, and dismembered bodies of soldiers… Carnage – in the truest sense of the word – and yet Emma could not make herself feel remorse for it. Not yet, anyways, as she was still filled with the euphoric feel of the battle and struggle, operating mostly on instinct and rational thought, her emotions pushed down. But, she knew that the guilt would come, along with hatred and doubt, clouding her mind, however she had no time for it at the moment – the keep awaited for her.

She saw the black gold soldiers roaming the ruins, corralling the survivors into the most undamaged part of the courtyard, and with a simple nod she motioned to her prisoner to join the rest, while she surveyed the blow she had dealt to the keep. It seemed that her merciless attack had halved the regiment stationed there, large numbers of men killed by the destroyed parapets and walls, buried under the rubble or thrown over, but the count of people she had slayed personally was too large to even comprehend, as she walked over the slick red covered stones.

No one dared to come close to her, not even the commander, but every warrior watched her move over the bricks and stones, her steps sure, the lights of the fires burning flickering over her black form. “Search for survivors,” she ordered as she showed toward the downed buildings, the stone warriors following the dispatched Imperial Guard as an aid in heavy lifting, while she walked toward the cliffs, turning away from the carnage, cracking her neck before she cleaned herself with a careless flick of her wrist, her magic still fueled with her indignation. Logically, she knew that what she had done was… bad… even by the standards of this world, when even the hardcore soldier and the man used to hard choices and cold decisions was looking at her with fear and caution before approaching her, but she still couldn’t allow herself to care. Not when she had a job to do, and guilt and remorse would only get in the way of that. She only hoped that, in turn for helping the people of Enchanted Forest, she wasn’t giving them another evil – this time in her own form. She still could feel the seductive pull of the dark magic, hear the whispers it had uttered mere hours before, calling to her, and she knew it would be so easy to surrender, to let go, to dive in that immeasurable pool of self-serving magic, hardening her heart against the aches she was suffering, darkening it completely. She also knew that if things went unchanged, one of these days, that call, that pull, would become too strong to resist. Some people might even argue that she had stopped resisting even now, slaughtering more than a thousand people in one go, all by herself.

“Your Grace,” she heard behind her the quiet tones of her commander, feeling his presence at the respectable distance of three steps behind. “The prisoners have pledged their lives to you, your Grace. What are your orders?” He spoke quietly, with respect and distance, not daring to approach the woman still radiating cold anger, still seeing in his mind her blood covered form he had witnessed as he ventured inside the walls, her rage freezing him for a period of time before he had even been able to comprehend the scene before him.

Emma sighed, as her eyes swept over the landscape opening beneath her, despite the darkness of the night, the flurries having stopped sometime during the fray. She had heard his hesitation in his approach and the traces of fear in his words and it pained her, but he had a very good reason to be afraid of her. “Have them pledged to you, Cheng. You are their leader, their countryman. Someone they can place faith in, for the future.” Emma said clearly after a while, placing her hands on the small of her back, hiding her clenched fists under the cloak. Before he could even formulate the response, she turned slightly toward him and looked into his eyes. “After tonight, perhaps it is better not to be in direct control,” she offered with some deprecation in her tone, as she gestured toward the outcome of her campaign, the flames still untamed over the conquered fortress.

“Your Grace, you did nothing that wasn’t in your purview,” the commander spoke, his sigh of relief not unnoticed by the Savior, as he recognized that the Sheriff – the woman who had her actions tempered with mercy returned.

“Nevertheless, Li, it would make me feel better if you would assume control over your kinsmen.” It was a tactical decision, Emma knew, rather than an emotional one, at the moment at least. People would rally faster under the man who could very well be the next Emperor of their lands rather than under the person they privately consider a danger. A sorceress at the best, a monster at the worst. No, it was best to let the armies of the Empire be led by an extraordinary soldier, but an ordinary man – one of them, the best of them. Later, when she would be able to take in the consequences of her actions at the keep, she would agree from an emotional point that it was the best choice to make.

“As you wish.”

“It is not my wish, Li,” the blonde spoke softly, her eyes speaking of her distance and unwillingness to bear any more crosses for this war. “It is the right thing to do.” The silence fell over them contemplating the aftermath of that day, as two of them watched the army gathering in the valley, having fought the Ogres and now waiting for their leaders to give them a new set of orders.

In that moment Emma heard a screech come out of one of the demolished buildings, several soldiers screaming in fear at something, calling out for help. Rushing toward them, she heard some of them speak a name, and she looked toward Cheng in askance as she went toward the commotion.

“Huo gou,” the commander spoke as he walked by her side. “Fire dog, our name for Yaoguai.”

As soon as she heard the name, Emma started running toward the ruins, shouting orders to step away. The Savior burst on top of the rubble just in time, stopping one group of the soldiers from attacking the magical creature chained to the floor and pinned under the heavy blocks of stone. “Stand down and back away,” she ordered sharply, pushing the men back with her magic, her anger returned in the instant she saw blades and spears descending toward the helpless animal, her reaction saving it from death.

“They are harbingers of evil,” one of the soldiers dared to speak up, shaking his sword at the Savior in defiance, refusing to move. “They need to be put down.”

Even in the middle of the war she could not escape the black and white views of the world and it really did nothing to ease her irritation with the people around her, so she growled at the man, her expression harsh enough to force him to make a faltering step back, flinching away from her. “Be gone, before I put you down,” she pushed through her teeth, her cold tones telling everyone that it was best if they went scarce and left her to deal with the monsters. With a sharp jog, Emma knelt beside the wounded beast and in short order released it from under its burden and chains, her magic already working on healing it. Her hands flowed over the hot scales of the lying animal, her gentle caress keeping it calm, as well as the presence of her unique brand of magic present in the air. The gold tinged red eyes connected with her own and she could feel the gratitude and appreciation of the female before her, Emma’s True Love Magic instantly making a bond with the animal.

_ The young _ , she felt passing through her mind, the thought alien and familiar to her at the same time. Understanding that the creature was trying to communicate, Emma leaned toward it.

“Are they at the compound?” she asked and receiving only a weak nod from the beast, she summoned her magic, searching for similar magical signatures, knowing that this way it would only take her moments – and she could not risk soldiers acting rashly against the perceived heralds of evil, not under her watch. “This is my friend, he will watch over you while I get them back,” she spoke to the animal, her hand patting the side of the female’s neck in soothing gesture, unbothered by the light flame covering the scales, pleased to witness the fire as it only spoke of healing of the magical creature placed in her care. Then she turned toward Cheng, motioning him to come closer. “Nothing happens to her, do you understand me?”

The commander only nodded, still in awe that the beast allowed a human to approach it, let alone touch it. But, then he shook his head at his own silliness. Emma was not an ordinary human, and if there ever was to be a person allowed the trust of such terrific beasts it was the advocate the Savior was. So, as he watched the woman disappear in front of him, he placed himself as a guard in front of the still weak beast, watching it slowly gather strength. He could admit that the animal before him was beautiful in its own way, the flaming scales and sharp edges showing its fierceness in a way the hardened warrior could appreciate.

It was only seconds before Emma returned, four small balls of fire in her arms, gently held as she knelt beside the beast now resting on its belly and front paws, showing the live young sleeping, furled in balls, seeking familiar warmth. As she was the only one who could withstand the fire shooting from the scales of the creatures, the Sheriff was the only one reaching for them, gently tickling the cute puppies with her fingers, cooing at them as they puled helplessly, too young to be alone. Nestling them in the warmth of the adult Yaoguai, she smiled as the pups calmed down, cuddling at her side.

Focusing onto the now pleased adult, Emma allowed her magic to speak for her, not willing to let them be overheard.  _ I can get you into the mountains of the Infinite Forest, if you are willing? _ She asked gently, watching over the sleeping pups, knowing that they were too fragile to be left to the mercy of the world, the fate of Yaoguai already too precarious.

_ We are safe there, Bright one. _ The creature agreed, looking at Emma with kindness.  _ Help will not be forgotten _ .

_ Bright one? _

_ You shine with pure white magic, brighter than the Sun _ . Came the explanation of the title.  _ Heavy sorrows plague you, Bright one, but the darkness has not gripped you yet _ . The creature tried to soothe before accepting Emma’s magic, guiding it gently toward the safe place within the ranges of the Infinite Forest, leaving behind the parting gift of Yaoguai’s blessing, the gift of fire magic.  _ Now, your blood contains the marks of all True creatures, and now you are True Protector _ , came the parting words before the Fire creature disappeared along with the young.

And, it was then that the Savior realized the truth in the creature’s words passing through her mind. The unicorn in the forest, the Guardian, the dwarves giving her the dust, and now the Yaoguai mixing its magic with hers…

“Your Grace?” the commander asked after some time had passed, the silence growing too oppressive as he watched Emma kneel beside the still bloody spot where the formerly injured beast had been laying.

“Such misunderstood creatures, shunned and hunted out of unreasonable fear and hatred…” the Savior murmured as she rose to her feet, shaking her head, before she turned to her friend. “And, yet, they are as majestic as unicorns and dragons – the beasts you celebrate…” She added, pointing to his shoulder, where she knew his brand stood. “They are to be protected and left in peace,” Emma spoke clearly, and when he nodded in understanding she closed her eyes, gathering her thoughts. “Now, let’s sort this mess.”

It took the remaining part of the night and most of the next day to deal with the soldiers, interrogating the prisoners, dealing with the injured ones, disposing of the dead, and planning for the subsequent move. Having learned that the main part of the Empire was on the move, and had been for two days past, she had to act quickly, debating whether to split her forces or not. In short deliberation with Cheng it was decided that he would proceed toward Sherwood and continue as it had been agreed before, reaching the Merry Men and blocking the Empire from reaching Midas’s army, acting as a wedge between those two forces. With Emma’s magic getting them clear passage out of the valley, they would need only four days of quick march to reach Robin’s men, giving them enough time to set up and entrench.

Staying quiet and slightly away while the pledging ceremony was in process, Emma watched the people gathered in the valley, under the weak winter Sun, their newly conjured black armor standing out over the snow covered fields and plains. Cheng had insisted on her giving the rest of the men the same armor, the same symbol over their hearts regardless of the fact that she was no longer their commander.  _ It’s no longer only your name, your Grace, _ he had said to her in a quiet corner of the ruined keep in the early dawn as they had discussed the proceedings.  _ It is a symbol of this war, a new hope we have for this land. It is no longer your sigil but what you represent – the good and right, help and hope _ . Hearing him speak like that she had felt a hideously strong desire to summon the mask of Guy Fawkes and place it over her face.

Seeing the commander stand in front of his men, proud and glorious, she thought back to the early morning, the conversation they had had while taking a small meal break from looking over the maps and planning.

_ “You are not going to punish me for my failure?” Cheng asked softly, Emma would say almost plaintively, but it didn’t go with the stoic commander. “I did lose more than a fifth of the men.” They were sitting beside a roaring fire in one of the few structures still standing, protected from the elements, sharing a light meal one of the commander's lieutenants had brought for them. _

_ The Savior looked over him and taking in the haggard face before him, along with a still untended cut on his head, and swiveled her head in answer as she turned back to the fire. “We both paid the price for our arrogance, Li,” she murmured heavily, her eyes passing over the dancing flames, as she wished the brightness of them could chase away the grim thoughts seizing her mind. “Enough people have died here today. And the worst is yet to come…” _

_ “Such is the nature of war,” Cheng added idly, as he nibbled on the piece of meat from the plate. At Emma’s responding scoff, he shrugged and reached for a cup filled with watered wine, a boon they had found in the quarters of one of the leaders of the keep’s troop. “What happened?” _

_ “I had an encounter with the Witch,” the blonde spoke after a while, leaning back onto a high back chair placed there for her convenience. “I messed up and she used it to her advantage.” _

_ “But, you are here, unharmed, and saving us. I would accept that as a good thing.” _

_ “We’ll see.” _

_ After that, they returned to the strategy deliberation, the moment of friendly and intimate conversation over. _

As soon as the ceremony was over, the Sheriff adjusted her cloak, preparing herself to leave, as she stepped through the ranks of the still kneeling men, unbothered by the hushed whispers following her. After all this time she was somewhat used to it, with all the infamy that followed her and her title, only exacerbated with her actions of the evening before. Having already said her goodbyes to Li, she couldn’t resist but add a flair of dramatics to her exit, allowing her magic to swirl around her in a curious mixture of her colors, the white, pale blue and sparkly rainbow shades tinged with gold surrounding her slowly, contrasting beautifully with her black garbs, before taking her away, the vapors of dancing colors remaining behind for a few moments more.

She appeared in a forest relatively close to Regina’s castle, close by to the camp of the Merry Men, wanting to inform Robin of the new developments in person. However, before she even was fully present, she heard a whoosh of an arrow sent her way, and with her reflexes she snatched it out of the air before it could reach her.

“Oh, it’s you,” came the flippant answer from the very man she was going to see. “I thought the other one would make an appearance sooner or later.”

“So, you decided to shoot first and ask questions later?” Emma asked as she walked toward the thief, giving him back the enchanted arrow. “Luckily for you I was expecting such greetings from you, Locksley.” With a gentle slap on his shoulder she passed by him, shaking her head at his sheepish expression. “I’m not staying,” she added quickly, before he could offer to lead her back to the camp and meet the others. “Cheng is on his way, four thousand with him. The Empire is already on the move, so expect a rushed timetable from now on.” Emma spoke in a rush as they stepped over the crunching snow, then she looked at the leader of the woodsmen. “Be careful, the monkeys are created by their bites,” she offered a warning, before she turned away to leave. But, a hand on her forearm stopped her.

“All this could be delivered with the things you enchanted on us,” the man spoke quietly, bringing himself into Emma’s personal space, releasing her after she shot him a highly disapproving look. “Why are you really here, Savior?” Robin asked gently, not blind to the exhaustion and sullenness in her eyes. When she refused to answer him, he gestured toward the nearby camp. “I know some of them would be very glad to see you, if only for a few minutes…” he offered imploringly, immediately seeing the change in her caused by a small boy clambering toward them in a clumsy run, his hands outstretched. 

“Papa,” the boy shouted happily, jumping into his arms, as he turned around to look at Emma, his wide eyes glinting with joy when he recognized his father’s guest. “Emma,” he gasped reaching for her, almost jumping away from Robin, and it was only her reaction that stopped the boy from overbalancing in Robin’s precarious grasp. “You came back,” the little angel spoke, placing his palm on Emma’s face, ignoring her frown at the name he had called her. “Unka John was mad that you sent him back, he yelled bad words…” The Savior realized that John, and probably Nasir had spoken to the boy about her, telling him her real name among other things.

“Well, Uncle John was a bad boy and I had to punish him,” Emma answered gently to the boy, making him giggle as she made a face, before she glanced toward Robin. “I am in no mood to deal with his antics,” she warned softly as they walked into the main area of the camp, Nasir instantly falling in step with Emma, silently greeting her. Entering Robin’s tent, the blonde was instantly shown to the skins lining one side of it, so she sat down with the boy still in her arms, settling him onto her lap, listening to the precocious child prattle on about the things happening in the camp and people in it, his remarks often humorous to the adults gathered around him.

Accepting a mug of herbal tea with gratitude, the blonde talked with Roland, but also listened to Nasir and Robin telling her about their scouting knowledge and further plans, realizing that it was the sweet innocence of the child in her hands that helped her ease the tightness and heaviness in her chest since the encounter with the Witch. It did make sense, she concluded as she left them an hour later, with a promise to visit the boy again before long.

The next several days passed too quickly for the Savior as she made several jumps over the lands, her need to be aware of the situation pushing her to meet with her allies at least once a day in the period of waiting for the Empire soldiers to arrive. The remaining time she spent exploring the Charming castle, needing to know its every structural point and weakness in order to make contingencies for anything that might happen, watching the soldiers and Wolves train in the main courtyard, assessing their readiness, or doing some exercise on her own, alone, sometimes joined with a few trusted friends. It was only when Mulan strong-armed her into her quarters that she even attempted to get some rest, resentful of the fact that her ‘Dream Guard’ as Ruby jokingly called herself and Belle was already there. But, they did have a point – there was nothing to do but wait for the rest of the pieces to fall into place, and she needed to be well rested and sane for that moment. However, the longer they waited, the more the estimated date of the arrival of the Charmings and Regina came closer, Emma was growing more restless feeling that something was off – and, she knew better than to write that feeling off as nerves or something of the kind – as Rumple and Ruby were wont to do.

“Perhaps, whatever is troubling you can be eased if shared?” a soft voice of the kind librarian intruded on Emma’s heavy thoughts, while she was leaning against the rails at her balcony, looking out at the night filled with stars over the sea. So lost in her ruminations, the Savior hadn’t heard the woman knock on her door nor her entrance.

Emma turned around and leaned back, crossing her hands at her chest, looking at her guest curiously, and a soft welcoming curl of her lips inviting Belle to join her outside in the cold night. With an effortless flick, the blonde summoned a heavy cloak and covered the young woman the minute she left the safety of the warm rooms, her hands gently passing over the beauty’s shoulders. The kind chosen of the former Dark One had a non-intrusive air around herself, calming and understanding, something that Emma had grown to appreciate greatly in her time around the brunette, enjoying her presence – knowing that she would be safe from the interrogation or any kind of judging, intentional or not. The Sheriff guessed that the woman who loved the ‘Beast’ had to have such a disposition. Then, with a gentle smile, Emma tapped Belle’s chin before settling beside her, once more turned toward the sea, her eyes focused into the distance.

The brunette smiled in thanks at the caring gesture, more than glad that Emma still had that innate caretaking streak in her despite all the stress and burden she had been under. The bright blue eyes had spent time observing the Savior, noting the behavior of the generally easy going woman turning harsh and brusque, her icy glares and threatening posture more than enough to bring several grown men to tears and shakes.

There were several watchmen who still could not look away from their post, afraid to be destroyed the very second they faltered in their duty, having received a particularly brutal dress down and punishment from the Savior who had been walking on the walls, catching them in a game of chance, huddled around the fire. To say that gambling was no longer a problem among the soldiers was an understatement.

Despite Emma being in the right to dispense the punishment, Belle could not condone the cruelty of it or the amount of fear it invoked. She knew that Emma, deep down, didn’t want people to fear her, but with everything that was happening, she was losing control, and the librarian didn’t know how to help her friend, watching her drown in the overwhelming responsibilities, standing by as the blonde lost, or better said – sacrificed another part of herself in this huge game of chess she was playing with Zelena.

“You know that I am here for you, whatever it is,” Belle murmured, placing her hand on Emma’s forearm, looking up into her face, casted in the light of the full moon high above them. The blonde hair seemed pearly white in the light while Emma’s eyes were grey, carrying a great sadness. It was rare that the Sheriff would let Belle, or anyone else catch a glimpse of her emotional turmoil and for the smart librarian it spoke of great trust Emma had in her, vowing to protect and cherish that trust with anything and everything she had at her disposal. 

“Do you see the Dark One in me?” suddenly the blonde asked, her eyes still somewhere in the distance, as her soft voice reached the woman beside her. “Do you see his darkness in me? Is that why you are watching my every move within these halls? Do I remind you of who he had been before?”

It was the pain in the whispered words that told Belle that Emma was more than serious with her questions, asking her about the Dark One. The pain, and the self-doubt, so evident in the frown and grim lines of Emma’s face, as she looked on to the sea, too afraid to look at the kind brunette next to her, terrified to find that the answer to her inquiry was an affirming one.

“No!” she denied instantly, but before she could reiterate, she paused, thinking about it. It was in that one moment of doubt, of questioning herself that Belle saw Emma look at her and smile sadly with a nod, before she pushed away from the terrace, going inside. “Emma,” Belle started, but the damage was already done, and she had never seen the Savior so defeated, with her shoulders slumping as she threw herself onto a sofa by the fire, her hands going onto her face, rubbing it violently. “Emma, please,” the girl implored, kneeling in front of the woman trying to stop the punishing movement of her hands. “Did you lose control of your magic?” The question came after several moments of quiet, Belle holding on to the blonde’s palms, tentatively asked, as if any wrong move could set Emma off.

“Don’t do that,” Emma whispered in plea, pulling out her fingers out of the girl’s grasp. “Don’t try to handle me as if I am about to turn on you. Just…” Receiving only a nod and slightly raised hands in a motion of surrender from the woman sitting on her haunches, waiting for Emma to continue, and giving her space and time to add to it in her own tempo. “It’s not the magic I lost control over, but the intent.” With a deep sigh, she leaned back, throwing her head against the backrest, placing her forearm over her eyes. “I am losing control over me. It wasn’t magic that made me be so hurtful with those men, I wanted them to know the consequences of failing me.”

“It is natural to grow short tempered in high stress situations, Emma. You know that. Everyone would snap under the pressure you have been under, probably sentencing all of us to some harsh punishments one time or the other.” Belle spoke with understanding, patting Emma’s thigh. “Honestly, I admire you for your strength.”

“Perhaps,” the blonde agreed reluctantly before she caught Belle’s eyes. “But, not everyone has been subjected to the ways of creating a Dark One…”

“What?”

Not able to fight the surprise in the kind eyes, and the imploring gesture of the woman rising to her knees, reaching for her hands once more, Emma told Belle everything about the experience at the vault and the subsequent fight and slaughter, expecting the woman to pull away in disgust and contempt, waiting for that moment where she would lose the one person she could almost always count on among the people with her in the Enchanted Forest. Closing her eyes, not wanting to see it coming, Emma waited, fighting to keep her breathing calm and clenching her jaw.

“Oh, you poor thing,” Belle murmured gently, her fingertips caressing the blonde’s cheeks, the woman having come closer to the tortured Savior, soothing the startled flinch of the Sheriff in front of her with her kind touch. “It’s no wonder you have been snappish. Keeping this a secret…” Then, Belle made the tired green eyes focus on her, worried by their dullness. “I do not see darkness in you. Not by a long shot, Emma. I see frayed nerves, a short temper and losing patience. I see indignation and anger, sorrow and pain, but never darkness.” Before the blonde could interrupt, the librarian narrowed her eyes in warning. “As for the men you have killed, you did tell them to surrender or you would show no mercy, and yet you spared most of them. Ask Mulan, she had been in your position – she had done the same. Commander Cheng probably had, as well. Phillip would tell you that sometimes, peace can be brokered only at the end of the sword.” When the green eyes tried to evade her piercing look, as she tried to punch through Emma’s self-loathing, she lifted the pale chin up. “Your tally is higher, only because of the powers and skills you possess. But, look at it this way, if you hadn’t been so extraordinary, more lives would have been lost, because you could not just stun everyone with your prowess. You would have to assert your supremacy with pure power of your forces, losing valuable soldiers in the process.”

Seeing that Emma was still refusing to accept her words, Belle decided to change her tactics. “Fine, then. You believe yourself dark, don’t you? Why don’t you end this silly war? You certainly have the power to end this fight now, this very minute.” At the blonde’s surprised and aghast look, Belle rose to her feet and crossed her arms, scowling at the Sheriff. “You command the Marbh Teine, don’t you?” When Emma realized what the woman was speaking about, she jumped to her feet, too shocked to even comprehend that the kind soul before her would even suggest such a thing, unable to speak, her mouth opening and closing helplessly before she hissed in anger.

“You would condemn thousands of people?” Emma finally found her voice, filling it with outrage and disgust as she advanced toward the librarian, towering over the woman. “Women and children?” It was the reason no one had attacked the enemy just yet. The soldiers under Midas’s banner were not alone, but it seemed that their families as well were camped out before the walls of the palace, making anyone who hates the loss of innocents wary of the outright attack. The scouts, along with Emma’s personal remarks, had reported that Midas had more than ten thousand people with him, one third of which were soldiers, and the Savior had no doubt in her mind that the king would use the civilians as fodder if need presented itself.

“This isn’t about me, Emma,” Belle said calmly after a moment. “It's about what you would've done. You have been agonizing about this for weeks, suffering in silence and searching for the best way to end this. A lesser person would've given up by now, found a good enough reason to justify using a weapon of mass destruction and be done with it. I am not sure I would have been able to withstand the allure of the easy way after having been through a fraction of what you have survived. And you know me.” Placing her hand on Emma’s shoulder, Belle waited for the Savior to settle.

“But, you just said…”

“It is the truth – you can stop this. But, you and I know it is not the right way to do this, as many innocents would die unnecessarily. And, the main thing is that you know that – that you felt enraged that I would even suggest that as a solution.” The brunette smiled proudly at the still floundering Savior and patted her shoulder. “If you were like Him at his darkest, you would not even contemplate the loss, but the personal gain. And, you have been nothing but endlessly selfless all this time.” Then, she sighed as she led the blonde back to the sofa. “And, I believe that is the problem. You have been too giving, trying to do too much.” As Emma glanced at her in askance, Belle leaned back onto her elbow looking at the mentally exhausted blonde. “It is only natural to feel resentment and hatred toward those who forced your hand, making a killer out of you, even if you wanted to save them. It is, erm, what would your world call it – a defense mechanism to help you cope with the demands.”

“I am sick of it,” Emma grumbled finally, her guilt somewhat assuaged by the clever words of her friend, but she wisely let the subject drop, knowing that the smart woman sitting beside her would only continue to prove to her why she wasn’t at fault. On one hand, she understood Belle’s point perfectly, and agreed with it completely, knowing a thing, or plenty about defense mechanisms herself, but, on the other hand, she couldn’t help but feel responsible for all the loss she had caused and brought about. She did kill all those people – justified or not, was not the point. She was a killer. A killer that apparently had more than enough skills and talents to be an extremely efficient one; and with a very definite danger of becoming an evil and cold blooded murderer.

“I know,” Belle whispered softly, patting Emma’s shoulder in commiseration, letting her hand rest there, thinking that the touch was helping her friend to feel at least a bit connected and grounded.

“Where are the others?” the Savior asked after a bit of quiet time. She looked toward the brunette by her side and smiled at the sight, shaking her head at herself. Right beside her, Belle was sleeping, leaning on her elbow, her face turned toward the blonde, the worried frown still on her forehead. It was the middle of the night after all, Emma remarked to herself after checking the time against the night sky outside, and her friend had stayed with her out of loyalty and love. Gently, the Sheriff gathered the petit woman in her arms and carefully initiated the transportation spell, her mind guiding her to the quarters Belle was sharing with Rumplestiltskin.

“Oh, Emma, I didn’t expect to see… Belle?” Rumple started as he rose from his seat at his study before noticing the burden in the Savior’s arms. “Is something wrong?” the man asked instantly, hobbling over to them in a blink of an eye, worry clear in his movements.

“No, no, I just thought she would prefer the comfort of her own bed rather than my sofa,” Emma replied gently, carrying the woman into the sleeping chambers, followed closely by the man.

“Thank you,” Rumple answered as he covered the resting girl with the duvet, tucking her in before he walked out of the room, going after the blonde. “How are you doing? I haven’t seen much of you these past few days.” He offered Emma a cup of tea, having brewed a pot for himself.

“Been keeping myself busy,” the blonde remarked, accepting the cup with a small salutation, before she stood in front of the fireplace, hearing Rumple take his seat in the chair next to it, watching her carefully. “I still feel like all hell is about to break loose.” She was grateful that he was letting her speak at her own speed, not interrupting but listening attentively. “We – I am missing something, and I know it’s going to end up biting me in the ass.” Her finger circled the rim of the cup as she looked down into the liquid as if it held all the answers.

“We don’t know what Zelena wants with Regina and what the whole motivation for this war is,” Rumple added helpfully, keeping his voice quiet. “Perhaps that is what is bothering you? How it involves my daughter?”

“That is only the part of it, Rumple.” Emma looked at him, her shoulder against the stone wall, before she took a deep breath and started speaking. “Why now? The curse was broken a while ago, so why now? Who wages a war in the winter, when it is much wiser to wait for the spring thaw?” Leaning her back completely against the wall, she gave voice to her thoughts. “Why move so many people to attack a village that is ultimately not important? Why move all these people across the frozen lands to confront a force ten times smaller? What is Midas’s part in all of this? Then, how did the Wicked Witch of the West come here? Are there still active portals that she has access to? And if she does, why lying in wait here, why not go to Storybrooke and get to Regina there? Again, why bother attacking now and here? Regina was here before, and quite vulnerable before I found her, why not attack then? Is there a timetable she is following? And, another thing, she took some things out of the Vault, and she looked like she knew what she was looking for.” She shook her head and drank the tea before she slid down the wall, not even bothering to move to the couch to sit down, but turning slightly to Rumple and placing her elbows onto her bent knees in front of her. “There are too many things we don’t know, Gold, and, frankly, it frightens me.”

“A time table, you say?”

“She is waiting for something, Rumple.” Pushing her fingers through her loose hair, Emma scratched lightly at the back of her head. “The Empire has arrived and yet they are in a holding pattern forty leagues away, and they have been there for the past two days.” As the matter of fact, it was driving Cheng crazy as it was not the standard operating procedure of his people, and he didn’t know what to make of it. He had called to her and she had seen the might of the Empire from her vantage point, the endless sea of men spread before her. “Midas has not started anything yet, even though he has the obvious advantage. Not a single skirmish, Rumple! And, I am running out of ideas!”

“The Solstice is in three days…” Rumple responded, considering Emma’s point. “But apart from being the longest night in the year, it has no magical value.”

“So, no some astrological bullshit about alignment of planets or stuff?” the blonde said flippantly.

“I think you mean astronomical, and not that I know, no.” He then leaned forward to the Savior, realizing something. “The deadline Miss Lucas has indicated for the beans to be ready has passed. Today, well actually yesterday, as the matter of fact, was the day I had marked.”

“I am aware of that.” Emma’s voice was quiet but the old man was not fooled by her apparent calmness, because he could feel the underlying uneasiness she was feeling. However, before her teacher could press her more on the subject, the blonde felt the summons radiate from her hand, startling her. Lifting her eyes to meet the dark ones, she frowned in concern before she pulled in her magic. “Mulan is calling,” she informed the man, knowing that her teacher would grasp the implication of it, before she rushed to her friend, leaving Rumple to deal with the things on his end.

Mulan had been out with the handpicked group of werewolves, Red included, scouting the eastern edge of the forest, eager to prevent any kind of ambush. But the outing served another goal, as it was the last night of the Wolf Moon, and Liam, the leader of the pack had devised a rotation schedule for his kin, allowing a third of them outside of the walls, using the need of the vigilant guard as his justification, with Emma’s and Phillip’s permission, of course.

The Savior appeared beside Mulan, her hands reaching instantly for her friend lying prone on the ice covered ground, her magic already doing her best to heal the wounds she saw on the warrior. Around them were the obvious signs of struggle, judging by the tracks in the snow and damage on the trunks of the trees. With her keen eyes Emma noticed that Mulan was missing her sword as it was not in her sheath, nor anywhere around, as the Savior could not feel its enchantment. “Shh, you are going to be alright,” the blonde whispered to the woman, clenching her jaw at the bruises and cuts, blinking away the tears that rose to the surface. Mulan had been beaten to a pulp by someone, and abandoned to die, alone in the forest. Where were the wolves? Suddenly, the warrior grasped Emma’s clothes at her front, the dark eyes focusing on the green ones in a desperate attempt to relay something.

“Magic,” Mulan gasped with a rough cough, alerting the Sheriff that the prone woman had at least one broken rib. That one word was an explanation enough, telling Emma that Zelena was involved. She nodded, focusing on healing, her heart pumping strongly as she watched the blood of her friend seep into the ice around them, the dark red of it matching the lines of Mulan’s armor. For a very tense minute, Emma thought that she had come too late, the wounds too great for her to heal, but then the Empire woman started breathing easier, losing some of her pallor. Sighing in relief, Emma settled the woman in her arms, still pouring the healing magic into her, while she looked around, searching for others, letting her magic explore the space around her.

She could feel the magical trace around her, the remnants of the thing that Mulan had fought, but she could not sense any kind of an obvious trap, or a barrier spell that would keep her furry friends away, especially with their keen senses.

As if they were summoned by her thoughts, the shifters appeared on the far right of her, running toward them, Ruby first among them. They were all in human forms, as the Moon had already set. The girl slid onto her knees, reaching them first, and gasping at the state of the woman she loved, she looked up at Emma in question.

“Where were you?” the Savior asked softly, her eyes going back to the now unconscious woman in her arms, having completely healed her just then.

“Patrick is dead,” Ruby replied shortly, as she placed her palm onto the warrior’s face, gently tracing the still bloody lips, now healed. “It’s not fresh, and for some reasons we were pushed toward the camp. Took me ten minutes to get here, and that was only after the Moon went down.”

“What is going on?” Emma murmured, completely confused by the motives of the Wicked Witch. Looking up, she saw the shifters gathering around them, one of them carrying a body of an older man the blonde had seen in the pack – that must have been Patrick. Nodding at Liam, she indicated to others to get closer as she was about to bring them into the castle, not willing to linger outside more than necessary. Not with dangers lurking about.

Getting them to the throne room, Emma alerted the guards, issuing orders to wake the crucial people, in case Rumple hadn’t managed to do so just yet, in order to hold an emergency war council. Despite the very early hour of the day, the soldiers were wide awake, and heeding Emma’s sharp demands, they rushed off. Releasing Mulan into Ruby’s care, the blonde walked over to Liam and to the body, examining it quickly with her magic, shaking her head in disappointment and sadness when she felt the familiar absence at the man’s chest cavity. Searching him thoroughly, she found a flask of something on his belt, the flask itself too ornate to be something a wolf would wear. Sniffing at its contents she frowned because she couldn’t smell anything but some sort of herbal drink, a tea of sorts.

“Can you decipher what is in here?” she asked, giving Liam the flask.

The wolf sniffed carefully at it, frowning before he looked up at Emma. “There are ordinary tea herbs such as chamomile and lemongrass, but I think there is something else. A night root.”

“A night root?” Emma didn’t know where she had heard of it before, or what it was supposed to do, but something in her told her it was an important part of the puzzle. “What is a night root?”

“A very dangerous plant,” came the answer as the heavy door of the throne room opened, and Rumplestiltskin hobbled inside, followed by the Royals and Belle, among other members of the council. “Are you sure you want to do this here?” he asked with caution, pointing toward the tall ceiling of the majestic space, his move indicating the many possibilities of overhearing them.

“The usual place would do,” the Savior replied, her eyes passing over the gathering crowd that was looking into the room, interested in the commotion. “Meet me there in fifteen minutes,” she said, receiving nods from Phillip and others, before she turned to Liam. “I want all of you there, we need to get to the bottom of this. Bring him.” As the leader bowed his head and turned to leave, she placed her hand onto his shoulder, holding him back. She didn’t speak, but the condolence shining from her eyes spoke plenty. The proud man inclined his head in acceptance of her gesture, his fingers grazing hers for a short second before he continued on, urging his people to move to the council room.

Emma knelt beside the two women, gently pushing a lock of hair from Mulan’s face. It had been only two days since she had faced the woman, their blades crossing.

_ The Savior had been feeling restless and decided to use the time she had to exercise, the physical effort had worked in helping her focus. For that purpose, the blonde had commandeered one of the meeting halls above the throne room, the space large enough to be used as a sparring ground and away from curious eyes, with only two entrances, easily defendable. After she had made sure that the room was suitable for her intentions, Emma started taking off her clothes, weapons never far from her reach. _

_ “May I join you, Savior?” the warrior woman asked, standing beside the door, her curious eyes tracking the blonde’s movements. “Perhaps, for a round or two?” Mulan remarked, as her hand rested on the hilt of her sword, still waiting for Emma’s permission to enter. _

_ “Belle sent you to keep me busy?” the blonde spoke with an edge, careful not to offend her friend, but irritated at the young woman’s audacity. However, she waved the Empire woman in, continuing to take off her chainmail and shirt, staying only in her leather pants and the white tank, pulling up her hair in a loose ponytail. _

_ “Belle?” Mulan inquired as she started stripping her armor. “No, Ruby mentioned you were up here and I was thinking of inviting you for a practice run down at the yard.” Looking up around, she smiled at Emma. “But, this place is much better.” The warrior knew that Emma was keeping herself away because of her growing frustration, and she had thought of a way she could help. Ruby had agreed that offering the blonde a fight with no hold ups might help reign in that aggression. The wolf had been reluctant to let her love stand before Emma with only a sword, but Mulan knew how to take care of herself. _

_ “I am not in the mood for an easy turn,” Emma warned as she picked up her sword, lowering the scabbard beside her clothes, turning the blade around her wrist several times as she waited for Mulan to get in the position, locking up her magic. This would be dealt with pure skill and human strength, none of the help from her power. _

_ “I know, that is why I am here,” the warrior replied with a great measure of pride she had earned, having the title of the best swordsman, well swordsperson, among the men in the castle and beyond, sinking into her stance, her knees slightly bent and the sword above her head, her bare arms flexing in front of her. She had the similar apparel to Emma’s, leather pants and undershirt, leaving her arms and neck bare. With nothing but her sword, she waited for Emma to attack, starting their game. _

_ Understanding the silent signal, the blonde swung her blade, attacking her friend, using all the knowledge she had picked up along the way, most of it from the woman before her. With each parry and loud clang of their blades, she could feel the adrenalin pump, but as well she could feel the uneasiness lessen as she started to enjoy the engagement, especially when Mulan would still show greater skill and disarm her. _

_ “You’ve gotten better, Savior,” the warrior commented as she waited for Emma to pick up her sword after five minutes of hard sparing. It was only the beginning of their game, but even now she was starting to sweat, the blonde putting her through her steps. She had not had a challenge of such magnitude in a while, and she knew it was the same for her blonde friend, which only made this endeavor more enjoyable and rewarding. _

_ “You still got to me too fast,” Emma replied with excitement as she settled into her stance, her left hand forward as she turned to the side. _

_ “Eager to lose your blade again?” came the slightly taunting response as Mulan attacked, knowing that the gentle ribbing would only spark the defiance in Emma making her fight with the certain edge. _

_ After another successful parry, Mulan slammed the flat side of her blade over Emma’s shoulder. “Relax, it telegraphs your moves,” she said calmly, as she continued to deflect the blonde’s attacks. “Better,” she praised when Emma paid attention to the particular detail. “Change the variation, predictability will get you killed.” _

_ And so, on and on, they fought, with the Empire woman providing helpful suggestions and corrections, and with each match Emma was getting better and better, up to the point when Emma was the one disarming Mulan. “Are you letting me win?” the blonde asked jokingly after she managed to kick the enchanted blade out of her friend’s hands, catching it in flight. _

_ “I don’t need a sword to still win, Emma,” the Empire woman answered, suddenly rolling on the floor and swiping the blonde’s legs from underneath her and claiming the weapons, she sat on Emma’s chest. “You might have disarmed me but you haven’t left me weaponless, for I have something you can never take away from me – myself.” Receiving an understanding nod, Mulan rose to her feet and pulled the Savior with her, giving her the sword back. “But, you already knew that.” _

_ “Needed reminding,” Emma replied, rubbing her back, having slammed into the stone floor when Mulan downed her. Placing the sword beside her clothes, she took a towel she had put there and wiped her sweaty face, putting the rough cloth around her neck. “Thank you for this,” the blonde spoke softly, finally letting the exertion catch up with her as she leaned against the wall, summoning another towel for her friend. _

_ “Pleasure,” Mulan responded, leaning beside her as she rubbed the sweat covered skin with the offered cloth. “Join me and Red for tea?” _

To see Mulan’s face relaxed in unconsciousness when she was used to seeing the ever present tension in it, was uneasy for Emma, even if it was only for the time being. It was like seeing the warrior vulnerable without the woman’s permission, as if she was intruding in a clearly personal moment. But, as much as she would like to let her friend rest and recover from her ordeal naturally, she didn’t have time to waste, so she used a gentle jolt of healing magic to bring the woman to the conscious state of mind, letting Red be the first thing Mulan would see when she opened her eyes.

In the very second Mulan opened her eyes, the love shared between Emma’s two friends was so palpable in their shared space that the Savior had to turn away, not able to stand it, and she didn’t want to begrudge those two their moment so she rose to her feet and stepped away, crossing her hands on the small of her back as she walked toward the large entrance to the throne room. Needing something to distract her from the sounds coming from behind her she directed herself at the guard standing at the door, gawking at the women inside, not even noticing the Savior approaching him. So, with great satisfaction, she cuffed him at the back of his uncovered head, snapping him out of his inappropriate behavior. The second he realized who it was that dared to hit him, he straightened into a parade stance, but even then he could not stop his knees from shaking. One of his best friends had been dangled off the walls from the towers, with nothing below him but air and a long and deadly way down as a punishment for his dereliction of duty. Not only that the Savior had magically held those seven men on the outside of the walls for endless minutes fraught with panic, she had quietly observed all the ways the enemy could have sneaked in while they had been otherwise occupied, the cold fury in her sharp but low voice more terrifying than the drop they had been facing.

“Now that you are done with goggling, run along to the armory and bring a one hand held sword with wide pommel to the war room,” the Savior spoke with her arms crossed. When the soldier still was not moving but looking at her with bewilderment, she narrowed her eyes at him, snapping him out of his stupor and he strutted hurriedly away, before he started running down the halls making the Savior chuckle.

“That was kind of mean, you know,” Ruby spoke gently from beside her, Mulan in tow, with her arm tossed around the Wolf’s shoulders. “They are afraid of you.”

Emma only hummed noncommittally before she turned to the warrior. “Good enough to sit through the meeting?”

“Thanks to you, Savior. It seems I will never be able to repay my debt to you.” The warrior’s solemn tone drew Emma close and she placed her hands on the shoulders of the Empire woman, not bothered at all that she was deeply in Ruby’s personal space as well.

“There is no debt of life among friends, Hua Mulan,” the Savior spoke clearly, as she peered into the troubled almond shaped eyes. “And, even if there were, you have paid your debt many times over.” Gripping the shoulder braces of the woman’s armor, the Sheriff pulled the warrior close to her so that their noses were almost touching. “My life would be many times over, if not for your teachings, and each time I know that I owe it to you. So, no more talk of debts.” Then, Emma turned to Ruby, placing the closest hand to her face, wiping the trail of dried tears with care as she leaned to her. “And, you? How are you?” she asked, noticing the firm grip the Wolf had on her lover, not only for the purpose of holding her up but convincing her that the woman was still there, still well enough to walk.

“I…” Ruby started before clearing her throat. “I’ll be fine. And, we have a meeting to get to.”

“Right.” The Sheriff smiled at her godmother with understanding in her eyes, before they started walking upstairs to the Council room. “Times like these make you wish you were still looking for lemurs, don’t they?” Emma spoke with a light smirk, making the shifter chortle a laugh that tapered off into several chuckles, while Mulan was watching them bewildered.

“What is a lemur?” she asked, making the two of the women chuckle even more.

“It’s an animal from my world. They are kind of rare and exotic…” Emma explained.

“It’s from the time when we were under the curse, I was unhappy with my life, and I wanted a change, an adventure, something to make me feel alive, and I was talking to August, a friend of ours, and he told me about them. So, for me, they represented that – adventures and exciting life.” Ruby turned to Emma, after she spoke to Mulan. “But, how did you know about that?”

“Granny told me,” the Sheriff replied. “She wanted to thank me for giving you an opportunity to explore other options and for being your lemur…”

“Well, I was right, wasn’t I? There is always an adventure with you…” Red said as they climbed onto the floor where the meeting room was. Seeing so many people inside, with the shifters and the rest of the important figures of the Castle, Emma decided to make some changes in the room to accommodate that many people by vanishing the round table and summoning more chairs, leaving them in a circle.

“Now that we are all present, let’s start,” Emma called forth as she took her place beside Phillip, Aurora on the other side of him, inquiring Mulan quietly about her health, having heard about the attack from the shifters. “Liam, why don’t you go first,” the Savior instructed, as she wanted to give the warrior more time to talk to her friends.

“There isn’t much to say, Savior,” the leader of the Wolves started, leaning forward in his seat. “We left the Castle before the Moonrise, and took our designated places along the eastern safety border, as agreed,” he spoke, as he remarked about the plan he had discussed with Phillip and Emma for the movements of the shifters and their exploration area. “But, when we turned it was like we couldn’t control our animals any more, our primal instincts taking over and leading us more inland, toward the enemy camp. But, it felt like we were on the hunt, searching for a bleeding prey, such strong compulsion was. It was only when the Moon set that we were released from it, and then we realized something was very wrong. On our way back we found Patrick, unmarked but dead. Then Ruby here started running toward her mate, and we followed her, and that’s where we found you.”

“Compulsion, you say?” the Savior asked, intrigued by his story, before she turned to Mulan, her question clear, so the warrior nodded and started the tale of her own.

”As Liam said, we came into the position before the Moonrise. I decided to stay behind in the clearing, as I could not keep up with them in their other forms. The wolves took their positions, and I thought I would not see them until the morning. However, before they turned, Patrick came up to me, talking about the cold and wondering if I was going to be alright all by myself, before he offered me a sip of tea he had made for himself.” Mulan was looking at Emma the whole time while she spoke, so she didn’t see the confused look on the people who had been out in the forest, but the Savior did, and with a simple motion of her hand, she gestured to others to keep quiet until the warrior was done. “Soon after, he was gone. Two hours later, a person appeared at the edge of the clearing, and it spoke about my secrets, my fears, attacking me. It was better than me, stronger than me and no matter what I did I could not fight it off. Then, before it could land one of its punches I managed to take its hood off.” Mulan paused, uncertain about the thing she was about to say, opening her mouth but nothing came out.

“It is alright, Mulan,” Rumplestiltskin spoke quietly with understanding, breaking the stalemate. “No matter how insane your story might seem, we will listen without judgment.”

Emma glanced at her mentor, realizing that he somehow inferred what was coming next, but not wanting to get into that just yet, she turned toward her friend. “Who was it?”

“Me,” Mulan said softly, incurring gasps around the room. “It was me, but not me at the same time. I…”

“It’s OK,” Emma stopped her before getting too tangled into the explanation. “We’ll get to that later,” she said, glancing at Rumple once more before urging Mulan to continue. “What happened next?”

“The thing taunted me, bringing up my greatest fears. I tried to fight, but it was too strong. But then it started talking about me being worthless to my friends, to…” Mulan stopped, but the quick darting glance toward Ruby explained the silent part of that sentence to Emma, and she nodded in understanding, motioning to the warrior to go on. “It made me snap and I somehow managed to put my sword in it. Then it disappeared like a shadow, and the sword was gone in green smoke.” The warrior swallowed before she reached for Ruby’s hand, unseen by the others. It was the responding squeeze that helped her finish, as she was still unsettled by her experience and brush with death. “I must have passed out right after, because the next thing I remember is you, Savior.”

Emma nodded with a gentle smile crossing her features before she turned to Rumplestiltskin. “You obviously know what this is about,” she said conversationally, leaning back into her chair, crossing her legs at her knee, placing one of her hands on the raised knee, her posture of leisure telling the old man that she was simply inquiring about his knowledge.

“Well, what I know is regarding the night root,” Rumple started, pulling his cane gently over the stone blocks of the floor, before he placed his both hands over its handle. “It is a curious thing, the plant. It has magical properties of embodying our greatest fears when we drink, or eat it. The legend that surrounds it speaks of a root able to give valor to people, often misleading them into using it and failing to conquer the conjured twin.” He looked at the warrior and spoke clearly, just the smallest bit louder, commendation filling his voice. “Only those possessing true bravery are able to defeat the effects of the root, for it takes an extremely daring and audacious soul to stand up to one’s fears.”

“Patrick gave Mulan the root, and after he was done, he was useless, so she discarded him. But, why take the sword? And, why use the root on Mulan?” Emma asked, rising to her feet. The others simply listened to two of them, as they had nothing to contribute and it seemed that the Savior and the former Dark One knew what they were talking about.

“The objects used in tremendous feats become symbols of those feats, so perhaps she wanted a representation of the bravery Mulan has shown.” Rumple watched the Savior pace in the small circle made by the chairs. “As for why directing her attack on our noble friend, is it not the legend that follows her answer enough? She is the woman who single handedly fought off the invaders threatening the Empire, earning the gratitude of the Emperor himself. The woman that defied the customs and notions of propriety to follow her heart, by enrolling in the army even though she was only a woman. And, she is the person who had defied her family and the people she loved to save them.” Rumplestiltskin focused his eyes onto the warrior who was clearly uncomfortable with his and the attention of others directed at her. “Standing up to ones you love takes a greater measure of courage than standing up to ones you hate, Emma.”

“Why would she need a symbol?” the Savior murmured to herself after a moment of silence that followed Rumplestiltskin’s impassioned speech.

“The only thing that comes to mind is that is an ingredient to a spell,” Belle joined in, as she looked at her beloved questioningly. He nodded, confirming her suspicion. “But, what kind of spell, I do not know.”

“See?” the Sheriff hissed at Rumplestiltskin, her hands going into her hair in a show of frustration. “Like a never-ending puzzle,” she grumbled to herself before she addressed the others. “From now on, I want you to be at battle readiness at all times.” It was an order and a dismissal at the same time, and many of the people vacated the room soon after. All except the Royals, Liam and Rumplestiltskin. And, except Mulan who Emma had asked to stay for a moment longer, presenting her with the sword the soldier from before had brought in the meeting.

“I know it is not the blade that has been by your side for years, but it is my token of gratitude,” Emma said softly to the warrior, showing her the magically transformed weapon. She had not used the mere conjuring to alter the shape of the ordinary soldier sword, she had delved deeply into her True Magic to alter the very essence of it, imbuing it with magical properties along with giving it an elegant look, using the measures of Mulan’s old sword to balance it properly. In silence, Mulan took it with an appreciative bow, her mouth quirking in a quick smile only for the Savior, before she walked away, accepting Ruby’s supportive hold after several steps, still feeling the ache of the beating.

“Emma,” Aurora approached the Savior, as they stood a bit away from the others. Although she was standing by the peculiar woman she had the honor of calling a friend, her gaze had been focused on the two women leaving the room, the younger one holding the other in a firm side grasp, despite the murmurs of dissent the other one produced, mentioning dignity and strength. Even ruffled, Mulan and Red presented a beautiful picture of mutual support and appreciation. And, love. “They look good together,” the princess whispered with a smile, pleased that her loyal protector had found her mate.

“Yes, they do,” Emma agreed, not even looking in their direction. She had known that Aurora had fretted about Mulan’s infatuation, not willing to bring it up with the warrior for it would embarrass the proud woman to the point of making her leave, and yet, she had a hard time ignoring the barely hidden affection the Empire woman had bestowed on her. This way, Emma mused, Mulan gets her love and happiness, and Aurora gets to keep her friend.

Silently placing her blessing upon the departed couple, the princess turned toward the Savior, frowning at the tightness the blonde showed in her face, and the tired lines intensified by her pallor and scrawny look. But, before she could ask her questions or even offer a flimsy consolation in the view of such frustration shown by the blonde woman, the Sheriff turned to her with a gentle but tight smile. The sharp eyes flickered towards the princess’s belly and one of the eyebrows went up in silent questioning before the smile grew slightly bigger. “How long have you known?” Aurora asked quietly, interpreting Emma’s signals correctly.

“A while…”

“You never said anything,” the princess spoke softly, as she turned slightly so they would not be overheard by Phillip and others, even though Liam could understand every word, the young royal counted on his discretion.

“It is not my secret to share, and I know you have your reasons to hide it,” Emma spoke gently, touching Aurora’s forearm in a soothing gesture. “He might have too much on his plate already, but this might give him another reason to fight and survive,” she advised the princess before kindly dismissing her. She had used the unborn child as a distraction from the princess’s upcoming questions and caring gestures which she had neither the patience nor the stomach for. When the royals left, she waited for Liam to bring up his petition, one she was willing to grant. And, just like she had imagined, the leader of the Wolves approached her and bowed slightly.

“Savior, I would like to ask a boon of you,” his deep voice rumbled in the room. At Emma’s welcoming gesture, he continued. “I would like you to take me to our village to lay Patrick to rest with his family.”

“He had no living relatives?” the Savior asked sadly, looking at the body of the shifter.

“No, his wife and child passed two winters before the curse.”

“We will leave as soon as I get equipped. You may want to ask your kin for any messages for their families.” Emma spoke surely, knowing that Rumplestiltskin would object the second the leader of the shifters was out of the room.

“It is an unnecessary risk, Miss Swan!” the old man said firmly without raising his voice. “You may want to reconsider wasting your energy in such ways, dearie, it may cost you later on.”

“It takes a lot to drain me, Rumple, and this is something I need to do, not just for Liam. It’s the right thing to do.”

“That will be your epitaph in the end,” Rumplestiltskin groused at her angrily, unable to stop her from endangering herself in such ways. He took a deep breath before reaching for her arm. “Do you really need to go?” he asked quietly, his eyes imploring her to stay, to be safe, just a while longer.

The blonde placed her hand onto the man’s shoulder, squeezing it gently in comfort as she understood his fears. “Do you know that somewhere along the way, I’ve started considering you as a part of my family?” Her question carried much more than the simple appreciation for his presence, and Rumple knew that. He thought back to what he had said about standing up to one’s family for the right thing, and he could not help but feel proud of Emma using his own words against him, regardless of how it made him feel.

“This is not courage, this is sheer lunacy,” he whispered with resignation, looking up into her resolute face, seeing the dedication and determination in her eyes. The woman before him stood there regarding him with firm kindness, almost chastising him for suggesting to her to shirk her duty, but not voicing it as she knew it was only because he cared for her deeply that he had even raised the subject.

“There is a difference?” the blonde Savior spoke flippantly, squeezing his shoulder once more as she smirked at him. Then the shadows in her eyes grew as she contemplated her next move. He could hear the tightness of her throat and the pinch of her eyes as she spoke her next words, sounding almost ominous. “I should go.”

“Be careful,” he added, not able to resist, and in return he got one of Emma’s trademark cocky smirks as she turned around, walking two steps backwards, waving at him, before she turned again, walking off to her rooms in order to pick up her weapons and her gear. It might have been an act of madness, he thought as he watched the Savior leave, her hair fluttering behind her, as she stalked with purpose and arrogance given her station and success, but she wore it so perfectly, that he feared that one of these days it would stop being just a mask and become the state of her mind. The constant pressure the Savior had been under, the constant vigilance, the endless expectations and ever mounting demands – with no true breaks, always fighting for something or the other, looking, searching for a way out, always on high alert… Constantly in a state of frenzied need… No man, or in this case, woman, could bare such burdens for long, and she carried them for much longer than most, and he greatly feared that one of the next demands would be the one too much.

She was leaving for the village in the aftermath of the attack on her friend, when she was still clearly unsettled by the blatant show of how not safe they were, even at the gates of their own sanctuary, and he was worried.

Putting on her gloves after she had made sure that her blades were in place, Emma walked up to Liam waiting for her, and gestured to him to get ready. It was a somber occasion so she did not speak, and with a rare show of patience she waited for him to prepare the body for transport, as well as receive some goodbye letters from his people. Like she had said to Rumplestiltskin, it was the right thing to do, not only to bring Patrick home, but to give these people a chance to say goodbyes to their families, as they were here, away from the safety of their homes, fighting to protect the people of Safe Haven. Others had their friends and family close, in the very castle they were staying in, drawing comfort and consolation from them, but not these people – and the Savior felt like she owed to them at least this small courtesy.

When she received the nod from the buff man, the Sheriff let her magic envelop them taking them all the way to the Infinite Forest, right in the middle of the Wolves’ village. Leaving Liam to deal with the body and the others, Emma walked toward the Elders’ shack, not waiting for the summons this time, ducking into the dim heated space on her own accord, her eyes finding the matriarch of the village right beside the fire, resting in the fur covered seat. She settled down on the furs beside her, crossing her legs in front of her as she waited for the old woman to address her, the curious but sharp eyes following her moves.

“You no longer look so young, child,” the woman spoke with wheeze in her voice, as she raised her hand, her time roughened skin touching Emma’s cheek gently, tracing the bruising under her eyes and the gaunt sharpness of her face. “Come, share a meal with an old woman, and tell her of her children’s child.”

Before Emma could complain and refuse, she was given a bowl filled with meat and cheese by a youngling somehow appearing at her side, and she could see the old woman had been given the food as well. Knowing that Liam would be busy for a while, she saw no other course but to accept and raising her bowl in salutation to the elder, she nodded in gratitude before she took the first bite.

“He is here,” Emma spoke softly in between her bites, but then she saw the woman smile indulgently at her, and almost blushed realizing how unnecessary her statement had been, with the commotion their arrival had caused in the village.

“I know,” the woman offered kindly, sparing her the embarrassment. “I still want you to tell me of him.”

“I haven’t spent much time around him,” the Sheriff started as she contemplated her words, understanding what the woman wanted. This wasn’t the proud grandmother inquiring after her grandson, this was the matriarch of the last few of the Wolves, inquiring about the conduct of the representative she had sent into the world to fight for their kind, as well as the Savior’s cause. “But, in time that I did spend with him I have grown to respect him for his leadership and loyalty he has shown. He has maintained peace among both his men and the people of the Safe Haven, showing them that they could coexist quite peacefully. And, in light of that, Princess Aurora has drafted an inclusion treaty for the shifters, offering them freedom to live as equals to others under her rule, provided they follow the same laws.” It was the truth. In light of Emma’s deal with the merfolk, Aurora had felt that the shifters could only benefit from the similar deal, coming to the blonde one evening asking for her opinion. The Sheriff had supported the idea wholeheartedly, even offering some suggestions regarding some minor points of the treaty – however, its value depended on the victory in their fight, and for now it was nothing but a piece of paper showing Aurora’s good will.

“Do not blame yourself for not having to offer more to us, child,” the old woman spoke reading Emma’s tone quite well. “It is more than we have now.” Then the elder leaned back into her seat, finished with her food. “A large army passed close to the edge of the forests some days ago. Is that what you are facing, apart from the witch?” Seeing surprise on the blonde’s face, the old woman chuckled weakly before she closed her eyes, trying to gather her breath. “One hears rumors even this deep in the Infinite Forest,” she murmured. “And, we have met one of her silly creatures. The monkey had the audacity to order us to join her.” Opening her eyes, Althea looked at Emma, the sharpness of the blue orbs so potent and telling of a capable ruler of the clan. “Of course, my children had to disabuse him of such a notion.” Even though it was spoken softly and in a weak voice, the power behind it could not be mistaken, and Emma knew just what fate the messenger had met at the hands of enraged Wolves.

“If one came, more will follow,” the Savior spoke with worry. “You are not safe here.” She hadn’t really thought about it before, thinking that the protection the ominous legends of the Infinite Forest provided, and the magic barrier itself were enough to keep the shifters safe, but now she was reminded of the harsh reality once more.

“Do not worry about us, child, you already have too much upon your shoulders,” the old woman spoke gently. “We know how to survive.”

After that, Emma could not think of anything to fill the silence, so with a short goodbye, and receiving a blessing in return, she left the hut. Wanting to give Liam more time to share his stories with his people, the blonde decided to venture to the cave she once had sought refuge. Having a feeling that Guardian was already expecting her, she entered inside feeling the familiar buzz of the dragon magic interacting with her own. It was only the existence of her True magic that allowed her to use her power along with the dragon, otherwise, she would experience a wide and unfortunate spread of side effects, most of them lethal to her.

“Every time you enter, you present a riddle, Sheriff,” the low rumble spread throughout the cave as Emma walked over the gravel deeper inside. “This time you bear the scent of a Dark One, and yet you are not one.” A huge gold covered head appeared out of the shadows, sniffing around Emma before a split tongue found its way to the blonde’s forehead, its touch once more igniting the Savior’s magic, only this time it was like a greeting of sorts. The Sheriff reached for the scaled snout in front of her, her fingers scratching them gently as she looked into the yellow eye closest to her and smiled in greeting.

“I have much to tell you,” she said softly, her smile widening as she sensed the activation of the time spell the dragon was so adept at.

“Even with this, we haven’t too much time to waste. Show me.” The dragon lowered its head down onto the gravel covered ground to make it easier for Emma to focus and of course, there is the expenditure one must expect at these kinds of magic used on dragons. The closer to the ground the Savior was, the better. “Just like you were taught, Sheriff. Focus and direct.”

Making sure that none of her many weapons were distracting her by uncomfortable twinges or presses, the blonde settled on her bottom, crossing her legs in front of her, and placing her hands on the shimmering scales of her teacher, one landing on the narrow forehead right above the eyes and other behind the eye, where the neck begun. Having discarded her gloves first and pulled up her sleeves, Emma caressed the soft yet enduring glowing plates, hesitating over the task she was about to fulfill. The dragon rumbled in encouragement, the yellow eye prompting her to continue, and with reassurance, the Savior started weaving her magic, taking her memories and sending them toward her mentor, hiding nothing as she knew that Guardian was beyond moral recriminations. With each memory, with each new pulse of magic she sent out to the dragon, she felt her energies wane, and as soon she was finished she closed her eyes, feeling faint. If not for a gentle hold of the claw covered front leg lowering her gently onto the cloak she had set aside, she would have collapsed head first, injuring herself in the process, despite the short fall, as the gravel was sharp. Once more, a soft graze of the twined tongue passed over her forehead and she surrendered to the warm haze it invoked.

“Give it several minutes, Sheriff and you will be restored,” the dragon’s voice pierced through the fog of the restorative oblivion Guardian had bestowed on her. She could not describe the feeling of lightness it had induced except by saying to herself that it was like being high, and yet it wasn’t. For those short minutes she was under that peculiar healing method, for it was healing, she felt her body rested, her mind refocused. As she started surfacing, the dragon spoke to her gently. “You have indeed proven yourself, Sheriff. But, the weight of your decisions burden you too much, Knight. You have done good, make your peace with it. Questioning it over and over again will only bring you grief.”

“I was raised in the world which considered such actions vile and monstrous,” Emma whispered, still lying down on her soft cloak. “It is not easy for me to disregard what I was taught was right and wrong.”

“Nor should it be,” the creature remarked gently, its snout nuzzling the prone Savior, pushing her to get up into the seating position. “But you judge yourself by standards everyone would fall short to. You have shown your memories, Knight, I have seen your thoughts. I know what is inside your heart. I know your fears.” The uncharacteristic usage of the first person drew Emma’s attention completely to her mentor. “If there was any darkness in your heart, the curse of the Dark One would be too strong for you to fight it off. If you did not feel sorrow over the course you were forced to take, you would not feel the anger at so many lives wasted by blind obedience or stupidity. But, do not let your concern twist into onus, for you have nothing to feel guilty for.” Shifting its large body to look at the woman in front of it, the last dragon lifted its head up, focusing both of its yellow eyes on her, recognizing the fact that the woman was buckling under the weight of her own pain and sorrow, as well as the demands her post carried. “Do not let your fears control you, Savior. Not now, when you are so close to your goals.”

“My fears?”

“Your fear that you are turning into a monster,” the beast elaborated with patience. “Is it not making you hesitate? Is it not making you doubt your actions?” When the woman said nothing to deny Guardian’s words, the dragon hummed, making the stones vibrate. “It is the fears that make your separation from your family all that harder, every insecurity brought out and fed, making you hurt more. But, that is not all that plagues your mind, Savior.” At Emma’s slow blink, the dragon continued on, watching the woman before it. “You fear your beloved will not return. That your kin will leave you here, continuing on with their lives in the other world.”

Brought out in the light, the insecurities Emma had tried so hard to suppress for the duration of the separation, forced the blonde to close her eyes against the tears threatening to fall. “They have everything they need. Why would they return here?” The Savior spoke softly, her face turned down as she worried her face. It was a question of a child, abandoned from birth, thinking herself not worthy of the love she was promised. It was the doubt of a thief who had learned the hard way that some things were just too good to be true. It was the sorrow of a mother who had to give up the first real family she had in order to provide her son with a good life. It was ironic that the Sheriff, True Love Incarnate, had known so little of it in her life.

“Perhaps, they do not need you,” Guardian spoke gently, its voice heard directly in Emma’s mind, taking the form of a tender woman’s soothing tones. “Does one need equal love, Savior?” came the simple question, before the dragon continued, having the blonde’s attention. “You share True Love with your beloved. Why do you doubt it?”

“It is too good to be true,” the Sheriff replied with the saying, her voice quivering under the strain of her emotions. “It never lasted for me. No one ever stayed. No one came for me.” But, then the woman lifted her head as she thought of something. It was something Mary Margaret had once said, that one only needed to have faith to prevail, because True Love did conquer all. She couldn’t let her doubts poison her love for Regina and her family, and she would need to work on relinquishing her insecurities to the past more arduously. “I need to believe,” she whispered, suddenly, her voice even and decisive as her decision had been made.

“You do believe,” the golden beast reminded kindly. “You wouldn’t be alive otherwise. You only need to be reminded of it, every once in a while.” Then, the creature shifted, its scales rubbing off the wall of the cave, the look in the yellow eyes turning more serious. “As for your fears of failing and not being good enough for the title you shoulder,” the beast hummed, letting the silence form while it considered the next words. Shifting slightly to sit back, the dragon swiveled its head, showing its teeth in something that resembled a gentle smile. “You bear the gifts of three True kinds in your blood, and the anointment of that sort has never been heard of, Savior. Would we, the most sacred creatures of this world, bestow such honor upon an undeserving?”

The deliberate show of trust and hope brought Emma to tears, feeling both embarrassed by such attention and buoyed beyond measure. Guardian was not stupid, nor were the unicorn or the Yaoguai, and to speak of her doubts in their choice would only bring shame to her, for it would speak of her mistrust in their reasoning capabilities, and she knew that insulting their intelligence was not the way to go.

“Now you see,” Guardian spoke with a pleased note in its roaring chortle. “To the more practical matters. The witch is meddling in the ancient magic, and there are grave consequences of doing that. She must be stopped at all cost. Do not know what she intends, but it will be something of great magnitude.”

“She knows my weakness,” Emma spoke with resignation. “And, she knows how to use it against me.”

“Your love is not your weakness, Savior. Your doubt, fueled by your anguish, is.” The reply she received was more insightful than she had hoped for, giving her a way to circumvent Zelena’s capable trickery.

After getting several more pieces of advice on tactics and magic, Emma left the cave and Guardian feeling oddly bereft as she transported herself back to the village. It was the authority the creature exuded, the Sheriff blinked with understanding as she passed the children playing in the snow, shouting happily as she walked by. It provided a safety net, however slim, for her and it was something that she did not have outside of the cave, where her every decision carried weight and there were no do overs.

As she came closer to the center of the village, she saw Liam leave the Elder hut with a grim expression on his face. He straightened, flexing his muscular body before he noticed her and stepped to her. “I am ready, Savior, if you wish to leave…” he murmured as he stood beside her, his gaze circling the village, no doubt thinking he was seeing it possibly for the last time. After he was done silently saying goodbye to his home he looked at the blonde woman beside him, noticing uneasy pinch of her mouth and the grim set of her eyes, while she seemed more rested than she had been scant hour before, but it could be explained with the subtle smell of the magical creature clinging to her clothes, he watched her shift her shoulders, a transformation into a leader happening right before his eyes. But, even as her mask of superiority slammed over her features, he could not help but see the pain she had been holding in for so long. He had heard the whispers of the White child’s family being away and her True Love being the Evil Queen. He had heard the stories young Elias had shared in the evenings after the communal dinners, about the brave woman whose company he was in. He had heard the awe and love her friends regarded her with, mentioning events when the blonde had been carefree and unburdened with the fate of so many people. But, he could not imagine her being anything than the leader he saw before himself, such a powerful her persona was.

He noticed the change in her posture instantly, a slight frown appearing on her face as she rubbed her left forearm in an almost absent manner. Before he could ask, she offered him her right arm, murmuring “I am wanted elsewhere,” before whisking them away with her magic.

When the call from the Commander came, she had to frown, internally rolling her eyes at the timing. Appearing right beside him at the watch post he had taken to monitor the advances of the Empire army, she did not waste time on indulging the surprised yelps of the men around them, her eyes only looking for him. Without any hesitation, he gave her the spyglass, pointing at the center of the massive camp.

Liam flinched away from the awful smell rising from the plain, covering his nose, unable to hide his disgust, grunting when Emma sighed in sympathy to his extra sensitive senses. “That is what you get when you put twenty thousand men with no running water nearby.” She shifted toward Cheng, her eyes still focused onto the thing he had shown her, and Emma offered the spyglass to the shifter, wanting his opinion. “Do you think it’s legit?” she asked the Commander with interest.

Right there in the middle of the camp a set of large banners fluttered in the wind. One was pure white, one was black with a depiction of a swan in flight, and the last one was red with the mark of the Empire in black, but framed with gold trim, telling that the military high command of the Empire was with the force spread in front of them. The layout of the banners made sure that any scouts observing the army would immediately notice them, and the obviousness was even more underlined by the similar, but smaller flags placed on every tent that carried the mark of an officer.

“Any commander would lose the respect of his men if he would blatantly misuse the white flag in such a way, especially on such a wide spectrum. But, I do not know if the same standards hold anymore…” Cheng replied honestly, as he got the spyglass back from the bulky man standing beside the Savior. “They went up at dawn,” the soldier continued, his eyes scrutinizing the newcomer, instantly noticing the homely quality of the furs the man wore and the defined muscles, still noticeable under the layer of cover. The dark hair was held back by a leather twine, while his sharp features were covered in days old gruff. Only when he noticed an unknown power lurking behind the icy blue gaze meeting his own, Li realized that this was one of the werewolves. He refocused onto the camp, blinking away his surprise, and continued his report. “They have been up for an hour and no one has taken them down yet.”

“Alright, then,” Emma turned away with a nod, before she strode into the ally’s camp, pleased to see Robin and Nasir rushing toward Cheng’s tent, obviously alerted about her arrival and knowing she would eventually come there. Meeting with the two men right at the entrance, she simply slapped her hands on their shoulders, guiding them inside, chuckling at the wince that passed over Robin’s face over the force meeting his body. “Li, I am going to meet with whoever posted those flags, but I am not taking with you – there is too much at stake to risk your life for it.” She could see at the man’s blanched face that she gave him a sizable blow, especially with the mention of his importance, not as the commander of the Imperial Guard, but as the grandnephew of the late Emperor. However, she could not risk him if it was a trap, and he would survive the wounded ego. “I know you are more than capable of taking care of yourself, Cheng, and I trust you more than you can assume, but I am not budging on this,” she spoke calmly, raising her hand to cut off his objections, before she stepped into his personal space. “But, I still need you. I need you to choose someone I could rely on, to warn me if something was off while I am over there.”

Clenching his jaw in obvious discontent with her orders, for those were her orders not requests, he nodded sharply, motioning to his lieutenant, and Emma recognized his second in command instantly. After a harsh sigh through his nostrils, the Commander introduced Wei Tao to Emma, assuring the Savior that the soldier was the best for the mission, apart from him. With an indulgent look, the blonde accepted the lieutenant, motioning him over to the table, where the others were waiting, before she focused onto the man in front of him. “Stop behaving so childishly, Li Cheng,” she whispered to him, her eyes locking with his. “I am not taking Robin either, for similar reasons.”

“But, you are going yourself,” he answered churlishly, prompting a snigger from the blonde. He blinked at the unexpected response and noticed her expression visibly darkening and her eyes getting cold, making him gulp at the danger he could feel emanating from her.

“Find me another who can do what I do, and I will gladly sit this one out,” she pushed through her teeth, her voice sharp, but still low, as she reached for his shoulder, clenching it firmly. “Now, suck it up, and behave,” she added with a low growl before she turned away from him with a scoff. Quickly, she outlined her idea for the mission, Robin offering no objections to her wanting to take Nasir instead of him. However, it took only a slight head shake from Liam at the mention of leaving him behind to change Emma’s mind, realizing that she could use him to her benefit. Wolves were unknown entities in the Empire, something out of the legends, and having one by her side might well work to her advantage.

Not needing much preparation, the four of them appeared in the High Command tent, startling the people inside. However, the guards had been alert and within seconds of their materialization the spears had already been pointed at them, ready to attack. Emma rolled her eyes at the perfect formation around her and with a simple direction of her thoughts, each member of the guard that had dared to point a weapon at her party suddenly found himself restrained and on his knees, but unharmed, lining the interior walls of the tent. Satisfied with that obstacle out of her way, she looked up, meeting the High Commander of the Imperial Army, right in the middle of his breakfast. Smirking at him as the man lowered his chalice down, apparently having changed his mind about taking that drink, she assumed the posture of nonchalance.

“If now is not convenient, I can always drop in later,” she spoke after a moment of tense silence, having allowed enough of the man’s regard. The officer before her was a middle-aged man dressed in the general’s uniform, his hair closely cropped, hair already turning gray and his face clean shaven. Despite the surprise clear in his eyes, the man had kept the presence of his mind, recognizing the intruder immediately.

“As a matter of fact, now is the perfect time,” the general spoke as people he should consider his enemies appeared in front of him on a regular basis. “Although, I did not expect you until a bit later, truth be told,” he added, as he pushed away from the table. “I am glad you accepted my invitation, Savior,” he said, rising to his feet and walking toward them, circling the table. “I am General Xia Quang, the High Commander of the Imperial Forces and Right Hand to the Emperor Kim,” the man introduced himself pompously, frowning a little when Emma failed to show recognition of his titles. Oh, she knew very well who he was, Cheng more than diligent in filling her in on the current political state of the Empire, but she had a feeling that feigning ignorance or pure disinterest would do much to unsettle the man, as she was not interested in playing nice, not with being summoned and all.

“Right,” she said dismissively glancing around his tent, not impressed by his grandstanding, before she lazily started pacing the interior, examining the various trophies hanging from the rafters, many of them representing conquered enemies. “Well, you already know who I am, so let’s get on with it. You wanted something?” The Savior glanced toward him, as she stepped around one of the support beams, acutely aware of the position of her men. Nasir and the lieutenant were beside the entrance, keeping watch, while Liam stood close by, intently following the interaction between Emma and the general, waiting for any kind of sign from his mistress to attack.

“Perhaps, if you would be kind to release my men first?” the man inquired, seemingly brushing off her disregard, as he leaned onto his table, his hands bracing him, one at each side, while he watched her with unveiled interest.

“I like them where they are now, thank you,” Emma remarked, allowing slight irritation to creep into her tone. “Stop wasting my time, general. I do not appreciate it.”

“Of course, your Highness,” the man continued unperturbed. “I have reached out to you for the simple reason, Savior. I am not your enemy.”

The Sheriff scoffed with disbelief before she chuckled mirthlessly, crossing her arms at her chest. “Do you think me that naïve, general?”

“No, as a matter of fact, I have nothing but respect for you, Savior.” The calm the man conducted himself with and the absence of lies in his statement brought Emma one step closer to him, scrutinizing him, still not believing him.

“Are you seriously expecting me to believe that you are what? Changing sides?”

Now it was the general’s turn to chuckle. He shook his head at the blonde, getting more comfortable on the table, grabbing the chalice from behind him and taking a sip. “You misunderstood. I am not joining you. I am simply… abstaining from participating in this war.” It was the incredulous look thrown in his direction that prompted him to go on. “I may have many questionable traits, but being stupid is not one of them. I am not going to throw away my army against the woman who can command the fires of Hell, the fact that has been hidden from me, when I have forged this pact with the Witch, and as far as I am concerned it made it null and void.”

“It is not the fact that many people know,” Emma said evenly, interested to hear more.

“There was the only way you could have survived that surprised detonation of Marbh Teine, Savior,” the man spoke, his eyes roaming over her face, waiting for a flinch, a sign of discomfort, anything to give him an edge in the conversation, something to make sure that he had any kind of leverage to remain alive in his dealings with the deadly creature before him. He had heard the terrifying stories of people telling of the Black Knight destroying them left and right, and he was wise enough to understand that the woman in front of him was the real thing – and that he would be wise to acknowledge that, before he sacrificed more lives for nothing. “I’ve known since you unveiled yourself at the Forbidden Fortress.”

“Then, why make the trip? Why move twenty thousand people down here if you were going to just stand by?” The Savior questioned him, however where he expected to hear suspicion and scorn he heard interest and amusement.

“The Witch is a powerful enemy to have, I wanted to postpone her anger as much as I could.” Then the general smirked at something he thought of. “The soldiers needed the practice this campaign gave them, they were getting too lazy just patrolling the borders. Besides, I had a point to make.”

Now, Emma understood, smirking at the implication the man gave out. She had learned about the coup from Cheng, as he had explained the intricacies of the Empire politics and succession rules, as well as she had heard about the rebellions and the general dissatisfaction of the people in the Realm. It was one of the main reasons why Li Cheng was so important, because he represented the old rule and a hope for a true Emperor coming on the throne of the country. And, if he was to announce his presence, the people would stand behind him, armies be damned. Nevertheless, as he was still considered lost within the borders of his homeland, Emperor Kim relied heavily on the soldiers to keep control of the Realm, subjugating its people under harsh martial laws in order to remain in power. However, it would seem that even the general seemed to rebel against the former advisor. “Something about the usurping Emperor managing to keep his seat without the military presence to back him up?"

The general smirked in response, inclining his head in acknowledgement of Emma's theory, lowering his cup down, before he placed his hand onto his raised thigh. “Therefore, I have a proposal for you.”

“You do not attack, I do not obliterate you – kind of proposal?” Emma asked glibly, before she looked toward Liam, wanting to see his reaction to the news. The shifter, feeling her keen eyes on him, only lightly moved his shoulders. He was leery of such sudden change, but he wasn’t the one making the decisions, and so far the woman he had placed his trust in had not led him astray.

“Something like that, yes,” the general agreed. Then, he rose from the table, circling it in a slow, deliberate move, keeping his hands visible at all times, before he sat down in his seat, offering Emma a chair as well. “I do, however, have a bit of information for you, as well, if you are interested?”

The Savior pulled the chair away from the table to the position where the general was in plain sight, and straddling it, she leaned her elbows onto its back. “Why do I get the feeling I am about to be unpleasantly surprised?” she idly asked, her eyes on the man in front of her.

“Because you are not only smart but have good instincts,” the uniformed man spoke with appreciation, before he placed his hands onto the rough surface of the table, his motion quite symbolic. “King Midas is planning to attack four hours after the dawn bell, right after the execution of the dissenters.”

“Dissenters?” the Sheriff inquired, her mind already calculating the time. Internally, she sighed in relief, but she did not know whether it was because it was finally starting, and that entire nerve wracking wait was over, or because she still had two more hours to get back to the Castle.

“Yes, it would appear that a soldier in the lower ranks had managed to cause quite a stir in the civilian camp, rallying support for you. As you can assume, it was quite a dangerous game the boy was playing and he got caught, along with several others.”

“Why are you telling me this?”

The suspicious look in the blonde’s gray eyes was the warning enough – he was to be absolutely truthful with his next words, or there would be grievous consequences. The woman already knew his motives, he was aware of that, because there was absolutely no way for her not to understand the situation perfectly, not the smart and driven woman like she had proven herself to be. It was a test, not of his loyalty, for he had none for her, but of his honor – his word, and should he fail… He didn’t even want to think about it. “I am ensuring your good will toward my people,” he spoke softly, with respect, careful not to let any of his arrogance and grandeur show in his words. He was smart, too, and he knew when to hold his temper. “I cannot join you, I will not drag my people in the war between two witches to be used as a distraction. But, I can offer you what I know and what I have heard.” Seeing the Sheriff nod from her seat, her judgment of him not yet brought, he continued. “The Witch came to us, Advisor Kim and I, six moons past, brokering an alliance between King Midas and the Empire. The future Emperor accepted, for he was drawn in by the promise of filling his coffers with the gold Midas promised. What he failed to realize was that his decision has brought the mighty Imperial Army to the rank of simple mercenaries, fighting for gold.” And that was most likely the point of contention for the proud general, Emma decided listening to him, as he ground his teeth in resentment. Indeed, the way Mulan and Cheng spoke of their people was inspiring pictures of a proud race of warriors, standing up for right and their Emperor, protecting their people, their homes. Being relegated to swords for hire was a huge blow to their pride, no doubt. “The terms were that we were to provide the provisional support to Midas’s troops, if there is a need for additional force, our main force would show up, and in return the treasury of the Empire would overflow with gold. However, the Witch failed to mention that Midas was a mad man with megalomaniac illusions, and that there is a prophesied Savior capable of eradicating half of the regiment of my best trained soldiers in one fell swoop.” The general inclined his head toward her before he smiled. “When I heard the whispers of a Savior, I went through great pains to find out about you. Not only did I learn that you broke the Curse, freeing all of us from limbo, but you used Marbh Teine to escape from the trap Midas had set for you. Then, there was suddenly a black knight going through my men as if they were grass in the summer field. And, then you revealed yourself, driving the Witch insane with anger.” His countenance changed, and he frowned as his voice grew harder. “She killed my men with no regard, snuffing them out like they were nothing. It wouldn’t matter if they died fighting you, in her service, because that was what they agreed upon. But to kill them just because…“

“It was a betrayal,” Emma spoke quietly, understanding his anger.

“Yes,” the general hissed, before he took a settling breath. “I hate people with magic,” he confessed, looking up at her, after a moment of silence. “And, it is the attitude the majority of people share. It is because magic is often used to subjugate others, ignoring their rights and pleas, the wielders often behaving like they were gods, with no remorse, no consequences. The Witch is the prime example.” Then, he leaned back, his voice gentling a bit as he regarded her with respect. “You, on the other hand, were always the one to offer choices, to do what your conscience allowed. You summoned the fires of Hell before, you could have done it again, ending this war before it started. But, you didn’t. You even allowed the majority of my supply train to join you, with only an honest pledge. No insurance, no hearts… Even here, you could have killed my guard for attacking you, but you only moved them out of your way, unharmed.” He gestured toward the row of soldiers lining the wall of the tent with light amusement in his tone. “You are different from the other sorcerers.”

“I am the Savior,” Emma offered tiredly.

“Yes,” the general agreed wholeheartedly. “You are.” He rose from his chair. “I do not know where she is hiding, but I do know that she is planning something big, beyond this silly conquering business. Her pets have been scouring the lands for something regarding the darkest of magic, and I think she has found it some days before.”

Taking in the information, Emma realized that it was probably the vault Zelena had been looking for. Rising from her chair, she motioned to others that it was time to leave. But, before she called up her magic, the gentle call of her title brought her eyes back to the general, standing only several short steps away from her. “A favor, if you please?” the general spoke softly. She nodded graciously at him, waiting. “Bring my regards to Li Cheng, and tell him that his home awaits,” the man spoke solemnly, the official way he said his words telling Emma that it wasn’t really the home the general was speaking about, but the Imperial Seat, as he was the rightful heir of the late Emperor. She offered another nod with a gentle smirk, before she disappeared, taking her men with her. The instant she blinked out of existence, the bound soldiers were released, sighing in awe at what they had witnessed.

The next half an hour passed too quickly for Emma to even notice. As soon as she appeared in the tent where Cheng and Robin were waiting for her, she motioned to Nasir to fill them in, as she went to look up the reports Cheng’s scouts had brought about Midas’s camp, while others were suitably distracted. As expected, the assassin only glossed over the execution, focusing more on the imminent attack and the information gleaned from the general. It suited her perfectly, because she did not want to involve anyone in her plans. Not for this, when it was her responsibility. As Cheng and Robin had already started the preparation for the imminent attack, she cautioned them to use the people sparingly, for she didn’t want civilians harmed because there were too many soldiers in the play. Having gathered the general sense of the outlines of the enemy’s forces, Emma made a motion to leave. She intended to send Liam to the Charming Castle by himself while she dealt with her task, but the fierce resolution in the Wolf’s eyes as he took her forearm told her otherwise. She should have known that he would be more aware of what was going on than others. With a barely noticeable nod, she allowed him to tag along, rolling her eyes at his stubbornness.  _ Look who’s talking _ , her own mind supplied instantly.

Emma took off her glove, and reaching for his bare forearm, she pushed the idea of stealth and invisibility caused by magic into his mind, initiating the transport before anyone else realized she wasn’t going to the Charming Palace. The Sheriff brought them right in the middle of the civilian camp, accidentally landing in the feeding trough, her boots sinking into the slimy glob left there for pigs most likely, not like she was versed in domesticated animals. Scowling at the barely suppressed chuckle coming from the left of her, she climbed out of it, cleaning herself up immediately. Luckily, thanks to her forethought, no one saw them, too busy with preparations for breakfast and other mundane work needed.

Weaving through the throngs of hastily assembled shacks and tents, avoiding people and colliding with the random guards patrolling the area, Emma sensed the rampant emotions running through the camp. These people were afraid, tired, hungry and cold, brought out here on the whims of a madman. And, now, they were about to be forced to watch a few of their own put to death for they dared to speak out against the King. There was no joy in the promise of the spectacle, or hateful bloodthirsty celebration of the public execution like Emma was to expect, judging from the memories Regina had bestowed on her about such events before the curse. No, there was only despair. Despair, seethed in misery and anguish.

It was like the emotions found their way to manifest, swirling in the low hanging fog, not completely chased away by the burning fires, dousing the hanging flacks of the tents, keeping them cold and sodden. The very air was heavy with them, making Emma’s skin crawl, and her body tense. By the low pitched whine from Liam, she surmised that the Wolf was not immune to the mood pressing this habitat either. Throwing a glance at him, she noticed his hunched shoulders and pained look in his blue eyes, as he watched the people move about, listlessly, shying away from the gold covered soldiers. There was no laughter of children, no murmur of people talking together about their day… Just oppressive silence. Here and there Liam caught a whisper, a hushed warning or a guiding instruction, and somewhere in that he heard where the prisoners were kept. With a light press on Emma’s shoulder he drew her attention and pointed toward a tent somewhat farther away from the rest, and heavily guarded. The Savior nodded in understanding, and with unexpected grace, she took them to it, sneaking behind the soldiers.

Getting into the tent posed no challenge for the Savior, neither did the four guards inside. Dealing with them quite skillfully with her magic, freezing them in place, she dissolved the spell keeping her and Liam unseen, appearing right in front of the leader among the prisoners – the boy she had met before.

“Hello, Jonas,” she spoke gently in greeting, taking in the young soldier in front of her. Reaching for the face of the man forced to his knees and tied up to the pillar, she brought his head up, making herself not to react at the sight of him. The swollen and purplish blue cheeks, covered with streaks of inflamed red, were in sharp contrast to the deathly pale skin of his neck and shoulders. Left only in rags covering his modesty, the young man she had encountered before had been left in uncomfortable position, in the cold, and covered in wounds that spoke of torture. The eye that had not been swollen shut opened and Emma waited until the haziness dissipated and recognition followed.

“Knight,” the boy managed in a gasp, the eye portraying his relief to see her. Emma brought her other hand to his face and tenderly passed over his injuries, letting the warmth and healing energy seep into him, still focused onto his face, watching his eye, slowly joined by the other, widen in surprise as well as reprieve from pain and cold.

“I think you mean Savior,” she whispered in explanation, her words making other prisoners gasp in realization. She skimmed over them, noticing that no one was in as bad shape as Jonas, and that it was probably because Midas had judged him the instigator. She motioned to Liam to set them free and bring them up, as she dissolved the bonds keeping Jonas’s back and arms pinned to the pillar. “You are coming with me,” she spoke just loud enough for the people inside to hear her. But, before she took them, she manipulated a few things in the tent, preparing a surprise when the king would come for the execution. She placed the captured soldiers in place of the prisoners, making sure that the tent would catch on magical fire the second someone unveiled the covered people – which is to say, the second they realized they had been duped. With deep concentration, Emma laid the strings of the spell, making sure that the message could not be suppressed. The fire, guided with the Savior’s magic would not burn, nor kill, but it would spread around the tent, and then go high in the air forming a silhouette of the swan, visible from the entire camp, and even beyond. It was her calling sign, after all.

Wasting no more time, she appeared in the courtyard of the Palace with others, immediately raising shields over the place. Her arrival was not unnoticed, and she saw Damian walking toward her while he ordered several men to get up on the walls. “Savior,” he spoke when she finished relaying orders to the surgeon assuming responsibility for the refugees she had brought in.

“It should start any moment, get them ready,” she said quietly, as she rushed inside the castle, Damian following her in step. “This is it, what you have been preparing for,” she added with a certain melancholy, slapping his upper arm in camaraderie, before she stalked away. Clearly dismissed, he went outside to oversee the men, taking her words to his heart.

“Belle,” Emma called out to the woman, catching her in the hallway in front of the suite she shared with her beloved.

“Emma,” the woman responded, not breaking her stride, but clearly expecting the blonde to join her. “You’re back,” she remarked, her eyes making a casual scrutiny over the Savior’s features, making sure there were no new injuries, before she continued on. “I am about to make sure the infirmary is made in the throne room,” she informed her friend as they walked toward the aforementioned place.

“That’s what I wanted to talk to you about.” Not even letting Belle flag down one of the people scurrying around, Emma closed her eyes and pulled the magic up, guiding it to create an infirmary similar to the one she had created for the dwarves, only on the larger scale, and of course, bigger pallets. Ignoring the shock of the people around them, even Belle’s surprised gasp, she took the woman’s forearm and led her toward the dais, where once her parents had been wed. “You have the flask I sent you?”

“Yes, right here,” the librarian reached into the hidden pocket in her skirt and pulled it out, offering it to Emma. The blonde gently closed her friend’s hands over it, not accepting it back.

“Use it sparingly,” she whispered, hiding it from sight, “and be careful not to be seen.” There was worry in Emma’s eyes that went beyond warning. Belle nodded, noticing the urgency in Emma’s behavior. “There is something I need to show you,” the Savior spoke after a moment of tense silence.

“Sure,” Belle spoke softly, following the woman without complaint, seeing that the Savior had reduced the time of the task she had planned to take several hours to mere seconds. Within minutes the two women found themselves above the staircase leading into the cellars, and Emma took one of the torches of the wall, lighting it up, taking the brunette deeper down into the bowels of the castle. “Emma,” the kind woman spoke, needing something to pierce the uncomfortable silence, rubbing her upper arms against the cold permeating the frigid halls. “Why should no one know I would use Fìorleigheas?”

Emma glanced back at the woman with a smile spreading over her lips, before gallantly took off her cloak with one hand, helped by magic and placing it over the shivering girl. “Rumple already told it about its properties, I presume?” Belle replied with an expectant nod frowning at the scent of fire and pigsty clinging to the Savior’s cape. “I have been warned that people often fear magic,” the blonde started conversationally, waiting for Belle to start walking again before moving on. “But, having a miracle cure for everything, that would be a much sought commodity, one people would be willing to kill over it, especially in times when everything is uncertain.” The Sheriff leaned over the woman and pulled one of the errant locks behind her ear in a caring gesture, her eyes locking with Belle’s in a rare show of affection visible in the shadowed eyes of the Savior, in the light of the flickering torch seeming almost liquid silver. “It is for your protection, Belle.” With it, Emma turned around and resumed her walk toward the back of the cellars.

“You still see us dead when you dream, don’t you?” the kind woman asked gently, following her several steps behind, seeing the very moment when Emma hesitated in the mid step, startled with the question.

“It’s not just you I see in my dreams,” Emma replied, omitting the words of death, as she reached the back wall, placing her hand on the stone, as she lowered her head in tired defeat. “And, I would prefer it not coming to reality, so promise me you’ll be careful.” It was a plea, disguised in the harsh commanding tone, and Belle took no offense to Emma’s briskness, knowing how much it weighed on her tormented friend.

“I promise,” she said honestly, placing her hand on the blonde’s shoulder, her touch underlining her words, making the oath she had given more valuable.

“Good,” the Sheriff said with barely hidden relief as she turned so she was facing both the wall and Belle. “Now, look here,” she whispered and pressed one of the stones in the wall, exposing it as a lever for the secret mechanism, and only seconds after, the wall parted, showing a tunnel encased in darkness. “It leads to the shore, two miles down. The cove is pretty deserted and out of direct sight, so it should be safe.” It was one of the quirks she had discovered on her examination of the castle, one that she guessed not even George knew about.

“Why are you showing me this?”

“If Neal taught me anything, is to have a backup plan. This is my version of it.” She knew that Belle could be trusted with this knowledge, and that the woman in front of her would know exactly when is the time to sound the strategic retreat and regroup.

“You doubt we can win this?” the brunette asked with fear tingeing her voice.

“No,” Emma smiled to her halfheartedly, closing the secret passage. “But, I do have a bad feeling,” she murmured as she guided them upstairs, accepting the hug from the woman as the climbed up. She tried to offer consolation, to reassure her friend, but she couldn’t. Not when she had closed off her emotions, and her instincts were telling her that it was only going to get worse. Not like reassurance had ever been her thing – it has been Mary Margaret’s domain, while she had been the one to heedlessly charge forward.

Finally, it was Belle that gently pushed herself away, wiping her eyes covertly, before she squeezed Emma’s upper arms in thanks. Giving back the cloak, she lifted herself on her toes and kissed the stunned woman’s forehead, offering consolation of her own to the Savior, and then, she stepped back, her eyes taking in the woman in front of her, covered in black, with her sword on her hip. It was the picture of a noble knight, Belle thought with a sad smile appearing on her face. Emma stood in front of her, allowing the scrutiny in a rare moment of patience, and it broke the librarian’s heart for she knew the reason for it. It was a silent goodbye of sorts, just in case…

Feeling her eyes tear up once more, the beauty turned away and rushed toward the throne room – turned infirmary and resumed her preparations, needing the distraction organization was providing.

Closing her eyes against the anguish she had seen in Belle’s eyes, the blonde shook her head lightly, trying to dispel the somber mood that had engulfed her. Then, she slowly walked upstairs, to the watchtower, knowing it would offer the best view, and she wanted to see the very minute her surprise left in Midas’s site exploded. With a heavy sigh, she ignored the guard around her and climbed onto the wall, casually sitting on the ledge, crossing her legs, not in the least bothered by the height. The others left her in peace, too intimidated by her very presence, and she did not mind it, as she was not in the mood to talk. 


	15. Chapter 15

The Savior felt the discharge of her magic before she saw it. Smiling from her seat she listened to the reactions of the people beside her as they murmured in awe at the large fiery pillar shaping into a swan with wide spread wings springing into flight. She wished she could have been there to see their faces when the king and others entered the tent, but that would be too reckless even for her, so she had to satisfy herself with the reactions from her own people.

“Impressive feat of conjuring, dearie,” she heard a familiar voice from behind her, and then she saw Rumplestiltskin appear in her periphery, standing to her left side, leaning onto the wall, resting the weight of his leg. Emma had noticed his pronounced limping, and even offered to try and heal it, or just mend it for the time being, but the stubborn old man refused each time, and she wanted to honor his choice. “And, so it begins,” he added, as the enemy encampment seemed to buzz with commotion, and right then the trumpets sounded, announcing the advance. “He did always have a flair for dramatics,” the former Dark One commented as he watched the gold colored soldiers march up into their position, making Emma chortle a laugh before she shook her head at him. “Well, he does. Instead of attacking during the night, hidden in the dark, without announcing himself, he had to play the fanfares…”

Emma only stepped off the wall and patted his shoulder, before watching the soldiers of the Safe Haven get ready for the assault, under the capable direction of the leaders she and Phillip had put in charge of the defense. “You could use this time of testing the lines of defense to get some rest,” Rumplestiltskin suggested, with concern lacing his voice as he looked into her face. “We can manage for a couple of hours, for sure,” he added softly as she looked at him unsurely. “You haven’t slept for three days straight now, and gods know how long this would take.”

“Fine,” she conceded, letting her shoulders droop and for a second there, Rumple thought the blonde was going to stomp off with a pout on her face, but he shouldn’t have worried as the Savior swept out with poise he could not associate with the Sheriff of Storybrooke of two years before. Despite the obvious fatigue, both mental and physical, the blonde seemed to possess the aplomb of her station, looking very much like one to rule the Realms. Even now, with slight pause in her steps and squint in her tired eyes, she looked more like a Royal than her father ever had.

The Sheriff knew Rumple was right. All the magic she had used that morning alone had left her feeling a bit woozy, and coupled with the bout of sleeplessness she had endured it really was taking its toll on her. The funny thing was, she remarked silently to herself, as she entered her quarters, if she wasn’t so tired, she wouldn’t be that affected with the use of magic, and vice versa, if she wasn’t so spent with all the healing and enchanting she had been doing, she wouldn’t be that much susceptible to exhaustion. Darkening the room, she didn’t even bother with taking off her clothes, only putting away her weapons and the cloak and dropping face down onto her bed. Suddenly, she felt overwhelmed with enervation that she sank into sleep without delay, not even managing to pull up a pillow.

She regained consciousness as someone was shaking her gently but insistently, with an anxious tone pleading with her to wake up. There was a strong but tender hold over her hands, pinning them down to the mattress, and Emma finally focused onto the voice calling to her, instantly recognizing Red’s worried whisper. “Ruby?” she croaked, frowning at the pain in her throat.

“Oh, gods, you are finally awake,” the werewolf said with unrestrained relief, landing on top of her, the strong but feminine arms going around the blonde in a firm hug. With a confused pat on the girl’s shoulder, Emma just let the shifter get her fill, before she gently pushed her friend up. It was her still confused look that beseeched Ruby to answer. “I came to check on you, and you were screaming your head off,” the werewolf explained softly, her warm hand pushing Emma’s sweat drenched golden hair out of her face, concern still present in the dark blue eyes as they skimmed over her features.

“I don’t remember,” the Savior mumbled softly, still feeling extremely tired, as she felt a yawn pull at her. Blinking to clear up her vision from the haze of her sleep, she noticed a rapidly reddening spot on Ruby’s jaw and frowned. As the dots connected, she gasped with recrimination as she reached for the injured spot tenderly – now it made sense why the shifter had restrained her. “Oh, Ruby,” Emma whispered, but the Wolf shook her head, taking the hand into her own.

“Hey, it’s OK, it’s already healing, see?” Ruby gestured, and indeed the redness was already subdued.

Dropping her head back on the bed, Emma closed her eyes as she sighed deeply. Ruby would accept no apologies so she didn’t even try, but she did feel ashamed for it, no matter how accidental it was. So lost in her mind flogging herself she was that she didn’t even notice the mattress shift until her boots were taken off her feet. Before she could complain, Ruby lifted her legs and pulled her up into a proper position, causing the blonde to let out undignified yelp. “Hey!”

“Now, you are going to rest, as you clearly need it,” Red spoke, channeling Granny’s no-nonsense tone perfectly, before she climbed onto the bed beside her, covering them both with a light blanket. Only then Emma realized that Ruby too wore no shoes. “I am sure someone will come to find you if you are needed,” came the soft reassurance as the girl settled down beside her friend, gripping her hand in support.

“Where is Mulan?” Emma tried to redirect the attention, still fighting against the idea of rest when there were only nightmares waiting for her in the shadows of her mind.

“Sleeping,” Ruby replied shortly. “Just as you should be.” Then the woman turned to the blonde, her kind gaze finding the tired eyes of her friend, as they lay on pillows. “Maybe some sleeping potion, or a drink would help?” the brunette spoke gently, still watching her goddaughter with worry. Emma just shook her head and looked up to the ceiling.

“It makes it worse,” the woman sighed helplessly. “I tried several things, Rumple suggested some of them… All they did was to make it harder for me to wake up, and the dreams more real.” Then the Sheriff threw a glance at her friend. “And, some of those make me feel really sloshed, so me being high and having access to magic, while being out all Savior-y is not a good idea.”

“Is that even a word?” Ruby commented, scrunching her face. The Savior shrugged beside in careless motion, before sighing once more. “Alright, come here,” the Wolf spoke suddenly, pulling the blonde to herself.

“Hey, what are you doing?” Emma complained, trying to push the insistent woman away but the werewolf was using her preternatural strength and the Sheriff loathed the idea of using magic against her friend, especially after having kicked her mere minutes before.

“Shush,” the girl spoke after she manhandled the Savior into the fetal position, with Ruby being the big spoon. “Just relax. This is the position you settle yourself in after you fall asleep, and I thought I could just speed things up.” Ruby did not bring up the fact that the very position spoke of Emma’s state of mind in her sleep – about obvious trust she placed in Red to protect her, to have her back, literally - for it would only make the blonde uncomfortable. She knew that Emma was feeling ridiculous for needing someone to help her sleep, the fact that they had been over almost every time one of them would pressure the blonde to get some rest. And, no matter how hard they tried to convince her of the opposite, the Savior only grudgingly let them be there for her, her displeasure obvious. Ruby also knew that the Sheriff was deeply grateful for what they were doing for her, but her pride, the sense of idiocy surrounding the need of sleep watchers and many other hang ups prevented her from showing it outright. However, there were small gestures that, inconsequential in their own right, spoke of Emma’s appreciation.

A minute later, Ruby lifted off the pillow to check on Emma, thinking the blonde was pouting and staring off to the side, but, to her surprise, the woman was asleep, her hands tucked in the space between her shoulder and neck. Pulling the blanket up and gently covering Emma’s shoulder, Ruby carefully lowered herself, closer to the sleeping woman and closed her eyes. Although she was tired too, she didn’t need to sleep to rest, but instead let herself hang in the soothing space in-between sleep and wakefulness, from where her keen senses could pull her out in a matter of seconds if something was wrong.

The Sheriff woke several hours later, feeling much better, despite the slight twinge in her shoulder from the pose she had been sleeping in. Stretching her muscles she moved to lie on her back but the warm body of her friend was in the way. Ruby chuckled at the surprised grunt Emma let out, as she watched the Savior turn on her other side, now facing her. “Feeling better?”

“I guess,” the blonde said before clearing her throat as she rubbed her face with her hands. “So, it’s back to the fray, right?”

“Well, I think it beats spending hours and days trying to buy Christmas presents for all of the family and friends you now have.” The Wolf grinned at the Savior with humor. “I don’t think your wallet could support that.” The shifter didn’t know what made her speak of the holiday, but she supposed that with Yuletide only a day away it was on her mind.

“Beats listening to the jingles for two months straight, too,” Emma added, pulling herself up in the bed, rolling her shoulders. “And that falsely cheery tone everyone seems to get.” Her tone was hard and cynical, showing that she was less than enthused about the festivities around the holiday.

“You don’t like Christmas very much, do you?” Ruby noted, as she watched her friend scowl before shrugging off. However, her insistent but kind gaze pushed the blonde to elaborate on the topic. 

“It’s not a very fun time for an orphan. It reminds you of all the things that you don’t have and somehow making you feel like it’s your own fault.” Emma glanced at Ruby with a wistful smile before she shifted, making a move to rise but her friend’s voice stopped her.

“You are not an orphan anymore.”

“I am.” Putting on her boots, the Savior stood up before she turned to the shifter now kneeling in front of her, obviously trying to think of the words to convince her otherwise. But, she wasn’t in the mood to listen to the platitudes, she had heard them before - it hadn’t changed anything then, and it certainly wasn’t going to change much now. “I may have parents now, but it does not change the fact that for my whole life I was alone, abandoned and lost. It doesn’t change the fact that I had to grow up the way I did, suffer the way I had and make the choices that I had made.” Her eyes were flashing angrily as she pinned the brunette with her deadly stare. “And no amount of playing happy families and ignoring it would change the fact that I am an orphan.”

“Your parents love you,” Ruby spoke helplessly.

“I know,” Emma sighed with an edge of disbelief but not willing to elaborate on her thoughts on the subject, putting on her belt.  _ How can you love someone you don’t know? _ “But they still chose the Savior instead of their daughter,” she added, traces of bitterness clear in her tone before she stopped herself from uttering something harsh and perhaps undeserving, raising her hand with the palm forward, stopping her friend from adding anything else. “Make no mistake, I wouldn’t change my life for it gave me Henry and Regina and…” Grinding her teeth as she swallowed, Emma forced herself to calm before continuing. “For them, I would do it all over again,” she said stopping once more, after another false start, the slight inflection in the blonde’s tone filled with so much meaning Ruby heard, and she understood the underlying message. There was a lot of resentment in the Savior toward her parents, and the Wolf knew that it would take a lot of time and love for them to get past this – and Emma was right, Snow’s penchant of pretending that everything was just dandy was only hurting them in the long run. “I…” Emma started again, but then she changed her mind, her eyes suddenly turning flat as the mask Ruby had grown very familiar in the past several weeks slammed over the woman’s face, “need to go and check on Jonas.” And, just like that the topic was closed, the conversation shut down and the Savior back under her emotionally distant façade.

Left alone as the blonde strode out with purpose, Ruby groaned to herself and collapsed onto the bed, dejectedly closing her eyes in defeat. Well, that was a roaring success, she groused to herself in silence before she went to her own quarters, needing to see the woman currently residing in her bed.

It was late afternoon when Emma walked out of the castle, throwing the hood of her cloak over her head as she scowled at the rainy sky. The storm had rolled in from the sea right after the lunch hour, and it had been pouring restlessly since then, making the already somber mood much worse. She could dispel it, but if her people were feeling miserable as they were enclosed under the protection of the walls, under roofs and beside well maintained fires, then the people outside were downright wretched, with the winds and mud and freezing permeating rain, therefore she decided against it – it served them well and it was a considerable discharge of magic, one she wasn’t sure she could afford at the moment. And, besides, the enemies had a witch on their side, too. She could do some of the hard work, as well.

Grimacing against the loud crashes of the trebuchet fire against her shields she had erected around the walls of the palace, the Savior climbed up to the parapets, looking down at the army gathered beneath the walls. It was a sight she would never forget, she knew. More than a thousand men were in front of the gates, just far enough to be out of the range of the arrows, armed and ready with ladders and ropes, waiting for the artillery to weaken the shields and do some damage. The soldiers paid no heed to the white mist lifting off their faces, to the freezing wind blowing through their ranks, intent on breaching the walls.

“They have been standing there all day,” suddenly, Emma heard a familiar deep voice of the Black lieutenant from behind her. “It would seem that they haven’t expected our walls to be so impenetrable. Truth be told, neither have I.” The lieutenant smirked at the Savior, knowing full well that she was responsible for the current state. “How long can it last?” he asked curiously as he peered over the wall, his eyes tracking the flying rock as it impacted the shield close to where they were standing, the boom of the contact rattling the tools and weapons left around. It sounded much like the cannon fire to both Emma and Damian, making them wince at the noise.

“A while,” the Savior replied. “When it starts to shimmer and ripple, that’s when you get worried.” She waited for another explosion to pass before she continued on. “In this tempo, it will last through the night, unless Zelena doesn’t do something to countermand it.”

“Good to know.” The black soldier stepped away from the railing and gestured to Emma to join him while he patrolled the parapets, placing himself between the wall and the blonde, an added measure of precaution in his mind. It was a practice the soldiers did for the people of importance, such as royals or high ranking officials. It did not escape Emma’s notice, but she indulged him with a barely there smirk. “This damn weather, though. I hope it keeps.” When the Savior looked at him under the hood, he waved at soldiers’ change. “I rotate them quite often, making sure to keep them as warm and dry as possible. Miss Belle and Lady Aurora have helped the healers to make a potion, a tea of sorts, against hypothermia, and they get it regularly, too. So, apart from getting drenched every now and then, they won’t be harmed.”

“While Midas’s men will be, especially if they stay out throughout the night.”

“It may not sound like proper warfare, but…” Damian stopped as he opened the door of the guard tower, letting Emma enter first. “Whatever helps,” he added softly, as if ashamed it wasn’t a duel or a proper face to face, two armies in the field, battle to the death – kind of fight.

“I’ve never been in a war before,” Emma noted absently, as she lowered her hood. “Knew a few soldiers here and there, but…” She shook her head, chasing away the errant thoughts, before she focused onto the man before her. “I have only Regina’s experience and books to guide me through this, Damian. Whatever helps – works for me.”

“You are doing admirably,” the soldier offered quietly, bowing his head slightly so he wouldn’t tower over her. “Especially for a kid who didn’t grow up here,” he added in a tone that on others might have sounded tremulous, but on him it was only slightly unsure, for he didn’t know if she was going to accept his good-natured teasing.

The blonde silently chuckled, her shoulders shaking with effort to suppress the snort she was about to let out. “Kid,” she voiced with disbelief, before she leaned against the wall. “I can’t believe I am thirty years younger than any of you…”

“Practically, a toddler, aren’t you?” the man replied sarcastically, recognizing the permission to relax in her presence. “Wee baby Savior, kicking arse all over the place,” he spoke in an exaggerated accent, making Emma explode with laughter as she imagined a baby walking all imperiously among the people of Enchanted Forest. They traded comments back and forth, all the while Emma was laughing uproariously, unable to stop herself. She knew that her amusement had a slight tinge of hysteria to it, as she was losing control over her emotions and the topic Ruby had accidentally started that day hadn’t helped at all, but, still, it felt good to laugh at the nonsense she was spouting off with Damian.

“Thank you, I needed that,” Emma said, placing her hand at the man’s forearm in gratitude, after several minutes spent in trying to calm down.

“Live to serve, White Knight,” Damian answered with fist over his heart, meaning his words truly. But, then he stopped the woman from leaving the shelter from the rain, his moves careful and nonthreatening. “It heals, your Grace,” he whispered, knowing he was crossing many boundaries but he had eyes and he had seen the worries trouble the young Savior. He could have done nothing for the woman whose crest he bore with pride, but perhaps an unsolicited gesture of kindness, a piece of advice, may help the burdened Knight in front of him. “It may not seem that way now, but an honest laugh, coming from the soul – it heals the heart and chases the darkness away.” She stood with her back to him, facing the half opened door, her hand gripping the edge of it firmly, so he could hear the creaking of the leather of her glove against the hard wood, but she didn’t speak or move. In fact, he wasn’t sure she was breathing. “Take it from a killer,” he added in a murmur with self-deprecation.

Hanging her head, Emma leaned it against her hand on the door, not sure how to respond to Damian’s words. She did appreciate his trying to help, but at the same time she hated the fact that he had felt the need to mention anything. But, before she could figure out the words she noticed something. Or, rather the absence of something. Lifting her head, Emma listened, opening the door wider and walking through them, leaving Damian confused behind her. “The barrage has stopped,” she said to him after several more moments had passed, and indeed, there was nothing to be heard but the incessant pounding hum of the rain, deafening in its own right but not interrupted with the explosions of the trebuchets. Rushing toward the wall, she paid no heed to her hair getting wet as she leaned over, watching the soldiers in the distance.

“You think they gave up,” the lieutenant asked, right beside her, finally caught up with the news.

“No, they just wised up,” the Savior answered, pointing toward the new projectiles flying toward them. There was a certain reddish glow about them and the woman could feel the spell placed over the rocks, knowing that these new weapons would be much more effective in bringing down her magical protection. “Brace!” she shouted to the soldiers as she pushed her companion down, behind the safety of the wall. Her warning had come in the nick of time, and just as the men ducked, the stone collided with her barrier only four feet above her head, exploding into a shower of pelting debris falling over them, while the barrier flickered from the assault, but still intact.

“Incoming,” came the warning from the topmost tower, and not waiting for another order, the men huddled behind the walls, protecting their faces from the next projectile.

“How long have we got?” Emma heard an authoritative voice demand an answer, the person not seeing her yet from beside Damian. Phillip had rushed out as soon as he had noticed the explosions stop and the last one had taken him by surprise, as he had not heard Emma’s shout. It seemed that some of the debris had caught him on the side of his face, a tight red line appearing on his cheek, despite the rain washing away all the evidence of the injury. 

“Half an hour, maybe more,” she spoke, showing herself. “The protection is up as long as these things get blown up. It’s when they pass through undamaged that we should worry about.”

Phillip understood the principle of the spell and nodded, patting Emma’s shoulder in greeting. “You’ve given us more time, but this is what we have prepared for,” he spoke into her ear, having brought himself closer to her. It was strange how he could fill his voice with gratitude and dismissal at the same time, Emma considered as she nodded at him. He had not meant to offend her, but to show to her that he really appreciated her idea, but that he didn’t expect her to do it again, nor he would like her to – because he knew the costs of it. With his face still close to her, Emma saw him wink at her, before he stepped away, shouting orders to the men, getting them ready for the imminent breach. Apparently, there was a protocol to follow in such situations, and the Savior was glad that someone else was in charge of that.

Deciding to get out of the rain, the blonde wandered off to the stables, relieved to find that no one was there. Well, no one but the horses, and in particular one black mare that had swiveled its head out of the stall at the sound of Emma’s boots on the hard ground. “Hey, girl,” the blonde spoke tenderly, her hand instinctively going for the mare’s forehead, scratching it lightly in affection, pleased to see that the horse was not terrified from the noise coming from the outside as other horses seemed to be. But, she noticed that as soon she had entered the enclosed space, the animals had conspicuously calmed down, the frightened neighs and wild stumping tapering off into a mellow silence, interrupted only with the crashes of the artillery. “I know I have been neglecting you,” the woman continued as the black head pressed into her chest in gentle rebuke, “but, the world is just too crazy right now.” It was the roll of the intelligent eyes that made the Savior chuckle at her own words, permeated by another crash coming from outside. “So, how about a brush down? Would you like that?” An approving neigh came, along with the tongue catching one of Emma’s fingers. So, the Sheriff lit several more lanterns, placing them around the space in front of Shadow’s stall and led the horse out, needing more room to maneuver. Usually, the riders would catch the reins onto the hooks provided for such things, as there was always the chance that the horse could be spooked and bolt out of the stable, no matter how trained it was, but Emma had never done that to her friend, for she did consider the noble steed her friend, and their bond was formed on complete trust in each other. Taking off her cloak, and the belt that held her sword and long knife, she grabbed one of the brushes and started slowly, all the while she talked softly about her day, getting appropriate responses to her comments every time. “You know, I think Regina will adore you,” the Savior said as she was finished. “She is the one who taught me about horses,” she added with melancholy, thinking about her beloved, absently passing through the coat of shiny black hair on the steed’s shoulders. Suddenly, Shadow placed its head over Emma’s shoulder, initiating something that the Sheriff could only call a hug, as the large head twisted, pushing her body into the warm neck. The blonde let a soft chuckle as she circled the strong neck, letting her head rest onto the black mane, her fingers twirling into the freshly brushed hair. “Thank you,” Emma murmured into the soft flesh, sighing when only a gentle snort was her answer.

It didn’t take long after that to get lost in the demands of the siege. The magical shield had collapsed by the evening, but by some luck the enemy seemed to be running out on the ammunition for the trebuchets, aiming solely for the gate before finally stopping the air assault, only managing to crack the sturdy wood. The defenders, obviously prepared, were already on fixing it, hammering away at the reinforcing materials. Archers lined the front walls, ready for the enemy’s advance, buoyed by Phillip’s heartfelt speech of protecting their families. However, the rain never stopped falling, making the already poor visibility in the darkness much worse.

Bolts and arrows were exchanged throughout the night, most of them missing their targets, but every now and then a sharp cry of pain could be heard over the sound of torrent. The soldiers of the keep had very short shifts, in order to avoid lethargy caused by the frigid weather, standing by the fires in the great hall, grabbing a nap while they were there, under the dutiful eyes of their leaders. Emma watched the Royals split their duties, Phillip dealing with everything outside the inner walls of the castle, assuming control over the defense, guiding the soldiers, while Aurora was commanding the villagers, providing support in the form of meals, fresh clothes, helpers in the infirmary, even getting some of them to provide the fletcher duties. They worked seamlessly together, with no apparent need to communicate with each other. But, when the Savior saw Phillip place his hand on Aurora’s belly in a loving manner, when the Princess had called him inside to eat, the blonde smiled at the warm picture they provided, slightly envious of them together.

Somewhat at a loss, as her particular skills were not needed, Emma wandered off to the infirmary, thinking that at least there she could do something to occupy herself. And, under Belle’s strict orders not to use magic, as it was needed in the confrontation with the Witch, the Savior spent the night providing comfort to the wounded, giving the injured soldiers words of encouragement and appreciation, while dressing their wounds, more often than not relieved when Belle would direct her to ones that were already asleep, under the soothing effects of pain relieving drinks. The Sheriff had laughed out loud when she had realized that the caretakers in the infirmary had been using the prized spirits of the Charming’s larders to wash and disinfect the wounds, as well as knock the louder injured men out into sleep.

In the breaks, the sorceress would lean against the wall and share a cup of tea with her kind friend, listening to the woman recall about the last Ogres War, the tales spoken in soft and melancholic voice, portraying the sorrow over the loss of her mother, the hope as Rumple had been summoned, the fear as the demand of her price had been asked… The brunette would weave her story so enchantingly, pulling Emma out of reality for those moments, and the Sheriff guessed from the watchful gaze constantly resting on her face, that the kind knowledge seeker was determined to take care of her, as well, by giving her a respite from the present, however short and elusive.

“And, so another morn comes,” Belle said absently, sipping from her cup as she leaned against the wall right beside the entrance door, her eyes sweeping over the infirmary casted in the muted glow of half doused lanterns. It would be dawn quite soon, and she knew it would bring the change in the situation. Most likely, Midas would initiate a full out attack, bringing the battering ram into the play. She glanced toward the Savior and smiled as she watched the blonde meticulously check everything on herself, from the seam on her pants, to the lines of her tunic and the clasps of her cloak, along with her weapons. In the past several days, the Savior had stopped carrying much of her arsenal, often placing the intricately detailed sword at her hip, instead the back. The firearm was gone, as well. Now, in front of her, stood a proud warrior of noble blood, elegant and sleek, with power and peril shining through the gleam of authority, tempered with mercy. And, it did not matter whether she was the White Knight, or the Black Knight – she was the Savior with every tenet of her being, even at the detriment of Emma.

When the Sheriff hummed in response distractedly, trying to push her wavy locks off her face, Belle pushed away from the wall and guided the woman to a nearby chair. Gathering the silky strands of Emma’s forehead, the brunette started twining them into two braids, tying them in the back, the rest of the hair flowing down to the back unrestrained. “There,” Belle said, patting Emma’s shoulders. “Yule is tomorrow,” she added when she had the Savior’s attention, now completely prepared for most things.

“Yes, Rumple already told me,” the blonde answered, still sitting on the stool as she regarded the woman curiously. “It is a big thing here, right?” Belle only smiled sadly in response. She was about to suggest a kind of ceremony for the celebration, of course moderated to suit the times, but before she could speak, the doors creaked open, and one of the village boys rushed inside in panic, his head swiveling around in search of something.

When his eyes fell on the women he huffed out a breath of relief before coming to Emma, his darting looks catching the librarian as well. “Savior, the Prince… The Gate…” he tried to speak, but the heaving from the no doubt mad dash was preventing him, however, Emma understood the gist, instantly taken into a flurry of motion, not even sparing a glance when Belle grabbed her arm to follow, and appeared in the courtyard, right beside the front gate.

“Up here,” Phillip called out as soon as the magic swirls dissipated, and with no delay the women climbed to the parapet, joining Phillip and others at the watch post. Ushering her companion ahead of her to stand beside her chosen, the Savior looked at the side where all the worried glances were pointed. Although it was still dark, the dawn was rising and as the rain had stopped sometime during the night, the air was quite clear, though cold.

“The Witch is there,” Mulan spoke as she offered the spyglass to the blonde, “talking with Midas, I think.”

“We’ve got bigger problems,” Ruby said as she placed her hand on Emma’s shoulder, directing her look to the forest, right in the middle of the distance between the two Empire camps and Midas’s people. With the help of the spyglass, the Sheriff could see the motion through the woods, but she couldn’t quite discern what it was, until the moving file stepped into the small clearing amongst the trees.

It was an army.

Emma silently returned the device to the warrior beside her and, her face turning stony, she stepped away from the wall, jumping down to the courtyard, not even bothering to waste time with the stairs, leaving others to stare after her in confusion, while Red followed. Mulan instantly took a look at what had upset her friend and gasped when her eyes finally saw what was coming.

It was an army. An army made of Trolls, some Ogres and simians, all armed and all marching toward the Castle. And, their numbers were huge, counting in thousands. It would take them less than an hour to get to the gates of the keep. Mulan assumed several hours after that, unless a miracle happened, they would all be dead.

Ruby followed the Sheriff into a small sequestered room beside the black smith’s fires, hearing the blonde order the two men dozing off out in a growl. The second she passed through the door she felt a wave of magic locking the place up. The door behind sealed shut, and the shifter had an idea that no sound would leave that room, no matter how loud it would get. Her attention turned to the Savior, she saw Emma kick the chair in a helpless wave of rage, breaking it to bits as she stomped all the parts out. Then she turned to Ruby, as if to say something but changed her mind and growling again, she repeated the process with the remaining chair. The Wolf did nothing, letting the Sheriff calm down on her own, knowing that it was better to let Emma have at it in there than have her explode in public view of all the villagers who depended on her to survive. 

“Fucking unbelievable,” the blonde grunted as she added another kick into the rubble. “Seriously?! Trolls!” Placing her palms on the table she dropped her head down, sighing. “Of all the things…” she mumbled, before turning around and leaning against the table, rubbing her face.

“You didn’t know. Hell, no one did.” Ruby sat beside her friend, not knowing what to do.

“That’s just it,” Emma spoke tiredly, as she looked at the destroyed furniture in front of her. “I was told that this wasn’t the war of Men, and I forgot.” Shaking her head at her own arrogance, the blonde continued speaking. “I never considered them to be a threat. I mean, not really. I was focused on the armies of people she dangled in front of me, that I completely missed the underdog. Damn it.”

“What are you going to do?” The Wolf ground her teeth the second she spoke the question. Once more, it all rested on Emma’s shoulders, and there was little she could do to help. “What do you need me to do?” she asked instead.

The Savior had heard the first question and the subsequent change, and smiling with kindness at her friend, she placed her hands onto the warm skin of Ruby’s neck, drawing their foreheads together, the way she saw Red do it with Snow once before. It was a greeting, a goodbye, a blessing and a promise, all rolled into one, and seeing the understanding shine under the veil of tears in the dark blue eyes connected with hers, Emma blinked with a sigh. “You know the passageway in the cellars?” After the brisk nod, the blonde added. “The second the things go south, you need to take people out.” Still having a firm grip on the girl, the Sheriff continued quickly. “Belle knows about it too, but she might decide to stay till the end, in hope…” She couldn’t finish the sentence, swallowing hard. “I need you to get them out.”

“You want us to run?” the hero of the wars against the Evil Queen asked in a harsh whisper of outrage, but Emma implored with her eyes, speaking only five words, but with such power behind them that the tears Ruby was fighting against were flowing freely.

“I want you to live.”

“There has to be another way,” Ruby spoke after a moment, brushing away her tears, but the slump in Emma’s shoulders spoke otherwise.

“That is my line.” She then shook her head, seemingly settled and calm. “There is another way.” Before Ruby could feel the burgeoning hope, the Savior smashed it down with the grim words she spoke, the cold way she delivered them making the Wolf shiver. “It will kill anything within leagues of me, and by anything I do mean everything.” The once green eyes were now gray and cold and determined. “So, perhaps not?” she added sarcastically, ending the enchantment on the room and wrenching the door open. But, before leaving, she caught Ruby’s eyes. “There is always hope,” she spoke in a whisper and left the bewildered woman behind her.

She did not waste any time, but summoning Damian and other lieutenants along with Phillip and Liam, the Savior started giving out orders, changing the strategies and devising plans more suitable for the new enemies. The men did not wait, but followed her words to the letter, leaving her to her business. There was another thing to do, she knew, but despite her desire to talk to him in person, she could not afford to leave the people of Safe Haven, not even for a moment to talk to Cheng, so she was forced to use her contact spells.

Standing on the parapet right above the gate, Emma leaned against the wall, waiting for the voice of the commander of the Imperial Guard to fill her ears. There was no doubt that he didn’t already know what was happening, and not having heard from him yet was a cause of concern. But, then he answered.

“I apologize, your Grace, I was about to call you,” Cheng spoke, out of breath, and Emma could hear him walking away from the noise, which she belatedly realized was swords clashing. “Seems, we have a bit of a problem,” he said with a grunt, his sardonic words followed by a gurgle of someone dying.

“You don’t say,” she responded in kind, her eyes focused on the edge of the forest, where the enemies would come out any minute now. “Some very interesting creatures are about to knock on my door and they’ve brought company. A lot of it.”

“I know, we are dealing with the stragglers here.” Then, the commander sighed heavily. “I’ll try to get to you as fast as I can, but these damn flying things are making it extremely difficult. They have the advantage in the woods.”

“Don’t waste the lives of your men,” Emma had to say, despite knowing his answer, the words ringing out in her head mere seconds before he had actually spoken them.

“They are your men, too and they have sworn the oaths.” Then, the leader of the Imperial forces on her side chuckled at something on his side. “These scum seem to know you; they cringe at the sight of Swan on the men’s armors.” Then the battle seemed to get louder and Emma could barely discern his voice anymore. “We will come, Savior. See you on the other side.”

Knowing that there was nothing left to say, she broke the connection with unexpected lightness filling her after the conversation. As she had told Red, there was always hope. With that in mind, she picked up one of the longbows from the armory and several stacks of arrows. She waited, feeling the eyes of people on her, watching her every move, taking their cues from her behavior. They were in for a show, the Sheriff noted to herself, judging the angle of the Sun with a smile, before she took off her cloak, throwing it carelessly over the torch holder. Affixing the quiver to her leg, to make the draw easy for her, she took a deep breath, presenting a calm front – while in her mind she was rebuking herself for the idiocy of her idea. With an effortless jump, she climbed onto the ledge, motioning to one of the soldiers to add her arrows, as she placed herself in the position, the bow in her left hand.

The Sheriff was standing above the gate of the keep, her blonde hair, shining in the light of the Sun, fluttered in the breeze and her black leather tunic shone giving the woman ethereal appearance - and she seemed to guard the very walls she had raised from the ground. There was the protector, the Knight, they had followed so far and she had kept them safe. There was the woman who had promised to fight for them. There was the Savior, in all her grace, staring down her enemies – unyielding and powerful.

It was a mere stunt, something to give hope to the people, to force them to fight despite the overwhelming odds, but it did not mean that Emma was there just for the inspirational purposes. No, she notched the arrow, pulling it up to her ear and released it. And, when it found its mark, bringing the first Ogre to leave the safety of the forest down onto his comrades, a wave of excitement passed through the soldiers beside her, the word of her hit already spreading on. Once again, she aimed, and released, claiming another kill shot. The roar of outrage from the trolls told her that she was recognized, and it was the moment she had been waiting for.

“This can end here,” she said, her voice spreading through the valley, reaching both armies facing the castle. “There is no need for death. Leave, and I’ll let you be.” She hoped she would be able to convince at least some of them to turn away. “I have the knowledge of the Dark One and the blessing of the Light Magic. Is what she promised you worth your lives? And, do you think she will honor her deal?”

Her answer was arrows angrily shot at her from Midas’s men, and shrieking coming from the monkeys flying above them. Emma closed her eyes and nodded in resigned acceptance. Offer had been given and now only death remained to be dealt. Then, something unimaginable happened, surprising the Savior, and yet not so much. The Ogres, those giant brutes who once had been terror in these lands, after a short deliberation among themselves carried out in grunts and growls, roared mightily toward the castle, one of them raising his hand in a form of salute to the woman standing on top of the wall, before slinking away into the forest, abandoning the attacking army as one.

The blonde smirked, leaning onto the bow, her poise of nonchalance visible from afar. But, she knew there would be retribution for such a daring move. Zelena and Midas were too volatile to just let this one go. “Prepare for the simian attack,” she spoke quietly to the soldiers behind her, not moving or turning from her stand. “Everyone not manning the walls to go inside.”

“Yes, Savior,” she heard from behind her, followed by a thump of metal against metal before the man hurried to spread the word.

“Why did they turn away?”

Emma smiled at the light interest her friend placed in the question, using it more to tell the blonde that there was someone behind her rather than she was interested in knowing what motivated the creatures she had fought against several times to leave the battle. The Sheriff threw a look over her shoulder and with caring scrutiny, guided her eyes to take every detail of the warrior into account, as she had failed to do so earlier in the morning, too rattled by the news. Mulan seemed well rested and properly healed from the ordeal. Dressed in her armor, with the new sword at her hip, the warrior stood ready.

“They remember the time they stood against the powers of the Dark One.” Watching and waiting for the imminent confrontation, Emma frowned, considering the situation. “I guess their fear of annihilation was greater than their hatred of humans.”  _ And _ , Emma thought,  _ when this was over, and if I survive, perhaps I should include them into the peace treaties, as well. _

“They’re not under the Witch’s control?” Mulan asked, climbing up to stand next to the blonde, all the looking up giving her uncomfortable twinge in her neck.

“Not magically, no,” Emma answered, catching the woman’s elbow in an effort to help her stand up on the narrow surface. “Nor are the Trolls. They have been incited to fight us purely because they hate the human kind and they want some kind of retribution, I think.” Frowning in question, Mulan did not speak, but waited for the Sheriff to continue, her eyes glued to the pale face seeming almost translucent in the morning light. She was aware of the hold still resting above her elbow, the light grip of the gloved hand, unobtrusive but offering safety, just in case. The Empire woman had her suspicions that Emma was not even aware of her actions, that her mind was too preoccupied with other things. Her musings were cut short by the blonde’s soft voice, almost unheard in the cold breeze around them. “After being despised and sneered at for so long, wouldn’t you want to be part of bringing your enemy down?”

“You don’t think they have the right to do this, do you?” the warrior whispered, coming closer to the Savior, not wanting to be heard questioning the woman by the soldiers.

“No,” the Savior spoke slowly, sadness and anger present in the flatness of her voice. “No one has the right to do this. But, I cannot help but wonder if this all could have been stopped if only people didn’t have such black and white views of the world around them. If they didn’t categorize everything they didn’t know or understand as bad. As I stand here and think about everything I have learned in these past two months, or even past month alone, I realize that perhaps I am on the wrong side.”

“What?” That was something Mulan never expected to leave Emma’s mouth. To actually consider that…

“I know what you are thinking and you are wrong,” the blonde spoke calmly, the outrage and disbelief on Mulan’s usually stoic face told her enough. “Put your mind at ease. I would never join those two. This isn’t just about us fighting Midas and Zelena, Mulan. This fight is about so much more, and most of you do not even realize it, too much wrapped up in the obvious enemies.” With a heartfelt sigh, the Savior looked at the warrior, her eyes shining with ageless wisdom Mulan had only seen in sorcerers who had lived for many lifetimes – that made the pale green orbs look like they were seeing two worlds at the same time, the one everyone else saw and something different, making Emma’s gaze both piercingly sharp and distant at the same time. “The Enchanted Forest is a land of many creatures, most of them carrying some form of magic, and yet, you take into account only the cost of human lives. The Enchanted Forest is a land of magic, and yet people seek to extinguish it. Most nations of this world hate humans and for the right reasons, too.”

“You are human, just like us,” the warrior added with some confusion, grasping the point of Emma’s speech.

“I am not,” the Savior chuckled grimly, shaking her head. “I am not even a sorceress.” Indulging the incredulous look on Mulan’s face, Emma nodded. “I may be borne of humans, and look like one, but I am pure magic, in class with the unicorns and fairies.”

If not for the grip on Mulan’s arm, the warrior would have toppled over the wall in shock over the blonde’s words. The warrior clasped at the arm that saved her from certain death of the fall, looking into the eyes of her friend, seeing the stranger in them. And, the way they filled with acceptance and sorrow told Mulan that Emma had expected such a reaction and accepted it as inevitable. And, yet, the Savior spoke the truth, even though she had known that it would alienate her from others. But, then, Mulan sighed, cursing herself for her reaction and for causing pain, however unintentional. The woman in front of her was her friend, no matter who or what she was. Human or not, Emma had been nothing but a good friend and leader to her, and now, the warrior was repaying it poorly. So, she went to remedy that immediately. As one hand was already on Emma’s forearm, Mulan grabbed the other, still holding the bow and turned the Savior to face her fully.

With determination and a rare show of affection, the woman of the Empire grabbed the shoulders of the Sheriff and leaned it, leaving only several inches between their faces. “You may be the Imperial Dragon himself, but you are still my friend. You are still the person I would follow to the very end. You are still the same woman who has earned my respect, my loyalty, and my care.” It was the desperate grip on Emma’s shoulders and the pleading look of the almond shaped eyes shining with sincerity that spoke to the blonde of earnestness of Mulan’s words. She placed her palm onto one of the warrior’s, squeezing it lightly in response, not turning away from the eyes that still beseeched her to forgive. Not speaking, for her throat was tight, the blonde nodded sharply. In need to change the charged tension between them, Mulan asked the first question that came to her mind. “Does Red know?”

Emma cleared her throat, grateful for the distraction. “Her wolf senses it; it knows I am something more powerful and it sees me as an ultimate alpha. All the Wolves do, when they are changed. But, as people, they think of me as a very strong sorceress.” It was then Emma saw the shapes rise from Midas’s camp, and sighed. “At least I got to finish the conversation this time,” she mumbled to herself, making Mulan chuckle as she had heard the comment. “Get ready!” the Savior spoke clearly, before turning to her friend. “Make sure there are no surprises on other sides. And, watch out for the ground forces using the distraction.” Mulan nodded and with a strong pat over Emma’s shoulder, she jumped down onto the parapet, already spouting orders to Phillip’s men.

For two hours, the soldiers of Safe Haven were shooting down the flying beasts as well as the Trolls advancing over the bridge toward the gate, carrying an oddly shaped battering ram. Despite all the efforts of the defenders, the ram was brought to the wood of the gate, and where one Troll manning it fell, two more appeared. The very air was filled with shouts, screams, flutters of many wings and shrieks of the arrows and javelins, interwoven with the loud slams at the door.

_ Fire _ , Emma thought as she released arrow after arrow. She needed fire for the ram, and not just ordinary fire. The flaming arrows did nothing the regular ones didn’t do, as armor and the shields around the device were under some kind of torch-resistant spell impervious even to the fire orbs she had lobbed at it, so after several batches of lit bolts the soldiers went back to using normal shafts, as they were easier to aim and with greater reach. As she saw the familiar face of the soldier close to her, the plan formed in her mind. “Gareth?” she called to him, never pausing in releasing the bolts. “In my sleeping quarters there is a backpack beside the door. Inside is a velvet pouch with potions inside. Bring it to me as fast as you can.” The soldier heeded her words instantly, rushing down the stairs and into the castle with the speed of a runner, despite the armor on him. As soon as she had sent him away, she started the next part of her plan, using her magic to access the gift of fire she had been bestowed with, guiding into shapes and forms she desired. It was a hard piece of enchantment, needing a complete focus, so she could not waste much time on finessing it out, as she could be interrupted at any second.

“Empty the wall!” she shouted, giving her men the warning before releasing the spell. Out of thin air a large wall of fire appeared, going high into the skies, catching several simians by surprise, the immense heat causing the soldiers to flee into the courtyard, looking up in awe. Emma stood in her place, her hands in front of her, palms to the front, unbothered by the scorching temperatures, breathing heavily as she fought to maintain the spell for a bit more. Then, she pushed it, forcing the fiery membrane to move outward in one swoop, burning everything to crisp on its way before it vanished, twenty yards farther, not even clearing the bridge, but managing to destroy the ram.

In the muted hush following the aftermath of the magical sweep, the Savior dropped her hands onto the still heated stone and flagging down a bit, she took a moment to recover, her eyes skimming over the destruction her spell had wrought. The charred remains of many littered the space in front of the wooden door which stood undamaged thanks to Emma’s fast thinking, and created a revolting picture, one that apparently forced the Trolls into retreat.

The sharp shout of “Man the walls, you bloody fools!” startled her from staring into the blackened forms below her, and right on time it seemed as she moved out of the way of volley of arrows aimed at her. However, she was not fast enough, two of them grazing her before she slid down. “Savior?” Gareth spoke in fear, rushing to her and sliding on his knees in his hurry to get to her, his arms immediately going to her elbow to pull her into the seating position. His eyes were focused onto the bleeding nick on her cheek and the shaft stuck to her side, wide in terror, not knowing what to do.

“Give me the pouch,” Emma spoke clearly as she ripped the arrow out of her clothes and mending the leather immediately, the light pull on her magic negligible. Honestly, she was more stunned by the effects of the fire than by the cost of the magic she had used, but it wouldn’t hurt to have the potions ready at hand, especially if she needed to do this more often. “See, no blood,” the blonde showed the arrow tip to the trembling soldier before she straightened out and threw the shaft away in disgust. Tying the pouch to her belt she crouched, and glanced toward the still wide eyed soldier. “I am fine, Gareth,” she insisted but he pointed toward her cheek with a finger, making her smirk. “Just a scratch,” she added, healing it immediately.

“It takes much more than an arrow to kill our Knight, doesn’t it?” came the slightly rebuking voice, addressing the soldier, but Emma knew that the reprimand in it was solely for her sake. “Go on, lad. You have better things to do.” Rumplestiltskin’s no nonsense tone chased the young soldier into action, joining the others. The second Gareth left them alone, Rumple turned his look to Emma, worry and disapproval clear in his eyes as he stared down at her, leaning on his cane.

“Yes, I know, I shouldn’t have done it,” Emma grumbled petulantly as she rose to her feet, dusting off her hands, her voice taking on a more mordant edge. “She is going to retaliate, and we will be cursed for all eternity and beyond.”

“Are you finished?” he asked evenly, as he watched her adjust her belt. With nothing to add, Emma only waved her hand at him and he leaned slightly toward her, his eyes catching hers. “Now, despite the childish behavior you sometimes display, you are a grown woman quite capable of making her own choices and decisions. And, so far your instincts have been superb in guiding you through this adventure, thusly I am not going to say anything about it.”

“Thusly?”

He ignored her interjection of confusion over his word choice and continued. “However, I’ve come here to see if you were alright, as it was an extremely potent piece of work, unlike any I have ever seen aside from the Yaoguai.”

“I am fine,” Emma spoke after a moment, touched by his obvious concern. “Really, it wasn’t that hard…”

Stymied by her apparent might, the former Dark One watched the blonde with cautious awe, understanding that, yes, that incredible feat was not much of a work out for the Savior, so powerful the woman had become in these months she had been on her quest. “Belle told me of the tunnel,” he said after a moment of silence spent in regard of the magnificent woman before him.

“I assumed she would,” Emma replied calmly, her senses alert and magic at the ready, instinct telling her that the next wave was coming.

“I know this was just a precaution, but she told me that she could feel your doubt about winning this,” he spoke again, trying to get her opinion on the matter.

“I don’t know what she took from the Vault, Rumple. One of those things could be used for mass destruction.” The Savior’s eyes darted toward him showing her uncertainty, before going back to watching the enemies. Then she frowned, her eyes focused on something in the distance. “Like that one,” she spoke grimly, pointing toward a crimson red mist crawling over the valley, crackling with maliciousness. Emma could feel that it was something deadly and unstoppable. At least unstoppable by ordinary means. “She isn’t pulling any punches, is she?” Emma murmured softly, before she jumped back on the railing of the wall, her hands already glowing with energy she commanded. “Do you know what it is?” she asked her mentor, forcing the shield in place, gasping at the uncomfortable feel of the foreign magic pressing against her own.

“No,” Rumple said, bewildered. “Can you hold it?”

“Yes.”

“How long?”

“I don’t know. It isn’t much of a drain, but I have to keep reinforcing it.” She looked at him with stark realization. “This is a distraction, meant for me – to keep me occupied.”

It seemed that the former Dark One had reached the same conclusion, already moving away, his cold tenor shouting warnings and alerting the soldiers to look for other points of attack. After the rush of heavy feet that suggested the reinforced walls on the other sides, Rumple came to Emma once more. “How many potions do you have?”

“Two, not more.”

“Alright,” he sighed heavily before he started toward the stairs. “You’ll need food and water soon. It is lunch time, anyways.”

Emma nodded, not even caring that the man could not see her response as he was already on his way to the inner halls of the castle. Getting as comfortable as she could, she lowered herself into a cross legged seat, her hands resting on her knees with the palms turned upwards, conserving as much energy as she could, knowing that her muscles would be the first to complain if she had remained standing with her arms outstretched in front of her. She could keep the shield up, no matter how she was postured, as long her mind was on it, and at least one hand directed at it, to help her focus the output. Theoretically, she didn’t even need the hand guidance, as her magic could be guided by feelings and thoughts alone, but she didn’t want to risk in case of wandering thoughts or something else. Relatively safe from other dangers, she could also defend herself against any arrows or simians with her magic, not stopping the reinforcement of the shield.

The Savior focused onto the red painting the air, delving into its depths with her mind, trying to find a way to destroy it, dismantle it from within, just as she had done with the various spells before. As she could taste it, thanks to her augmented magical senses, she grimaced at the acidic bitterness coming from it. Unlike the Dark creating thing, this one did not have consciousness of its own, it’s only purpose was to kill. It was a rather tame spell, Emma regarded to herself, considering what she had been facing before, but it wasn’t simple or easy to reverse. If Rumple didn’t know what it was, it meant that the curse was old, predating the legends the Dark One might have been familiar with. As she could not make heads and tails of it, it seemed that her only option was to keep the shield up until the hex fizzled out, consumed by itself into nothingness.

Spending long minutes that slowly stretched into an hour keeping the curse at bay, the Savior expanded her senses further, using her already achieved calmness of her thoughts to see what was happening on the other side of the castle. From a tactical point of view, there was only one other point of possible breach, where the side door was located, the very door the Wolves had used to leave the compound in their Moon related runs. Other sides were not plausible as they were cut off by either water of cliffs. And, as she surmised, the Trolls and some of Midas’s men were about to launch into another attempt of storming the castle, but the villagers were ready for them. Not only them, Emma sensed with a smile stretching her mouth, feeling the presence of armors she had conjured for the Imperial Army.

“What is it?” Rumple spoke with barely hidden interest as he saw her wide grin, placing a plate filled with meat and bread, and a wineskin beside it, frowning when he saw an empty vial resting beside her. He had been away for a long time, he surmised, deciding not to comment on it.

“Li is here,” she answered simply, her statement followed by the exultant shouts coming from the other part of the wall. Emma grabbed the wineskin taking a large sip of the liquid before she choked, sputtering it beside her as she pulled a face at the strange taste coating her buds. “What the hell is this?”

“Warm water with honey and some spices. It is as close to electrolytic drinks as it gets around here, dearie, so I suggest you drink up.”

With all her distaste placed in her pouting scowl, she took another try at the drink, this time swallowing several times before pushing the skin away. “Bleh, this is ridiculous…” she complained with a shudder. But before she could reach for the meat she froze, something triggering her magical senses.

“Now, now, I know it could taste better, Miss Swan, but that is not the reason to make such production over it,” Rumple commented on her face, misconstruing her frown.

Raising her free hand, Emma shushed the old man, her eyes searching for the reason she was feeling off. Something was coming. It was a familiar feel, but she could not place it from where she knew it. Like a vibration rippling through space, sending waves of barely present energy. And, it was coming from the sea. Then, she remembered.  _ The magic of the portal! _ Emma jumped off her seat, crossing the length of the wall toward the seaside of the castle, her eyes pinned to high seas, not daring to believe that it was finally happening. The ripples were growing stronger, and now she could see the familiar green tendrils of the bean portal creating quarter a mile off the shore.

“She is coming,” Emma gasped with elation, the relief suffusing her. “The portal is opening.”

“Perfect timing,” Rumple added with a smile.

With care to keep some of her attention on the shield, Emma watched the portal creating, the green electrical charges focusing into one point, discharging at greater speeds until enough energy was formed to open the fissure in space. It was a wonder to see such a thing through her newly developed magical senses. However, just as the portal opened, over the water, a large stream of magic hit it from the shore, causing it to flicker strangely, before it started to collapse.

The second Emma saw the green travel through air, she screamed in outrage and fear, her body already reacting to the danger, but she was too late to stop Zelena’s disruptive blast. Immediately redirecting her energy into the flickering storm of light, Emma fought to stabilize the magical passage, her intervention slowing its breakdown, but she knew that she needed to do more or everything would be lost. “I need a better spot,” she rushed with a tinge of panic gripping her, her eyes searching the shore, straightaway finding a small outcropping cliff, not far away from the castle. But, it was right smack in the middle of Midas’s military camp, or what was left of it, as more than half of men were involved with the Empire soldiers on the other side of the castle.

“Liam!” she shouted, her edginess obvious as she kept feeding her magic to those two points, the fear fueling her. As soon as the chief werewolf came to her, with sword in his hands, she told him to gather his people as they were coming with her. With no additional questions, the shifter only whistled loudly, the shrill sound reverberating off the walls of the fortress, and within seconds the whole pack was gathered beneath the wall.

“Take me with you!” Rumple shouted in vain as the vapors of Emma’s magic whisked the group away. Not wasting time on throwing a tantrum, he rushed toward the stables, grabbing one of the women that were on fletcher’s duty by the arm. “Go to the infirmary and tell Belle that I said it was time!” He squeezed the arm he gripped strongly, but not harshly enough to bruise, portraying his seriousness. “Do you understand? It’s time!” The woman nodded in terror and he sent her off, before he limped into the stable, directing himself toward the last stall where the Savior’s horse was. “I need you to take me to Emma,” he spoke imploringly to Shadow, opening the stall to let her out. “Please,” he added when she only watched him without reaction. It was the fear and need in his voice that sprung the steed into action. Glancing at the cane, the horse lowered herself allowing Rumplestiltskin to mount her, before rising up and strutting out of the enclosed space of the stable. When they reached the courtyard, Rumple waved to the men stationed at the Gate. “Open!” he ordered, suffusing his voice with every bit of authority he could manage, hoping it would be enough to get him out. And it was, the large doors were moved just enough to let Shadow pass, instantly closing up the second they were out. Placing the edge of his lapel over his nose against the pervasive stench of the burned corpses and cinders, he guided the mare over the bridge before surrendering to the horse’s will, knowing it would know the best way to cross the land without encountering the red mist, Rumple grabbed the mane in effort to keep himself astride of the fast beast.

“Keep them off me,” Emma ordered clearly the second they appeared on the cropping, her mind already focused on her spell weaving. From this position she could see both the mist and the portal clearly, and it did help her with funneling her power, but the portal was still failing, albeit at a slower rate than before.

“Silly Savior,” Zelena’s taunting voice filled the area. “You can’t save them  _ all _ , now, can you?” The Witch cackled with glee as she added, “You can only die trying.” It was the impossible choice she had posed before the Savior – whom she lets to die and whom she saves? But, it did not matter as no creature held enough power to re-stabilize the fissure, or destroy the red death, certainly not to manage both. The Witch did not need to destroy the Savior personally - gods knew such endeavor would only end badly for her, but the Savior was going to do it for her in the end. Wracked by guilt over the deaths she had failed to stop… Or die from overusing her magic in an attempt to save others… Zelena chuckled again, relishing in the misery she had inflicted on the blonde pest hindering her plans. 

* * *

“What is going on?”

Phillip caught up with his friend, thoroughly confused by the commotion at the gate. After the strident whistle, he realized that people in the line disappeared, gone off to the other side of the castle, apparently summoned. He hurried toward it, looking to investigate, as it seemed that the commander of the Imperial forces had the situation in hand along with the Black lieutenant, and arrived just to see Rumplestiltskin ride out of the gate. Before he could dress down the soldiers for opening the door during the attack he saw Mulan running at the wall, her spyglass already assembled, and spared no time to join her.

The warrior did not speak, her face portraying the grimness of the situation – even though it seemed they were winning for the moment. She was about to speak, but she saw the princess running toward them, no longer wearing her usual dresses, but in one of Phillip’s riding leggings and shirt, with her short jacket over it, her stride fast, and waited for the woman to reach them before continuing. Acknowledging Aurora with a look, Mulan pointed toward the sea, where something similar to a cyclone was forming, green in color, streaked with blue and white, the loud rumbling noise coming off of it, and then to the Savior, standing on the cliff at the shore with her hands glowing, obviously directing her magic, while surrounded by the shifters, half of them turned, as they were fighting off the soldiers advancing on them – protecting the woman behind them.

“She is forced to choose,” Mulan said, having heard the spiteful words spoken by the Witch, before she turned to her friends. “But, she won’t.”

“What do you mean?” Aurora asked, not understanding what it was about as she had spent the entire day inside, getting only spotty reports about the events.

“She is protecting us from that red thing, and she is trying to save the ones in the portal at the same time,” Phillip spoke as he gathered the seriousness. “The Queen,” he added heavily, thinking Emma’s choice was clear.

“No,” Mulan disagreed sadly, and at first the Prince thought she was denying the identity of the person arriving through the portal, but then Aurora grabbed the warrior’s forearm in stark realization. It was the horrified gasp that clued him in.

“But, she is her True Love!”

“Would you be able to stand before me and tell me that in order for me to live, you had to sacrifice the lives of all our friends and the entire kingdom, leaving them to certain death?” Aurora countered vehemently as her eyes filled with tears. “Or could you walk through life knowing that the choice you made, no matter the good cause, killed your True Love?” The princess looked toward the blonde woman in the distance, her heart going out to the woman who had given them more than anyone ever did, and now she was going to offer her own life, once more, for them. “She is not going to choose, and it will kill her.” But, then she remembered why she had run out to find them and suddenly she felt not so hopeless anymore. “Belle and Red are evacuating the castle through the cellars,” she said urgently, grabbing the hands of the dearest people in her life.

“What?” Phillip started in surprise, before shaking it off, not even going to complain about the chain of command – as Belle was surely operating on Emma’s behalf, the Savior once more providing them an escape. “So we can leave? And, she can drop the shield?” he demanded, already directing the soldiers of that side of the castle to gather everyone to the cellars. At receiving a confirming nod from his beloved he jumped right on it, informing the others in charge of defense of the situation. “I need you to get to Cheng and warn him,” he told Mulan, gripping her forearm in goodbye, before directing Aurora to help with the evacuation. “All that is left, is to inform Emma,” he murmured to himself, looking for a suitably long shaft for what he had in mind. Finding what he needed, he went up to the wall above the gate, sending away the remaining soldiers, even after they tried to stay with him as protection. He was a man on a mission, he smirked to himself, for the first time the whole day actually feeling useful. 

* * *

The steed galloped through the woods, making a large circle around the barrier created of Emma’s magic and the mysterious curse, its gait eating distance as if it was nothing. Whenever he was brave enough to look, Rumple could see nothing but the blurs passing him by, only knowing they were trees by the colors and nothing else. Any other time, he would have been delighted with the opportunity to ride one of Camelot's finest, but the only thing on his mind at the moment was his need to get to Emma in time. He knew that if he took time to think, to consider something else, he would be overwhelmed by his fear for Belle, for her safety, and he could not allow that – not when there was something bigger at stake. It was his chance to prove himself not to be a coward and do something selfless for a change.

He applauded in his mind the intelligence of his ride, becoming aware that the black mare had brought him to her mistress, completely avoiding not only the curse, but the enemy’s forces, getting him right to the Wolves. For some reason, Midas and Zelena did nothing but watch as he rode by, apparently too immersed in the Savior’s suffering struggle, Rumple considered, as the horse came up toward the pack. Even those who were in wolf forms recognized Shadow and parted for her, letting her come closer to the Sheriff. With no regard to his leg, Rumple jumped off her back and with a hiss as he landed on his bad ankle, he limped to the blonde, deeply concerned with the sweat covering her face as she grinding her teeth in effort.

“Emma,” he whispered, not wanting to interrupt her concentration but needing her to listen. Carefully, he slid into her view, not blocking her targets in any way, but able to see her whole face.

“What are you doing here, old man?” she pushed her reply through her teeth after a glance in his direction, before returning her gaze toward the portal, her voice too rough to notice the emotion behind it.

“You need to drop the shield,” he said urgently, seeing how much it was costing her to fight on both fronts.

“No,” she refused fervidly, the word sounding like an angry growl of a caged animal, as she shook her head reinforcing her answer. Even though she was losing the connection with the magical passage, she could not make that choice – not when there were so many lives at stake. She knew what it meant if the portal collapsed. She knew that no one could survive being lost in the interspace. She knew the cost of refusal to lower the shield. More than anything, she feared it, as she knew the very second the fissure closed her life would be over. Not because she would die – which was a very likely probability, but because Regina – the only reason that fissure was there in the first place – would be killed, and that… Emma couldn’t even finish the thought, clenching her jaw to the point of pain.

“Emma, look,” Rumple suddenly begged, pointing toward the Palace, his voice jubilant over something. She glanced in the direction he had indicated and blinked at the sight she could not explain. There was a white flag hanging off a javelin stuck in between the blocks of stone on the parapet above the gate. The gate that was now wide open with no one barring entrance.

“What the hell are they doing?” Emma screamed at the insanity she was witnessing. They did not just surrender!

“They’re making the choice for you!” Rumplestiltskin answered as he reached for her, careful not to touch as he could see her skin, all of her skin, glowing with the power she possessed. “Belle took them out, just like you told her to.” As her eyes found his, needing to confirm his words, needing to believe he was telling the truth, he lowered his voice, trying to get to her. “The flag is for you, Emma. They are telling you to let it go.” He could see she was on the verge, her detector finding no lie in his words, only her fear of failing holding her back. “Drop the shield. Save my daughter.” It was the last word that was crucial, as the reminder that Regina was not important only to her, but to him as well, that made her accept his plea. He hadn’t lied, even though he would have every reason to, to save his kin. But, then, Emma considered Belle – he would never sacrifice the kind woman for the former Evil Queen, blood related or not. If he said she was out, and judging by the flag – she was, then who was she to deny them their choice.

Closing her eyes for a mere moment, she severed the connection with the protective barrier she had placed in front of the deadly mist, instantly transferring the output she had been sending to it toward the portal, the doubled power bringing noticeable difference in its stability. Rumplestiltskin sighed, as it seemed to be working.

“I can feel her magic,” Emma whispered in awe, her eyes glued to the green orb forming over the water as if she could see the very woman she was talking about in it.

“It means that is getting more stable as we speak,” he replied, an encouraging smile twisting his lips, as his eyes darted between the woman in front of him and the portal. He expected to see a dashingly cocky smirk on Emma’s face, but instead he was greeted with a frown marring her sweat covered forehead.  _ No _ , he pleaded silently, hoping she was just cautious.

“Something’s wrong,” she finally said in a gasp, redoubling her efforts. Blindly opening the satchel at her side, she took the last bottle of the energy restoring potion and drank it up, immediately using the new source to fuel her fight. But, it wasn’t enough. “I’m losing it,” her grave but panicky voice ringed out in Rumplestiltskin’s ears, his heart dropping. “Damn it,” she forced through her teeth, her whole body shaking with exertion. Her eyes turned electric blue, her skin glowed white, making it difficult to look at her. He knew that if she continued she would burn herself up with her own power, but he also knew that no power on earth would be able to make her stop. So, he watched, tears filling his eyes, knowing he couldn’t help, either way. He watched as the drops of sweat turned pink, leaving trails on the parchment white skin. He watched as the vessels in her eyes ruptured one by one, making her cry tears. He watched helplessly, as she murmured with agony, “I need more power.”

_ Power _ , her mind cried.  _ More power. More energy _ . She had been so close, she just needed more. She could feel her body dying on her, but she didn’t care. If she could just find something she could use… An insane idea came to her mind, as she glanced to her left, pleased to see the red fog still held up by the remnants of her barrier.  _ This is going to kill me _ , she thought as she refocused, the craziness of the plan fueling her determination. “Liam,” she whispered as she closed her eyes. She could feel him beside her, his Wolf uncomfortable by the amount of magic she was channeling. “Hold him,” she ordered without qualms, knowing that he would acknowledge her as his alpha, especially now when she was conducting enough power to level the entire Enchanted Forest. As soon as she spoke, the chief of shifters lunged at Rumplestiltskin, catching him unaware and holding him in his ironclad grip, despite his protestations.

“Let go of me!” the old man tried to fight the Wolf off, but he was vastly overpowered, as Liam stood behind him, with one arm around the man’s waist, the other around his arms and shoulders, holding him in an awkward but effective hug, where he was unable to move. “Emma, what are you doing?” he shouted at the blonde, realizing that there was only one reason the Wolf would do that. And, Emma would order him to do so for one reason only. She was about to do something he would’ve stopped her from doing. She was about to commit suicide.

“What needs to be done,” the Savior spoke with renewed determination, a strange gleam feeling her eyes apart from magic. When she pointed one of her arms toward the castle, muttering something under her breath, he watched her with confusion, not understanding what she was doing, but as he saw the mist, the red curse, surge toward them, he gasped, thinking she was going to let the mist consume them, sending it off to Midas. However, as the mist came closer, he realized his conclusion was wrong. The Sheriff was not simply waiting for it to come, she was actively chanting something that seemed a lot like transfiguration enchantment, but of the kind he had never heard of.

All the while she was guiding the power of the curse by the invocation she was using, Emma was aware of the portal losing its consistency once more, not feeling Regina’s magic anymore. She was almost out of time, and fueled by her desperation, she forced the incantation to work by the power of her sheer will, succeeding in changing the curse into pure energy. It still held its deadly properties, but now Emma could use it to even out the fissure. Pulling it in her body, as it needed to pass through her so she could send it out to the opening, she cried out in pain – feeling every cell in her violently oppose the intrusion of such dark magic – but she fought against it, forcing the energy to do her bidding.

As it passed through her and into the greenish white swirl over the sea water, the power cracked through the air, slamming into the portal making it alit, and suddenly the fold in space enlarged and formed properly, almost getting to the size it needed to open and spit out its passengers, but it wasn’t wide enough.

More. Emma breathed heavily, seeing only how close she was. I need more. So she dug deep within herself, using every bit of her energy, pulling her life force in it, as well. Her mind filled with loving memories of her family, knowing that it would help her to reach that True Love part of her. Please, she begged as she felt herself weakening. She was almost there.

It seemed as if everything stopped to watch. Rumplestiltskin even felt the arms around him slacken as Liam was too focused on the light show. But the former Dark One had eyes only for his former student, seeing the blood seep out of her nose and ears, her cheeks long covered in bloody tears. She was dying right before him, even though it seemed that it was worth it, at least in her opinion, as the portal seemed to get its cohesion. However, he could not rejoice. One once told him that the true essence of heroism was dying so others could live, and watching Emma – he couldn't help but agree.

Emma felt the portal finally open. It was a moment she felt the greatest relief possible, only one thought passing through her head – she lives. But, the respite didn’t last long as the green swirl crackled ominously, drawing the attention of all nearby to it, before it collapsed onto itself, compressing into a ball of energy, getting smaller by the second.

“No,” the Savior murmured helplessly, her arms falling to her side as she watched it get smaller and smaller, until it disappeared with a loud pop spreading over the water, reaching her instantly. “No,” she repeated, still not believing that everything had slipped her grasp. In a time of a heartbeat, the place where the portal disappeared into, exploded, sending a large concussion wave of energy, wind and water in a circle, reaching the cliff where Emma was in two seconds and sweeping over the people, throwing them to the ground.

The blonde dropped to her knees, her head bowed in defeat as she waited for death to take her. There was nothing left. Her body used beyond reparation, her heart torn beyond recognition, her soul already on its next roll with its bond mate – the Savior was no more. It did not matter that she was still breathing; soon her lungs would also stop.

Laughter suddenly broke the silence as Zelena strode to the cliff, nary a worry in mind. Smirking at Rumple as she passed him, she clicked her tongue at the woman staring off in the distance, still on her knees. “Well,” the red head started pompously. “It looks like no good deed goes unpunished.” She grabbed Emma’s chin, and sneered into the Sheriff’s face, empowered by the vacant look in her eyes. “It seems you need another title, Savior. You didn’t save them.” Zelena taunted her, sending off a pulse of magic toward Rumple as he shouted at her to stop. “How does it feel, Savior?” she continued, putting every bit of vitriol in her words. The green colored Witch scoffed at the lack of response and turned her back on the obviously lost woman. “You should have joined me, dearie, when you could,” she spoke to her former teacher before walking away, getting tired of the spectacle. There was nothing left for her there… With one last parting sting, she turned to look at the now disgraced Savior and froze.

* * *

At first there was nothing. Then a thought appeared – but it was more like a desire, an urge, rather than the conscious idea.

_ Hurt them. Destroy them. Kill them. Kill them all. _

And, suddenly there was nothing but the sweeping tsunami of vile hatred, fueled by the white hot edge of overpowering pain, that guided her, that led her to become this empty shell of the Savior, now only capable of destruction. And destroy she would. She made a step forward, seeing nothing but the triumphant smile on the woman's face, and it was like someone had set her on fire - the magic she had thought depleted beyond any hope surged in her, more potent than ever, coming to aid her in her desire to annihilate that green menace. She did not care that her body burned with the overuse, incapable of holding so much power. She did not care that her body was turning brilliant white, even as many welts and cuts opened, bleeding, needing to relieve the pressure the magic was building. She did not care that she seemed to suck the power out of every so inclined creature nearby, leaving them on the ground, breathless and screaming in pain, werewolves and simians alike. The only thing she saw was the victorious smirk tapering off into a stunned surprise and then, turning into burgeoning fear.

She lifted her hand, her intent of murder more than apparent as she focused on Zelena, everything else disappearing from her sight. But, before she sent the deathly blow flying something interfered, slamming into her, throwing off her aim. As a flicker of annoyance passed over her face she swatted away the insignificant soul that dared to approach her, to touch her, before she returned her attention back to the witch, catching only the tail end of green mist. She roared in outrage before she redirected herself toward another target.

Finding him surrounded by his men, she started walking in his direction, the waves of energy radiating off her causing pain to every person to come close to her, and others, quickly learning of the reason, stayed away. But, her prey could not run, as she had made it so, unwilling to let him slip out of her hands. Instead, she reached for him, her hand closing around his neck, pressing hard, the frozen expression of nothingness staring into his face. He grasped at her, at her clothes, at her hair, at her skin, trying to turn her into metal, trying to free himself from her deadly grip, shouting for others to help him. But, nothing helped. No one came to his side. No one dared to step to the Savior on her path of devastation.

And thus endeth the life of King Midas, snuffed out as if he was nothing more than a moth.

_ Enough _ , came the voice directly in her mind, piercing through the haze of her hatred and grief.  _ This isn’t where you end _ , it said gently, pulling her toward something she could not explain, as it offered peace.  _ Come, child, let me help _ , it added kindly, with motherly affection and Emma surrendered to it, not caring anymore. She allowed her magic to be guided by this entity she had known but didn’t bother to recognize. Closing her eyes, she stretched her arms wide, as her head fell backwards, face toward the sky, and feeling the tug she dematerialized in a flash of brilliant and blinding white.

* * *

He knelt down beside the clothes and weapons lying on the ground, uncaring that his leg was bothering him profusely and that he had several broken ribs, thanks to the short flight Emma had sent him on. Reaching out, he felt the mail under the leather, and the presence of it broke his resolution not to weep, as immense sorrow filled him at the loss he had not only witnessed but shared and felt deeply. He had seen the moment when a switch had been flipped in the blonde, the despondent and lost soul turning into a revenge fueled wrath incarnate.

Emma had been so focused on Zelena, she hadn’t even seen him try and stop her from killing her. No, he hadn’t done it because he wanted anything with the Wicked Witch. If he could he would have killed her himself. No, he wanted to preserve Emma’s purity of heart, even for a while longer, as it was clear that the blonde’s body was falling apart, blood not dripping but flowing in rivulets down her arms and legs, seeping into the ground with every step the Sheriff made. And, even though she had been dying from it, she had somehow managed to tap into the magic of the preternatural beings around her, siphoning it into her, leaving a trail of wreathing creatures in agony and sheer fear. He hadn’t cared that the monkeys had fallen to the ground, rolling in pain as she had sucked them dry, almost to the point of death, but he had cared when she had seemed to be doing that to her friends, the wolves. Or Shadow. Using his cane, he had forced the loyal horse to run away, out of the reach of Emma’s magic, and ordering Liam to follow, he had swung his cane into her back, putting his whole strength into the hit, hoping it would shake her out of her trance. But, it hadn’t worked. She had stopped only for a second, not even turning into his direction and with a wave of her hand, he had been sent flying, slamming hard into the ground.

_ It was then when Mulan and Cheng rode in, leading the group of people from the castle, among whom was his beloved. She cried his name and jumping off the horse from behind Mulan, she ran to him, helping him up, as she watched Emma’s advance with terror. _

_ Red stepped toward the Savior, knowing that she needed to snap the woman out of it before she bled out, her hands already reaching for the blonde, but a sharp shout stopped her. “Don’t touch her!” Rumplestiltskin warned immediately, as he got up to his feet with Belle’s help. “Magic will destroy you on the spot,” he added in explanation, pointing toward the still screeching simians and the gold covered soldiers rolling in torment. _

_ “We saw the portal collapse,” Belle spoke quietly, as she helped Rumple walk, his cane lost. “We were already on the way over, when…” _

_ They followed the bloody footprints, making sure not to come too close, but not able to stay away. They noticed that her gait was slower with each new step, that her breathing was getting more and more laborious with each new breath, and it filled their hearts with painful anguish, as they felt they were watching the last minutes of their friend, unable to help her or stop her. Unable to hold her, comfort her. They didn’t even blink at the death of their enemy. But they did cry out in sorrow when she seemed to flash out of existence, exploding in light. _

_ Rumple was first to move, stepping slowly toward the things that remained in place where the White Knight had disappeared. It seemed that everything that was material had remained while only her body was missing. _

A small hand landed gently on his shoulder, as Belle knelt beside him, tucking her head into his neck on the other side, silent tears streaming down her face.

A sound of a sword leaving its sheath could be heard in the somber silence that not even the animals dared to break. Cheng knelt on the other side of the pile, placing his weapon blade down and his head leaning against the guard of it, paying respect to his fallen comrade. Following his example, Mulan knelt beside him, joined by Ruby, and Phillip and Nasir finished the circle.

The first one to notice a strange rolling sound to interrupt the silent vigil was Ruby, her eyes instantly flashing toward the origin of it, looking at the sea. By the time, she moved to investigate, others heard it as well, turning toward the point. Suddenly, in a crack loud enough to make Ruby’s ears ring, a ship appeared on the water, thrown to a side by the force it landed in water, seriously in danger of capsizing, before a pinkish red swirl surrounded it, pulling it upright and settling its motion.

“It’s Jolly Roger,” Ruby whispered in disbelief as her eyes traced the familiar shape of the boat. “But, that is…”  _ Impossible _ , she was going to say, but she seriously needed to redefine the meaning of that word.  _ Nothing is impossible if you put your mind to it _ , Emma would have quoted. As her mind reminded her of her friend, she choked on her tears, not able to stand the irony.

After the appearance of the vessel, it came as no surprise when the magic brought the former Evil Queen into their midst. It took only seconds for keen, but tired, dark eyes to grasp the situation as they skimmed over the grief contorted faces, finally landing on Rumplestiltskin, kneeling beside the familiar black uniform. “Where is she?” slipped her lips, as she made a step forward, her mind already telling her that she was not going to get the answer she would like. As she passed the man she did not know, but surmised was the commander of the Imperial Guard, she noticed the sword lying among the clothes, its scabbard still attached to the silver tipped belt. Realizing where her eyes were focused, he gently gathered the sword and lifted it up, offering it to her in silence, as a tribute of a fallen warrior.

“Regina,” the brunette heard, and turned to see the familiar shifter, her face covered in tears.

“Where the hell is she,” the Mayor asked sharply, gripping the sword in her hands, turning toward the man on the ground, the man she still had not acknowledged as her father, “for if you tell me she is dead, you will regret it.” Closing her eyes and collecting herself, she sighed once, twice, three times, before she tried again. “She is not dead. I can still feel her.”


	16. Chapter 16

“Beautiful, isn’t it?” a voice pierced through the crackle of the inferno and the sizzle of the evaporating sleet, making the sorceress turn in place, her magic already on the defensive. She recognized the droll tones of the man instantly, narrowing her eyes at him, ready to eviscerate him any second now, aware that with each moment she spent worrying about him, the field was getting more and more destroyed. “Nothing like a good bonfire on a cold winter night to warm a man’s soul, right?” Again, the man spoke with some humor and stepped closer toward the Queen, his countenance changing instantly as the orange blazes reflected off his sleek and wet leather. “Now stop staring at me, your Majesty, and put this damn thing out. As much as I love a good pillage and destruction, I would like to get back to the Enchanted Forest at some point!” The pirate gestured to Regina to get on with it already, the uneasiness of the devastation shown in his tight expression.

“What did you do?” Regina screeched at him, murderously stalking toward him, her magic already summoning the downpour to extinguish the roaring fire, as she extended her hands to catch him in her trademark charmed grip.

Killian raised his arms in front of him, trying to impart his innocence upon the enraged Queen, knowing the dangers of the woman’s magic, having felt it himself once upon a time. “Wasn’t me, lass, I just came from me ship,” his voice was barely heard over the torrent of water coming over them, but it was earnest enough to make Regina reconsider his guilt in this tremendous crime. Turning away from him, she watched the rain cover the blazing inferno, the meeting of the two natural forces creating mist that rose high into the night, engulfing them, making the visibility already impaired because of the smoke even worse.

As she could do nothing more than let the magical shower put out the fire, Regina walked toward the still downed giant, and with Killian’s help, pulled him up into a sitting position, to prevent him from drowning in the puddles quickly created by the rain. Not even a minute passed when David and Neal joined them, their faces grim and tortured at the sight of the damage before them. Leaving the giant in their care, the woman stepped away not able to stand still in the wake of her crushed dreams. And, yet, the shower of conquering water was loud enough to dull the desperate screaming in her head, leaving her in a state of numb shock, watching her only connection to her Savior disintegrate right before her eyes.

The iciness of the numbness clenched her heart and she did not, could not, believe what she was seeing right before her eyes was real. There was no way that the picture in front of her was part of her reality, the irony of it hitting her hard. The thoughts started swirling in her mind – the thoughts of Emma never getting home, never coming back. The thoughts of another twist of Fate's dagger in her heart, as the hopelessness and powerlessness brought her to tears, the hot liquid mixing in with the freezing rain falling over her. She stood there, her eyes helplessly sweeping over the destroyed plants, charred beyond recognition and usefulness, as the seconds that seemed as long as hours turned into minutes, and then into the hours. Pounded by the downpour, choking on the acrid smoke, Regina stiffly stood, not moving, as she guarded over the ruined land, like a sentinel made of dark stone, the eerie stillness bringing cold into the hearts of men behind her.

The men, in their rare wisdom, understood that their approach would not be appreciated, huddled around the slowly coming to gentle colossal, their hushed whispers heard only by them. “What are you doing here?” David asked the pirate, suspicious look in his eyes as he passed a scrutinizing glance over the soaked leather clad man, noticing that he hadn’t been injured but the strong stench of wet smoke still clinging to his clothes.

“Anton and I had a meeting this evening,” the pirate answered succinctly, avoiding mentioning the real reason he had been there, without the expressed permission of the person under whose orders he was acting. “When he didn’t come to the road, I stepped under the dome to look for him. I found him here, with the fire already devouring most of the plants. Nothing I could do, mate, and Regina came right after.”

Accepting the answer with mistrust, David let it go for the time being, doing what he could for the still unconscious giant. They couldn’t move him as the ground was more than just slippery, the rivulets of water sinking into the sludge and mud, but there was also a concern for Anton’s injuries, not knowing that Regina had already somewhat healed him. He also knew that any help that had been supposed to come would be prevented by the pouring skies, making the treacherous road impassable. So, they hunkered down, oddly warmed by the mist from the fire and waited for the rain to stop, or Regina to join them, Neal making an offhand comment that they would see the light of the new day in that cursed field. And, they waited, the lightening of the sky announcing the morning, almost unnoticeable in the steam rising off the scorched ground.

In that moment Tiny opened his eyes, still dazed by the blow to his head, protected from the rain by Neal’s jacket thrown over him. “Killian?” the giant spoke in soft murmur, almost unheard by the others as his eyes focused on the pirate, recognition sparking in his dark eyes. “I was late,” he spoke again, this time to himself. “Fire!” he startled right then, his move dislodging him from the supporting grip of the interim Sheriff, sliding down into the mud. “That bastard!” the honorary dwarf yelled into the night as he tried to right himself, before giving up and looking at Killian and the others. “You have to find him, this cannot pass unpunished.”

“Who was it?” David asked but the answer came from an unexpected source, as Regina’s voice pierced the howling sounds of tapering rain in the early hours of the morning, the first reaction from her in a long time.

“Sidney?” Regina saw the familiar man lurking in the shortening shadows, the contrast created by the dying fire and vapors hiding him perfectly from the others, but it was only due to him slipping in the silt created by the rain that the Queen even realized that he was even there. Instantly her magic pulled him toward her, immobilizing him in the air, his hands still holding on to the blowtorch and a canister of gasoline, the damning evidence of his crime bringing fire into Regina’s eyes, the coldness of the shock and devastation withdrawing from her heart.

Then the rage came, wild and thirsty for blood, filling her up with the desire to shred the man apart, the need to quench the licking heat of fury with the man’s life. The wind rose as the air crackled with power, while Regina stalked toward the still hanging former henchman, his limbs spread in the air, as the tools of his betrayal fell to the ground, the sloshing sound of them hitting the mud oddly disconnected from the scene. And, Neal gasped at it, because for the first time in his life he saw the Evil Queen in her full glory, for the woman before him was not Regina, not even the cold and aloof Madam Mayor, not even the woman he had reluctantly started considering his family – it was the picture of terror that haunted the Enchanted Forest, the form of the monster that his father had molded from his own blood in order to cross realms.

“Why?” Regina spoke, her voice more of a growl encompassed by the icy demeanor that frightened everyone that stood to witness the scene, the blood leaving their faces, retreating before the terror of their nightmares. Her eyes glowed with her power, the wind getting stronger, whipping her hair around her face, clearing the mist and the clouds, letting the light of the day encroach the destroyed field.

“So you can get what you want,” the former Mirror spoke proudly, ignoring her scoff as he continued on. “The Savior stuck away. And, now you can claim your boy and then, we can finally be together!” he spoke, the clear edge of obsessive madness coloring his voice as his unsteady and shifting eyes showed his lunacy quite vividly.

Regina laughed, the sound of it cold, bringing shivers and razor sharp in the wake of pointless devastation, as she motioned with her hand, bringing Sidney closer to her. “You insignificant blubbering insect, why would I ever deign to be with a pest like you?” she spoke calmly, despite the rage shining out of her obsidian eyes, before she plunged her hand into his chest, her intention of murder clear.

“Regina, no!” Neal shouted, reaching the woman in one insane scramble, sliding over the silt, just as the sound of her hand passing through Sidney’s flesh was heard. “This is not who you are anymore! This is not Emma’s True Love!” he spoke imploringly to his kin, trying to keep his promise to Emma, an oath he had started to consider as his utmost duty, apart from being there for Henry. Seeing a flicker of something alike recognition in Regina’s dark orbs, he timidly reached for the arm sticking into the other man’s chest, his fingers gently squeezing her forearm, lightly stopping it from going in even more deeper. “Think of Emma,” he said firmly, knowing that it was the only thing capable of reaching to his sister in that state. “Think of that wonderful boy you have, of the toddler who loves you. Would they want this for you?” The man spoke, his beseeching voice overpowering the Genie’s incoherent mumbles and whines, as he moved in front of her, his other hand reaching for the olive skin of her wet cheek, directing her still cold eyes toward him and away from her prey.

While Neal was talking to Regina, Killian came from behind Sidney and hit him with his hook, knocking him out, but keeping him upright, he looked over the limp body to the two siblings. “Listen to him, luv. Swan would not want you to surrender to the darkness, especially not on her behalf.”

Slowly, in the time that seemed like an eternity to the two men in front of the former Evil Queen, the cold fury left the dark eyes, gentling them with sorrow and desperation as a fresh wave of tears covered her face. She blinked. And, blinked once more while her mouth spoke only one word. “Emma.” As if the utterance of the word had broken the spell over her, Regina was back, the last vestiges of the terrifying creature of the Enchanted Forest pushed down once more. Pulling out her hand out of the insane Genie’s chest, she allowed Neal to guide her away, tucking her into his arms, his only way to support her being to lend her strength to stand until she found her feet. He didn’t take her away from the field, or even to the cars, knowing she would need to stay until she knew the full scope of the damage, beyond any doubt. Not even bothering to wince at the fists clenching his completely soaked shirt, he held the woman to his chilled body, saying nothing – for nothing could be said, and he was not one for the platitudes, as he waited for Regina to regain her what was remaining of her composure, sharing in her pain acutely. It was only minutes after that the woman pulled out of his arms, her own going around her middle as she turned away with only a barely visible nod of appreciation for Neal’s help.

In the meanwhile, David and Anton slowly rummaged through the still smoking charred lumps where once stood proud stalks, looking for any surviving beans, their hope withering with each new discovery of completely disintegrated plants. The Prince crouched down and picked up a small clod, his heart thumping heavily in his chest as the nugget crumbled in his hand, leaving nothing but ash behind, the gray powder coloring his hand in grim outcome. Looking to the side, he saw the eyes of his daughter’s chosen close slowly in bleakness, the impact of the destruction hitting him all over again. The only way to his daughter, the one remaining way of crossing realms was gone, leaving them stranded away from the rest of their family.

Rising slowly to his full height, he wiped the soot off his hands on his jeans and stepped toward the woman, shaking his head, his proclamation, though silent, reverberating loudly in each one of them – it was all gone. “We will find another way,” he spoke softly as he drew near to the brunette, careful not to infringe on her personal space, because it seemed that the strong woman before him was holding on only by a hair thin thread.

“There is no other way,” Regina murmured, her voice quiet. She looked into the gentle blue eyes and smiled, the quirk of her lips broken and perfectly portraying the loss the woman was gripped with. “This was it,” she added unnecessarily, her hand swiping over the blackness of the ravaged field. “And, now everything is destroyed.”

The soft spoken words brought Neal’s and David’s eyes together, both surprised and extremely worried with the seemingly calm countenance of the woman who on the best of days was passionate, and on the worst the force of nature. It was so out of character for the woman they had expected to rage against another turn of Destiny, to fight with everything she had, to the death or victory. But, this soft and quiet resignation could only hide a much more dangerous beast, turned not toward the Fates, or the external enemies, but to herself, and if Regina brought all of her might upon herself in a bout of guilt and self-recrimination, there would be nothing left. The sheer dread of that realization made both Neal and the Prince step toward the Queen, but someone was faster.

“Aye, that is not entirely true,” Killian spoke as he scratched his chin with his hook, clearly uncomfortable about something. Behind his feet the still unconscious former reporter was bound, left in the mud. He glanced toward the woman and unable to keep the contact for more than a part of the second, he bowed his head in supplication as if what he was about to say next would very well end his life. “Young lad may have a solution, Your Majesty.”

“Henry?” Regina blinked as the name of her son slipped her mouth, clearly surprised that he would have a way of helping, when she couldn’t think of one, without asking the meddling mosquito about it. “My son?” She asked again, glancing toward David and her half-brother, judging their faces to see if they had an idea what the pirate was talking about.

“Yes, Henry.” Hook raised his hand before David could interrupt and looked into the Queen’s eyes. “It would be best to ask him,” he spoke clearly, his eyes darting toward Anton, making it obvious that there was something else at work there, something that seemed to have Henry right in the center of it. Narrowing her eyes at him, Regina waved her hand over the Genie, the purple mist taking him away, before she turned away, stalking toward David’s truck, passing the men on her way, her posture reminiscent of her imperiousness but hollow and empty, a broken reflection of the might that once existed. It took only one impatient clack of her tongue to make the others jump right into the action, Hook and Anton rushing toward the patrol car Neal was now driving.

“He is at the station,” Regina murmured, looking through the window as David made a U turn in the middle of the road, feeling his glance directed toward her, her voice barely heard over the squealing of the tires on the wet asphalt. “Under the lock and key,” she added softly, closing the subject. The rest of the ride toward the white Mayoral mansion was passed in silence, Regina left in a strange sort of emotional flux, where nothing made sense and yet everything was her fault.

Not even remembering how she had gotten out of the car, Regina passed beside Snow through the open door into the house, her eyes zeroing onto her son standing at the landing of the stairs looking down over the entrance wearing his pajamas, his still sleepy eyes tracking her movements. In no time she climbed up to him and leaned down, taking him into her arms, needing a tangible reminder why she was still holding on. Sinking to her knees, Regina felt the boy’s hands go around her back, holding her firmly in silence as she tried to swallow her sobs, hiding them from everyone but from the one who knew her best, and the one she needed to remain strong for. But, she didn’t care, or couldn’t care that she was vulnerable before him, the emotional toll of the night flooding her completely.

Mary Margaret took David’s hand, her eyes beseeching answers from the rest of the men entering the house. “Glass set the fire,” David murmured for Snow’s sake, explaining it quietly. “Nothing survived.”

The news caused the boy to grow still, the tension noticed by the woman in front of him. He looked toward the last member of the party having entered the house and raised his eyebrow. The last of them, Killian, closed the door behind them and watched the scene on the landing, his eyes connecting with the inquiring yet understanding green ones, so alike his mother’s.

“The beans are gone, lad,” Hook spoke, making the rest of them look between them in surprise, and yet they all shared another glance of bewilderment when the boy nodded and sighed, his face turning toward his mother who looked at him with suspicion and worry.

“Everything is going to be alright, mom,” Henry spoke softly, wiping the tears of his mother’s face, his expression seeming ageless at the moment, wise beyond years and looking so much like his birth mother, the kind reassurance shining out of his eyes toward the brunette before him. “I’ll explain everything, but first you need to change and eat something. Grams will make breakfast, and I’ll see if Kyle is awake.” In a purely caregiving motion, the preteen patted his mother’s shoulder, nudging her to stand up and step toward her bedroom, his mouth showing a gentle smile. “Go, we’ll manage for a few minutes,” he said, shooing her off before his eyes found Mary Margaret. “Can you…?” He saw his young grandmother nod silently, still taken by surprise in the view of him taking control over the situation, as she had never seen him so forceful before. But David had, right after the curse had broken, and he smiled at the boy who had obviously been a natural leader, a pride of his whole family, joining Snow in the kitchen to help.

With a passing glance Henry nodded to Neal and went back upstairs to dress and to take care of his brother, knowing that his mother would need a moment, or several, to compose herself. As he walked beside his bed, he took out his backpack and nodded to himself, after he had checked the small notebook he had stashed inside, placing it into the back pocket of his jeans. It was in this moment that he felt so powerful and righteous for applying the thing his father had said to him in their conversations around the town – always have a backup plan. In fact, why don’t have several of them? He had known why Emma had stayed behind, and why she had been so worried about using the beans as a means of transportation, therefore he had installed his own insurance, as it were, remembering the trouble that Regina had instigated when she had demolished the first field of beans.

Hearing the water turn off in the master bathroom, signaling that his mother was finished with the shower, he went to Kyle’s room, finding the young blond sitting up in his crib, smiling up to him. “Hey, there, Kyle,” he murmured to the child, taking him out of the crib and placing him on the changing table.

Only seconds after that, he heard his mother walk in, taking over the changing duties from him, her gratified smile weakly lighting up her face. Together they walked down to the dining room, Kyle in Regina’s hands. The toddler’s high chair was already set beside the head of the table, with a puree of fruits ready for his consumption, while there were eggs and toasted bread for the adults along with a pitcher of coffee. Henry picked his chair beside his mother, and following his example, the others sat down, forming an impromptu round table. But, before anyone could ask any questions, the boy dove into the breakfast, his intent of getting a meal out of the way first clear. Only when he was finished, he looked up at the others, his hands intertwined on the polished wood of the table.

However, when Regina opened her mouth, the doorbell rang out, startling everyone as they looked toward the entrance. “Oh, for the love of…” the Queen snapped, rising up, but Snow got up first, not only because she wanted to be helpful, but because she wanted to spare whomever was at the door from the painful end. Opening the white door she raised her eyebrows in surprise at the person standing there, glancing back at Regina to see what to do. It took only one exasperated nod to let the Mother Superior and Grumpy inside, who immediately came into the dining room and they settled, Blue taking a chair David had freed for her, while Grumpy leaned against the side table beside Anton, his heavy pat meeting the giant’s shoulder in expression of relief to see him alright.

“I heard about the fire,” the fairy spoke softly as she looked up to Snow, her eyes glancing toward the Mayor, somehow encompassing them both in the sympathizing look that made Regina grind her teeth.

“Surely there can be another way to cross realms?” David asked the Mother Superior, the question he had asked once before, and the one he had known the answer for, but he had to try. And, receiving only a slight shake of the petit woman’s head, he sighed heavily, aware of Regina’s pursed lips for the unnecessary delay.

“There are no portals in Storybrooke,” the Mayor spoke, her gaze passing over each person gathered in her home. Most of them she didn’t mind, having gotten used to them in the past weeks, even growing to appreciate them, but she did mind the presence of the odious flying pest. “No magical mirrors, no spinning hats that work, no shadows consisting of pure evil. And, even if there was a curse powerful enough to cross realms, just like the one that created this town – it would require too great of the price, the price I am neither willing nor ready to pay! That is why we need the beans.” Regina grounded out, her palms pressing onto the polished wood of her table lest she started flinging fireballs through her dining room, as her eyes focused onto the Prince, pinning him down. “And, that is why we are here, upon the pirate’s request.” She then looked at her son, gentling her gaze, but still keeping it insistent. “Which brings us back to Henry.”

For a moment no one spoke, no one moved, all eyes turned to Henry as he waited for something. His permission came in the form of his mother’s eyebrow rising, the prompt evident, especially for him as he knew her the best of the people gathered there. “You have something to share?” Regina added softly, not sure if her impatience was shown properly to the sneaky boy.

Henry nodded and glanced toward the pirate leaning against the wall beside the entrance to the kitchen and started his story. “Remember the day I was late from school? I said that I got held up at Granny’s because of the rain…”

_ Henry walked into the diner, scowling at the sky, as the thunder rumbled in the distance. He was supposed to go to his mother’s office before going to Archie, however his decision to stop by the Granny’s had not been as impulsive as he had made it out to Regina, in the text he had sent her only minutes before. As he had walked by the glass window, he had seen the pirate he had been inconspicuously looking for in the past week drinking at the bar. Ducking inside he walked straight to the counter, waving to the old lady in greeting, knowing that he didn’t even need to tell the widow Lucas his order. But before he stepped away from the counter to find a place to sit, he tapped the pirate’s forearm, his imploring eyes speaking for him as he gestured toward the empty booth in the middle of the diner. Shrugging off the surprise, Hook followed Henry’s directions and taking his glass of spirits he sat at the indicated seat, waiting for the boy to join him. _

_ The boy slid onto the padded bench, throwing his backpack beside him and taking off his jacket, his deliberate moves serving as a good stalling strategy, while he waited for one of the waiters to bring his drink, not willing to start anything while someone could overhear him. Luckily, he had learned the schedule of the diner perfectly, knowing that Granny Lucas would be too busy to listen to him at the moment, the late lunch crowd making its way into the diner only moments after the boy sat down, and the others would not think that the pirate would do anything to him in front of all the White supporters. When a waitress that had been standing in for Ruby brought him his chocolate with cinnamon, offering him a smile before walking away, he grasped the warm cup, his eyes scrutinizing the man sitting across from him. _

_ “What is it, lad?” the pirate spoke softly, his hand playing with the glass as his hook was resting at the table, the whole town pretty much used to it. He had to smirk at the boy and his conniving expression, his eyes sizing him up, just like Emma’s always used to. When the boy leaned toward him, he almost unconsciously followed the gesture, waiting for the boy to start. _

_ “I need a favor,” the preteen spoke calmly, his eyes never moving from his. “And, I need your help.” _

_ “How can I be of assistance, young master Henry?” Killian asked, intrigued with the boy’s words. It seemed rather odd that the preteen would come to him, among all the people ready to cater to his every whim, not only because he was the son of the Savior and the Evil Queen, newly appreciated as the Madam Mayor, but lovely young boy who had guided the Savior to save the whole town and break the curse. And, Hook decided that he would go along with this conversation, if only to keep Henry from other seedier people, intervening if need be by informing his mother or father if necessary. After all, he did have a debt to pay to the boy, a debt of his conscience he intended to pay, one way or the other. _

_ “You are going to help me organize an operation, the one no one can know about; not even my family,” the boy said softly before he took a sip of his chocolate. “First, I need you to swear upon Jolly Roger that you will keep this a secret.” _

_ “Now, look here, lad, I don’t think this is a good idea…” Hook blanched at the mention of his ship, for it was his most prized possession. He admired the boy for finding the perfect snare for him to keep his word if he ever was to agree to this, but he couldn’t help but be wary of the secret the boy exuded with. _

_ “If you do not swear, I will walk away and find someone who can agree to my terms,” Henry said, lowering his mug, the determination shining through his every move. After a moment of scrutiny, the boy moved to take his jacket, smirking when the pirate jerked across the table, his hand patting at the table in surrender. “Swear it,” Henry reiterated, his eyes boring down the man who was centuries older than him, a pirate used to dealing with the scum of the many ports – the man who was bested by a twelve year old child. _

_ “Alright!” Killian hissed, as he took up his glass and drained it in one swallow. “I swear to uphold your secret, and to help you with your operation. I swear it upon my faithful ship, Jolly Roger, young Henry.” After receiving a satisfied nod from the boy, the pirate leaned onto his elbows, and waited for the next part. “What is this about?” _

_ “My mother proved how easily one can do something to the beans. I want you to help me make sure that if something like that happen, it doesn’t delay the plan. A backup plan.” _

_ “What makes you think that someone would want to tamper with the field?” the pirate asked, his apprehension easing into eager interest, as he considered the boy’s words. “Surely, no one would want to anger your mother, or your grandparents.” _

_ “Things happen,” Henry added sagely as he sipped his lukewarm chocolate, his eyes passing over the clock hanging above the counter, calculating the time. “It wouldn’t be the first time that the things would turn for the worse before the end,” he said, knowing that he was running out of time. “Look, I know no one here wants to get on my mother’s bad side, but I just want to have insurance.” _

_ “Why keep it a secret? I would think her Majesty would love the idea.” Killian watched the boy and smiled at his roll of the eyes – as both of them knew that the Mayor had too much to deal with already. “Alright, lad. Why me? I am a pirate, a non-desirable. No one trusts me in this town, lad.” _

_ “That is why you are perfect. No one would consider that you would be the secret keeper for the Charmings or my mom, since she doesn’t like you and David threatens to kick your butt regularly.” Putting on his jacket, Henry leaned further forward. “And, you owe me.” _

_ Not even bothering to deny the boy, the pirate nodded. “What do you need me to do?” _

_ “Go to Tiny, and find out how to properly care for the stalks. Just be friendly.” Rising from the table, Henry swung his bag onto his shoulder, leaning toward the leather clad man. “Figure out how to steal several stalks without anyone noticing. The operation Back Alley is beginning.” And, with those last words, the boy rushed out into the downpour, his quick gait taking him toward the Town Hall to his mother. _

_ In the next several days he managed to put the intricate plan in motion, impressing even himself with the parts of it, as he had involved his friends in the project, never giving them the complete information, excusing his need to secrecy with an assignment from Emma, which in truth, if he really thought about it, it kind of actually was. Grace and August came to him, not even asking about it, drawn to the boy’s dedication and know-it-all attitude. The girl would often offer suggestions based on the biology knowledge or something like that, helping Henry with details, while the former puppet was the handyman of the group. _

_ The next phase was to find a proper place for growing the stolen beans, somewhere they wouldn’t be found that easily and where they wouldn’t be exposed to the elements. Blue had placed the protective dome over the field, but he couldn’t ask her to do the same, nor could he ask his mother to teach him magic, so he had to find a place with climate control. With some masterful manipulation, Grace followed his instructions and managed to get a free pass to the Storybrooke Park botanic garden, citing an experiment for the science class at school. Of course, the town workers allowed the children in, giving them one sequestered part of the glass house to do as they pleased. But, Henry also decided to plant one of the stalks into the protective casing his mother had used for the same purpose, now stashed away at the home garage, thinking that it wouldn’t hurt to have a backup of the backup. _

_ With Killian and Anton’s help, he learned much about caring for the crops, carefully noting every step, cross checking everything in his preparations. So when he finally obtained the crops two weeks before Thanksgiving, the whole deal went without a glitch. All that was left was to water the plants, check their progress and wait. _

_ Henry was pleased that during his operation Tiny and Hook managed to form a tentative friendship, often spending evenings together playing cards, on the ship or at Anton’s place, sometimes joined by the dwarves. The pirate was not considered so much of a pariah in the town, now that he had someone to call a friend, and the change in the attitude toward him also managed to ease the scrutiny over the meetings with the boy. _

_ “You think this is connected to your plan?” Killian asked Henry quietly over his drink when they ‘accidentally’ met at the diner, the news about District Attorney Spencer’s murder turning the town abuzz with the excitement. He caught the boy’s shrug with the corner of his eye while he sipped from his glass. _

_ “It feels like a distraction,” Henry replied solemnly after a minute of consideration. “Keep watch?” he asked as he pushed away from the counter. _

_ “Of course, lad,” Killian winked lazily at the boy, making him smile in appreciation. He truly liked the boy, his inventive mind and scheming plans, but also, the boy had earnestness about him, something reminding the pirate of the long forgotten innocence he once had. As he watched the boy slip out of the diner and enter the black Mercedes of the Mayor idling at the curb, Hook focused on the conversations around him, gathering as much information as he could for the young Prince. _

“Wait, you mean to tell me that you have the beans?” Regina asked incredulously, only then finding her voice, faced with the full scope of Henry’s plan and the work he had put into the operation. “That you actually have transplanted some of the stalks and that now we still have a way over?” She didn’t know whether to smother him in a proud hug, or yell at him at the secret keeping, sneaking around and underhanded dealing with the pirate. She decided she would do neither, kissing his forehead gently, as she sighed, letting him sink into her arms, feeling him preen under the admiring gazes of his family as he nodded in reply to her surprised questions, feeling accomplished for a very good reason. Regina didn’t like the fact that he had went behind her back, but with all the work she had put in the town and searching for the guiding relics for Emma’s gates, as well as taking care of her family, the idea of creating a secondary source of beans would be postponed most likely, or delegated to someone incompetent, probably achieving none of the results Henry had.

“He truly is your son, your Majesty,” Neal spoke softly leaning into her side as he patted his son’s hair. In fact, he could recognize all three of his parents in him, Emma’s staunch need to help out and to expect the worst, Regina’s machinating and detailed mind and his own need to know all the exits and alternatives. The woman agreed in a soft murmur, but worried slightly at the connotations of Neal’s words, not willing to let Henry soil his heart for them, despite his good intentions.

“Then, you will show me after we’re done here?” the Mayor inquired softly, her whisper heard only by the boy in her arms as her light breath passed over his ear. He only squeezed her hand in response, not drawing attention to her secretive approach.

“So, nothing has changed,” Mary Margaret spoke with relief, her eyes watching her grandson with affection.

“It would seem so,” the former Queen replied gently. “But, there is still the matter of Sidney Glass to deal with.”

“He cannot stay in the Sheriff’s office forever,” David spoke gently, his eyes connecting with the father of his grandson, their agreement on the subject obvious. “And, stashing him up in the hospital seems cruel.”

“Doctor Whale is with him now, at the station, trying to assess him, along with Doctor Hopper,” Neal spoke as he looked down at his phone, having received the update he was looking for. He had asked the men to see to the lunatic in their holding cell, advising extreme caution in dealing with him, while he had driven on the way to the Mayor’s mansion, correctly guessing that his sibling would’ve had the mad man under the lock and key shortly.

“Then, what do you suggest, as he cannot be left to roam freely,” Regina spoke, needing to rise, to step away from the stifling expectation filling the room. With elegant steps she brought herself to the sidebar of the room filling a crystal tumbler with her prized cider, refreshing and familiar taste relaxing her somewhat.

“Who was he, before the curse?” Neal asked after the silence enveloped them, only then realizing that he had no idea who the dark skinned man had been in the Enchanted Forest.

“Mom’s Mirror,” Henry replied, as he had known the role of most of the people involved in the Mayor’s everyday life. Seeing his mother nod at him in confirmation he smiled at her, pleased to see that the hand that held the glass no longer shook with emotional exhaustion and surprise. Firmly deciding to force the brunette into bed right after the others left, he turned toward his father. “But, before he was a freed Genie.”

“A Genie?” Neal frowned at the information; not doubting that Henry told him what he constituted as truth, but in his knowledge of magic, releasing Genie from the lamp would have been next to impossible. He glanced up at the other woman of magical authority, his eyebrows making his question for him. “Is that true?” he asked the Blue Fairy, ignoring Regina’s scoff from her perch.

“Yes, my father set him free,” Snow added helpfully, the warring emotions about her parent clear in the rumpled forehead, as she glanced toward her former step-mother, not missing the shadow that passed over the dark eyes. “He had found a lamp washed up on the shore beneath our castle, and released the Genie from it, inviting him to my birthday.”

“And, nothing happened?” Neal insisted with his questions, having a point, and by the interested lean of the Mother Superior’s head, he knew that the woman understood where he was going with it, even though no one else did, least of all his sister. “But, the lamp would never allow to be emptied, there is always a price to be paid – at least, that I learned from my father.”

“I don’t understand,” Mary Margaret spoke, leaning into David who had placed his hands onto her shoulder as he stood behind her, her eyes darting from Regina to Blue then to Neal and back again to her former stepmother. And, it seemed that she was not alone in the confusion as everyone’s eyes looked up to the lost son and the Blue fairy, waiting for them to explain, Regina included.

The Mother Superior glanced toward her former charge and sighed heavily, knowing that she would have to reveal something that could potentially be used against her, especially with the newly formed bond between the White Princess and the Queen. Honestly, she focused her gaze on Snow for she was afraid to look into the judging and hard brown orbs of the woman standing across from them, still sipping the apple scented drink. “It is the magic of the Genies that prevents them from ever becoming free, because a vessel containing them must always have a Genie inside, regardless of the wishes made. Ordinarily, when a wish for freedom is made, the power of the magic entraps the wisher, taking life for a life, but even such instances were rare for the greed of men is well documented. However, most often than not, the lamp would ignore the wish, as it was woven into the caveats of the magic of the lamp – the vessel can interfere with the Genie if the future of the Genie himself is in question. So, obtaining freedom without a steep, and often insurmountable price is unheard off, and when King Leopold bragged to me about doing just so, I warned him, Snow. I warned him that the magic always extracts the price and it is often not the one we are ready to pay.”

“What did he do?” the pixie haired woman asked, involved with the storytelling, making Regina snort.

“What he always did,” she said bitterly, seeing no point in interrupting the moth’s story previously. “He sneered and thought that he was better and smarter than everyone else, thinking that his kingship was protection enough.” It was hard to miss the cold scorn and blatant hatred for the man in the brunette’s voice, although she did attempt to control herself for her son’s sake. “He ignored you,” she added, addressing the Mother Superior directly.

“He did,” Blue nodded, not oblivious to the suffering the former Queen had suffered at the King’s hands. “And, in the end, he did pay the price for his wish, and in a way that I had warned him about – a life for a life.” Still keeping her eyes connected to the dark ones, the fairy pushed on. “You may have orchestrated some of it, but he died in the direct consequence of his actions by messing with powers he did not understand.”

“So, you’re saying that it was his fault Regina sicced Genie on him?” Mary Margaret hissed suddenly, before she managed to clench her jaw to prevent more scathing words escaping her. She turned toward the woman in question, her eyes apologetic, but Regina only raised her eyebrow imperiously, coolly watching Snow shift in her chair, cold smirk tilting over her lips.

“Genie was never meant to be free, the magic in him and the isolation of the lamp practically made him too unstable to exist without a binding force placed upon him by the lamp. So, when he was released, Genie found another master, influenced by his romantic notions of saving the girl from her prison and mistreatment from the King, unwittingly creating the bond between himself and Regina, such as it was between Genies and lamps.” Blue continued on, deciding to break the stalemate between the Royal women. “It was his very own freedom that caused his emotional instability, that he would do anything to be considered a hero by his newly chosen mistress.”

“And, really, it wasn’t like I twisted his arm to do anything,” Regina added nonchalantly, placing down her glass. “My father only had to say that he had found a way and he was already neck deep in the preparations to set me free.” She looked back to Snow, allowing some spite to return to the dark eyes as she spoke to her former step-daughter. “It was the King’s own arrogance that killed him, Snow. His own belief that he was above the laws of magic and simple human decency!” She did not mean to lose her temper but, the topic of her much hated husband was still very sore, and discussing it like that in the open, before all those people did ravage her ability to stay calm. It was Snow’s accepting nod that helped her regain her control, the understanding clear in the overshadowed green eyes, the look so potently reminding her of her time with Emma in the Enchanted Forest that it unwittingly eased the sharp edges of her anger, making her breathe in deeply.

“So, when he wished to remain by your side forever, the magic of the bond forced him into another object because Genie could not interfere with the power of his lamp, in this case you?” Henry spoke softly in the silence following his mother’s outburst, his words said evenly, with great deliberation as he looked up to his mother, wanting to see if his reasoning was right. “And, because he was never meant to be free, he was placed in the mirror, as your faithful servant, his mind restored, but his freedom denied,” he added, sounding oddly too mature for his age, the wise tone surprising most of the people in the room, but not his mother – who had known all along that she had a very smart boy for her son. She smiled at him with a nod, the gentling of her eyes award enough for his clever supposition. “And, when he was here, the constraint of the curse was keeping him more or less balanced, but still enthralled by you, which you used for your purposes. He only started getting crazier with the weakening of the curse.” He placed his hands onto the table, the slap of them loud in the silence following his words, as he continued on, like it was a no-brainer at all, and his incredulous look encompassing all of the adults around him. “So, return him to his previous form,” he spoke, offering the solution, which was pretty obvious in his mind. “Put him back in the mirror.”

“Henry,” Regina started to explain that it wasn’t all that easy, before Blue interrupted with a calculating look in her eyes as she looked toward the Queen.

“Young Mister Henry might be upon the solution, your Majesty,” she offered. “I am certain that if you and I combine our magic, the feat would be quite surmountable,” she added, interpreting Regina’s reluctance properly. “However, I am convinced that you are quite powerful to do so all by yourself.”

“Even so, it is just another form of imprisonment,” the Mayor spoke exasperatedly, somewhat unnerved with the ease others accepted Henry’s proposition. It wasn’t the fact that he was right, but the motion of denying one’s freedom that bothered her, as her son, as a child, should have no say in deciding over the fates of people around him, for it was a responsibility not many adults could deal with, least of all children.

“Mom,” Henry rose from his chair and walked to the Mayor, his eyes only seeing her consternation and worry for him. Once upon a time he would have attributed it to her desire to keep Sidney useful, but now he knew that it had nothing to do with the insipid man but with him and his participation in this council of sorts, her desire to keep him a child a while longer quite visible in her caramel turned eyes, their gentle countenance shown only for him. He remembered the words she had told him only days before, about keeping his innocence, quite vividly. “He is hurting people, mom.”

“He did threaten Emma, Regina,” David said, helping his grandson. “As the Mayor and the Sheriff of this town, the safety of its residents rests with us, and from where I am standing the choice is clear. It is not an easy one, and I understand that, with your histories, but it is an obvious one, Madam Mayor.” He tried to remember the words of the Sheriff’s charter, the passage that Emma had shown him as a main guideline for his work. “If a person, or persons, presents a danger to himself or others in his vicinity, the duty of the Sheriff’s office is to remand the said person, until such danger passes or is dealt with in accordance to the laws and the bills of rights.”

“There is no need to quote the handbook to me, I wrote the damn thing,” Regina snapped at the interim Sheriff, scowling at his attempt of handling her.

“Then, you know that it is either returning him to the Mirror, or the room in the Hospital basement.” David did not even blink at her biting retort, crossing his arms at his chest. “I personally think he can be of some use as the Mirror, but, ultimately, the choice is yours.” With that, he moved toward her and bypassing his grandson, he placed his hand onto Regina’s shoulder, leaning his head to catch her eyes. “Whatever you decide, I will stand by you,” he spoke softly, his tribute of loyalty and trust saying more than any words he could have said, only further reminding Regina of the fact that now she had Charming as a friend, the fact she still wasn’t used to. Then, after he smiled gently at her, his kind blue eyes twinkling with kindness, he stepped away, gesturing to others to vacate the property, the council meeting effectively over. And, he knew that Regina would be much too glad to let him deal with the others. He walked outside, followed by Neal and the others, and stood by the door waiting for his wife and Mother Superior left inside.

“What a night,” Baelfire commented as he closed his jacket, waving to Leroy and Tiny leaving by foot from the Mayoral Mansion. Then he turned to Hook. “And, you, what was that all about?”

“The lad came to me,” the pirate said softly, looking at the man he once had known as a boy. “I figured it safer for him to stick with me than go off with someone else.” Then he leaned toward the two men, his eyes imploring them to believe him. “I wouldn’t allow any harm to find him.” Seeing a grudging acceptance of his words in the policemen beside him, he nodded and tucking his chin, he started walking, not even bothering to ask for a ride, used to the scorn he was getting from the town people. “If you need me, I’ll be on my ship.”

Mary Margaret quickly motioned to Henry to help her clear the dishes, giving Regina a moment with Blue, having a feeling that there was something to be asked and that it wasn’t for the young ears around to hear.

“I have a problem,” Regina started, guiding the woman into her study, deciding to use the opportunity to speak with the fairy presented to her, and after the troublesome events of the previous days, she was rather reluctant to risk her mission because of her pride. She appreciated the Mother’s silence, as the smaller woman understood that this was likely never to be repeated, letting her explain what she needed in peace. “I believe you are already familiar with Emma’s goal,” Regina spoke slowly, leaning against her working desk, looking at the woman seated in front of her and seeing the confirming nod, she continued, still unnerved with what she was about to do. “Our Sheriff has tasked me to find a guide for the doors, something that would connect the portals, preventing the outsourcing of the power and creating a tunnel of sorts for the gates to work. So far, I have been unsuccessful in getting anything close to the required specifics, and I have searched Rumple’s shop along with my mother’s belongings.”

The fairy smiled kindly at the Mayor before her, the nonexistent question apparent in her words. However, she did not begrudge the former Evil Queen the hesitance to ask for help, especially from her, who by her own testimony had abandoned to the evils of her life. If she was as petty as the Queen considered her to be, she would have enjoyed the woman’s embarrassment over her need to ask for help, needling her further and demanding from her to demean herself even further and actually beg, but firmly deciding to attempt creating a more or less working relationship with the present part of the Storybrooke Power Couple, Blue only nodded in understanding, before she clasped her hands into her lap. “You are more than welcome to look through our archives, your Majesty, but I do not think it necessary for the moment,” the small woman offered gently, careful to keep any kind of tone that might have been interpreted as gloating or even smirking. “You have the most powerful guide in the world available to you. You only need to capture it in a more tangible form.”

“What are you talking about?” Regina asked, confused with the vague answer from the holy woman.

“True Love, Regina. You do not need anything else to guide the portals to each other, for the force of it is quite strong, the only magic capable of transcending Realms.” Blue’s pointed remark reminded Regina of the Hat’s incidence when Emma’s protective magic stabilized the portal. “And, that is something that you have in abundance around you,” the woman spoke gently, her kind smile truly shown to the Queen for the first time in… ever, and the very presence of it told Regina that the patron fairy of the Charmings had buried the hatchet with her. “I am here if you need me,” Blue offered before excusing herself with the business at the convent, leaving the woman to herself in the home office.

It was only minutes later that Regina was brought out from her thoughts with a hand gently landing to her shoulder as her former nemesis stood before her, the worried eyes searching her face for some sign of something. Not one to easily accept such manhandling, even though Snow had been quite tender, Regina shook the hand off, her eyes looking over to the closed door of the study. “He is in the living room with Kyle,” Mary Margaret answered knowingly, her prompt answer bringing some ease to Regina’s tight features. “You need to rest,” the younger woman whispered kindly, ignoring the expected roll of the dark eyes. “I know you have a lot of things to deal with, but it will not help if you run yourself to the ground with it.”

“I am fine, Snow,” Regina replied weakly, too tired to argue. “I am not a weakling, and I have been dealing with things since you were just a child.”

“I know you are not,” Snow said wryly, her hand once more reaching for Regina’s shoulder, this time squeezing it lightly in support. “You are by far the strongest person I know, and that includes my daughter, but I also know that you are not fine, and that is alright. You won’t be, not until she is in your arms once more, real and okay.” Snow spoke from experience, as she caught Regina’s eyes, her reassuring touch lowering the walls the woman had tried hastily to keep up because of the presence of so many people in her home. “Today has not been easy, and despite your obstinacy, I don’t think you can push yourself much further without some real rest and relaxation. So, go, spend the day with my grandchildren and enjoy the simple pleasures of life, and the worries can wait for, or better yet, the next day.” Smiling at the woman that one day might be her daughter in law, Mary Margaret murmured her goodbyes, ready to leave, but a soft whisper stopped her at the door of the study.

“How did you do it?” Regina murmured, her eyes focused onto a new picture laid over the mantle in the office. It was one of the candid shots of Emma and Henry in the town, Mary Margaret realized - the topic of the question suddenly all too clear. “How did you endure?” Regina directed her eyes toward her former nemesis, the brown chocolate glazed with glittering liquid.

“I had hope,” Snow answered softly, returning to her previous position by the other woman. “I had faith that our love was strong enough to reunite us once more. I believed.” Hearing the brunette scoff lightly at the overly romantic words escaping her, Snow tried a different approach. “You have gone through more than a month without her, Regina, and we have passed the half mark of your separation. I know you, and I know that your fierce heart will help you survive whatever is necessary to be there when Emma comes back, or when the time comes for you to get her back. I have no doubt that you will be together and rather soon, at that. But, until then, focus on the people around you, on yourself, on the world you live in.” Thinking of a proper distraction, the pixie haired woman continued on, with a light teasing in her voice. “I can come by these days with Kathryn and we can have a girls’ night, or something of the sort if you want.”

“Oh, please, don’t,” Regina groaned before she chuckled, the heavy and pressing atmosphere broken by the comment. She did not mind the idea of the girls’ night, but all three of them had way too many issues with each other, and only time would help them deal with it. However, it was nice having friends, perhaps for the first time in her life, and she could not deny that she enjoyed Kathryn’s sharp tongue, especially as the woman had taken over Spencer’s office after his murder. “On the other hand, I wouldn’t mind a lunch or two,” she said as she walked Snow out, knowing that the younger woman would organize something of the kind in the name of the distraction from missing Emma so much. With a slight nod she greeted David and closed the door behind the pixie haired woman, turning toward the living room, wanting to meet her boys.

“Hey, mom,” Henry spoke from the couch, plenty of blankets around him as he held Kyle in his lap. “Come, lie here by us,” he patted the comfortable seat as he took the remote, chuckling when Kyle decided to climb over his mother to stretch out over her chest, his head leaning onto her clavicle, as she leaned her head onto the hand rest, her body prone over the length of the couch, Henry joining her as a small spoon, boxing her in place. “We’re watching the Batman trilogy today,” the boy informed his parent in no nonsense tone, as he brought her pinned arm to his front, allowing her to gently hold him to her side, as she used her other arm to caress the toddler’s back. In a way, it was just what she needed after the terrible events of the night, suffusion in love from her children, and a time to unwind, watching a movie she had seen before. “You can sleep if you feel like it,” the boy whispered as he turned his head toward her, their noses touching, and making Regina smile at his caring manner, deciding to take him upon his offer, the sounds of the movie lulling her in a restful doze, warm and safe.

The rest of the day passed in ease, spent with the children, enjoying them as she watched their interplay. In the afternoon, Henry took her to the garage and showed her the home stash of the beans, involving her in the serious conversation about Emma’s idea, demanding to be included in the process more, and with a soft smile directed at him, Regina agreed, knowing that he, as well as she, needed to feel useful.

The next morning, Regina walked into the Sheriff’s office, her purposeful stride heard from afar thanks to her heels. Nodding in greeting to her brother, she walked toward the cells, watching the sleeping man in the cot, with a cold but determined expression on her face.

David, having heard her approach, came to the door of his office and leaned against it, watching the woman dressed in her professional attire, the sleek lines of her black pencil skirt and pea coat only enhancing the sense of danger that emanated from the woman. As he was still unsettled by the fact how easily he could have lost the way to his daughter, and still more than angry with the man who had facilitated that, David knew that Regina was in a turmoil herself. Walking out to her, he placed a hand onto her upper arm in light greeting and support as he stood behind her, waiting for her to speak.

“I am taking him to the Vault,” she spoke clearly, looking at the prisoner, before she glanced up at David.

“He is still heavily sedated, though. Do you need help?” the interim Sheriff asked, pleased that the woman had made the decision. He was aware that it wasn’t the one she was happy with, however, it did seem that it was for the best, at the moment. The fact remained that Sidney Glass was too dangerous to be left alone.

“No, I can manage,” Regina replied softly, leaning slightly into David’s hand in appreciation of his offer, before she stepped away to Neal’s desk. “Henry has a free afternoon today,” she spoke to the father of her son, watching him as he turned toward her in his chair, “and, as I need to stay in the office a bit longer than usual, can you take him?”

“Of course,” the man spoke, leaning back in the chair, looking up at his half sibling. “Whatever you need,” he added earnestly, catching her eyes, as he had noticed the troubled shadows passing over her face. “We can take Kyle to the park later, if you want?”

“I’ll let you know,” Regina said after a moment, blinking at the man in front of her, feeling strangely raw after his offer. “He is with Kathryn now, and they will stop by my office later.” Then, she straightened up, and once more turned toward the cells, hesitating slightly as she called upon her magic. “Good day, gentlemen,” she spoke before she disappeared, along with the sleeping prisoner, in the swirl of gentle purple.

“You think she’ll be OK?” Neal asked his boss after the smoke cleared.

“No.” David walked by Neal’s desk and shook his head, as he continued on to his office, worried about the dark haired woman. “Not until she gets to Emma.”

* * *

The moment Regina entered the vault, several candles placed around the dark, cavernous space flared to life, not only providing light but lessening the dismalness of the room, throwing it in the soft shadows, hiding many dangerous objects from possible interested eyes. All, but one. A mirror, hanging proudly on the wall on one side of the inner chamber, reflected the flickering light of the candles. Beneath it, a man appeared in swirls of warm tones of purple, still bound and unconscious, lying prone on the cold and damp floor, his features obscured by the shadow falling over him, but the owner of the mausoleum knew very well who he was, as she was the one to bring him there.

With one hand on her hip, Regina observed both the Mirror she had kept all these years and the man who had once dwelled in it, and was about to inhabit it again. Although she was still feeling discomfort over entrapping the man again, she knew with certainty that it was truly the best solution of all, and with a heavy preparatory sigh she raised her hand and touched the cold surface of the mirror, making the glass turn liquid, her other hand in the air above Sidney’s still unaware body. One flicker of her fingers made the cuffs disappear and with her eyes narrowed in concentration, Regina let the magic flow, following her direction, as it wrapped around the man and turned him into a silver reflective mist that, under the woman’s instructions, flew into the now rippling glass. After several seconds the mirror solidified again, announcing the end of the spell and Regina stepped away, lowering her arms, one of them going around her middle, meeting the other on the hip, as she glanced around to find something to occupy herself with. It was done, and what remained was to wait and see if it worked. The first time the Agrabahni had ended in the mirror had been due to a wish, so she had no point of reference for the magic, forced to extrapolate the process from her knowledge and do ‘an Emma’ and just use her instincts, hoping for the best.

Taking a seat on one of the trunks in the room, Regina picked one of the books she had left lying around the last time she had been there, carelessly flipping through the pages filled with elvish script, her mind taking her to the one person who was never far from her thoughts, as the minutes passed by.

The past two days had been such a rollercoaster of emotions for her, and she was still feeling off balance, the destruction of the field had left her shaken beyond measure. The idea that her only way to Emma had been destroyed, so easily…. That she would never see the courageous blonde, or feel the connection she had felt whenever they had been close to each other, that her hands would never pass though the golden tresses and over the pale soft skin, tracing the defined muscles… It did more damage than anyone knew, but the brunette had a very strong suspicion that her son had a pretty accurate idea, hence his almost suffocating cosseting of her, practically never leaving her alone, always there to offer a heartening hug, or a caring smile, helping out more than usual. She did appreciate his support and caring, but it left her feeling guilty for burdening her child with her problems, so she tried to put a stop to it, quite unsuccessfully. Despite her telling him stalwartly that she was the parent in their relationship and that she was the one to be all mothering, Henry would smirk at her in the manner he had apparently inherited from his absent mother and say “I know”, before continuing on just the same.

“It’s what you do for people you love. You help them.” He had said that morning, having brought coffee and apple porridge into her bedroom right before her alarm had rung. The caring affection in his eyes had told her that he hadn’t been talking about breakfast or him taking on more responsibilities around the house. He had meant his help with Regina’s momentarily devastated heart. “Not long ago, I was the one to put that look in your eyes,” he had added guiltily, hiding his face from her as he had played with the edge of her comforter, not seeing the tears appearing in her eyes at his admission. The words he hadn’t said but clearly had meant Regina had heard in the silence that followed.  _ This is my apology _ . With his softly spoken name leaving her lips, she had pulled the boy to herself, her meaningful and honest words of forgiveness bringing her son to tears, as he had gripped her desperately. In a way, that had been long overdue, pushed aside for a random crisis happening, but finally they had had the talk about it, where she had made a point of telling and showing Henry that she had never blamed him for it, nor hated him.

A cough broke her pensive mood, and she looked toward the now filled mirror, and saw the familiar shape looking back at her with an undecipherable expression on it.

“You’re awake,” Regina said evenly, rising from her place and walking several steps toward the mirror. During the time she had with her children, she had an opportunity to think and let go of her anger and hatred toward the man. She had come to a conclusion, that, in the end, it had been her fault, as she had cultivated his obsessive infatuation with her for her nefarious purposes and then left him to be consumed with it, spiraling off to the madness she had witnessed in the field. Like a campfire, left unattended turning into a raging forest blaze. She had played with him, and as always, there were consequences.

“Yes, in a manner of speaking,” Sidney replied flatly. “I would’ve thought my punishment would be more… deadly.” There was a question in his words, underlined by one of his eyebrows going up and the head tilting to a side. “I do remember you reaching for my heart.”

“That is not who I am anymore,” Regina said softly, wringing her hands. Although she had spoken the truth, it did worry her how easily she had slipped into the Evil Queen, and only thanks to the man she shared blood with she hadn’t killed the dark-skinned man, nulling all the good progress on her redemption.

“You  _ have _ changed,” the Mirror spoke after several moments of thoughtful silence, having regarded the brunette thoroughly, accepting her answer for the truth. Then the shape of the head flickered, dissolving and reforming, before he spoke for a second time. “You love again,” he noted with resigned wonder as he disappeared once more, and a memory of Emma started playing out. Regina recognized the event, it being deeply etched in her mind, her lips unconsciously tightening before turning up in a barely there smile as her eyes fell on the familiar jacket and David’s sword. “Does she make you happy?” he asked as the image of the blonde turned into his misty form.

“That is of no concern for you,” Regina replied with a pointed bite to her words before allowing one mercy on him, as he had asked with honesty. “But, yes.” Then, she remembered she had more important things to deal with. “Did you kill Spencer?”

Her question might have been random but Sidney wasted no time in answering it. “Yes.”

“Why?” Logistically, it made sense because he had been the only one the Sheriff’s department couldn’t account for, but she could not think of a reason for Sidney to kill the vitriol filled man as they had no quarrel with each other.

“He wanted to take your place as the Mayor.” At the woman’s confused frown, the Mirror continued. “He reappeared after you had left, demanding new elections. And with the Charming Royals out of the picture he was gaining public support. However, you came back just in time to stop him cold. He was about to instigate another witch hunt.”

“And, David? Why implicate him?”

“It was a convenient way to move him out of the office, giving you the opportunity to place someone you trust.”

“You,” Regina finished for him, able to follow his logic despite the madness that had forced him to do it.

“Yes. I see now that my actions have hurt you deeply, and for that I am sorry.” His voice was apologetic and earnest. “I was never meant to be free, your Majesty,” he offered as a poor excuse.

“I am not the Queen here,” the brunette remarked, silently acknowledging his apology but not accepting it. She couldn’t, not just yet, probably not until Emma was by her side.

“You will always be my Queen,” he replied, a slight trace of his sycophantic whine evident in his voice, making Regina bristle. The ingratiating way he had spoken her title clashed so violently with her clear memory of Emma speaking those same words with love, cherishing and loyalty, without a bit of flattery or groveling.

“I was and will never be yours, Sidney,” Regina said clearly, her sharp tone and piercing look getting the point across.

With the contrite incline of his head, the Mirror spoke once more. “You are my Mistress, and I am forever your faithful servant. Such is the way of Genies, your Majesty.” However, he had noticed how the way he had spoken earlier had made Regina wince, so he decided only to use most neutral honorifics, avoiding any possessives that might have been understood wrongly.

* * *

In her office, Regina cradled the phone on her shoulder while dialing the Sheriff’s station with one hand, and other bringing the papers she needed to look over and approve before the end of the work day. As she waited for the call to connect, she closed her eyes, already feeling exhausted, the Sidney situation taking out of her more than she had assumed it would. Not the magic but the emotional toil it had taken. Expecting David’s brisk but professional greeting, she was startled when a gruff “Yeah?” reached her. After a rebuking lecture on proper answering the official line of a public service, she informed Neal about what Sidney had said, knowing it would close their only open case, mentioning also the fact that George had been rallying up the masses again – something she hadn’t known before. The guilty silence that followed told her that it had been kept from her, but that they had known about it. “It doesn’t matter now,” Regina let Neal off the hook, but not until listening to his hapless tries to justify himself or his boss – as she was very well aware that they had done their best and were not obligated to share every tenet of their investigation with her. A knock on the glass drew her attention to the door and seeing the ten month old toddler holding himself to the door frame with one chubby hand and waving vigorously at her with the other made her smile, as she shifted the phone, pulling the mouthpiece of her face. “Hello, sweetie,” she cooed, as she waved the boy over, knowing that the blonde in charge of him was hiding behind the wall. “Come in, Kathryn,” she added pointedly, her eyes pinned to the proud but halting steps Kyle made over to her, his hands waving in front of him in effort to balance. “I have to go, come after lunch,” she spoke into the receiver, before blindly placing it into its place at the desk, not even waiting for Neal to confirm.

“Hi, my baby boy,” she said gently, lifting the blond toddler into her lap, as she smiled in greeting to the woman that had taken a seat in front of her desk, pushing the stroller with Kyle’s things beside her. “Were you good for Kathryn?”

Just as he nodded exaggeratedly, the blonde spoke. “He was perfect.” Sharing the small details about their morning, the former princess watched the woman she was starting to consider her friend play with the child in her arms, not caring that she was dressed in a business dress, or that the toddler was pushing against the papers on her desk. She was amazed to witness the softness in the Mayor’s eyes whenever her children were around her. But, if what Snow had said at the dinner she and Jim had made, inviting the Charmings, Regina’s eyes truly shone when around Emma and the kids together, making her seem years younger and alit with happiness.

“I wanted to run something by you,” Kathryn spoke after a while. Seeing Regina look up and hum, she took out an envelope out of her jacket pocket and gave it to the woman. “I know that I don’t have the best qualifications, but…”

Regina read the job application and smiled when she saw the precise handwriting noting the position. “No, no, don’t worry about that,” the Mayor spoke reassuringly as she looked back at the woman in front of her with interest. “Are you sure? You are about to be a mother, and it  _ can _ be very stressful, especially in such a position. Trust me, I know.”

Relieved that her idea was not dismissed outright, the blonde considered the words spoken in concern. “I am,” she said with absolute confidence. “I can manage, and Fredrick will be there to help out with the kid,” she added, her voice gentling as she placed her hands over the bump in her middle. “It’s what I want to do.”

“Alright,” Regina conceded easily, convinced by Kathryn’s insistence and sureness. After all, Princess Abigail had been quite a capable woman, whose sharp mouth and keen mind had been famous in the old land. “The Town Council appoints the District Attorney, but I see no reason why they would pass this by. And, I don’t think there are other applicants, so it is pretty much guaranteed you will have it.”

“Thank you,” the blonde spoke gratefully, putting on her jacket.

“Oh, it has nothing to do with me, Kathryn.” Regina smiled kindly, tapping the application with her finger. “You did all the work and seized the opportunity.”

“Still, you haven’t laughed.”

“Why would I laugh?” Regina blinked in bewilderment before shaking it off. “Actually, I think this is a superb idea.” Then, she sighed and focused onto the woman, needing to add something else. “But, I must admit, I have an ulterior motive for supporting your application.” Hurrying with her explanation, Regina watched Kathryn’s face, noticing the dimming of the blue eyes and felt a prick of remorse for causing that, but soon she hoped it would be rectified. “You see, in the absence of the Mayor, for whatever reason, the duties of the office fall on the Council, where the DA assumes the title of the Interim Mayor dealing with any emergencies or urgent decisions.” The way she spoke made the blonde frown, not able to understand what it had to do with her, so the Mayor continued. “As I am soon to leave for the Enchanted Forest, I won’t be comfortable with leaving this town in anyone’s but your capable hands, regardless whether Snow and David come with me.”

It took a minute for the future mother to understand the full implication of Regina’s words but then she gasped, bringing her hand to the mouth, awed by the amount of trust she was granted. “You mean…” Kathryn uttered with disbelief, unable to finish.

“I do mean it,” the Mayor confirmed it sincerely.

Not knowing what to say, Kathryn smiled widely in appreciation and gratitude, her eyes shining happily again, as she rose from her chair. If Regina hadn’t been particular about her personal space and if she hadn’t been holding the boy, the blonde would’ve hugged her, but instead she had to be satisfied with a heartfelt whispered “Thank you,” before she left.

“We certainly made aunt Kathryn’s day, didn’t we?” Regina spoke with a teasing tilt to her voice as she tickled the child in her lap, relishing his delighted giggles, and nuzzling into his soft hair. It had surprised her how quickly she had gotten back into the swing of things related to the care of babies, her experience with Henry being a tremendous help. But, she realized that the patience she had only had for the toddler Henry, had returned, helping her manage all the necessary duties of the Mayor with the squirming child in her arms. The skill of writing, while using her other hand to amuse Kyle, she had perfected years before. And, so, they sat at the desk, Regina dealing with the reviews and proposals, and the baby happily babbling while leaning against the brunette’s chest.

Several hours later, Neal and Henry came, the boy instantly walking up to his mother, catching her in half hug. “Hey, Mom,” he murmured with affection as he straightened, his hand going to Kyle’s hair.

“Henry,” Regina answered softly with a welcoming smile, her eyes scrutinizing his face for the traces of unsettling sadness she had witnessed that morning – but it seemed that their talk had done good. Letting the preteen take the toddler out of her lap, she helped him get a good hold. As he walked toward the playpen in the corner Regina had set several days before, she turned toward the Deputy standing in front of her desk awkwardly, her eyes immediately falling to the bag of take out in his hand, the familiar logo visible despite the half crumbled bag. “He insisted, I presume,” Regina said quietly, as she rose, gesturing toward the large table to their side.

“He is worried,” Neal murmured, taking his seat perpendicular to Regina’s, letting her have the unobstructed view to the children, and pushed the bag toward her in the silent invitation. “I am, too,” he added, leaning onto his elbows as he peered into her tired eyes.

“I am fine,” Regina spoke pointedly, before starting to eat.

“You know, I once heard that fine stands for frustrated, insecure, neurotic and emotional,” he added conversationally, his eyes directed to his fingers tracing the veins on the marble top of the table.

Rolling her eyes at the man, she swallowed her bite. “What does you inaccurately quoting Aerosmith has to do with me?” Neal looked at his sister in surprise, the question obvious in his eyes. “I had a lot of time on my hands, and evil plots only get you so far,” she added before going back to her meal, internally chuckling at his expression. It was funny how people often forget that she hadn’t spent twenty eight years in haze but fully aware of the passage of time, and susceptible to boredom as any other human being. Watching her nemesis wander around the town as a hapless school teacher had been interesting only for the first time. The new world offered so much new knowledge, and she did believe in the old adage – Knowledge is power. Although the curse had filled her in on the general knowledge of the world, it didn’t bother with nuances and details, so she had explored, learned, conquered.

“Do you know that, all things considered, you have been here longer than me?” he spoke after a while, something on his mind. “I mean, I did grow up here, but you have been here, unchanged, for several years more than me.”

“What’s your point?”

“It’s just weird, that’s all.”

“Did you consider the fact that if your father had bothered to verify his information on your whereabouts and had seen that you had been in the Neverland for most of your exile, which is a magical realm and not so impossible to reach, none of this would have happened?” Regina said conversationally, her eyebrow lifted in challenge, waving her hand around the office but encompassing the whole town, before narrowing her eyes at him. “How did you leave that place, anyway?”

“Tink helped me,” Neal spoke after a moment, spreading his palms on the table. Snow had told him that the pixie had turned on them and had died as a result, his heart heavy with the news. He hadn’t expected the small creature to become so desperate to believe Pan’s lies, but he had guessed that time and fear had been hard on the pixie folk. “She’d been collecting the pixie dust for years to gather enough for me to fly home,” he explained, ignoring Regina’s scrunch of distaste at the mention of the pixie’s nickname. “We tried to capture the shadow first, to make it take me back, but it was too strong.” He still had nightmares of his time on the island, but thankfully they had gone rare in the years he had reached adult years.

Having finished her meal, the brunette glanced toward the boys playing, the excited chatter reaching her. “While we are on the subject of that island,” Regina started in a whisper, still looking at her sons. “Does he ever talk about his time there? You are the only one who knows what it was like.” Henry had had several rough nights, but he had shrugged them off easily, being his cheery and inquisitive self in the morning. However, she couldn’t help but worry. The talks with Dr. Hopper seemed to help, and judging from the information Archie and Henry both shared with her, the good doctor and her son were working on dealing with all the things that had happened, not only the kidnapping.

“We did have several chats on the topic, but he didn’t seem too interested to discuss it.” Neal reached for the concerned mother, his hand falling over hers and squeezing it lightly, drawing her eyes toward his. “He never lost hope you would come for him. He knew, beyond any shadow of doubt, that his mothers would save him, and I think that made a lot of things easier for him to cope with. His faith has protected him, Regina.” His earnest and soothing whisper made the worried lines around her mouth lighten. “His faith in you. In Emma.” Then he leaned toward his sister, their shoulders touching. “I sometimes envy him for his belief, the security he has, the ultimate knowledge that his parents love him so fiercely.” As he lifted himself from his seat, he pressed his hand to the slim shoulder in front of him, his gesture meant to provide comfort and congratulation at the same time, for raising such a wonderful and strong boy. Then, he turned slightly. “It’s time to go,” he spoke clearly, his words meant for the boys in the corner. Giving them several minutes to say bye to Regina, he tinkered around the stroller.

Before Regina could remind him, he smiled at her, Kyle already strapped in the chair of the stroller, Henry beside him. “I know the rules. In the house before sundown, and stay with them until you come home.” His self-satisfied smirk brought out the narrowed but teasing look from Regina, as she waved them out of her office.

Needing distraction from all the heavy talks of that day, Regina delved into the financial statements, knowing that the repetitious yet demanding task would keep her busy for a while. As it was the first working day of December, she needed to prepare all the documentation of the year, and she wanted to do it before she left, not knowing what kind of mess would crop up in the absence. So, flexing her shoulders, she started reading and placing notes where necessary. A document by document, she got lost in the world of her duties as the Mayor. The hemorrhaging town budget, due to many fix ups needed in the last two years, was her main concern, but even that was solvable, especially with the influx of her personal funds and creative managing of the departments. However, it was a short timed solution, and Storybrooke needed something more permanent.

So deeply concentrated on the work in front of her Regina was that she didn’t hear the knock on the door, nor its opening to show Mary Margaret’s worried face peaking in. “Regina,” the woman spoke softly, not wanting to startle the woman, her eyes noticing the furrowing brow and focused look.

The Mayor blinked at the voice and looked up, wincing when her neck pinched, having been strained for too long. She hissed, placing her hand over it, before she looked at the intruder, surprised to see the teacher in front of her. “Snow?” Regina murmured in question, looking at the clock on the wall above the fireplace, her eyes widening as she took in the time. “What are you doing here?” she asked, as she started stacking the papers, deciding to leave the rest for the next day. She hadn’t even noticed that the dark had fallen over the small town, and she had home to get to.

“You didn’t answer my text, and I was in the neighborhood?” the pixie haired woman said with uncertainty, not sure what to make of Regina’s unusual absentmindedness. On Saturday morning, she had left the woman to get her bearings, and she had kept away the whole weekend - not wanting to intrude on Henry’s plan of caring for his mother. She had, however, called the boy in secret, asking him if he had needed help or anything, but it had been her way of checking up on them. On Regina. David had told her of the empty expression she had worn in his car, and the way she had reacted to Sidney’s betrayal, and she knew that despite the woman’s stubbornness and self-reliance, the shock of it all would take time to dissipate.

“If you ask me if I am alright, I will throw a fireball at you,” Regina growled in both exasperation and warning, feeling the scrutiny of the younger woman as she packed her briefcase. Then, with a tired huff, she left it on the desk as her shoulders sagged. As quick as her temper had flared, it had fizzled out, leaving her drained, and she, for some reason, felt bad for snapping at the woman’s concerned look. It chafed. The fact that she couldn’t erect her walls as good as before, the fact that she could not hide her wounds or that people could see she was vulnerable. She didn’t mind it with Henry or Kyle, but others…

“I wasn’t going to,” Mary Margaret spoke softly, as she came closer to the older woman. “I wondered if we could talk?” The slight imploring edge denied the calmness that Snow was projecting, and Regina looked at her, her eyebrow going up in inquiry, as she crossed her arms, leaning on the side of her desk. “The text was about me coming to your house tonight.”

“Don’t you have a husband to go home to?”

“I don’t think this is something that can wait,” Snow added, the plea now unhidden.

Regina sighed and let her head bob in a barely there nod. “You drove here?” she asked shortly, as she picked up her things and waved the woman out, locking up the office behind them.

“Walked,” Snow replied succinctly, stuffing her hands into her coat, as she followed the woman down and out to the car. After a silent invitation for a ride, she went into the Mercedes, she wondered aloud. “Where is the Bug?”

“At Tillman’s,” Regina spoke after pulling out of the parking spot, driving toward Mifflin Street. “If she insists on driving that monstrosity, at least I can make sure it’s safe,” she added unthinkingly, pursing her lips after she heard a chuckle from the other woman, realizing how she sounded. But, despite how protective she did sound, she didn’t feel ashamed for it, or exposed. The short ride passed in silence, Mary Margaret walking obediently one step behind the Mayor.

Regina opened the door, ushering the younger woman in first, before she entered in, placing the coat and scarf in the closet. Quickly, she waved Snow to go into the kitchen while she dropped the briefcase into her study, before she walked into the living room, the rapid staccato of her heels announcing her arrival, but she doubted she was heard as the loud music with sound effects obviously coming from the gaming console.

She found the children sitting on the floor, leaning against the couch and playing a game, their eyes pinned to the large TV screen only four feet away. And, yes, she counted Neal as one of the children, for the expression on his face rivaled Henry’s – the concentration portrayed in the narrowed eyes and furrowed eyebrows, a tongue sticking out to a side, and furiously fast fingers button pressing. But, what brought a smile to Regina’s face was the fact that Kyle too had a controller in his hand, sitting in the middle, imitating the boys on both sides of him. It was one of Henry’s old and useless ones, wrapped in protective plastic, for hygienic reasons most likely, as the boy tried to stuff one corner of it into his mouth as she was watching them. Suddenly, there was a loud whirring noise, and Henry dropped the remote as he exclaimed happily, his hands going up in the air in triumph. It was then that he noticed her leaning against the doorframe, her arms lazily crossed over her chest, and half smile playing on her lips.

“Mom, hey!” Henry spoke in surprise, jumping to his feet. “When did you get here?” he asked as he walked over to her, graciously accepting her half hug and kiss on his cheek.

“Several minutes ago.” Turning to Neal, she left her arms around Henry. “Thank you for staying,” she said appreciatively, as she watched him get to his feet, careful not to jostle Kyle from his seat, and then he lifted him into his arms, stepping toward his sister.

“Of course,” the man spoke, understanding that he was free to go. “We ate, there are some leftovers for you,” he informed the woman, as he came to stand beside her and his son. “The little man here was a little bored before Henry had an idea,” Neal offered softly, transferring the boy into his mother’s waiting hands. “Alright, then. See you tomorrow, big guy.” Patting his son on the shoulder, he passed them, putting on his jacket.

“Your grandmother is in the kitchen, if you want to say hello,” the brunette whispered to her son, as she followed the Deputy to the front door. ”Mister Cassidy, a moment, please,” she said as he opened the door, wrapping his shawl around his neck.

“I do hope I didn’t do something to anger you, Regina, as I thought we were past that,” the man spoke with a large smile, as he turned to look at her, his hand on the door he pushed closed so the heat wouldn’t leave.

“Yes, Neal, we are,” Regina acknowledged before she pressed on with the request she had for him, hesitating only for a moment, but enough for him to notice. He didn’t comment on it, letting her speak. “Can you take a look over Rumple’s records, and come to me with the general idea in the next couple of days? He does own most of the properties around here, and the town is in need of an influx of money.”

“You want to see if he can pay taxes, of sorts?” Neal asked, as he considered the idea. The Dark One had caused considerable damage to the town, with his ideas and small revenges, so it stood to reason that he should be the one to pay for the repairs. And, he had been meaning to go through all the rent deals, to see if they could use some modification. There were a lot of things he could do, now that his father was not in the immediate control of his assets. Regina nodded, pleased that he had immediately understood what she had in mind. “Sure, I’ll look, and let you know. How urgent is this?”

“It’s nothing immediate, but I would like to deal with it before the holidays.” She shifted the toddler on her hip, resettling him in more comfortable hold. “And, with the beans almost ready…” She let her sentence taper off, as it needed no more explanation.

“Yeah,” the man murmured with a nod, before reopening the door. “I’ll take care of it,” he added, placing his hand on her upper arm in reassurance and goodbye, and left, closing the door behind him. She watched him walk down the pathway through the panes, and as soon as he left her sight, Regina went to the kitchen, following the amused chatter of her son.

“I hope you don’t mind,” Snow spoke as soon as she saw the woman holding the toddler in her arms join them. “I made him a hot chocolate.” Her words were calm, unapologetic, but the way she was playing with the spoon in her hand and the slightly sheepish expression on her face belied their tone. Regina narrowed her eyes at the pixie haired teacher. The woman seemed nervous, almost guilty. So, after enduring several more minutes of small talk between her and Henry, she sent the boys into the living room, while she marshaled Snow into the study, feeling that this conversation was something to be kept out of the reach of young ears.

As she made a motion to pour them something to drink, Mary Margaret stopped her with a careful “None for me, thanks,” causing suspicion in Regina to rise. Resting her bottom on the desk behind her, she braced herself with her hands on the edge of polished wood while she looked at Snow, waiting for the woman to explain why she had usurped her evening. But, the moment the younger woman placed her hand over her belly protectively as she floundered with the way to start, Regina blinked. Having seen the very same motion only that morning brought the answer to her, quite vividly and she gasped in realization, startling her former nemesis.

“Oh, Snow,” she spoke, her voice containing a multitude of emotions, but the strongest of them was compassion. However, she could not help but slip a slight rebuke and sadness. She knew that this information was going to bring up so many unresolved issues, and honestly, she was afraid. Afraid that it would bring only pain to her beloved, having seen everything Emma had been through. “How far along are you?” she asked softly, rising from the desk and gently stepping toward the other woman, joining her on the sofa.

“Eight weeks,” the reply came in tremulous whisper, as the green eyes refused to focus on anything, circling around the room, as if looking for possible ways of escape. But, then, it seemed that the woman gathered her courage and squared her shoulders, taking a deep breath and releasing it resolutely, before she turned to the woman who had once been her stepmother. “I found out today. No one knows yet.” She had felt off kilter lately but with everything going on, she really hadn’t thought that could even be a possibility. Having heard the words from the doctor that day, all she felt was shock and surprise. Yes, she was happy about it, overjoyed actually, but… And, it was a really big but. It felt like cheating, like it was a betrayal of her daughter. As she had been looking at her test results in the doctor’s office, she couldn’t help but remember the sad face of the blonde as she had told her the story of the first family sending her back.

“What are you planning to do?” Regina asked sensibly, feeling Snow’s trepidation. The woman wasn’t daft, despite all the monikers she had thrown at her, and knew the consequences. But when a bashful yet hopeful look showed in the determined green gaze, she knew what the answer would be, and spoke it out loud, sparing the other woman from doing so. “You are keeping it,” she murmured softly, not surprised at the decision.

“I missed everything with her, Regina,” Snow felt the need to explain even though Regina had not done anything to suggest she was disagreeing with her choice. “Her first laugh, first words, steps…” Lamenting voice spoke softly, showing regret. “I love my daughter, and I wouldn’t change her for the world, but she is all grown up…”

“So, what, this is some kind of a second chance for you and David?” the older brunette couldn’t help the slight edge of sneer creep into her voice.

“You’ve taken Kyle in. Why should this be any different?” Snow spoke defensively but before Regina could respond, and with all probability she would have said something harsh and true, judging by the flashing eyes and flaring nostrils, the pixie haired woman raised her hand in apology. “I am sorry, it was uncalled for.” After several minutes passing in terse silence, Snow tried again. “I know that the timing of it is…” she didn’t speak the words, but her frowning brows said enough. “But, I want this. David will too.”

In a slow gesture of resigned acceptance, Regina leaned back and sighed. She really could not fault the woman for wanting this child, as it was already there. It wasn’t like they had been actively trying to get pregnant, or so she thought. At the unbidden image in her head she scrunched her face in disgust, hiding it as she rose to pour herself a drink. She surely needed one after the day she had. Which brought her to her next question. “Why me, Snow? Why did you come to me with this?”

“I hoped you’d have an idea how Emma would…” Snow started, wringing her hands, as she watched the other brunette carefully, not surprised when the somewhat capricious woman turned to her with a snarl barely restrained on her face.

“Are you honestly asking me how to handle your own daughter?!” the Mayor hissed at the still seated woman in outrage and incredulity at the woman’s nerve, slamming down the half-filled tumbler of liquor over the surface of her desk, ignoring the wet stain spreading over the forgotten papers. “Just because I have her memories, doesn’t give you or anyone else the right…” she started but Snow rising from the sofa stopped her.

“No, you’re right. I don’t know what I was thinking.” The woman offered contritely, her shoulders slumping as she took a step forward, but then she changed her mind, and turned around, going for the door. However, as she reached the door, she leaned her forehead against it for a moment, too briefly to seem anything more than a too deep of a sigh, before glancing over to Regina, her eyes shining sadly. “I guess I hoped for some insider knowledge on how to tell her… But, you are right, it is not fair to her, or to you.”

“Snow.” Regina sighed, regretting her earlier outburst, aware that the woman was struggling to find a balance between her joy for the new child and fear that Emma would resent her for it. And, she knew how the woman had wanted a child, since before she had been married to David. She had known what it meant to Snow, and in some way, she was glad for the woman. However, she couldn’t speak the words she wanted to say, not then, for they would seem false and contrived, even though they wouldn’t have been. Their eyes connected during the meaningful silence, understanding passing through the look, and Snow nodded in slightly dejected acceptance, before the younger woman left the study, calling out briefly to her grandson in the living room, and walked out of the house, too quickly for Regina to stop her or to offer her a ride home.

Suddenly feeling exhausted, Regina surveyed the damage on her desk, waving her hand over it with a sigh, before she took the tumbler with her to the kitchen, pouring the remaining drink down the drain. She hadn’t eaten since impromptu lunch, and drinking on an empty stomach, especially with the children in the house, was not a good idea. Quickly, she heated the dinner and sat at the counter to eat, thinking about the day. It was only Monday, and Regina felt like a whole work week had passed.

Two hours later, after a ridiculously long bath she had taken once she had put the children to bed, she put on the grey silk pajamas, her eyes gliding over the things she had put up on the other side of the closet. There weren’t many things. She had regarded that fact with melancholy, knowing the reasons behind the lack of clothing. Her fingers slipped through the blue shirt, hanging in the middle of the rack, not fitting to either side, and yet belonging to both. The shirt itself had become a memento of the blonde, first worn in such capacity when the wraith had taken Emma to the Enchanted Forest. The last time she had worn it had been after her mother had been killed, the day after she had destroyed the curse for Henry. As she had been alone, again, with the pain of loss so strong, she had needed any kind of comfort, even if it had been about the woman she had been utterly furious with.

But, what she needed now was not comfort. She needed to know if Emma was alright, and no piece of cloth would ever be able to tell that. While she had been in the vault, she had asked Sidney to try and look to the Enchanted Forest, but he had failed, telling her neither he nor she had had the power to do so. All that was left was her connection to the blonde, and she hoped fervidly that the absence of painful tugging on her heart meant that she was fine. Or, at the very least, alive. Walking toward her window, she passed the bed and the night table, picking up the photo Henry had placed there, tracing the familiar contours over the glass. “Why do I get the feeling that you are in trouble, Sheriff?” she whispered with apprehension, looking down at the brilliant smile the woman had had the moment the picture had been taken.  _ Because you have learned from your experience _ , her mind supplied helpfully, making her scowl at herself.

The sound of her door opening brought her face up to look at her son peeking in the room. Accepting her gentle half smile as an invitation, the boy sleepily stumbled in, walking toward her. “Are you OK?” she asked him softly, immediately touching his forehead. It was pleasantly warm and dry, meaning he didn’t have a fever, nor a nightmare. At least not one terrible enough to cover him in sweat.

“Had a dream. About Ma.” He murmured as she led him to his room, dropping the frame on her bed. “Saw the light on.” As soon as she covered him up, he patted the spot beside him, his pouty look insistent. Placing herself on top of the covers, she leaned onto her elbow, pushing Henry’s hair of his face, remarking that he seriously needed a haircut. “You’re thinking about her, too,” he said softly, his knowing eyes finding hers. She only smiled at him in confirmation, never stopping the hand that was passing through his locks, the motherly gesture relaxing the boy with ease. “I miss her,” he mumbled, turning to his side, as he placed his head right below her elbow, his ear leaning against her heart. It had been his comfort seeking gesture when he had been a small child, the soft cadence of her beat easing his fears and worries. “I know you are worried,” he continued, suddenly his drowsiness gone from his voice. “About the Evil Queen coming back,” he elaborated as she looked at him in askance. Her frown confirmed his suspicion and he offered a comforting and trusting smile, his hand rising to her forehead, as he glided out the furrows. “You’ve been weird since Friday, about magic and anger,” he explained how he had reached his conclusion, thankful that she hadn’t even tried to discount his words, but letting him speak. “And, you’ve been too careful, cautious around me, as if I would do something…” Even though she had been there for him that morning, he could feel she had been pulling away, her distance tinged with fear. And, as soon he had realized that it started after the fire, he had known why she had been afraid – of him. The guilt he had felt over causing her such pain had brought him to tears that morning, and they had a talk about their feelings. However, she had deftly closed the subject as soon as he had been about to bring the past incarnation of her up. “Is that why you stopped calling me your prince? Because you thought it would remind me that you were the Evil Queen?” He glanced up at her, wanting to know, but there was nothing malicious or righteous in his look, nothing but warm appreciation, and softness in his eyes that showed his sleepiness.

Regina sighed softly. “No, not because of that. Or, only because of that.” But, to lie there and explain to him why she had stopped – she couldn’t do it, no matter how grown up he seemed to be. To explain to him that she had been afraid that he would throw the sobriquet she had given him in affection back at her with furious loathing, in one of his temperamental rebellions, as he had so many others, forever tainting it. To explain that she had been afraid that it would remind him not only of the Evil Queen but of the fact that she had lied to him. And, there was the fact that he had no longer been that little boy that needed her protection and love, having discarded it so easily before. Yes, he loved her, she knew that beyond doubt, and he had insisted on her being his mother, but the damage of those cold and cruel months was hard to overcome, and there was a small part of her that was reluctant to trust him. It was something she needed to work on, but with everything else, it was pushed back as it wasn’t the greatest priority…

As she wasn’t forthcoming with the answer, Henry looked at his mother, recognizing the sadness in her eyes in the second he had seen them, before she turned away from him, hiding her face from his perceptive look. He didn’t push. But, he needed to say something before he fell asleep. “I would like to be your little prince again, Mommy,” he mumbled tenderly as he nuzzled into her shoulder, letting the sleep he had been fighting claim him, feeling the warm arms of his mother hug him lovingly. But, he was too far gone to hear her breath hitch or to feel a tear land on his forehead.

It wasn’t the words that brought her to tears, it was the voice. He had sounded so young and innocent, cuddling up to her, reminding her so vividly of a seven year old boy who had adored her. With a kiss upon his forehead, filled with so much love and affection she held for him, Regina slowly left his bed, then his room, closing the door behind her silently, all the while her eyes filled with tears, but not of sorrow. His words had moved her deeply, and her already overwhelmed control of her emotions was completely destroyed.

So she went to her own room, got into bed and pulled out the black tank top from beneath her pillow and pressed it against her face, hoping it still retained some of the familiar and soothing scent, but more than a month was long enough for it to evaporate from the soft fabric. However, the very motion on clutching something of Emma’s close to her brought a sense of security, a tiny bit of it though – but she didn’t mind, as she needed something. It was hard, not to sink into the mattress and cry her eyes out as she missed the blonde daredevil too much for words to express. She missed the woman’s candor, gentle regard, hopeful tenacity… But, most of all she missed the woman, whole of her.

Sometime later, Regina fell asleep, her hands still clutching the black cloth close to her, her tear stained face sinking into the pillow, as her body relaxed from the tension it held during waking hours. But even in the deep resting state, the tautness of her muscles did not leave completely, showing the stress she was under. The restless shift and turn of her sleep lasted until the early hours of the next morning, until a preset alarm woke her for the day. 

* * *

It was silent in the mayoral home. The fact itself would not be a strange one if not for the simple truth that both children and the mistress of the house were in it, despite being Thursday around lunch. As it were, the elder child was laid up, sleeping of the fever, while the younger was simply sleeping, his afternoon nap slightly longer than usual.

Regina closed her eyes tiredly, as she moved the pot with boiling water from the stove, her hand already reaching for pre-prepared tea mixture, her knowledge of herbs coming in handy as she sought to alleviate Henry’s cold symptoms. The boy had a hard time, his stuffy nose preventing him from breathing properly, and the running fever only made things worse. The night before had actually been a hard one, with the boy’s temperature rising up to triple digits, and Regina had stayed with him the whole night, cooling him down with wet towels and making him take the medicines.

Putting a dollop of honey into the steaming liquid, the brunette took the cup and brought it up to Henry’s room, opening the door slowly. As soon as her eyes fell on her boy, she sighed in sympathy, carefully lowering the mug on the nightstand beside the bed. The boy was huddled in the middle of the bed, his cover bunched around him, making him look like a giant ball. Thankfully, Regina noticed, he was not murmuring in his sleep neither his face was scrunched in pain or fear, but relaxed. As much as someone perpetually cold could be. With utmost care, Regina lowered herself beside his head and started tenderly to pass her fingers through his hair, rousing him slowly and gently out of his dreams.

He was calm and sluggish as he opened his eyes, unlike the previous night when the terrible nightmares haunted his rest every time he had closed his eyes. He would not remember his dreams afterwards, but the mumbled pleas and cries would forever be burned in Regina’s memory, as she had been there for each and every one of them, in her caring vigil. Henry looked up and smiled weakly at his mother, lifting his head to place it in the crook of already positioned elbow, helping him sit up so he could drink his tea.

As she tucked him back down, Regina kissed Henry’s forehead, not only to soothe the boy but to see if his low grade fever had spiked as it had done the previous afternoon heralding a tough night. Luckily, he was only slightly warmer than usual. However, it had its own drawbacks – it was making Henry weak and sluggish with aches through his body, so he had spent most of the two days in bed.

It had started on Tuesday afternoon when Henry had complained about a headache and heaviness in his body. He had come to her office after the session with Dr. Hopper and had dropped in one of the chairs in front of her desk, his legs and arms ungainly spread over the seat, his posture drawing a light chuckle out of the tired Mayor. But as she had touched his forehead to push his wild hair off his face, she had noticed the slightly elevated temperature and barely there flush of his skin, her eyes crinkling in worry. Henry hadn’t been prone to sickness, except from a case of running nose here and there, but when he had been ill, it had tended to be devastating, taking a lot out of her boy. So, she had made him tea, and checked his temperature and sighing when it had shown that he indeed had had a fever. Sending him to bed after a light supper, she had mentally gone over the files she would need to bring home as she had had no intention of being away from her house for long while Henry had been under the weather. The next morning had found the boy in bed, with all the symptoms of cold, unable to get up.

_ After having informed the school that Henry was having a cold, Regina looked down at her phone considering who to call next. She needed someone to stay in the house in case Henry wanted something and to watch over Kyle. Mary Margaret was in school, as she had just finished talking with her, David was in the station, or on patrol – so, apparently busy, and Kathryn was settling in her new office, her new appointment approved by the council the day before. There was one person she could call, she realized as her finger hovered over his name in her contacts list. So, she leaned against the kitchen counter and pressed the screen before she brought the phone to her ear. She expected to be greeted with the voicemail, as Neal had been on call the night before, so she was surprised when the call connected and a gruff voice greeted her with simple acknowledgement of her name. She couldn’t decide if it was a pleasant surprise or not, her feelings about her half-brother still fluctuating from light hearted affection to teeth grinding annoyance. But, she did not despise him anymore, so that was a plus… _

_ “Did I wake you?” she asked, before she rolled her eyes at herself. There had been a time when she hadn’t cared about propriety or intruding on someone’s sleep time, especially regarding the son of the damned imp. But, times changed. _

_ There was a pause before Neal answered, and Regina could imagine him blinking in wonder at the question, before opening his mouth. “No, I just left the station.” She could hear the bell over the door at Granny’s ring out as he apparently entered the diner. “Do you need something?” he asked, his tone suggesting that he actually wanted to phrase that question a bit differently, but didn’t want to come off as rude. She was aware of the fact that she only called him to confer about Henry’s schedule, or if she needed something, and even then it was regarding only two topics – the town and the children. It might have seemed a bit cold, but she still didn’t know how to deal with him in her life as a relative of hers, or even only as a friend, so she dealt with him as Henry’s father and the town official. Well, initially, as the man seemed to find a way to involve her in personal conversations, making it just a little easier for her to talk to him each time. _

_ “Henry is ill,” she spoke, straight to the point. “And, I need someone to watch him and Kyle while I go to the office and pharmacy.” _

_ “Sure, I am on my way.” After a moment, and another bell, he asked, “Do you want something from the diner?” _

_ “No, thank you.” Regina could hear that he was already outside by the change in sounds coming through the phone, along with the brisk footsteps on the pavement, no doubt on his way to Mifflin Street. _

_ “Alright then, see you in a few.” _

_ As she had obviously pulled him away from his breakfast, the brunette turned toward the still hot stove, turning it back on and placing a skillet on it, deciding to make scrambled eggs for her kin, as it was the least she could do for him as he had readily agreed to watch over her children with no questions asked about the time he would spend in her home. As soon the eggs were ready, she turned on the toaster and coffee maker with a fresh batch of dark sustenance, expecting the man any minute now. _

_ As if he was summoned by her thoughts, the deputy opened the door she had left unlocked for the very reason, gently calling out her name. Placing the plate and toast on the counter, she directed him to the kitchen, and only seconds after that the man walked in, his jacket absent, as he greeted the boy sitting in the raised chair beside the counter. His eyes immediately catching the sight of food, he glanced toward Regina in askance and getting her permitting and inviting gesture in return, he pulled the stool out of its place and sat on it, digging into his meal heartily with no words spared, his eyes asking questions instead. _

_ “He is upstairs, in bed. It seems he caught a cold.” And there was one instance where he could have caught it in Regina’s mind. The time he had spent outside in the cold weather of Maine winter with his father and brother. Not that she blamed Neal for it, children got sick all the time, even with the best protection, but still she could not completely curb her admonishing tone. “They both ate and the tea for Henry is on the stove, already prepared. You should be all set until I get back.” _

_ Having scarfed down breakfast already, Neal accepted the mug of coffee from the brunette nodding his head in understanding. “Bud and I are going to have an awesome time together,” he said as he used his fingers to draw out a giggle out of the blond boy, tickling him on the neck, not seeing that his antics caused Regina to smile at her boy, enjoying his sweet twitter. _

_ So with the last instructions for Neal, Regina left the house, determined to return as quickly as possible, uncomfortable being away from her ill son for too long. Rationally, she knew both Henry and Kyle were in good hands, but still her mother instinct was flaring up, but she did not know if it was because for the first time in more than two years, Henry actually needed her to take care of him. She wasn’t the Evil Queen, or the Mayor, Emma’s True Love, or even Regina – she was simply Mom, the only person who had been there for him in the years of his childhood, and that was the fact she cherished deeply, despite the reason why it was occurring. Therefore, after a short visit to her office, Regina hurried off to the pharmacy, oddly unnerved by the fact that the child Tylenol she had had in her medicine cabinet had expired. The stark reminder that Henry had not been home for more than several months had hit her suddenly that morning, their newly established rapport making her not quite forget that time, but to put it aside, away from reminiscence. On her way back she stopped by the grocer’s and rushed home. _

_ The afternoon Regina spent checking on Henry, spending some time with Kyle and Neal who had kindly offered to stay and help, despite his sleepless night, and working on papers from the office. However, there was a moment when she just leaned against the wall beside the entrance to the living room where both boys, yes because she did consider Baelfire an overgrown boy most of the time, were asleep on the couch, lost to the world after the whole morning spent playing and the hearty lunch she had made. The blond boy was covered in afghan she had left nearby just for such occasions and cuddled between the man’s chest and the backrest. And in that too brief instance in time Regina could simply imagine that there instead of her brother was the blonde Sheriff, after an all-nighter at the office, sleeping with the boy, her arms circling him protectively even when she was relaxed in sleep. It was the picture of domesticity that she hadn’t even known that she wanted, but yearned for deeply. It was moments like these that brought forth Emma in her mind, easily imagining the blonde in her home, her family, her life. _

_ She had come in to take Kyle to his bed, but seeing him rest peacefully on his uncle, for lack of a better descriptor, she decided to let them be, and walked upstairs to her son’s room to check on him, surreptitiously wiping an errant tear that dared to appear at the image of her True Love superimposed over the sleeping Deputy. She was more than aware of the fact that where she had Henry, and Kyle and the Charmings, Emma was on her own family-wise in the Enchanted Forest, and knowing the woman, she knew that the distance and loneliness would be hard on the blonde, her heart breaking doubly – for the pain she was feeling missing Emma, and the pain she knew Emma was feeling in the other world. _

_ Later in the day, Neal and she worked out a suitable solution for Gold’s properties. They did it specifically in a way that would benefit both parties, not willing to risk Rumplestiltskin’s wrath even though he was no longer the Dark One, and yet willing to help out the town. After hours spent on calculating the costs, they agreed that the rent on the properties would be lowered somewhat, and a small percentage of the remaining rent would go into the town budget as a specially appointed tax, leaving enough of the money in Gold’s accounts to maintain the successful business. _

_ “Did you check the stalks?” the man asked, leaning back on the sofa in Regina’s study, a mug of steaming coffee in his hand, resting on his raised thigh, his legs crossed at the knee, left one hanging in the air. He was looking at the woman sitting on the sofa next to him with the child in her lap. But, it wasn’t the child that was drawing his attention but the clothes his half-sister was wearing. Sometime during their nap, Regina had changed out of her dark business suit into a pair of comfortably worn jeans and a sweater he could have sworn he had seen on Emma several months back. It was the first time he had seen his estranged sister wear anything remotely casual, and he was surprised by the effect it had caused in him. She was no longer the powerful Mayor, with prim suits and dresses, but a woman, who still radiated power, but in the muted fashion, the ordinary clothes making her seem softer, more approachable. And lighter. This was the woman who had raised his son, he realized belatedly, feeling ashamed that he ever doubted her devotion to her children. He had seen her with Kyle, and with Henry, but he had figured it was only after the curse and that only then she was able to love truly, as he could not comprehend the idea of the Evil Queen being a good mother to his boy. However, since his healing in the Enchanted Forest, he had been constantly proven wrong and this last instance served to completely dissuade him of the notion that Regina had ever been anything but a good mother, the kind of mother both he and Emma would have wanted in their lives while they had been children. Putting the issue to rest in his mind, he smiled at his sister gently, allowing the budding affection he was feeling for her to show on his face. _

_ Not blind to the silent regard the man watched her with, she let it slide, focusing instead on his question. “Yes,” she spoke, looking at the boy in her lap, her hands holding his tiny ones as he smiled widely at her, clutching her fingers and babbling gleefully, the only recognizable word in his speech was ‘Mommy’. “They need a week or so more to reach their full potential before we can use them safely,” Regina added, her eyes glancing toward the man beside her. “I was thinking of leaving as the holiday break starts, as they would be ready by then.” _

_ “Sounds like a plan,” Neal agreed, after taking a sip of his drink. _

Regina rose from the bed, leaving her son to a healing sleep as she remembered the previous afternoon she had spent with the deputy, the time spent with him used to find out something more about the boy who once had been Baelfire. In turn she had shared some of her own stories – nothing too important but just moments of her life at her father’s property. Later, after the light dinner they had shared with Henry in his room, Neal had stayed with his son, while Regina had taken care of Kyle’s evening ablutions and eventually putting him to sleep. The deputy had stayed with them until the start of his shift, urging Regina to call him anytime she might need him.

The knock on the door stopped her rumination of the previous day, and she looked up to the mirror in the foyer, frowning at the rumpled look she was presenting, but without much of thought she continued on to the door, opening it.

“Hi,” she was greeted by the mother of her True Love, carrying bags of groceries and followed by the blonde newly appointed DA. “Are you going to let us in?” Snow asked after several seconds passed as Regina watched them blankly. It was very cold outside with fresh snow covering the ground, and standing there with the warm air blasting out of the house was not making things easier on the pixie haired brunette, despite her being bundled in the winter clothes with inescapable knit hat. “We bring offerings,” she added teasingly, knowing that the Mayor was beyond tired and probably had not left the house that day.

Blinking out the surprise, Regina only stepped back opening the door wider as she allowed the women inside. She should have known that the woman would muscle in trying to help, despite her insistence that she could handle Henry being ill on her own. Not even trying to muster up the scowl she had patented only for Snow, she followed the women to the kitchen, hiding the yawn that suddenly overtook her behind her hand.

“What are you doing?” Regina spoke after a minute passed in silence, watching the women put away the things that they had brought in. She realized that Snow hadn’t brought fruits and milk but also premade home meals, obviously wanting to ease the burden on the lone parent. Regina’s voice was not reproachful as she had intended, but with tired interest, as she watched the younger woman putter around her pristine kitchen, preparing to put on the kettle for tea.

Mary Margaret just glanced at her over her shoulder, her eyes gentling in compassion as she saw how tired the older brunette really looked. “Why don’t you grab a nap,” she said softly, changing her mind about reminding Regina about the promised drinks with Kathryn, “and we will take care of everything.” Including the blonde beside her with the glance, Snow leaned against the counter as she offered Regina a mug with freshly brewed tea. But, when the former Queen frowned at her, irritation obvious in the way her nostrils flared and her mouth flattened, Snow placed her hand on Regina’s forearm. “We can handle it for a couple of hours,” she whispered to the woman, her eyes imploring her to listen. The next step was to tell Regina that she looked haggard and that wouldn’t go well for either of them, and she wanted to avoid that. “I already took care of the dinner,” she offered hopefully, seeing reluctance in the dark eyes, and when Regina blinked slowly in surrender, it took everything out of the younger woman not to smile in victory, knowing it wouldn’t be received well.

“You take too much liberty, Snow,” Regina cautioned as her eyes focused on her former nemesis. She could and did understand the woman’s drive to take care of her family, but she had been independent for all the years in Storybrooke and some of the ones spent in the Enchanted Forest, and it was the independence that she had fought hard for – accepting help, even when it was warranted, was still hard for her, especially from the woman in front of her. Yes, she had called the goody two shoes to watch over the children, and Snow, as Henry’s grandmother, had some rights to it – but anything regarding her personally rubbed Regina uncomfortably. Particularly when Emma wasn’t there to play intermediary if things escalated. “I do not appreciate the intrusion, no matter how justified it may be. Keep that in mind, Snow.” The odd sharp tone she had spoken the name with made the pixie haired woman swallow, her nerves taut, as it reminded her of various instances the Evil Queen had addressed her with a sneer.

Seeing that she got her point across, Regina released the woman from her glare, and raised her mug slightly in recognition. “However, I think it can be forgiven this time, taking circumstances into account.” There was still a slight edge to her words but not as strong as before. Then, with a nod, she left the kitchen, walking upstairs to her room, stopping by Kyle’s bedroom on the way, checking on him. Seeing that the baby was still asleep, she stepped into her own room, closing the door behind her. With two subsequent motions of her hand she divested herself of her clothes and darkened the room, slipping under the duvet and sinking to sleep instantly, her mind too tired to fight the exhaustion.

She was woken up by a light tap at her door, soon after followed by Mary Margaret’s soft whispering voice, calling her to dinner. Having had a quick shower, she pulled her hair into a low ponytail, gathering it off her shoulders as she peeked into her son’s room, already hearing Kyle’s excited titter from downstairs. Regina found Henry sitting up in his bed, reading an Alex Rider novel.

“Oh, hey,” he greeted her with light excitement when he noticed her standing in the doorway. “Look what Kathryn’s gotten me,” he added, pulling himself into a more upright position, inviting his mother to sit by him.

Sliding in beside Henry, Regina leaned against the pillows, smiling at the boy, pleased to see him better and livelier than he had been several hours before – a true sign that his fever had gone. “I thought you were still reading Pullman?” she asked, noticing the last part of the Dark Materials lying on the cupboard beside his bed, on top of many comics they had bought the week before.

The green eyes connected shortly with the dark ones before fleeting away, as the boy closed the book in his hands, suddenly his excitement was gone. “Maybe when we bring Emma home,” he mumbled after several minutes of silence, Regina letting him answer in his own time. As soon as he mentioned his other mother, Regina understood the difficulty he was apparently having with the series – the different worlds and the characters’ inability to bridge them must have hit Henry strongly.

“Okay,” Regina murmured into his hair, feeling him relax as he realized that she wouldn’t ask him anything more or comment on his confession. “How are you feeling?” she asked instead.

“Did you know that Grams brought homework with her?” he said incredulously, pointing toward his working desk where new spreadsheets were placed. “Said, it was important to catch up before the holidays.”

“School is important, Henry,” the brunette spoke gently, looking at him with a gentle look in her eyes. “And, seeing that we would most likely leave during the break, she is right,” she reminded him as she touched his nose to emphasize her point.

“I know,” he said grudgingly, before he smiled at her. “You think we should buy her presents? To wait for her when we get back?” When she agreed with his idea, they spent several minutes thinking of the things they could get for the blonde. Although they knew that they most likely wouldn’t be at home for Christmas, Henry thought that it would be a nice gesture to welcome his mother home with presents already bought.

Several minutes later, Regina came down, finding the two women in the dining room, plates already set and meal served. She joined them, indulging in a quiet meal as she sat, enjoying how the silence was making the others squirm in their seats while they ate. Elegantly bringing her fork to her mouth, Regina smirked with superiority as her eyes connected with Snow’s, her regal upbringing more than evident, even after comparing it to the two princesses sitting beside her. It was petty in a way, but it still brought her slight joy to see Snow blink and fumble in self-consciousness, trying to dodge the haughty scrutiny as she turned to the tyke sitting in a high chair beside her, closer to his mother. At the same time, it served to remind her that Emma would not care about her table manners as long as she wasn’t being unnecessarily crude – the brunette had learned to find it charming. She understood where the blonde had been coming from, but she also admired the Sheriff’s refusal to conform.

She almost laughed at the collective sigh of relief when the dinner was finished and she rose from the table, taking the dishes to the kitchen. As others followed her, she accepted her role as a hostess and put on the water for tea, offering it to the women, aware that they probably should not drink caffeinated drinks. Gesturing to Mary Margaret that she would deal with the dishes later, Regina prepared the tea, giving Kathryn a light smile as she placed a mug of hot beverage in front of her on the counter. Striking up a conversation about their days, Regina deftly avoided answering questions about her feelings on Emma’s absence, wishing for a moment that the women before her were not pregnant so she could have plied them with alcohol in an effort to avoid the conversation. However, her respite came in the form of Kyle fussing in Snow’s arms, reaching out to her. And, in the appearance of her elder son who had come to take some juice.

Regina noticed him hovering by the kitchen doorway, unsure if he should interrupt them, but catching his mother’s eyes, he entered, going immediately to her side, greeting Kyle on the way. “Everything okay?” the brunette murmured as she felt him snuggle into her side. He nodded before he took a sip out of her mug, sighing in content as the fruit flavor of the tea reached his tongue. Regina did not mind him claiming her drink, and after two days of drinking health related beverages, she understood the need for something different – as it was most likely the reason why he had come down in the first place.

As the conversation slowly resumed, Mary Margaret asked Regina about Henry’s first days after the adoption. Only after the boy’s insistence did she deign to tell the story.

“When I brought you from Boston, you were sleeping, so peacefully,” she started, deciding to tell it to Henry, as if others weren’t there. So she leaned against the now cold stove, Kyle in her arm, his head lazily resting on her shoulder as he was soothed by her voice. Directing Henry to sit and drink the commandeered tea, she smiled as he leaned into Snow’s hold, his eyes glued to her face, entranced by her words. “I couldn’t understand how your mother could let go of you, but at the same time I was glad she did, for it gave me you. However, after several hours in my custody, you started crying, and you wouldn’t stop. I tried everything, the walking, the jostling, driving around with you in the car… I even went to Whale to see if something was medically wrong. As he couldn’t give me any real answers I ordered Sidney to find out about your mother – perhaps she had a condition and your crying was a symptom. I know now that it was a new mother paranoia syndrome, but then…” She smiled gently at her son, the love she felt for him evident in the caramel eyes. “I was used to losing things I loved, and I thought it was just another instance where fate was going to make me suffer.” For one short moment her eyes moved away from her son’s face to the woman holding him in gentle embrace, saddened green eyes meeting her. “It was Eugenia Lucas who actually offered me advice that actually helped. She told me to talk to you, tell you a story, so you would get used to my voice. So, I used what I knew and created a tale I used to tell you every night…” Her voice tapered off as she mused about the past. “Do you remember?” she asked Henry after a moment of silence.

“The Queen and her little prince,” the boy responded softly, his eyes widening as he consciously made the connection between the story and his life. The knowledge was always there, in the back of his mind, especially since the curse breaking, but he never really considered it until that very moment.

“Hmm,” Regina agreed quietly. “However, by the time I created the story, Sidney managed to track Emma down and I learned that she was Snow’s child that escaped the curse. She was the Savior. And, you were her son.”

“You knew?” Snow’s shocked gasp interrupted the older brunette in her telling, but with a pointed look toward her former nemesis, Regina continued.

“After several agonizing days of thinking, making decisions, changing my mind, and back again… I knew that I couldn’t keep you and constantly worry about the Savior coming for you, and me… So, I made a choice, one that I do not regret even after everything.” Shifting the sleeping kid into a more comfortable position, Regina looked at her son with affection, and stepped closer to him, her hand coming to his cheek. “I knew I wouldn’t be able to be a good mother to you with the knowledge I had, so I brewed a memory potion from the supplies I brought over.”

“You chose me over the curse?” Henry spoke amazed at the story his mother told him. It wasn’t a lie, he knew, and it made him feel loved even more.

“I will always choose you,” she replied softly, before she bent down and kissed his forehead.

“When did you remember?” Kathryn asked after a while, allowing a tender moment between the mother and the son.

Regina looked at the blonde and smiled, as she tried to remember the exact moment, but all she could come up with was the True Love’s Kiss she shared with her lover, because she had become aware of the particular memory after the manticore’s attack. She mentioned briefly, skimming over most details because Mary Margaret and Henry already knew the facts, but the boy was more troubled with them as he could have lost his mother that day.

Somehow, the conversation wound back to the children and babies, and Kathryn revealed that she was expecting a girl. Surprisingly, Henry joined in the conversation, entertaining the women with his opinions, bringing Ashley and Alex in the conversation, noting that all three of the royal women were having daughters for a first born. Then he turned toward his mother, his eyes calculating as his look encompassed the child in her arms. “After Emma is home, perhaps we could have a baby girl in this house?” he offered softly, not noticing the painful narrowing of Regina’s eyes. “You could give birth to her…” he added with a nod, pleased that he had thought of that. But, then he did notice a wince that passed over her face, making him frown as he didn’t understand what had happened.

“You want a sister, Henry?” Kathryn asked.

“Henry,” the brunette started as she saw her boy nod hesitantly, because she knew it wasn’t only the sister he wanted but for her to be her birth mother, providing a certain balance in the family. Not able to continue, she only shook her head in sadness. It was enough to make him drop the subject and leave the room dejectedly, not understanding why the topic was so painful for his mother.

He deliberately climbed the stairs and closed the door of his room, knowing that Regina would listen for the signs that he was away before continuing the conversation, most likely dissuading Snow from exploring the topic. Slowly he crept back, avoiding the creaky floorboards, leaning against the wall in the hallway beside the kitchen, right beside the doorway. He was glad that he had put on his robe over his pajamas, for standing there only in his PJs would make him more ill. So, with the skill born of many times eavesdropping on his parents, he listened in.

“He is right, you know,” Snow spoke after a while. “You could do it, be a mother…” she started but then she fumbled on the words, not knowing how to explain, and that pause in her speech made Regina furious.

The older woman leaned toward her former nemesis, her tone suddenly cold and harsh, but low, as she pinned Snow with her icy glare. “Are you suggesting that I am less of a mother because I didn’t give birth to my children?” She didn’t yell, not even raised her voice, but it dipped lower, making it all the more terrifying.

“Regina, no, I only meant that the experience is different.”

Pulling away from the aggravating woman, the former Queen tried to rein in her anger, knowing that Mary Margaret had not meant to insult her with her unwitting insinuation, but only made an unadvised comment, not fully realizing the issue. How could she, when she didn’t know… “Well, that may be, but it is one experience I will never have, at least not personally.” She did remember the pregnancy and birth of her son, Emma’s memories of that period quite vivid, and in many ways she was grateful for the opportunity to see it.

“There are ways, you know,” the pixie haired woman insisted, ignoring the warning hand landing over her forearm as Kathryn tried to stop her from making things worse. The blonde had seen the anger for what it was – the pain. However, the princess insisted. “The medicine of this world is astounding, Regina. It’s not too late.”

“I cannot!” The sharp explosion of the previously low voice startled the child in Regina’s hands and Kyle started wailing, afraid of the commotion. Turning away from the unrelenting woman to soothe him, Regina started whispering softly to her boy, her lips passing over his forehead, kissing him lightly. Her fingers passed gently through the blonde tresses of his hair, as she tried to calm her thundering heart. “Drop it, Snow,” she spoke slowly but empathically, as she shifted the boy to sit on the counter, too afraid that she would squeeze him if the younger woman kept pushing at it, and knowing Snow, she was nothing if not persistent.

“You have two beautiful children,” Kathryn interjected before her friend could speak another word. “And you are a wonderful mother. One should just look at how you treat Henry and Kyle and know that boys should be envied.” The clear blue eyes caught the dark ones as Kathryn smiled gently at the woman in front of her.

“I just thought that a child of your own would only make it better,” Snow could not but say it, reminding Regina of a petulant and spoiled child she had been once long before.

“The children that I have are my own, Snow. I would not love my own blood more than I love them.” Regina sighed before she looked at her former nemesis. “I cannot bear, Snow. Some things can never be cured, only healed.” The soft whisper of pain brought Mary Margaret to the day in the Enchanted Forest when Emma and David had forced her to listen to Regina tell her about her father, the king. In that moment Snow understood that the torture her former stepmother had endured under the hands of the man the little princess had cherished the most had been so much more horrendous than the woman had let on.

“Oh,” Snow gasped in horror, her face flooding with sympathy. Glancing toward the blonde, she saw the grim but knowing expression on her face, as if it had been something that Kathryn had expected to hear. Had everyone known her father as a monster, but her? No wonder Regina had relished calling her an idiot… “Is that why you adopted Henry? Because you couldn’t conceive?”

Regina had to roll her eyes at the woman. It would appear that Miss Swan’s denseness was not inherited only from David. “No, it was during the curse, we were in a time loop,” she mentioned slowly as if speaking to a child, before she chuckled with a sneer. “Have you forgotten your perpetually eight month pregnant friend?”

“Right.”

“Well, it was a lovely evening,” the blonde spoke again after a terse silence, the dryness of her tone making Regina chuckle again, but this time it was warm and friendly as she glanced toward the DA rising from the chair. “But, I think it is time for us to go home, Mary Margaret, and leave Regina be.”

Not able to think of a reason not to, and afraid that she might say something more to hurt the owner of the house, Mary Margaret kept her silence, only nodding in assent as she too rose from her seat and followed the lawyer to the foyer. Realizing that Kathryn wanted to say something to Regina in privacy, the pixie haired woman mumbled her apologies and goodbyes before leaving the house and rushing toward the station wagon parked in front of the front gate of the mansion.

“Despite the last topic, I enjoyed this…” Kathryn said softly, as she put on her coat. “Do you think we could repeat it?” At Regina’s raised eyebrow in incredulity, she snorted, shaking her head, fixing her collar. “Perhaps, not a repeat of this, but have another meal together?”

“I would like that, too,” Regina offered with a timid smile, touched that the blonde still wished to be her friend.

“Well, then. Good night, Regina.” Patting the brunette’s upper arm, Kathryn inclined her head in parting, before stepping out onto the porch. With the last glance toward the Mayor, the blonde put on her hat and gloves and walked away, her steps careful over the path leading toward the street and to the car, where Mary Margaret already waited.

Closing the door, Regina shook her head in gentle incredulity at the women who had just vacated her home, sighing as she turned to the inner space of her house. Right at the top of the foyer, she found her son, his green eyes looking at her with an oddly sad expression. But, the next moment the sadness was gone as it was never there and he smiled at her. “I am hungry,” he said, answering her silent regard.

In truth, he couldn’t even try to sneak upstairs so he had just walked up to her, hoping to distract her with a newly reawakened appetite. As she climbed the three steps of the foyer and placed her arm around his shoulders, kissing his forehead with affection he surrendered to her guidance, knowing that she would not deny him food, not after two days of eating barely anything. So, settling himself in one of the chairs left behind by the two women, he liberated his brother out of her arms and watched her whip up a quick meal for him and Kyle, engaging her in talk about their plans for the weekend, putting out the things he had heard out of his mind – trying to forget them. 

* * *

“Hey, you busy?” The blonde head popped in through the somewhat ajar door, glancing at the studious Mayor at her desk. Kathryn had a suspicion that this was where she would the former Evil Queen, given that the woman had missed several days of work in the office, and despite it being Saturday, Regina was nothing if not conscientious official, especially after the curse had been broken, her judicially trained mind saving the town from the notice of the government of this world. 

“Nothing that cannot wait several minutes,” Regina replied as she motioned Kathryn in, placing down the paper that had held her attention at the moment the blonde had knocked. She waited for the other woman to settle into the chair in front of her desk before curving her eyebrow in question, intertwining her fingers at the desk.

“Who do you plan to be at the Sheriff’s office after you leave?” the DA asked without preamble, leaning back in the chair.

It was something that Regina had considered, still smarting over the argument she had had with Neal over it the evening before. It had been the first time they both raised their voices since their truce, and it had unsettled her, even though she had pretended that it hadn’t, not willing to give the satisfaction to her half-brother.

_ “You cannot be serious!” Neal slammed down the glass he had been drinking from, the sharp liquid spilling over the rim onto the desk, the moment she had informed him of the plan. “You are not seriously considering leaving behind, Regina,” he spoke through his teeth, as he stepped closer to her, his posture threatening as his anger colored his face. _

_ “You are the only one I trust to stay in the office. I cannot leave the town without the two key members of its governing body.” Regina’s placating tone did nothing for the man’s fury as he growled at her. With a warning glance she cautioned him to lower his voice as he would wake the children. _

_ “Fuck the town, Regina. They all can go to hell, for all I care!” His dark eyes burned while he clenched his jaw in an effort to control himself. Rubbing his face in frustration he spun on his feet and started pacing the length of the study. “You said yourself, you don’t know when you are coming back, and you will be taking Henry and Kyle with you.” He then walked up to her, not caring that she was leaning against the desk and point his forefinger at her chest. “I am part of this family, too,” he whispered, all the anger and pain rolled into the cracking voice as he spoke. _

_ It was the burning look he directed at her that finally convinced her that she had no right to leave him behind. As he said, he was part of their family, and he belonged with them, regardless of her personal feelings. And, she would need to figure out the other arrangements… So, she nodded at him, conceding the point, noting that the simple gesture from her brought a relaxation in his posture as he sighed in relief. _

“I don’t know,” Regina answered honestly.

“I ask because Jim offered, along with two more knights, one from Snow’s court and the other from your own.”

“Really?” the Mayor asked with her eyebrows lifted in surprise. Having gotten the confirmation from the blonde, she nodded in acquiesce, knowing that she didn’t have much of a choice. “Provided they can work together and submit themselves to the training instituted by David and Neal, I see no problem in temporarily assigning them the post.” Then Regina tilted her head in interest. “I thought your husband was happy with his employment at school?”

“Oh, he is,” Kathryn replied quickly with a smile. “He feels like he owes David for saving his life and is willing to offer his services until Emma, and David, are returned to the office.”

Pleased with the explanation, Regina allowed the lawyer to divert the conversation to Henry, asking her where he was that fine morning. “He is with his grandmother, taking a walk – to clear his lungs, he said. I think they are at the beach right now.”

In that very moment Regina winced as she felt a strange pulse of oddly familiar magic radiate through the town. As soon as the first wave of it passed, the cell phone in front of her started ringing, the number of the convent flashing on the screen. “This can’t be a coincidence,” Regina murmured as she picked up the phone and answered it. “Blue?”

“Someone breached the barrier, but I cannot sense from where,” the Mother Superior spoke frantically as she stepped hurriedly through the abbey on the grounds, her heels clicking off the stone covered floor. “You might have more luck.” Breaking off the connection without delay, Regina focused onto the barrier, pulling her magic to guide her toward the intruder, but she was interrupted by a familiar ringtone of her cell.

Grabbing for it, Regina did not even murmur in dissent at the interlude, her son’s safety the paramount. “What?”

“I think you should come to the beach by the docks. A friend showed up.” Snow’s cryptic answer caused Regina to frown. “The mermaid friend,” the younger woman stressed, needing Regina to remember before coming down.

“That fish is still alive?” the Mayor gasped in understanding. However, it did not explain how the girl was able to penetrate the wards. “What does she want?”

“Apparently, she is on her mission to find Prince Eric, and with the Savior’s blessing.” Waiting a moment for Regina to grasp the situation, Snow continued. “And the Savior had given her something to pass on to Henry’s mother.”

If Emma really had had her hand in this, then that would be a plausible explanation as to how the mermaid had managed to enter the town, and it would also explain the familiar feel to the magic. She had forgotten about their ability to travel through realms connected by the magical waters of the Endless Sea, but, it would seem that Emma hadn’t, using Snow’s once friend to pass on a message. Quite ingenious, Regina had to admit, because Emma had realized that addressing Regina as the Queen, or by her name would make the mermaid balk from her task – however, stating that she needed something delivered to the other mother of her son… It played on the sympathy of romantic hearts. “I will be there shortly,” she murmured into the phone before she broke the connection, and with a glance at Kathryn, she silently asked her to watch Kyle, currently playing in his pen in the corner.

“Go, we’ll be fine,” Kathryn replied sensing the urgency in her moves, shooing the woman off. And, with a smile she watched the brunette’s magic envelop her in the purple cloud before taking her away.


	17. Chapter 17

The sound of the waves lapping up the sandy part of the shore was a soothing background noise, as Snow listened to her grandson tell her about the new book he had read during his brief bed rest. Smiling at the exuberant boy bundled in the winter clothes, his face and neck protected from the sharp and damp breeze coming from the sea with his trademark striped scarf while his head was covered with a hand knitted beanie she had made for him, having given it to him that very morning, Snow carefully guided them over the dry patch of the beach, enjoying their walk.

It had taken some convincing, but the pixie haired woman had managed to persuade the Mayor to let the preteen spend some time with his grandmother, taking a long stroll by the sea before going back to Regina’s office. As Henry had finished all the assignments the night before, working diligently as he had been recovering, he had nothing to do for this beautiful Saturday morning, and when his mother had deemed him healthy enough to leave the house, he and Snow had asked for time together, making plans to join Regina and Kyle for lunch that would be delivered to the Mayor’s office by the illustrious interim Sheriff, namely her husband.

“So, what is on your mind?” Snow asked the boy after a lull in his storytelling. As he looked up at her with a frown on his face, she chuckled softly before checking him with her shoulder teasingly. “What is it?” she added gently, placing her glove covered palm onto his shoulder. She could see a shadow lurking in his eyes, but with everything that had been going on, she could not even try to guess what might have been troubling him, as there were plenty of things to choose from, one of which was the absence of his blonde mother.

“Nothing,” he replied all too quickly, before stuffing his hands into his coat, his stride just a bit longer, as he moved in front of her, effectively avoiding the question.

“Henry,” she called after him as she watched him stop several steps ahead. “Henry, what is going on?” But as the boy stayed silent, Mary Margaret placed her arm around his hunched shoulders, pulling him into her side in comfort, keeping her quiet, as she looked into his face. However, before she could ask him again, or tell him that she would listen to whatever he had to say, his eyes focused onto something far away, stepping forward to the water.

“What is that?” he asked, his arm extended toward the high seas where a tiny dot flickered in the wet winter air. As the woman directed her eyes to where he was pointing, she gasped in surprise. It seemed like the very air had become visible for several seconds, the bluish barrier shimmering with a golden glow as the dot in the distance turned into a head, then into a person battling with the waves. And, Mary Margaret realized that she knew the person in the sea water, her second gasp much louder than the first.

“Go to my wagon and bring a blanket,” she spoke urgently to Henry, giving him the keys as she walked down the beach. She didn’t even look to see if he had complied, stunned over the appearance of her once friend, now walking toward her with a gentle smile on her face. “Ariel,” Snow spoke softly, still not believing that the red head was standing before her, shivering in the cold air of Maine winter, her hair dark and waterlogged, covering her in ways her skimpy shell cover barely could.

“Snow,” the young woman gasped in relief as she stumbled onto the sand, her skin already turning blue from the exposure to the sharp cold. Luckily, Henry had understood the urgency of the moment and had rushed to the car, taking not only the blanket from the back, but also Mary Margaret’s spare coat. However, the minute he stopped in front of the barely covered woman he froze, not knowing what to do. It was his grandmother that liberated him of his state of flabbergasting blankness, as she covered her otherworldly friend. “Isn’t it just fate that you are the first person I have seen?” Ariel said after she was properly wrapped into the blanket and the coat. At Snow’s blank look, the mermaid smiled and nodded to herself. “You have a very kind daughter, Snow. You should be proud.”

“You’ve seen Ma?” Henry spoke immediately, not able to restrain himself from jumping in.

“You must be Henry then?” the mermaid spoke with understanding as she focused on the boy, her keen eyes seeing the familial similarities, only confirmed with his suddenly gleeful expression on his face, followed by a rushed nod. The woman smiled at him and inclined her head in answer, before her eyes went to Snow, taking in the friend she had met a long time before, in another world, who now was kneeling before her, worried countenance too obvious on the fair features. “Your daughter made me a promise that if I helped her, she would direct me to Eric,” the outsider said, a small smile pulling at her lips as she spoke her love’s name, as her right hand absently passed over the chains of the bracelet on the left. “She wanted to give this,” the red haired woman suddenly spoke as if she had forgotten her obligation for a moment, her hand reaching for the leather strap on her shoulder, and offering the bag to the other woman, “to the woman she named Henry’s mother and that you would know who it is.” Then the woman frowned, her hand still clutched around the leather, suspicious look passing over her face. But, only a second after it was gone and she released her hold over the bag, trusting Snow. After all, the princess had never done anything to warrant mistrust, for it had been her that inadvertently betrayed Snow to the Evil Queen masquerading as Ursula the Sea Witch. However, she did not miss the slight tightening of the pixie haired woman’s mouth, as if she was expecting trouble, Emma’s warning not to disturb the status of affairs in the town coming to her mind. “So, who is it?” she added lightly, aware of the cautious look that Snow directed at the boy.

“She is the…” Henry started, before a tight grip on his shoulder stopped him, his grandmother’s silent admonishment quite obvious in her eyes, but before he could sulkily comment that he was only to say mayor, not anything else, Snow whipped up her phone and selecting the very familiar number from her call history, she gestured to him to stay put.

“I am going to talk to her right now,” the princess spoke as she waited for Regina to pick up, noting the mermaid eyeing the phone with interest. “Henry can explain how the phones work,” she added, her eyes connecting with the boy’s before she stepped away, needing the privacy for this call. As soon as the call was connected she was greeted with a rather brusque ‘What?’, but she didn’t take it personally, knowing enough of magic and the barrier to know that Regina and Blue would be trying to find the source of the disturbance. In truth, she had needed an explanation from Astrid on how the whole system worked, but the kind fairy had indeed helped her understand the practical aspects of the protection spell. Quickly, she relayed the message, and not more than five seconds since the end of the call passed before a trademark mist appeared only steps away, consolidating into the Mayor of the town.

No words were necessary as the dark eyes met the concerned green ones, a silent promise of peaceful approach evident in Regina’s features, as the brunette took in their guest, not blind to the still visible shiver of the girl, unused to the chill of the air. At the notice of how cold the newcomer seemed to be, the Mayor herself shivered, having forgotten to take her coat with her in her rush to get there. With simple thought and a hand move, both she and Ariel were dressed warmly, Regina wearing her dark coat and the redhead wearing clothes of this realm, keeping her suitably warm and her moves unrestricted. After that show of magic, smirking lightly at the surprised gasp from the girl and the knowing chuckle of her son, Regina stepped toward the guest, moving into Ariel’s line of sight, her hands in front of her in a universal sign of non-violence.

“You,” the mermaid screeched as soon as she realized who the woman in front of her was, rising from her perch, unconsciously backing away from the sorceress, pulling the boy along with her. But then the boy shook the firm grip off, his hand clutching her own in a brief gesture of reassurance, before he walked toward the other woman, his face showing his unrestrained smile as he stopped in front of her. Ariel watched the gentleness the woman placed into the greeting touch on his chin, bringing his face up to meet hers. It was a move only someone with great care would bestow on another, and a move she had seen mothers use on their children. “You?” Ariel spoke again, this time her voice portraying the bewildering confusion as she saw Henry lean in into her touch. “You are the Knight’s True Love?” The disbelieving question was filled with suspicion, as the blue eyes darted toward Snow, then back to the former Evil Queen. However, after a moment, it made sense. “Ah,” the young woman snorted as she realized that the Savior had known all along how she would react to the Queen’s appearance.

“She said Emma had something for you,” Henry added impatiently after several seconds of tense silence, eyeing the bag beside the red head’s feet, growing tired of waiting for his mother to respond to the mermaid’s words. But, when she shushed him, pushing him lightly toward his grandmother several steps to a side from them, he complained with a whiny ‘Mom’ that did nothing to deter Regina from sending him away.

“It came as a surprise to me, as well,” Regina spoke softly as she came closer to the other woman, careful not to let her disdain of discussing private things with a stranger be shown on her face, maintaining her unthreatening appearance. Her eyes were no longer focused on the beautiful and young features of the sea creature but onto the leather bag on the sand. The brunette could feel the magic coming of it, its familiar tones quite soothing for her, pleased beyond any measure that her Savior had figured a way to send across a message. It did not matter what it said, it was something of hers, something that managed to make the time still needed for the beans not seem that long. Who knew that something so trivial, a simple traveler’s bag, could bring so much comfort?

Without much thought, the Mayor summoned the bag into her hands, disregarding the wet sand sticking to it, as she let her fingers trace over the closed seams, smiling at the apparent magic keeping the insides intact. “How is she?” Regina asked, her eyes rising up, once more seeing the former mermaid before her.

Seeing the blistering eagerness to hear about the Savior out of the dark eyes she had seen glow only with hate and malice before, told Ariel that the woman in front of her was indeed Emma Swan’s True Love, and that the Evil Queen was no more. The impossible had happened, and the White Princess and the Queen are family again, although through different means, the mermaid thought to herself, recalling the concern on Snow’s face from the minutes before. It had not been for Ariel, but for Regina. Snow had been afraid of her reaction, afraid she would do something to Henry’s mother. It seemed ridiculous to even consider that the mighty sorceress such as Regina would ever suffer an injury from her, but then she noted the careful stance and unexpected patience in the woman. Yes, she understood at last, she could hurt Regina, with her words… So, with her promise to the Savior in mind, Ariel relaxed, her hand idly passing over the blue stones in her brace.

“She was…” the mermaid started, thinking back to her last meeting with the Savior. Looking at the Queen and her fingers still gently gliding over the enchanted leather, no doubt feeling the remnants of the magic the Savior had casted over it, Ariel realized that she did not want to bring pain to this woman before her, despite all the trouble Regina had left her with. And, if she spoke the truth about the Savior, about how the blonde woman had looked during their meetings, it would only make the Queen worry too much for her loved one, but at the same time she could never lie and the skilled manipulator such as the former Evil Queen would be able to spot the fabrication miles away. With a heavy sigh, the sea princess came closer to the Queen, suddenly not afraid of the woman, but feeling strangely sympathetic toward her – the separation from the True Love always did move her. “There is a lot going on in the Enchanted Forest, and I think she is dealing with it admirably…”

“What?” Regina interrupted, looking at the redhead quizzically, pressing the bag to her chest, a move that was undoubtedly unconscious, but that much telling. “What is she dealing with?”

“Well, there is a war, and Midas is collaborating with the Witch, and the Trolls and Ogres are with them, along with pirates. Well, not anymore, ‘cause we destroyed them, but still, she is going against the great odds…” the mermaid started rambling, her voice getting higher, as she was getting more flustered under the steely gaze of the Mayor.

“Wait, did you just say war?” Snow spoke before Regina could, stopping Ariel’s explanation. “You need to start from the beginning.”

“There is not much I can tell you, Snow. I only know that Emma came to me with the promise of Eric’s whereabouts and a peace treaty for my people if I convinced my kin to help against pirates.” Then the redhead gestured toward the bag Regina was still clutching hard against her chest. “I think she may have explained everything in the message she had me deliver.”

At those words, Regina snapped out of her angry and disbelieving stupor, opening the bag, tearing through the protective enchantments instantly and unearthing two leather-bound notebooks, an etched number two on one of them. Opening the other one, she gasped at the sight of very familiar untidy handwriting, addressing her. Skimming through the several pages, Regina realized that the books were diaries, with some parts written as annals of the time Emma had spent away from her family, and by the several glimpses she had, it had been very hard on her. Closing the notebook with a decisive snap, she closed her eyes, pushing the tears that suddenly welled up back, refusing to let them fall. Then, after a steadying breath, she put the books back into the bag, her moves jerky but peculiarly gentle, as if she was handling an extremely sensitive material. Not looking at the mermaid, the brunette took another deep breath, before she focused on something she had set out to investigate at first. “She granted you passage through the barrier?” she asked, her voice stilted.

“Yes, she,” Ariel started softly, as her fingers started tracing the brace again, counting the stones, a comforting action she was suddenly developing. Then she extended her left arm, showing it to Regina, pulling the sleeve up, uncovering the twined metal entirely. “She made this for me. Said it should get me through any enchantment over the town.” She did not flinch when the brunette grasped her wrist firmly, albeit carefully not to hurt her, examining the workmanship.

“She made this?” Regina whispered with awe, feeling the tenets of Emma’s magic, much more powerful than on the bag, and in the bracelet it felt different, extraordinary more potent and altered, but it still was recognizable, despite all the changes. The sorceress could feel the several enchantments woven into the very atoms of the brace, making the spells all the more durable and infallible, the skill and ingenuity of the process amazing the woman. But, what brought a soft smile to Regina’s lips was the constellation of the aquamarines arranged into a recognizable shape. “A swan?” she said, unaware that she had actually spoken aloud, her voice sounding far away as she traced the stones with her finger.

“She said, it would be a proof that she sent me,” the mermaid replied, slowly extricating her limb out of the Queen’s grasp, and stuffing both of her hands into the pockets of her newly acquired coat. “May I..” Ariel spoke with a tremble in her voice, her eyes darting between her friend and her once enemy. “May I go now?”

Receiving only a nod from Snow, the mermaid slowly walked away from them, almost afraid that the Queen would snap out of whatever trance she was in and hold her back. But, as she reached the docks, she stopped, not knowing where to go. No one was around to ask about Eric, and wandering around with no direction didn’t seem like a good plan either. However, she was spared the humiliation of returning to the Queen and asking for help as the boy, Emma’s son, approached her slowly with a piece of paper in his hand.

“Henry?” she beckoned him to come closer as she reached for the note he offered to her. “What is this?” Reading the several words on the note, she realized it was a short missive from Regina to someone named Mrs. Lucas, but she did not understand what it meant.

“Mom said that the fishermen are out to the sea for a couple of days and that Eric, as their captain, is with them and will only return tomorrow afternoon.” The boy spoke quickly, itching to go back to his mother and see the diaries. “So, you should go to the Bed and Breakfast Granny has, and rent a room. That paper would tell Granny to give it for free.” Having given the thorough explanation on how to get to the diner to the guest, Henry smiled widely at Ariel waving at her before he turned around and ran to the two women waiting for him only a couple hundred yards away.

“Well, that was a surprise,” Mary Margaret said softly as she watched Henry rush away with the message. Glancing toward Regina, she saw her place the newly conjured pen into the coat pocket, her eyes following her son’s advance.

“Was it?” Despite the softness of the Mayor’s voice, Mary Margaret could notice the slight tremble of it, belying the calm Regina was so desperate to project. Now turning to face the woman completely, the teacher saw the glazy faraway look in the dark eyes, worry and elation mixing in a confusing blend. But, after a visible effort spent to compose herself and pull herself to present, Regina looked at Snow, her eyebrow arching in question, still waiting for an answer.

“No, not really. She brought news of Emma, and from her. Of course you would treat her well. And, I think Granny would be good for her, until she finally gets to Eric. But, what I really meant, it was a surprise to see her here.”

“She does have a way of surprising people,” the older brunette spoke softly with a smile, and by the loving quirk of Regina’s lips, Mary Margaret knew that her companion was not speaking of the mermaid. “As soon as Henry gets back, take him home. I will join you shortly, after I pick up Kyle and close the office.”

“You want me to call David too?”

“Not just yet. But he can come after work.” Looking down at the bag, Regina frowned. “She sent this here for a reason, and I cannot help but…” Shaking her head, she looked up to see Henry hurriedly walking up to them, deciding to put away her worries just for a while longer. “Honey, I need to go back to the office, but I will meet you shortly, okay?” she spoke to her son, her fingers gently cupping his chin. Offering him a tremulous smile she disappeared, taking the books with her.

“We’re going home?” Henry murmured questioningly as he came closer to his grandmother.

Not wasting any time on verbal response that might only inspire more questions, Mary Margaret only nodded, leading them back to her car, ushering the boy onto the front seat quickly and driving toward the Mifflin street in silence. She had been surprised with Regina’s decision to have her there while she would read the diaries, expecting the Mayor to shut in and only call them if she had something pertinent. This only spoke of Regina evolving and accepting Snow and David as part of her family. Just as she pulled up in front of the mansion, she called her husband and explained the situation to him in short points, telling him to come over and bring some take out for lunch. Timidly, she added a small request to him, asking if he could spare Neal in the afternoon and bring him along as well. She did so without Regina’s approval but she did not think the woman would mind too much.

With the boy in front of her letting them in, Snow quickly divested herself of her jacket and shoes, leaving Henry to deal with his sand covered ankle high sneakers and wet laces, as she walked into the kitchen, her mind already set on making hot chocolate and coffee, needing something to do with her hands. Henry, the smart boy as he was, did not need any prompting to go upstairs and change into a warm cotton sweat suit, afterwards settling on one of the stools in the kitchen, waiting for his mother to come home, sipping the sweet drink his grandma had made.

Not long after, the front door opened and the awaited brunette strolled in, carrying Kyle on her hip, the bag with his things hanging off her shoulder, while her briefcase, bag and the satchel Ariel had brought over thrown over the other. “Little help,” she asked of Henry gently, seeing him slide into the foyer at the sound of the door opening. She gave him her burden from the shoulder, holding on to the toddler in her arms. “Take it all into the study, and ask Snow to start the fire, will you? Considering we will spend most of our day in there.” Although she had spoken to Henry, her eyes glided off him, connecting with the younger woman’s leaning against the wall leading deeper into the house, receiving a nod of acknowledgement in return. “I need to change him, but we’ll be right down.” In quick strides, the Mayor climbed the stairs, leaving them to their assignments. The pixie haired woman quickly found a serving platter, filling it with refilled Henry’s and hers chocolate, along with a pot and cups for tea, and brought it into the study, using the side door. Then she crouched in front of the fireplace, her woodsy skills coming very handy at that moment, the roaring blaze catching on swiftly, warming up the room rather quickly. Placing the metal guard in front of the fire, she looked up as she heard Henry murmur in surprise.

“There is nothing here,” he spoke as he leafed through the two diaries, finding only empty pages.

“Henry,” the reprimand came, not from his grandmother who had stood up, dusting off her hands, but from his mother, strolling into her office with purpose, with the baby in her arms. “What did I tell you about snooping?” Her voice was not harsh, nor threatening, but holding enough disappointment to make the boy shrug uncomfortably and blush in shame, as he stepped away from the diaries. “One of these days, your curiosity will lead you in a situation you won’t be able to escape from,” she added softly, her fear of his recklessness visible in her eyes.

“I didn’t mean,” he started but this time it was Snow that interrupted, taking Kyle out of Regina’s hands and placing herself on the black leather couch by the door.

“You never do, but it does not change the fact that your prying into things that are too dangerous might kill you.”

“Remember the first time you snuck off to my vault? If I hadn’t called David to see what you were up to, and if he had not made it in time, those snakes would have killed you.” Regina’s insistent stare forced a nod out of the boy, while Mary Margaret shifted on the couch.

“Snakes?” she inquired with a frown on her face.

“Vipers,” Regina replied absently, walking around the desk, and seating herself into the chair, pulling the diaries toward her.

“Vipers?” Snow mumbled, confused for a second before her face cleared into a dangerously angry expression. “You kept them?!”

“Focus, Snow. That is not important now.” Regina glanced over to the fuming younger woman pleased to see the former enemy sigh in acquiesce, and opened the first diary, her fingers crossing over the first page, seeing symbols carefully written into a circular pattern. “Hmm,” she murmured, tracing the letters of a magical language, forming an intricate concealing spell. “Ingenious,” she spoke softly with pride, as she invited Henry into her side, one arm going around his middle, holding him close. “She used an old language the magical practitioners call Elvish to place a very complicated enchantment that made the contents invisible to anyone. But, what I don’t know is how did she key it up to me?” She explained to him, her voice tapering off in wonder at the end.

“Elvish?” Henry exclaimed in excitement, almost not hearing the words following afterwards. “There are Elves there?”

“Hmm, no, there aren’t. If they had been, they are long gone now because there aren’t even the myths of their existence.” As his crumbling excitement left a trace on him, Regina guided his head toward her shoulder, moving his hair out of his face. “For some reason, the mages of old decided to call the language Elvish, perhaps needing something to make it distinctive. Only the most powerful sorcerers can read and write it, while the others use a simplified form called the half-Elvish, as it is much easier to use.”

“And Emma used it?” Henry prompted after several moments lapsing in silence as the woman examined the page, the intricacy of the spell drawing her interest.

“Indeed,” Regina replied softly. “Which means that only I can read the notebooks, for some reason. Perhaps there are some secrets that others cannot know, or she simply had shared something deeply personal…” She looked up into her son’s expectant face, and tapped his nose with her forefinger. “Nevertheless, even if she had not placed such charm over them, you shouldn’t have opened them, Henry. You heard Ariel, she meant those for me, and me alone. You are old enough to know that you should respect other people's privacy, even if it was your mother’s.” Although her tone was not showing much of the rebuke, Henry knew that she was making a valid point, still feeling the lingering sense of shame for not being able to hold off his need to find out about Emma.

“But, you will tell me, right?” He asked tremulously, meeting her eyes. “You’ll tell me the news about her?”

“Of course, Henry.” Having that reassurance, the boy smiled to his mother and after one last look toward the seemingly empty pages he stepped away, joining Snow and Kyle on the couch, taking his mug of chocolate. His gesture spoke a multitude of things, but one that Regina could really be grateful for was the space he had given her, trusting her to share what she learned afterwards. And, with silence falling on the room, Regina delved into the written words flowing over the pages.

Apart from the careful script of the enchantment, the first pages held nothing but the random notations and observations about Rumplestiltskin’s library, the title the Trolls had bestowed on her, and many other seemingly nonsensical things. Page after page, the untidy scrawl of a hand unused to writing with quills and ink, or coal sticks, contained snippets of Emma’s days, with her commentary following the events. But, as Regina went deeper into the book, the short observations gave way to more personal notations, speaking of Emma’s thoughts born in the early hours of the morning after reading one volume or the other, her ways of dealing with nightmares, learning to ride horses and feeling the freedom in the pushing air around her… Studying with Rumplestiltskin and engaging in many philosophical debates with him… The brunette would randomly chuckle or sigh with sadness, wishing that she had been there to share those moments with the Sheriff, examining the sketch of the arches for the portal, admiring the detailed work up Emma had done beforehand, until one word captured Regina’s attention. Army. A very thorough account of the first sighting of the unknown army flowed on the pages of the notebook, followed by the hasty scribbles detailing the advance of the people observed from the cliff along with the progress of the carving in the cave. The account she was reading in itself would have not been troubling if not for Emma’s sense of foreboding, permeating the very pages Regina was reading.

Hour after hour, Regina read the accounts of the blonde, quite often shaking her head at the deeds the Sheriff had described and the ideas she had implemented, and many of the ones she had just thought of – mindfully keeping her reactions of incredulity and fear to herself as much as she could, the capturing text not too involving for her to forget that she was not alone in the study. Well, until she had read about the Savior’s contemplations on Marbh Teine. “Oh, you idiot,” she murmured with exasperation, her fingers twitching in desire to chastise the blonde for her daring nature. But, with every further word, she grew more and more anxious, her irritation and frustration apparent in her harshly mumbled words. Not able to stop, nor to respond to the questioning gazes she had felt intermittently on her face, the Mayor avidly continued to read, her eyes passionately darting over the pages, flying with need to reach the end of the story without missing anything. As she finished with the first volume, she realized that she was alone in the room, lunchtime come and gone for a while now, but there was a still steeping mug of coffee beside her. Deciding to take a break, she pushed away from the desk, wincing at the stiffness in her neck and back, using the warmth of the mug to heat up her fingers. At the same time she became aware of the tears slowly gliding down her face and dropping off to her lap, the last entry of the book devastating her on so many levels.

A soft knock came from the side door across from the kitchen and without waiting for her response it opened and a dark head, slightly peppered with grays, peeked in, the dark eyes meeting her own in question. But as soon as he saw the translucent tracks the tears had left behind, Neal stepped in without the invitation, rushing toward his sister and crouching before her, he took one of her hands.

“What is it? What happened?” he asked as his eyes darted toward the book, still open on the last page. However, he did not show confusion at the apparent emptiness of the yellowish paper, which told Regina that he had already been informed about that particular effect. “Regina?” he nudged her softly as she had failed to respond.

“She is caught up in the war Midas is apparently instigating, determined to march on the people of the Safe Haven,” the woman replied, her voice cracking, but not all of it was from the misuse. He could hear a multitude of emotions in the words she had spoken, and those clued him into the dangers Emma was seemingly in, much more than the words Regina had said. “But, I only read the first one.”

“It is a good place to stop,” he said gently after some time, not knowing what else to do to console the former Queen, rising to his feet and pulling her up, as well. He understood the implications perfectly, as he had been in the Enchanted Forest during the Ogre Wars. He knew the dangers, the sorrows, the pain such times brought forth and he knew that Emma was there, facing them head on, as the stubborn Savior would, away from her family and alone. “It is time to eat, anyways.” But before Regina could scoff at him at his demeanor, he clasped his hand around her upper arm, turning her toward him, mindful not to hurt her. “There is nothing I can do from here, or you for that matter. The only thing I can think of is to feed you, make you move around a bit and take some rest, while you fill the others, who are starting to freak out slightly, by the way, in on some things that had happened since we left the Enchanted Forest.” As his dark eyes implored her not to countermand his formulation and say that they had left Emma, Neal continued. “And, afterwards, you can start with the second book and find out what happens next.”

“You’re right,” she agreed, almost involuntary and chuckling at his more than exaggerated expression of surprise at her words she looked up into his concerned and troubled face, recognizing that not all of his worry was for the blonde they loved. “Thank you,” she added softly as she placed her hand over his, still gripping her arm, greatly touched even by the small display of concern he was showing her still. He nodded and slowly, and awkwardly, he pulled the regal woman into a hug, ignoring the stiffened muscles he encountered at the move. Not moving away he waited, hoping that she would accept this little he could do for her, and only several seconds filled with tense silence later, Regina did relax a bit in his hold, a shuddering breath leaving her as she allowed him to pull her closer, followed by another and yet another until the brunette closed her eyes and fought to regain her composure. Moments later she patted Neal’s shoulder gently in a silent demand to release her, as she straightened out.

“Better?” her kin asked softly as he looked into her face, offering her a paper tissue.

Accepting the tissue and wiping the remnants of her tears, Regina considered the man before her as she nodded lightly. The woman she had been a year before, even a month before would never have let him see her cry, or offer her comfort, but the Regina she was now apparently accepted this man as part of her family, trusting him not to abuse the privilege.

That though made her blink. She trusted him, as much as she trusted anyone, excluding Emma.

After she checked her appearance in the small mirror hanging on the wall by the door, satisfied that she had left few traces of her emotional upheaval and gesturing to Neal to lead the way she followed him out. Walking toward the dining room, stepping behind her older brother, her actions automatic while her mind turned toward all the things she had read so far. Not really focusing on the current events and Emma’s depiction of them, as the knowledge of them seemed to be seared into her brain after learning about them, Regina thought about the very style the blonde had used to pen things down – at first, stilted and awkward, written by an unpracticed hand, but later on, the handwriting improved, becoming more fluent. Not only had that changed, Regina had noted while she had been reading. Emma’s way of putting her emotions and thoughts in words matured as well – the short bland remarks by the end of the volume one had been turned into long detailed passages bearing so much of Emma’s emotional state while the blonde had written those words, bravely speaking of her dreams, thoughts, ideas, plans for the future… But perhaps the most surprising thing for the brunette was the fact that she had read Emma’s accounts of her feelings, delving into the tenets of her emotional states in manners she could not really associate with her closed-off Sheriff, who had still retained some of her distance despite her personal growth in the last two years. However, the reason for newly discovered emotional openness had been explained in the last lines written in the notebook. Emma had tried to put everything into the diary, everything that ordinarily Regina would have gotten from the link they both shared, as it was the Savior’s way of keeping her close.

Only when she felt David gently guide her to the head of the table Regina was brought to present, blinking at the sheer amount of food on the table. It seemed like Snow had once again overtaken her home to play hostess, irking her for some reason. But, as she heard Henry’s excited chatter as he was telling Neal about Ariel and Mary Margaret’s softly spoken reminder to use the napkins, Regina suddenly became overwhelmed by the suffusing sense of warmth and acceptance that engulfed her at the homely and familial scene she was being part of, instantly forgetting all the reasons or thoughts she might have had to ruin this gathering.

It would still hit her at times that she is no longer alone, and that now she was loved, and part of a group she could not but not call her family. After so many years spent in darkness inducing fury and later, in cold resentment and shallow victory, it was still strange for her to be included, to feel appreciated and loved for who she was and not her titles or monikers. And, all of it was due to Henry and Emma. However, this time it hit her stronger, perhaps because she had spent hours reading about Emma’s feelings of abandonment and loneliness, line after line speaking of Emma’s wishes and desire to be with them.

As she looked at the people seated at the table, she reached for a glass filled with water in front of her, her thoughts going to the person that was missing from this family picture, missing her fiercely. For those short hours she had spent reading the Savior’s accounts, she had felt closer to the blonde than she had felt since the morning she had left her standing alone, on the planks of the dock by the village. And, now, as she had stopped reading, the yearning, the desire to see the woman again, to feel her in her arms plowed through her and the only thing that stopped her from curling on the floor and bawl her eyes out were the children she was in charge of. The tenuous control over her body and heart was reinforced by her desire to protect Henry, at any cost. Only, she didn’t know what she was protecting him from. Her mind told her that it was to keep him from worrying even more, but her heart was adamant in claiming that she was trying to prevent him from seeing her fall apart. Nevertheless, whatever the reason, she was maintaining her mask of composure, and with a hard swallow, she joined in the light conversations at the table, silently thanking all of the adults for not asking the questions about Emma. But, she knew that their need for answers ought to be satisfied rather sooner than later.

During the dinner Regina learned that Snow had called Neal in, and that the others had left her alone the minute she had started swearing under her breath, riled up by something she had read, the pixie haired brunette considering that the boys should not be exposed to such language, even if it had seemed to be quite appropriate, judging by the Mayor’s expression at the time. The older brunette vaguely remembered swearing under her breath at the blonde’s carefree depiction of her misadventure with the Ogres and Trolls, putting a comical twist on something that could have very well been fatal if not for the chainmail Regina had made Emma wear all the time. Thinking back, the Mayor considered Mary Margaret’s actions to be prudent, especially after she remembered the quite vicious streak of curses she had whispered harshly while reading about Emma’s tampering with Marbh Teine. However, it was not the foul language that she didn’t want Henry exposed to, although it was a given. What Regina didn’t want Henry to see had been her tears and fear in her eyes, knowing that it would only fuel the already rampant imagination her son possessed, as her little prince had only seen her truly afraid in most dire of circumstances.

However, despite her desire to put off this moment for a while longer, it came all too soon, as Henry took her hand and guided her to the living room, where David was already seated, giggling Kyle in his lap. The boy pulled her toward the sofa, prompting her to sit at one end of it, while he leaned into her side, his hand still in hers, his fingers holding on firmly, as he waited for others to join them. Although he did not speak, Regina could feel the expectant energy making him vibrate in his seat, his desire to hear about his blonde mother more than obvious.

It took only a moment for others to find a place to sit down, Kyle demanding to be placed in his mother’s arms, and as soon as everyone settled, all eyes turned to the Queen, waiting for her to tell them the news. And, despite the looks she could feel on her face, and Henry’s insistent presence, Regina sincerely doubted her ability to speak at that time, about the woman they all loved. How could she? When the only news she could offer them spoke of uncertainty and misery for the brave Sheriff. How could she tell them of the secrets Emma had learned in the Dark palace, of the disappointments she had felt after reading ‘the ledger’, learning of the deals they all had with the Dark One? How was she to tell Snow that her mother had not been the person the pixie haired woman thought her to be? How was she to speak of anger, resentment and sadness she could detect in the words Emma had written for her?

Sniffing softly at the toddler’s hair, she took in the grounding scent of her boys, using it to center herself, before she started speaking, her words told in low and halting voice, telling them of the events that the blonde Savior had been through, telling them only what was necessary for the others to understand the reasons certain choices had been made for. Everything else she kept quiet about, ignoring Henry’s disapproving glances as he knew her well enough to know she was hiding something. Luckily, he was smart enough not to confront her about it, at least, not in front of the others.

“She is doing what?” Neal started to ask in disbelief after Regina finished telling them about the peace envoy, bit Mary Margaret interrupted, her eyes clouded and teary, as she clutched her husband’s hands in hers, resting in her lap.

“She rebuilt our castle, our home?”

Dark eyes of the Queen focused on the mother of her True Love, noticing the amazement and sadness mixed in the dazed expression on her face, while tears glided down her cheeks unnoticed. At her side, the interim sheriff leaned into her, his glimmering blue eyes asking confirmation out of the brunette, still not daring to believe that his daughter could or would do something like that. It wasn’t surprising that Emma would consider doing it, as the woman had a kind heart under the rock solid emotional walls, but what was baffling him was the amount of power she would need to do so, and the reason for doing it.

“Why?” David only murmured, his eyes still looking at the Queen, as he leaned toward his wife, letting her sink into his side. “Why would she waste so much energy if she was going to need it later?” His voice got stronger with each word, demanding in the end, as he begged Regina to answer him, even though she had already told them of Emma’s desire to secure the Safe Haven.

Regina didn’t flinch at the man’s raised voice but she did narrow her eyes, cautioning him to keep it down. When sheepish expression passed his face, she stifled a mirthless chuckle at his expense, knowing that even if it was called for, it would not be appreciated in the somber atmosphere of the room.

“You know why,” Regina replied insistently, as she pulled the toddler to her chest, knowing that it was a trait that she loved in the Savior, despite it being the reason for many sleepless nights and worries. “You know the reasons. Would you really expect her to do it differently?”

“No.” It was Snow that answered. “That is who she is,” the younger woman spoke with pride, despite the tears still covering her face, “what we left her to be.”

After that statement, no one was in a particularly chatty mood, the guests clearing out of the house soon after, remarking that they would not share anything of the news until the brunette finished both of the books, leaving the Mayor with her two boys. With a heavy and tired sigh, the brunette went back to the kitchen, with the younger child in her arms, quite aware of the older one trailing behind her.

“Tea?” she asked absently as she placed Kyle into his high seat, and saw Henry nod in the periphery of her vision. With a glance to the numbers visible on her microwave, the woman realized it was almost their bedtime. Just as well, she thought as she placed the cups on the counter. Soon, she would chase her son off to bed, put Kyle to sleep, and go on reading, finally starting with the second volume of the package. Nevertheless, she knew that Henry would need at least something from her, as she felt his calculating look following her every move. It was a small miracle that he hadn’t already jumped her with plenty of questions she knew he had bubbling in his inquisitive and smart mind. Sipping the chamomile, she observed the boy, meeting his sharp eyes over her steaming cup, his eyes slightly narrowed in hopeful challenge, waiting for her to talk. It seemed very uncharacteristic of him, but perhaps the events of the day had put a damper on the ordinarily unstoppable force that was her son. He was still recuperating from the fever and cold he had had the days before.

The silence permeating the kitchen, and even Kyle keeping himself quiet in the somewhat tense atmosphere of the room, reminded Regina sorely of the time when the dark haired boy in front of her had refused to speak with her, and even when he had, he would spout vicious and cruel truths, spoken in harsh and unyielding shout of loathing. At that time, the silence had become something she treasured, for he had been in the room with her – despite his apparent hatred of her. However, as they had learned to be the family again, this time more loving and accepting, the silence only spoke of comfort they had with each other, regardless of the tension in the air surrounding them. Henry’s kind and hopeful eyes did not glare at her, he didn’t scrounge his mouth in distaste nor did he wished her gone, and she cherished those quiet moments of togetherness, using them to lessen the stings of the memories. He loved her, she knew, and whatever happened, he would not discard her so easily as he had done before. It was strange to realize that the fear of losing him again because of her own actions was still so pervasive in her psyche, despite all the affirmations of their connection and his forgiveness. Their love for each other.

“Mom?” his gentle voice brought her to presence as she returned her focus back to her son. It took her a moment to realize that he had come closer, no longer separated from her by the counter and his cup placed in the sink. The tea in her own mug was no longer steaming but still pleasantly warm, telling her of the passage of time, and drinking it up in one go, she brought her own cup to the sink, deciding to leave them for the next day, not in the mood to deal with them just then. Smiling gently at her child, she placed her arm around his shoulders in a move she had watched Emma do time and time again, silently raging at the possessive nature of it, but now taking a great measure of comfort in it, and picking up Kyle she turned them toward the stairs and, eventually, to their bedrooms. But, before she could step aside from his door he reached for her free hand and held her in place, his beseeching eyes meeting hers. “May I sleep over?” he asked softly, and Regina could see the traces of embarrassment tinging his still pale cheeks. Softening her expression at him, she only nodded.

“Bath first,” she added before he could rush off to the master bedroom, stopping him in his tracks. Her lips twitching at his eager whoop, she took Kyle to his own room. As she softly murmured to the already half sleeping child, she changed the blonde boy into his pajamas and night diapers, and considered Henry’s not so unexpected request. “Good night, my sweet angel,” she whispered against Kyle’s forehead kissing him tenderly before she left, leaving only a nightlight and the door slightly ajar before she directed herself to the study, needing to take the other diary. Knowing that Henry would be awhile, she decided to take a quick shower, as well, before settling in her bed, the lamp beside her on.

The treated leather of the cover was bound by a single twine making the notebook appear more as the diary it was than the simple book, like the previous one. And, it was heavier and thicker, she also noted before her fingers started deftly untying the strap. With care, she lifted the cover, and there on the first page was the same careful circular writing she had seen in the first notebook. With the tips of her middle and forefinger, she traced the intricate lines, realizing that she had not yet read the part where Emma explained her newly achieved mastery at magic.

“Hey,” Henry spoke softly as he entered the room, already dressed in his PJs, the hair on his neck still wet from the shower. With childish exuberance he jumped onto the bed before diving beneath the covers, his head landing on the pillow on the other side of the bed, as he turned to her, lying on his side. His green eyes seemed lighter in the soft light of the lamp, but he still seemed too easily tired. Regina closed the diary, holding it in one hand, while she placed the other on Henry’s shoulder, leaning in to kiss him goodnight.

“You haven’t started yet?” he asked after a moment, his curious but sleepy eyes focusing onto the unopened notebook.

“You are here to sleep,” she replied gently, but her threat of sending him to his bed clear, completely disregarding his question, knowing that if she indulged him, he would use it to postpone his bedtime for a while longer. As her fingers slid through his freshly brushed hair, she relished his closing eyes. “Now, rest, and we’ll talk in the morning. Good night, my little prince.”

“Night,” he murmured with acquiescence as he burrowed deeper into her pillow and Regina, softly chuckling at his behavior, tucked the covers around him, before she leaned back, finally ready to read on about the adventures of the Savior.

Returning to the first page, Regina gently turned it over, shaking her head at her own reluctance to find out what had befallen her True Love. But, at the first lines, she felt her eyes drawn to the somewhat shaky handwriting of the Sheriff, easily picturing the setting Emma had painted with words as she had described the vigil-like air of the evening before the peace envoy had been set out to leave. The morose feelings of the hero were more than palpable in the text, and the brunette felt tears stream down her cheeks in silence at the conversation Emma had shared with Belle and Rumple. Quickly, the woman read through the depictions of the ride toward the Wolf’s Col, and the sudden charge of the manticores. Regina still vividly remembered the attack that had almost killed her, and knowing quite well the dangers of such enemies, she devoured the words telling of the brave and ineffective defense. With rapt attention, Regina learned of the plan formed in one instance between the moments filled with extreme danger, of the effects of the Marbh Teine, of the long and arduous climb up the cliff. She read of Emma’s guilt and sorrow when she had been faced with the soldiers turned to stone. Chuckling at the letter intended for her biological father, she admired the well-used mean of correspondence, instantly recognizing the source of inspiration. Glancing toward her peacefully sleeping son, she noted to herself to tell him about it in the morning.

Page after page, Emma had written about her plans, her ideas and her next stops. It was the next entry that brought Regina’s attention to the paper. The Savior described her slide down the mountain, and brisk walk through the forest, but it was the shaky several lines that drew her eyes. Blinking, Regina focused on the text above them, searching to find understanding for such bleak words, and as she read, she understood.

> _ I saw them, saw their glee at the pain they incurred, and I killed them all. _
> 
> _ No hesitation. No stopping. No mercy. Only death. _

The story of the captured unicorn moved Regina, making her remember her own encounter with proud magical beings. She had tried to kill one of them, while Emma had saved one, earning its blessing and respect in return. Even without guidance, Emma was proving to be a remarkable soul, living up to her title.

However, it was the next several dozen pages that made her eyes widen as the brunette learned of the existence of the Guardian and the village comprised of Wolves who remembered her fondly. But, mostly it was the existence of a dragon, and one that could talk, that surprised the Queen. She had known that there had been really magnificent specimens of the kind, ones so powerful and intelligent that they alone could put a spell over entire villages and cities, but she had thought that the time of such power had passed, leaving dragons as nothing more than mindless beasts. She had heard of only two in the last century, the others disappearing out of the sight of Men. And, now, it seemed that the blonde Sheriff had managed to stumble upon one, and gain its, or was it hers, trust and respect.

With every new page, Regina learned of the source of Emma’s new power, but not only that. She learned of the history she had never heard before, of the powers she had not dreamed before, and of responsibilities that rested solely on her True Love’s shoulders. It was the latter that made her heart clench in concern and pain for the blonde, as she knew that the last thing Emma needed was more responsibilities.

Hour after hour, the Mayor read about her lover’s exploits, penned down in detailed descriptions and comments, noticing that with each new entry, Emma’s inner voice seemed more distant and cold, forming a rapidly thickening barrier between herself and all others. The blonde had spoken about her reasons for pulling away from others, each new event making it harder for her to remain composed as it filled her with bitterness, disappointment and deeply felt anguish, but it seemed that she had done the same to Regina, albeit via diary, noting down fewer of her feelings, or emotional responses to the situations. Once more, toward the end, the diary turned into a purely factual record of events, accompanied only with Emma’s cold and calculated reasoning. It was obvious for Regina that the blonde had been shutting herself away, letting her distant and detached exterior to bleed inward, engulfing her spirit and heart as well, in order to protect herself from the burdens and demands of her job, eating away at her core. The brunette realized that Emma had started behaving as if her own heart was taken, and for a very long moment the woman feared that the Savior had found a way to indeed take out her own heart. However, it was a random act of compassion that dissuaded Regina of such notion, especially the still pervasive self-sacrificing behavior Emma had exhibited at every turn. Even though it was the blonde that had written the accounts, Regina did not doubt the truth in them, knowing that the Sheriff had not obfuscated, nor hid anything while penning down the events – the words from the first notebook still true –  _ I will tell you no lies, for you will learn the truth either way _ . However, it left Regina feeling bereft as she had been feeling so close to the blonde woman while reading the written words. The loneliness that had pervaded her life since that day they had jumped the worlds had been lifted for the short time she had immersed herself in Emma’s accounts of the past. Now, feeling the woman closing off, it was painful and horrible in ways she had felt only once before – when Henry had pulled away from her because she was the Evil Queen – and she had been helpless then, as she was now, to help the person she loved.

Apart from the Savior’s emotional distance, Regina also learned of the sorceress, the mentions of her sporadic at first, then becoming more frequent and comprehensive – making her shut the diary in disbelief as she read the words that were now permanently burned into her mind.

> _ She is your sister, Regina. Well, half-sister, to be exact, but she is your mother’s daughter. _

She didn’t believe it. She couldn’t believe. Her mother would not have done so… But, even at the highest repudiation of such claims she could not deny that the woman Cora had been was still a mystery to Regina, and perhaps, such a secret was more than just possible, but also probable. Needing to know more, the brunette read Emma’s account of the redhead witch, frowning in incredulity and outrage at the information she was able to glean from the text. The ways Emma had extracted the information stunned Regina, but only for the moment as the facts piled up on the paper were so overwhelmingly distracting, forcing the Mayor to take them in one at a time, each one causing a sharp twist in her chest.

It stung. The knowledge the Savior had sent her caused pain to the former Evil Queen, each newly unveiled truth producing another wound on her already battered heart. Rumple had known about the woman for a while, even trained the redhead himself. And, in turn, Zelena had wanted to take her place as the Curse caster, trying to show Rumple by attempting to kill her. Her own mother had not found it convenient to mention the existence of an elder daughter. Her sister was the cause of the new war plaguing the Enchanted Forest, and Emma was the one standing up to her. It seemed that the Savior was doomed to fight every Mills woman in existence, the brunette remarked silently with sorrow and anger, the irony of the fact quite evident to her.

The diary continued to tell stories of days leading up to the final meeting with Ariel, before it stopped, almost at the end of the notebook, but not before Emma had written all her plans for the next several days.  _ It was only two days ago _ , Regina realized after she had taken in the dates Emma had painstakingly calculated and written on the pages, her right forefinger tracing the last date in the book, with a small entry added on the morning of the meet with the mermaid. Only then, she noticed an envelope tucked between the last page and cover, clear handwriting on the white surface denoting its recipient: Granny. As it wasn’t the familiar cursive that had filled countless lines in the diary, Regina supposed it had been Ruby’s hand that had written the missive. 

Closing the notebook, she placed it on the table by the bed, making sure it wouldn’t be in danger of falling off, and flipped the covers, needing to get up, to move, in order to resolve at least some of the tension and anger that the message that the diaries brought, needing it lessened before Henry was to wake up, lest he see her in such agitation. She left her room, leaving the boy in her bed, and she walked into the hallway bathroom, splashing her face and washing away the trails of tears she had cried during the course of night, looking at her own reflection in the mirror. Her eyes that would turn to dark caramel when they were shining with happiness now were dark and hard. Despite her feeling deeply unsettled by the knowledge she had gleaned from the Savior’s notations, her darker impulses were getting stronger with every minute she spent thinking about her sister and the betrayal of her family members, fueled by hot anger that suffused her blood.

She needed to leave, leave the house and… Do something. Something that would make her feel better, that would take off the edge of the furious pressure building up in her. But, she couldn’t leave Henry and Kyle alone, even for a moment. Her almost teenage son was quite capable of looking after himself and younger brother for an hour or two, but she could not leave them. Not when she had spent the whole night reading about the blonde wishing she was with her family. Even though it was overwhelming, Regina could not just abandon them for whatever reason, good or not. And, it was way too early to call in a sitter, even if it was Snow. The younger woman would sense something was wrong and pester her with a kind attitude and bolstering admissions and confessions, only annoying her further – and that is what she did not need. Not then. Not when she needed comfort, when she needed to see the one person she was unable to. She needed Emma to speak the truth, to tell her in the face, because just reading it left a small room for hope that it wasn’t true.

The sound of her clock sounded from her room, immediately followed by a disgruntled groan of her son. She had forgotten to turn it off when she had gotten up, and now Henry was subjected to it at ten minutes to six. Leaving the kitchen she had found herself in, Regina climbed the stairs, passing first by Kyle’s door to see if the toddler was still sleeping and satisfied with the silence and light snoring coming from the room, she continued on to the master bedroom, breathing deeply.

The roused boy looked up at her at the sound of the opening door and smiled, still sleepy. With softly spoken instructions and gentle touch she directed him to get dressed and to wait for her, as they would go to Granny’s for breakfast. As his footsteps heavily tread to his room, Regina picked her phone and called the very woman she had tried to avoid involving an hour before.

“Regina,” Snow’s voice greeted her, too alert for the woman to be just woken up. She must have stayed up for most of the night, worrying about what the other diary contained. In the silence that followed her voice, the school teacher recognized Regina’s turmoil and wasting no time, she only added one more word. “Where?”

“Diner,” the Mayor spoke, her voice wobbly despite the short word and with it she broke off the connection and using magic, dressed into one of her more dressy power suits. She needed the staple of power to help her through this, despite it being a remnant of a person she no longer was. At least, not entirely. Those who knew her, like the Charmings and Henry would see it through immediately, but for others, she would be the same distant and powerful Mayor she had been. As she walked through the house, fully dressed and getting Kyle ready to leave, her eyes fell on a piano in the corner of the living room, pressed against the wall, almost forgotten and accepted as part of the decorations. It had been three years since she had sat there last, her fingers dancing over the ivory keys. It had been Christmas, the last one she had shared with Henry in joy and abundant love, right before he had discovered that he had been adopted. She had not touched it since, it being a too stark reminder of happier times for her to even try playing again. And, she would not even think about it if Emma had not mentioned in the diaries, speaking of her enjoyment of the memories Regina had of Henry singing along, his unpracticed and high voice missing half of the notes but his exuberance and relish of their time together had been more than enough. Perhaps it was time to add another tradition to their lives, Regina considered, a soft smile pulling at her vividly painted lips as she imagined the blonde in the corner, joining in their singing all the while laughing at the picture they would present.

Shaking her head out of the memories and wishful thinking, she brought Kyle to the front door, where Henry was waiting, already in his winter coat and boots, along with his woolen hat and scarf. Mentally checking if she had everything she needed with her, she nodded to the elder boy to open the door, as she took her purse and coat.

The short drive to the Granny’s Diner was a silent one, even the baby kept himself quiet in the hush thick with expectancy and nerves. The silence was only broken when the bell over the door rang out, signaling their entrance into the establishment, making others in the mostly empty diner to look up toward them from the back table that offered most privacy. Regina saw Kathryn and Jim sitting beside David, as Mary Margaret and Neal were on the other side of the table. As Regina walked up to them, she nodded to Mrs. Lucas manning the counter in greeting, knowing that the old woman would most likely hear everything they would talk about anyways.

Neal rose from his place, and ushering both Henry and Regina in his place, he took over his nephew and settling himself at the chair at the head of the table he took notice of his younger sister. He hadn’t known her for long, been close to her for far less time, but even he could see that she had had a terrible night. However, as if by silent agreement, no one asked anything until Eugenia brought out their orders, having prepared the usual for Henry and Regina, even making warm milk for the younger boy. At Regina’s silent invitation, the older woman drew a free chair beside Neal and leaning against the corner of the table with her elbow she looked at the former Queen, quite interested to learn the reason for the gathering. She had been the one to place the newcomer up in one of the rooms, so she already knew some bits of the story, however, she had no doubt that Regina knew a lot more, thanks to the package the redheaded outsider had brought. So, with an expectant show of adjusting her grasses, she waited.

Regina reached for her coffee and sipping it slowly she glanced around the table, taking in the people watching her. She did not mind Kathryn being there, as she was involved, and she had news for Frederic as well. But, the truth was, she didn’t know how to begin, or where to start. So she said something that she would have appreciated if she were on the other end of this situation. “As of two days ago, Emma was uninjured and in the process of forging alliances throughout the Enchanted Forest.” As she took another sip of coffee, more out of need for stalling than the actual need for a drink, she felt Snow deflate somewhat at the news, relieved sigh leaving her almost immediately. “However, the reason for the alliances is that King Midas,” Regina continued as she looked at her blonde friend, “has started a war, joined with the Empire armies and other supporters, intending to conquer all the realms he could get to.” She didn’t know if she should speak of war in front of her children, but she knew that Henry would refuse to leave them, violently. “Unfortunately, it seems that he is partnered with my half-sister, and that they are a terrifying force ready to swarm the last stand of the Safe Haven.”

“Wait, what?” David asked in surprise, or that is what Regina guessed he said, over the explosion of sound that followed her statement. “Hey, easy,” David tried to quiet them down as he motioned to the boy fussing in Neal’s hands, startled by the sudden noise. “Come on,” he added, taking the crying toddler into his arms, trying to soothe him.

Then he turned toward the Mayor and shook his head, still bewildered. “You said your sister?”

“Yes, apparently I have one.” If she did not spend more than several hours that morning agonizing over the fact, she would have laughed at his gaping expression, mimicked by others at the table. “And, she is the Wicked Witch of the West.”

“Now, Regina, there is no need for name calling,” Snow chastised softly over Henry’s head, making Regina turn to her with a scowl, but her son’s raised eyebrows stopped her cutting remark from coming out.

“She is, though. Green and all.” Regina turned away, picking at her plate. “Or so Emma says.”

“Oz is real?” Henry asked.

“Yes, honey, just like Neverland and Wonderland,” Mary Margaret replied instead, accepting Regina’s answer of the witch’s title as truth.

“So, if she is the Wicked Witch of the West, you must be the East then, right?” David murmured almost absently, jumping Kyle up and down. Feeling his wife’s admonishing look on him he lifted his eyes in false innocence. “What?”

“In case it slipped your mind, I haven’t been to Oz, Charming. I was too busy trying to put your head on a spike.”

“Hey, you two, knock it off,” Kathryn interfered before Snow could. “Emma is really sure of it, isn’t she?” After a nod from Regina, the blonde continued. “What did my father do?”

In short lines, Regina told the people around the table the abridged version of events, ignoring the gasps and reactionary exclamations of her listeners. Even Eugenia was spell casted by the story, waving away the waitress to take care of the new customers coming in for breakfast. Several things she did omit, like the existence of the Guardian and the dwarves, but she did mention the boy Emma had met and the wolves, which reminded her why she wanted Granny there. Reaching into her purse she pulled out the letter out and gave it to the elderly woman, hoping it would sate some of the thirst for the news from Ruby. The instant the sharp blue eyes fell onto the sharply written letters on the envelope, the cook nodded in gratitude at Regina and moved away to read her granddaughter’s missive in the privacy of the kitchen, leaving the others to discuss the news Regina had just shared.

“And, you are sure Cora never said anything about her?” David asked after several moments of silence, still holding Kyle in his lap.

“I think I would remember if my mother told me she had a love child with a scarecrow,” Regina snidely replied as she nudged Henry to eat, not pleased at all with his presence at the table.

“What does she want?” Snow asked but the older brunette only shook her head, not knowing the answer either.

It was then when Kathryn spoke, her voice timid and quiet. “Could she be mistaken about… about my father?” The blonde looked at her friend, but even her eyes showed the lack of hope, knowing that it was most definitely him, as he had been easily seduced by power and might once before, paying no heed to the consequences.

“He approached her and Rumplestiltskin, asserting himself as the leader. It is him, Kathryn. But, whether he is doing it of his own volition, I do not know.” As she spoke, Regina reached over the table and placed her hand over the blonde’s tightly intertwined ones resting on the metal surface. An accepting nod and responding squeeze of her hand was the only indication Kathryn had heard her, and acknowledged the offer of comfort in a form of possibility of his innocence. But the clouded blue eyes holding the dark ones told of knowing better.

“So, what are we going to do now?” Mary Margaret asked, interrupting the intense gaze hold between the friends. Regina looked toward the pixie haired woman, drawing her hand back and considered the options. In reality, there was nothing to do until the beans were ready but prepare for the entrance in what appears to be a war zone. She looked down at Henry and glancing toward Kyle, she seriously started deliberating on the pros and cons of leaving the children behind, in the safety of Storybrooke. However, she kept that thought to herself, knowing that if Henry caught even a glimpse of it, he would make it impossible for her to proceed.

“We prepare,” she said finally, deciding to tackle the lesser problems first. “Sweetie, you don’t mind staying with your grandparents while I go to the vault, do you?” she asked the dark haired boy, her eyes glancing over to the woman behind him, including her into the question. The mother of her True Love nodded in permission and Henry shrugged, playing with his food. “I think you should brush up on your swordsmanship, Charming, you are getting soft around the edges,” she added as she rose from her seat, nodding to the knight and the princess, before she leaned down to kiss both Henry and Kyle on the forehead in goodbyes.

She drove to the graveyard, her mind abuzz with ideas and plans, as she realized that she had to practice her magic as well in order to improve her abilities. Not only that, she had to find a way to learn what her kin wanted with her, and the only person to help her with that was, ironically, the person who had hid the existence of her sister in the first place, and was very much dead. However, Regina remembered reading something in her mother’s spell books regarding communication with the dead and she wanted to find that particular volume. 


	18. Chapter 18

Storming down the narrow stairs, Regina entered her magical vault, setting the torches ablaze almost unconsciously as she directed herself toward the corner with her mother’s things. Paying no heed to the Mirror’s dour greeting, the brunette opened the trunk filled with books, remembering the coloring of the tome she was looking for, moving aside the books she was not interested in at the moment, and finding the one she had been looking for. Letting the lid of the trunk fall with a loud thud, Regina turned around and leaned against it as she explored the volume on dark magic.

“The nectar of Manzanilla,” Regina murmured as she read the list of ingredients for the spell, nodding her head as she went through the entire list. “This should be easy,” she spoke out loud as she turned toward the corridor where she kept her supplies for potion making.

“Madam Mayor, what do you intend with such a dangerous substance?” Sidney asked as she passed by him, watching her with wariness. It was a very poisonous liquid, capable of killing many with a single ounce of it, and it went against the new path the brunette had proclaimed to be on. He, as her ever faithful servant, sought to provide counsel. “Does it have anything to do with the guest we had yesterday?”

“Not your concern, Glass,” Regina brushed him off as she pocketed the vial with the desired liquid that she had found in her mother’s things, not the least bit surprised he had kept his eye on the happenings of the town. Before she started walking toward the stairs, having gathered several more items from the shelves, she smirked at the glowing mirror. “Have fun, Sidney,” she spoke in parting before leaving, the place plunging into darkness as soon she stepped off the stairs.

The next stop she made was Gold’s shop, already having informed her brother that she would stop by it for something. The gruff acknowledgement and a reminder to lock up was the only response she had gotten from Neal, making her shake her head at his lack of interest in his father’s business. However, without him present she would not need to waste any time on explaining what she needed to find, but use it on searching for the thing she needed. Having learned where her kin had stashed the keys, she unlocked the door and pushed it open, the sound of the bell announcing her to the empty shop. Despite the lack of desire to deal with the things in the shop, Regina noticed that Neal was keeping it clean and the floors swept. Closing the door behind her and stepping toward the back room, the Mayor turned on the lights, tapping her upper lip lightly with her finger, considering where Rumplestiltskin would put the infamous candle he had manipulated her mother’s death with. As her sharp eyes passed over the glass displays, she stepped behind the counter, opening the drawers systematically, riffling through them with care as she was more than aware that her old master had a penchant of harboring dangerous objects.

It took some time and effort, but Regina finally found the elusive dark relic she had needed. The black and white object had lazily rolled toward the front of the drawer she had opened, crinkling the papers it was on. Carefully reaching for it, the brunette considered other things on the list she needed for this particular spell to work, and as she finally clasped her fingers around the candle she nodded lightly to herself, concluding that everything else – she had at home. Locking up and returning the key to its place, she walked briskly to her car, the plan for the day already forming in her mind. As soon as she sat in the driver’s seat, she found her blonde friend’s contact number in her phone and called.

“Hello, Jim,” she spoke when the familiar male voice greeted her. After listening to the man’s explanation for answering the lawyer’s phone, she continued, somewhat reluctantly as she learned that Kathryn was taking a nap. “I found something and I need the boys away from the house, but if you are not up to it, I can make other arrangements.”

“Nonsense, Madam Mayor,” the former knight spoke firmly. “Even if Kath can’t, I surely can watch over them. I have a new Diablo game, so that would keep Henry quite busy for a while, and I can manage the little guy. Anyways, Neal is stopping by for coffee later…” After leaving that persuasive incentive out there, Jim added after a beat, “I can even set up the guest room for them to sleep over, if you want?”

“That is,” Regina started, quite surprised by the man’s offer. Yes, Henry had stayed with Kathryn before, but this was different, with her pregnant and all. “That is perfect, actually. Thank you.”

“No big deal,” Jim concluded and after telling the Mayor to let him know when she would drop the children off, he let her go with a cheerful goodbye. Placing the phone on the seat beside her, she drove to her house, her eyes glancing toward the purse that held the candle and the vial she had gotten from the vault, along with other things.

As soon as she walked in, she directed herself toward the study, placing the purse onto her desk. But before she delved into the mysteries of communicating with the dead she called Henry to let him know of the afternoon plans for him and Kyle. She could hear his less than enthusiastic grumble but she knew that after all the reprimand he had gotten these past several weeks, he was not defiant enough to go against her wishes – not when it involved very dark magic and her mother. She had explained what she wanted to do in broad terms, knowing that anything less would be too much of a temptation for him to investigate, and any attempts of avoiding the topic or lying would not fool his keen mind, and his invariable sense of truth that she strongly suspected he had inherited from his blonde mother in form of the famous, or rather infamous lie detector. After making arrangements with Snow, she opened the volume she had taken out of the vault and started following the instructions to prepare for the séance she was to hold that evening, deciding to set up in the kitchen as she needed to brew the needed potion.

Following the instructions carefully, Regina moved around her kitchen with precise and elegant movements, the economy of her motions only speaking of her focus for the task. She had no time to ruminate about the fact that she was about to contact her mother, the woman who had been the most influential in her life, the woman she hated, feared and loved at the same time. The special brew she was making was highly dangerous and easy to botch, so she needed the whole attention directed to its making, pushing all the thoughts and worries about the impending endeavor out of her mind. After the proper time spent on each stage of preparation, Regina left the potion to simmer and decided to get everything else ready. Placing a small round table in her study, she fiddled with the candle and ornate small goblets for the tea, arranging them in a form of a pentagram with the ruby encrusted black and white relic at the center of it.

Pleased with her preparation, she sat at her working desk and pulled the book she had been reading out the instructions from and turned several pages, exploring the spells and enchantments that the volume held. After coming across a very gruesome curse, she pushed the book away from her in disgust. As she moved to rise, her eyes fell on a small wooden keepsake box, gilded in silver, she had been keeping on a shelf behind her desk within reach. Narrowing her eyes slightly, she remembered something as she opened the lid and took out a well-worn piece of parchment, the one that held the words she had learned by heart for she had read it over and over again in times when she needed comfort or a way to establish her self-worth. In the past, that letter she had found in her mother’s things right after the captain had brought the Queen of Hearts to her castle had often offered her solace, but now as she held it in her hand, afraid to unfold it, she felt nothing but tremulous expectation of another blow to her already tortured heart. Clenching her jaw, she opened it and let her eyes dart over the very familiar lines.

> _ Cora, dear, _
> 
> _ I finally got my hands on your firstborn. Never thought I’d find you, did you? Now I know why. She is the most powerful sorceress I've ever encountered, even more powerful than you. Stunning in every way. Despite all the lies and manipulation you have used to prevent the very fact, I have my hands on your child. You should know better than to cross the Dark One, dearie. _
> 
> _ R _

The words that had kept her going had never been about her. The compliments that Regina had taken for pride of her former mentor for her had never been meant for her. Regina closed her eyes, willing the billowing wetness away as she did not want to spend a second more crying over the hurts of the past, even though it tore at her, the knowledge that everything she thought about her connection with Rumplestiltskin, everything that had been said about her being the most powerful sorceress in the Enchanted Forest – was a lie. Every last tenet of hope Regina held that Zelena’s blood relation was a hoax was utterly obliterated.

So lost in the feelings of loss as she stared at the parchment, Regina did not hear the front door opening and the sound of boots over the hardwood floors. Only when a sharp rap on the frame of the door leading into the study pierced the silence did the brunette realize that she was no longer alone in the mansion, her eyes flying up to the black leather encased intruder. Too busy to cover the flinch the startling sound had caused, she did not speak, but her raising an eyebrow asked the question for her.

‘Snow White informed me of the plans,” the pirate spoke, his blue eyes taking in the shaken composure on the Evil Queen. “Something the matter?” he asked after several seconds of scrutiny, stepping farther into the study. He did feel somewhat miffed that no one thought to inform him of the new developments but Neal had been kind enough to drop by that morning by the ship and tell him of the news. He did understand that everyone had more important business to think about than running to the docks and keeping the pirate up to date, but still it did not lessen the injury to his pride. “Something to do with the Witch?” he added with traces of snide sarcasm.

“Something,” Regina replied after a moment spent staring at the pirate with incredulous eyes as she could not escape the irony of the moment and the one hand man’s words. “More like everything.”

“And, Swan?” Killian asked, sitting himself down at the couch by the door, his arms spread wide over the back of it. “How is she?” He didn’t ask about Zelena, knowing better than to continue picking at the obviously quite sore subject for Regina, and at the moment he was alone in the house with her. She might not be the Evil Queen anymore, but he still vividly remembered the night at the bean field, and honestly, the woman scared him, now more than when she was the all-powerful Evil Queen.

“She is Emma,” the brunette replied, her eyes going toward the two notebooks that had never left her side since she had acquired them the day before. There were no words to describe the blonde's state of mind or heart, but for those who could glimpse some of her old self in the time she had been in Storybrooke and Enchanted Forest, that answer was more than telling. “Born and bred survivor.”

“Aye,” the captain murmured softly, and for a second Regina could have sworn that she could see his blue eyes glimmer with sadness before returning to their previous sharp and roguish scrutiny. But before she could comment on it, the front door was opened and three people entered, their steps loud, while the woman of the arriving company called out the house mistress’s name.

“In here,” Regina replied and only seconds later she was joined by the Charmings and her half-brother. Telling them to sit around the table in the already prepared chairs, she walked off to the kitchen to bring the potion she had left on the stove. But, as she reached for the teapot she prepared it in, she felt the air leave her in a sudden gasp, the realization - the reality of what she was about to do hitting her too strongly after the day, well actually two days, she had had. She was about to communicate with her mother, the woman who had been the source of the greatest pains in her life, the woman who had lied to her constantly, the woman who at the end had chosen the power over her, the woman whose pain filling words she could hear in her sleep, repeating over and over again, casting doubt over something that she knew in her heart and soul that was true. Love is weakness. But, despite the fact that she would rather not do this, Regina knew that it was the only way to even try and understand what Zelena wanted. There was a very real possibility that this was a waste of time and that Cora’s truth of her older daughter would serve nothing, but she had to try – for Emma. For herself. It was something Rumplestiltskin had taught her when she had been starting practicing magic. To understand something, to gain insight in their function, you always go to the beginning and learn what shaped them.

As she tried to convince herself to breathe normally, she could vaguely hear Mary Margaret’s and David's voices playfully bickering about the names, even though the pixie haired woman was not even showing yet. Her fingers were clutching the counter so hard that they had gone white while she was using the centering techniques Dr. Hopper had taught her, hoping to pull herself together quickly. However, all her progress had been lost when a strong hand landed gently on her shoulder, pulling her gently into a man’s side, guiding her tenderly to lean against his chest.

“It's okay,” she heard Neal whisper into her ear. “Just breathe.” Only then she realized that she was shaking, his hold easing her trembling despite the fact that she was quite unused to a man holding her so gently. Then, it was like she realized who it was to comfort her and she stepped out of his embrace, placing her fingers under her eyes, careful not to smudge her makeup.

“I am fine,” she said quickly at his look.

“Sure,” he spoke, disbelief evident in his eyes. “And, you know what I think about that word.” At her scoff, he leaned against the counter and crossed his arms. “You know, it’s okay to be shaken by all the stuff that has been happening. It's only natural to feel out of balance.”

“Natural? And, you base that on what? Your experience of abandonment and bad news?” As insults and scathing remarks went, this one was quite shy of the mark, but by narrowing of Neal’s eyes she could see that he had taken it in the way that she wanted – as an accusation on Emma’s behalf rather than his own experience due to being the son of Rumplestiltskin. But, as he kept quiet, stunned that she went there as he had tried to help, she calmed down, knowing that lashing out, especially at her brother, would not help her at all. ‘Just go in there and take a seat. I'll be right out,” she said softly, having pressed a hand over her eyes for a second, allowing a trace of contrition to seep into her voice as she glanced at him with an apology. He only nodded and walked out, his shoulders slumped, the hurt still evident in his posture.

Sighing at herself, Regina picked up the platter she had prepared for the teapot and with a calming breath she directed herself toward the others, hoping this would work. Entering the study she apologized to her guests for waiting and started pouring the potion, her sudden reprimand directed at Charming startling them all, as she explained the deadliness of the tea.

“I prefer Earl Grey,” the man replied, placing the cup down, grimacing at the liquid he almost had ingested.

Nodding at his disgust, Regina pursed her lips for a second before she continued. “It's a deadly poison for summoning the dark vortex.”

“Wait,” Neal asked looking up at his sister. “The dark what?”

The brunette glanced toward the man seated right beside her, noticing the confused dark eyes peering up at her. “The dark vortex,” she repeated patiently. “The passageway to the realm of passed souls.” Even though she was telling everyone, she was looking only at Neal for the moment, quite aware that he was still feeling the hurt of her previous burst at him, and her simplified explanation was her way of making up to him. “Reading Emma’s diary, I realized that, despite all the information Emma was able to procure, I still don’t know much about her goals or desires, and Rumple taught me to go back to make sense of the present. But, I don’t know enough about her past, so I’ve decided to summon someone who does.” This time she looked away from her kin and looked straight into the green eyes that to her symbolized family, and softening her voice she spoke, knowing it would come as a shock to the woman seated in front of her. “We need to talk to my mother.” And, as she assumed, her statement was followed by a startled gasp from the future mother, and David leaning forward, his arm going around his wife in a protective and comforting manner. Giving them a moment, Regina reached for the match box on the table, deciding against use of her own magic fearing interference to the summoning. Opening the box, she saw David place his hand over Snow’s on the table and internally rolled her eyes as she could almost hear his bolstering and yet soothing thoughts directed at his wife. “It’s a fairly simple ritual but not often performed,” the brunette spoke again, sitting down.

“If it’s easy to talk to the dead, why not do it more?” David asked softly, mindful of the somber atmosphere falling over them.

“Well,” the Mayor began, her eyes once more finding her former nemesis, “because to do it, you need the murder weapon…” In the short pause she made Regina saw Mary Margaret’s eyes widen, somehow already guessing the next part. “And, the murderer,” she added as she lit the match and brought it over to the wicks of the candle, a slight grimace pulling at her eyes as the magical wicks flickered ablaze, the sharp stench of the magic that had taken what she had assumed was the last living blood relative of hers, and her parent.

“What are we supposed to do?” Neal whispered gently by her side as she reached for his and David’s hands, her implied instruction for the rest of the group clear.

“Focus on Cora,” she supplied softly.

“Welcoming thoughts?” the pirate interjected with his trademark sarcasm, but she nodded.

“Whatever you got,” Regina said. “Any memory of her you have should do.” As they clasped each other’s hands, and focused on the person they were trying to summon, the brunette could not avoid thinking about Emma wistfully – as the only person to survive the heart removal attempt from the Queen of Hearts, the blonde’s memories would be rather strong for the rousing the spirits. Her and Rumple. But, these people in her study were the only ones that had personal dealings with the sorceress and willing to participate. The kind giant had refused, telling her, with an inordinate amount of apology and respect in his tone, that he had been in contact only with the captain during his captivity on the ship, and she could not think of anyone else…

“How do you know…?” the prince started before he was interrupted with Regina shushing him like an impertinent child, her hand squeezing his in warning.

For several long moments, there was silence, casually intersected with the cracking of the fire at the hearth behind them and the flicker of the wicks, but then, suddenly the fire went out and the silence became oppressive and filled with unearthly tension, making the air thicken, lessening their ability to breathe properly. However, before anyone could comment on it a strange light started appearing above them, followed by a soft whoosh of a faraway whirlpool ending in impenetrable darkness at the center.

It was more than a sound of swirling substance, more than a dancing and flickering light glowing above them. It was energy, both pressing and effervescently light. They all could feel something, like a memory of a touch, reaching out of it, searching, before it disappeared – making the already eerie happening get much scarier for the occupants of the room.

“We did it,” Snow whispered, her voice shaking from both the terror and excitement over the success of their feat. Despite her fear of being in the room with the person she had been afraid of since her childhood, she did understand the need to talk to the sorceress.

“Cora!” Regina called out, her eyes searching the swirling dark hole above her, waiting. “Mother, can you hear us?” she asked loudly, trying to be heard over the loud whoosh of the vortex. No one else dared to speak, afraid that they would somehow break the spell. “Cora, give us a sign,” she tried again, as she focused her memories at the light, hoping it would guide the spirit to them. “Do not ignore me now, mother,” the brunette spoke firmly, losing hope. “Please,” she beseeched, her eyes glazing with tears as she looked into the empty vortex, “You owe me this.”

Suddenly, the table shook and the movement made the already jumpy pregnant woman break the hand hold, gasping in fear as she pushed away from it. The very moment she did break the contact the vortex disappeared into nothing, leaving behind only the ceiling, looking as if nothing out of the ordinary had happened there just seconds before.

Not listening to the pirate's clumsy explanation for bumping the table, Regina sighed heavily, her eyes still pinned to the spot where the portal had been. Then, she allowed her shoulders to slump in defeat as she leaned over to the still burning wicks on the candle with another severe sigh she blew one of them out and paused before turning to the other one. Slightly shaking her head at her moment of desire to try again, to somehow bargain with the ghost of her mother, she extinguished the last remaining flame.

“Do we try it again?” came Snow’s tremulous question, but Regina answered it another shake of her head before speaking.

“No,” she said softly. “There is no point,” the soft voice broke at the end, but ignoring the slight teary edge to her own tone, Regina pushed forward with her explanation. “It worked. The portal opened, but…”

Mary Margaret watched the woman worry her hands on the flat surface, frowning at the dejected and hurt look that passed over the dark eyes, her heart hurting for the woman in front of her.

“Nothing came out of it,” Regina continued, not really looking at others, her eyes going between her hands and the ceiling. “She doesn’t want to talk to me. Guess whatever secrets lie in her past, she wants to keep buried there.” Not comfortable with having so many people witness her pain, she rose from the table, swiftly evading David’s hand reaching to her in comfort and stepped back, her hands grasping the back of her chair, her movement sending a message others could read quite well.

David was the first one to leave with Neal following him in step. “Call us if you need help with anything, even if it is only a boring researching part,” the acting Sheriff offered as he put on his jacket, his deputy copying his movement.

“I’ll be sure to remember that,” Regina said with slight sharpness in her tone, but her eyes crinkled with thanks as she looked at him and her brother. Then she nodded to the captain who motioned vaguely that he was there too if she needed him before the men left, leaving Snow and Regina alone, Charming and his wife having wordlessly communicated their intentions to each other.

“I’ll help you clean up,” the pixie haired brunette offered helpfully, her eagerness making Regina smirk as she gestured toward the study.

“You can help with the tea cups.”

* * *

“So, what happened between the two of you?” David asked his deputy, when they entered the squad car Neal had with him. Not minding the leather clad captain in the back, Neal looked at the prince and shrugged his shoulders before starting the car and driving off toward Granny’s.

“I don’t know. She was rattled about tonight, and I guess I wasn’t much of a help.” After his words the people in the car fell silent, waiting till they got into the diner to start another conversation. Soon they entered the semi crowded establishment, and flagging one of the waitresses down, they shuffled in one of the booths.

“Hey, Ashley,” David said with a sincere smile looking up at the young blonde coming up to them with menus. “How are Sean and Alex?” he asked as she placed her hand on his shoulder in greeting.

“They are fine, Sean is trying to teach her to cheer at the games on TV,” the former princess said with a radiant smile on her face, before she toned it slightly down and gestured to their menus. “So, what will I bring you tonight?”

The men stated their preferences, and after Hook asked for his regular nightly rum, the young woman walked away toward the kitchen to place their order. Uncomfortable with the silence that engulfed them, David turned to his deputy and remembered a comment Neal had made as they had gone into Regina’s house. “How were the kids at Kath’s place?”

“They were great. By the time I left, Henry was chasing Kyle around the place, making him giggle all the way. Did you know that the kid could talk?” Neal spoke with pride as his dark eyes lit up happily as he remembered his afternoon with his son and nephew, accompanied by the former knight. Seeing David’s wondering face, he elaborated. “I know that he can name several things and babble all day long, but as Henry was playing with him, and tickling him, he said ‘Henry, stop’ quite clearly.” Then he chuckled. “I was surprised to see him on his feet, too. He is still unsteady and unsure, but Kathryn told me that he had been standing up more and more.”

But, before the men could comment on it, Ashley was back with a pitcher of water and rum for Killian, telling them that their order would be coming shortly. “Hey, Granny told me to let you know that the guest has met with Eric and that all seemed to be alright, for now,” the young blonde spoke gently as she lowered the plates onto the table.

“Thanks, Ash. Any trouble, let me know.” He spoke with a smile, glad that at least Ariel was reconnecting with her prince.

“So, Little Mermaid is all set,” the leather clad seaman spoke, nursing his drink, familiar with the fairy tale inspired by the mermaid, his covert talks with Henry having more substance than just bean management.

“It would seem so,” David replied after swallowing the piece of chicken he had in his mouth. Turning to the other man, he waved with his fork. “Did you manage to talk to Jim about the office? We’ll need to have everything ready before we leave.”

“Yeah,” the deputy mumbled. “I left him the charter and the handbook to look through, before we start with our rounds.” Grabbing his glass of water, he added, “He also mentioned that one of your knights was interested in being his deputy, Roderick, I think his name was?”

“Roderick, yes. Well, I’ll stop by his place tomorrow and see if he is still up to it…”

“Well, you should also remember to get some weaponry for the journey,” Killian added, his plate already empty as he had gobbled down his food while the others talked. “The giant estimates we have a week, two at the most, before the things are ready.”

“All right,” the Sheriff agreed, his mind already thinking of some training he could put in as well, eyeing up his colleague, knowing that the man had no real experience in the Enchanted Forest warfare, due to his exile since he was a child. “If you need some work done on the ship, contact Marco and the dwarves, I’ll let them know in advance.” The captain only nodded in agreement.

After their dinner, the men dropped Killian off by the docks and made a pass over the quiet streets of Storybrooke. The small town seemed deserted due to cold weather announcing harsh winter, and people stayed inside their warm homes, safe and sound. As the patrol car moved slowly, Neal and David looked around, trying to see anything out of the ordinary. After several minutes of uninterrupted quiet, the former Lost Boy glanced toward his boss before he returned his gaze to the road.

He had been trying so hard not to impose his worries and fears onto others, waiting for Regina to speak of Emma and the war that had gripped the Enchanted Forest, but out of them he was the only one there who remembered what it had been like when the Kingdoms had been under the constant threat of Ogres, the soldiers dying in droves and no one powerful enough to stop it. He was the one that remembered the burning villages, the hushed whispers of another battalion lost to the giant dwellers of the Western plains. Yes, Snow and Charming, even Killian, they knew war as well, however, the royal couple’s feud with the Evil Queen and whatever wars the pirate had been to, simply did not measure up to the devastation he had witnessed, first by the Ogres, then by his own father. Hearing that Emma was now facing not only the army from King Midas, but the entire Empire force, it made him feel terror for the woman he had once loved, fearing for her very life, let alone the people in her company. Regina had only mentioned shape shifters and some allies, but never told if the numbers were enough to help the Savior. And if the only help she had were the villagers, the true Sheriff of Storybrooke was woefully outnumbered.

“Are you going to speak of what is on your mind,” a soft grumbling voice interrupted his ruminations, drawing his attention to David, who was still looking outside, “or are you going to keep sighing so heavily?”

“Aren’t you worried? How can you not be out of your mind right now?” Neal started after a minute of tense, expectant silence he had spent staring at the man beside him in disbelief. “She is…” he tried to continue but the Sheriff caught his eyes, the steely look in the clear blue ones sharply ending whatever rant he had been building up to.

“You think I don't know?” David whispered harshly as he glared at the deputy, his face drawing near to the offender, the tightly wound emotions evident in his eyes, anger and fear giving him a slightly maddening visage. “She is my daughter. My child, one I swore I would never abandon again!” As his voice rose with anger, he brought himself closer to the dark haired man. “And, yet again, she is there to fix our problems! Alone!” David leaned back and sighed heavily, his hands passing over his face, trying to rub away the soul wearing tiredness he was feeling, his eyes losing the edge of anger as he glanced toward Neal. “But, until the beans are ready, or Regina finds another way to cross over, there is nothing I can do to help her – so I am going to prepare, to get ready, to be able to be the best of myself in the moment when I am actually able to contribute and be of use to Emma. Losing mind over what could happen until then won’t benefit anyone but the Wicked Witch and Midas, and I, for one, do not intend to give them any more advantages than they already have.”

Neal only nodded, still feeling the effects of surprise when the passenger turned to him with violence in his features. Never before had he seen David so riled up, so dangerous, and it shocked him as he always saw the prince as a kind and patient man with soothing manner. But, these were extenuating circumstances, no doubt, so he forced himself to relax, turning his eyes to the road, noticing that he had stopped in the middle of the street when David had spoken.

“What are you going to do?” the former Lost Boy asked as he started driving again.

“Sharpen my sword, get some exercise… Get used to horses again, maybe start training Henry.” They both knew that the last part depended entirely on his brunette mother, but they had no doubt that Regina would choose the best option for her elder boy, knowing his penchant for trouble. Then David smirked with invitation, “You can come, as well. Learn some things…”

David was joking, Neal knew, but he couldn’t help but consider the offer. Even though he was from the Enchanted Forest, he had never learned to be proficient with the weaponry of the land. During his time in Neverland, he had been taught some basic skills with bow and spear, but nothing really useful.

* * *

The pixie haired woman watched the other one move around the kitchen with economical movements that come from practice and time, the barely heard clink of dishes and light touch on the cupboard doors spoke of the soft manner Regina was used to doing things, knowing that any loud noises could awaken her children. It was something Snow hadn’t yet mastered, as there was no need to keep things quiet in the loft, as David was rarely asleep when she was awake, and they had no child to mind. Even when Henry had been staying with them, the noise of the breakfast making had been useful to get the deep sleeper out of bed. However, here, in Regina’s kitchen, Mary Margaret could barely hear anything over the soothing swoosh of the water.

Her mind turned toward the apparently failed ritual they had tried that evening. She didn’t know whether she was disappointed or relieved, and it made her consider that perhaps the summons failed because of her, of her reluctance to see the vile woman again, to be confronted with the woman she had killed in cold blood, using the hopeful desperation of the woman’s daughter against her.

When the sound of water ended, followed by a light squeak of the tap, Snow looked at Regina’s back, needing to speak.

“I want to apologize, Regina,” she started, noticing the slight tensing of the woman’s shoulders while the owner of the house was still turned away from her, leaning on the sink. “For Cora, for…”

“Murdering her?” Regina helpfully supplied after several seconds passed with Snow struggling to find the right words, the accusation clear in her tone.

“Right,” Snow winced. “Yeah.” Suddenly unable to look at the brunette, the younger woman glanced down at her hands, nervously playing with her fingers. “I don’t take it lightly. I… I think about it every day.”

“So do I.” Well, not really, but she had spent quite a lot of time ruminating on the facts surrounding her mother’s death and Snow’s role in it, she thought to herself as she leaned forward onto the marble surrounding her kitchen sink. Then she turned to her guest, slowly, as if she was fighting with herself, not wanting to show her face, and her emotions with it, just yet. “And when I do think about it I remember… That she did kill your mother.” She hated the fact that her voice betrayed her emotions, a certain degree of clog-like quality detectable as she spoke, but she cleared her throat and pushed on. “So, I’ll admit that’s complicated,” she added, crossing her arms, not adjusting her posture even after she noticed Snow glancing down at her apparent show of discomfort with the subject.

“Thank you,” the pixie haired woman murmured softly. “I'm sure you had some things you wanted to say to her.”

Regina barely prevented herself from scoffing at the understatement Snow had voiced. “Yes, well,” she started almost absently, before she somewhat relaxed her posture, her arms still wrapped around her. “I am realizing that my mother walled off a lot of her life from me,” she spoke with conviction and not a small tinge of disappointment, only nodding slightly at Snow when the younger woman hummed in agreement. “She wasn’t the warmest mother, but…” The pixie haired woman could hear the vestiges of pain seep into the words her once nemesis was uttering, her heart going to the woman who had become such an intricate part of her family. “At least I thought I occupied a singular spot in her heart.” The mother to be frowned at the slight catch in Regina’s voice at the end, not knowing how to soothe the injury, her mothering and caring nature pushing her to go to the older woman and do something, but experience and familiarity with the woman’s walls stopped her from rushing to hug the Mayor. Instead, she sat there and listened, waiting to hear more – offering compassion in silence.

Regina sighed deeply and let out a single chuckle filled with so much hurt and disbelief before she untwisted her arms and leaned forward. “A sister. Zelena.” Then she frowned as she placed her elbows on the counter, leaning toward her companion. “Why would she give her up? Why would she make us strangers to one another?” As the diary clearly had pointed out, Rumplestiltskin had found out that the Wicked Witch had been abandoned and brought to Oz mere hours after birth. The mother in Regina had recoiled from the fact that her own mother had abandoned her child, mercilessly leaving her behind for all the dangers of the world to find her. She wondered if there had been some more dangerous and precarious circumstances to Zelena's birth rather than the shame of a child born out of wedlock.

Then, a rumble sounded over their heads, immediately drawing their attention to the strange noise in the house. “What was that?” Snow spoke, startled before she could comment on Regina’s questions. Rising from her seat, she watched the woman focus somewhere in the distance, listening to the sounds, trying to place them.

“I have no idea,” the older woman replied after a moment, straightening out as she directed herself toward the noise. Aware that her guest was following closely behind, Regina went to the stairs, slowly going toward the signs of disturbance, her magic rising up and standing at the ready. The younger woman behind her did not speak but she did her best to keep quiet, her footsteps almost unheard on the hardwood floors.

Passing all the rooms on the second floor, Regina frowned as the noise was coming from the back of the mansion, part of the house that had been hardly used and mostly empty. “It’s there,” she murmured, gesturing toward the small corner room. “There isn’t anything in this room. It’s…” she started to say but she was interrupted as the door she was reaching for were torn out of the frame quite violently, shocking both women, the older one reacting on instinct – placing a protective hand over Snow’s middle, holding her slightly back, before they noticed a figure in the space, sitting in front of the spinning wheel, shrouded in magic similar to the vortex Regina had tried to summon only hours before. The specter was a person, covered in a cloak, the color of it indiscernible due to magic and transparency of the ghost, but as soon as the person turned to look over the shoulder, they saw a young woman with hard and intense expression on her face, her lips pursed in determination. Regina leaned in, recognizing not only the face but the very expression. “Mother?”

The pixie haired woman gasped at Regina’s utterance, her eyes flying away from the glowing shade and turning to the older woman in surprise. However, before she could comment on it, Regina pushed her one step back, keeping her behind herself. “This can’t be,” the sorceress said with disbelief as she tried to soak in the features of the woman that once had been her parent, seeing the young face for the first time apart from old canvases and paintings at her grandfather’s royal palace and her father’s home. “The spell opened a limited portal for talking!” It definitely wasn't supposed to bring the specter of her mother into the plane of living. Nevertheless, the former Evil Queen was staring at the shade rising from its seat and gliding toward them, the actions of the spirit reeking of hostility.

“It’s me,” Snow stated, her voice barely heard over the rising wind that the magic of the incorporeal manifestation was creating. “I killed Cora.” The princess watched the progress of the specter with trepidation as she tried to explain the situation. “She sensed my presence and found a way to bleed through into our world.”

“Watch out,” Regina warned the second the spirit sped up toward them, jumping into its path, blocking its way to the younger woman. “Back down, mother,” she ordered as she glared at the shade. “You will answer my questions.” As the spirit seemed to hesitate, the sorceress pushed forward. “Now tell me… What did you do to Zelena?” Instead of getting an answer, Regina was pushed away quite strongly, her body flung to the side, as the shade continued on its path toward Snow. Just as it was about to place its hands onto the retreating woman, the Mayor brought herself upright and teleported her guest and herself out of the proverbial corner, appearing in the study where it all began. However, their respite didn’t last for long as the shade burst in only seconds after them. Luckily, this time Regina was ready and she attacked the intruder with her magic, pushing it away.

“You’re holding her off,” the expectant mother said in relief as she watched the spirit struggle against the magic pressing against it.

“But, I can’t hold her forever,” Regina replied as she felt the slight drain on her power. As a matter of fact, she wouldn’t be able to hold her off for much longer if the current expenditure of magic continues. It was due to using raw power instead the finesse she had usually implemented in her work with her power. She was using the magic as one would use water to keep the mass or people at bay, hoping that the brutish pressure would push them back and such outpour was costing her dearly, however, she saw no other way of fighting against the specter. It was also a stark reminder that she was in dire need of practicing the craft she once had thought that she had mastered – but, Emma disproved it, quite easily at that, judging by her notes, and that had been before Regina had read of the Guardian. Firmly deciding to try some of the things her beloved had described in the journals, the Mayor ground her teeth and poured more of her power into the steady torrent of magic bashing against the spirit.

After several minutes it became evident that the specter was stronger than Regina, its pushes against the Mayor’s magic creating flashes. “I don't know how much longer I can hold her off,” the sorceress shouted to the woman standing behind her, sensing her every flinch. If there was a way to split her magic and leave enough for her to keep the spirit of her mother at bay and send Snow away at the same time, she would have done so, but with every second spent fighting against the specter she was closer to magical exhaustion.

“Cora, I’m sorry,” Snow tried to plead with the shade, as she entreated it. “Please, forgive me!”

“Save your breath,” Regina said with contempt as she glared at the shade, using the last vestiges of the magical torrent she had at her disposal. “Your mother was nothing like my mother. She only understands power and weakness. But if she wants to kill you, she’s gonna have to go through me!” The last words were meant more for the shade than her companion, and she could feel Snow's surprised look at the back of her head. “This isn’t about you. This is about her… And me!” At the last word, Regina gave up, not willing to continue the futile exercise of draining herself against the obviously stronger magic. She looked at the satisfied smirk on her mother’s face and felt anger rise up in her. “It’s time for answers, mother. What did you do to Zelena?”

However, the same as the last time, the specter struck and slammed the sorceress out of the way, into the desk, causing her to pass out, as it attacked the other woman, flying into her, ignoring Snow’s helpless shout, and making her fall down, luckily into a conveniently posed chair behind her, unlike the older woman who had crashed to the floor.

The very second the spirit entered her, Snow was paralyzed in pain and terror, feeling the intruder’s magic coursing through her body, but then the flashes started. The events, people she didn’t know but she remembered somehow. After several seconds, as her fear and shock gave some leeway to curiosity, Snow realized that the flashes were memories. Memories of the woman who had given birth to her former nemesis. They weren’t the inconsequential pictures in Cora’s past, but ordered and explanatory, telling a story of a life of a young miller’s daughter, encumbered with feelings and thought processes of the young woman. They portrayed the poverty Cora had grown up in quite vividly, the images of a drunkard of a father spending all their earnings on the next batch of ale and other forms of home brewed spirits while the young woman had been forced to work just to pay the debts her father had accrued. The memories told a story of a girl dreaming for a better life than the squalor of the peasantry, and of a young woman willing to do anything to get away from it, whether by working at the town inn and bar, being pawed at by the drunkards so alike to her father, or by trying to ensnare a young dashing fellow presenting as a royal. The story went on, telling of disappointments and treachery of the rascal who had played the girl. Meeting with the crown prince, getting engaged, and being betrayed again, this time by a foreign princess who could not deign to look at a peasant, let alone let them take her rightful place at the throne of the White kingdom. The memories showed a hard life and the scorn of the villagers as Cora had fallen out of grace, leading her to abandon the child, hoping it would have a better life, feeling her heart breaking at the parting. They showed the fateful delivery of flour and the malicious behavior of Princess Eva at King Xavier’s court. Cora’s entanglement with the Dark One was explained, as well as the fact when Cora had taken out her heart. The last memory Snow was subjected to was the proud presentation of the newly born girl to the court at the naming ceremony.

Regina awoke to the woman seated in the chair, trembling in trance, her skin shining in the colors of the shade as she seemed gripped in a painful possession. Quickly rising to her feet, the Mayor rushed toward the younger woman. “Mary Margaret!” she tried to rouse her, but it appeared that the specter had too firm grip on the young mother. “Hold on! I won’t let you go!” Regina shouted at the motionless body, digging deep into her magical reserves and with determination so characteristic of her alter ego, she grasped onto the magical presence and pulled it out of her guest, successfully exorcizing her mother out of Snow. With great effort, she managed to push the spirit up, and as if the portal that had been opened a while before had recognized the escaped shade, it opened and with Regina’s help, it sucked in the apparition, taking it away before it blinked out of existence.

Regina sighed in relief as she staggered backwards, the sudden stop of the energy pressing against her magic making her lose her balance for a moment. However, she had no time to waste, as she turned toward the woman no longer in the grips of whatever the spirit had made her endure, but with her eyes closed, Mary Margaret seemed to be unconscious. Kneeling beside the chair, she placed her hand onto the limp arm, feeling for the pulse.

“Mary Margaret,” Regina called gently, her other palm reaching for the clammy cheek. “Can you hear me?”

“Cora…” Snow murmured, still seeming out of it. “Not what we thought, trying to communicate…”

Surprised by the words coming out of the pixie haired woman, Regina gasped, before she pressed on. “What did she say?” However, after several mentions of Cora, Leopold and Eva, Snow lost coherence. Worried, the Mayor used a small trickle of magic to revive the woman, not having any more to spare. In her mind, she decided to give a call to Victor and urge him to make a house call immediately. Finally, the eyes she was so familiar with met her own and quickly filled with tears as the younger woman regarded the regal woman crouched in front of her.

“Regina,” Snow whispered, not able to say anything more, hating the fact that she needed to share the story to the woman who would be very hurt by it, feeling the revulsion at the revelations coming from Cora’s past herself. “I…” she tried, but after several false starts she gave up, as tears glided down her face twisted in sorrow and . She gripped the hand still resting over hers and tried to impart at least some of the message through her eyes but failing.

“What did you see?” Regina asked softly as she held the still cold hand in hers, but the anguish in the green eyes told her it was something bad, something that was so terrible that Snow could not even force herself to speak about. “Alright, then,” she said soothingly, as she pushed another trickle of magic into the younger woman, trying to use one of the memory magics Rumple had taught her, only using Emma’s version of it. “Relax, and think about what you need to show me and I will see it,” she guided the woman as she focused, gently entering the mind of the seated guest.

In a short time she was shown everything that Cora had imparted on Snow, and inordinate pieces of information seeped into her mind as she finally understood her own mother. With a shuddering intake of breath, she left Mary Margaret’s mind and crashed onto the floor, too shocked by the disclosures of the spirit that once had been her parent. “She…”

Helplessly, the younger woman watched as her daughter’s lover was faced with truths that destroyed every construct that Regina had grown up with, all the beliefs nullified with a single but powerful blow.

“It was all a lie,” the brunette murmured with anguish. “She never loved me. It was all about power.”

Even the last words she had heard from the woman in her final seconds, the words that she had cherished and dreamed of hearing long before that last moment, were not meant for her, but for a child that the miller’s daughter had been forced to get rid of. The eyes filled with love and happiness had not been directed at her but at the other child of the Queen of Hearts. She had been nothing but a pawn in the game her mother played, a thing to be easily sacrificed in the war against the Whites and easily disposed of in her quest for power.

“Regina?”

Rising off the floor, the Mayor pushed down all her rampant emotions, hiding them beneath the cold and impervious mask, as she flexed her shoulders and brushed off her clothes. With decisive strides she walked out of the study, leaving Mary Margaret behind to sit, yet not able to rise out of it, weakened by the spirit’s intrusion. Grabbing her cell, she quickly dialed the number of the resident doctor, explaining the situation succinctly, before she called the sheriff, telling him only to come to the mansion, leaving it for Snow to explain what had happened to her husband.

In no time, both men appeared at the 108 Mifflin Street, and leaving them with her guest, Regina retreated to her kitchen, letting the men transfer the woman to a guest room she had graciously offered for the exam. Alone, away from the people in the house, she was struggling to maintain her façade and only with the help of the diaries she was keeping within reach, she found a way to keep the emotional fallout of the evening at bay, as the words of her True Love reminded her that she was indeed loved and treasured, regardless of the motivations of her parents. She belonged with someone, she had hope and her happy ending despite her mother’s plans and machinations. Reading the familiar script she imagined Emma's reaction to the news. She had no problem imagining the compassionate green eyes and the soothing whisper welcoming her into a warm and heart-melding embrace, as the gentle kisses would land on her brow and forehead. It was like magic, the way her sorrow and anger, disappointment and resentment, retreated, letting her breathe easier and her muscles relax.

Then, she felt tremendous relief as her heart was not under constant barrage of the tide of dark feelings that had grown lighter with the remembrance of Emma, as she managed to push them aside, to be dealt with later. Now, she had more important things to consider. Even though she did not find out much more about Zelena, she did learn that Cora had never wanted to give her up but had been forced to do so – by Eva and her secret telling. And, with some speculation, Regina could surmise that whatever Zelena was up to, it had something to do with Cora and that very moment of being abandoned. But, what it was, she could not even begin to guess as she didn’t have enough information. Regina knew from Emma’s journals that Zelena had been jealous of her, wanting to take her place in Rumplestiltskin’s eyes. Maybe, this whole war was a way of surpassing the deeds of the Evil Queen, with the Wicked Witch taking the throne of the most feared sorceress in the Enchanted Forest. But, she didn’t know… And, by the looks of it, neither did Emma. So, the only thing to do was to go to the Enchanted Forest and hope that they learn more before the Witch’s plan was realized.

She heard the door close on the doctor's way out, the slam of it reverberating through the house, startling her out of her ruminations. Shifting her shoulders to ease the tension in them, she returned to the study, determined to clean the mess left behind by the ghost. A shattered lamp in the corner and scattered books on the other end of the room seemed to be the only casualties of the spirit, well, apart from her aching body that had been flung to the floor, twice.

As she crouched down to pick the large shards of glass she heard someone walking into the room, behind her. “Need a hand?” Mary Margaret asked as she met Regina’s eyes.

“Shouldn’t you be on bed rest?” the Mayor replied as she scrutinized the younger woman, looking for any symptoms of negative side effects of the possession. Pleased to see that there were none, Regina waited for Snow to speak.

‘Doctor Whale just left,” the young woman spoke, her face showing a small grimace of distaste that seemed to follow every mention of the town’s chief medical authority. “He cleared me. Apparently, the human body has a surprising tolerance for ghost possession. And he told me that motherhood suited me, which somehow came out creepy.” Snow rushed through the explanation as she grabbed a broom Regina had brought into the room. “May I?”

The older woman was too emotionally drained to chuckle at the other woman’s flustered speech, so she only nodded and shrugged her left shoulder, which apparently was enough for Snow to start sweeping the small shards from the lamp, glancing toward the woman still crouching beside the table. “You want to talk about it?” the expectant mother offered as she continued sweeping.

“What's there to talk about?” Regina replied as she rose to her feet, lifting what was left of the lamp onto the table, in a move Mary Margaret recognized as deflection. “You officially have a less damaging relationship with my mother than I.” Regina could not resist adding pointedly as she righted the chair to sit on, “And you killed her.’

“At least we know, you and me, our history…” Snow spoke, disregarding Regina’s barb, finishing up with the broom. “It’s more complicated than we thought,” she said softly, walking to the table and taking a seat, as well, all the while she was looking at her once nemesis. Knowing that nothing she could say would change the past, the past that seemed to have marked both of them – their mothers feuding over Leopold and power, and their daughters inheriting that feud, masked as their own wars, Snow smiled sadly at her former adversary. “It seems that we have been destined to be at the opposite ends of the war in our family.”

“And, yet, we found a way to overcome it,” Regina said with a smile of her own, her meaning clearly addressing the presence of the Savior in their lives.

“For the longest time, I thought our family was the pinnacle of Light, and that you and your mother were the darkness that endangered it. Now, as I know the truth…” A deep sigh escaped the princess, but before she could go on, Regina spoke.

“Life is too messy for it to ever be that simple. It is human to make mistakes, and there are only many different shades of gray.” The former Evil Queen reached for Snow’s hand in a rare show of explicit compassion, one that years before she wouldn’t have even dreamed about. “Your daughter was the one to make me accept that.” Then, with softness in her voice, she squeezed the hand in her hold. “I know how much you looked up to Eva. I am sorry you had to learn she had such darkness in her past.”

Mary Margaret sighed as she shrugged her shoulders, as her voice turned introspective while she took hold of Regina’s comforting hand. “That wasn't the woman I knew. It makes me wonder what happened that changed her.” Then, the younger woman focused on her former stepmother, needing to say the words that Regina probably wanted to say as well, in regards to the experience they had shared that evening. “I suppose I'll never know.”

The Mayor patted the woman's hand and smirked, her eyes glinting with mysterious light as she leaned toward the woman. “Well, we can never know our past completely, especially when people had gone through such lengths to keep it hidden.” Then, however, her voice turned conspiratorial as she looked away toward her desk, her eyes finding a special frame on the desk, with a picture of a six year old boy sitting in it, his smile lighting up his entire face. “Sometimes, it is the children that inspire us to be the best versions of ourselves, wanting to set them an example they could be proud of.”

Snow followed her gaze and smiled at the picture of her grandson, understanding Regina’s point quite perfectly. Her rumination interrupted by the sudden disappearance of a soothing warmth on her hand, she looked at the older woman and blinked at the change happening right before her eyes. The gentle woman she had grown to know and, dare she say, love, was being overrun by sadness and betrayal caused by the encounter with Regina’s mother, the regal politician trying to shore up her defenses to hide her pain, to mask her despair – still unwilling to show weakness to others, even those she now trusted – and failing. Snow watched in horror as an unchecked tear glided down the pale olive cheek, followed all too quickly by another and another, seeing the woman she considered to be the strongest and the most resilient of all fall apart right in front of her. “Regina,” Mary Margaret tried to offer some measure of consolation, but miserably falling short, as the woman in question rose from her seat, hiding her face away from her guest.

“It’s late,” came the roughened reply to Snow’s gentle entreaty. “You should leave.”

Knowing in her heart that the woman before her really should not be alone, especially that night when her children were away, but she also knew that Regina would not accept help. Not from her. Not at that time. However, she tried once more to reach the now shaking woman, unable to listen to the shuddering gasps of someone trying to suppress them. “Regina, you don’t have to do this alone.”

“Leave,” the older woman ordered, now her voice tinged with traces of anger as the newly regenerated magic crackled off her fingers. Clenching her hands into fists, Regina only glanced over her shoulder, her anguished eyes meeting Snow’s as she pleaded silently with the stubborn young woman. Seeing the conflict of Snow’s desires clearly on the fair face, the sorceress spoke one more word, to help the younger woman to leave her alone. “Please,” she whispered imploringly before she walked away, her magic making her disappear in mid step, as she was enveloped in purple and lilac swirls of color.

With nothing else to do, Mary Margaret softly called out to her husband, and sinking into his arms she guided them outside the mansion, her saddened eyes immediately going toward the upper floor windows, as she tried to find the traces of the woman who had once more become a part of her family. But, her search gained no results as it was only darkness that welcomed her gaze. With a heavy sigh, Snow surrendered helplessly to Regina’s wishes, firmly determined to check upon the woman the next morning, even if she would have to break down the door.

“What did you find out?” David asked softly as he drove away from the curb of the Mifflin Street, quite aware that something major had gone down with the spirit possession. It took his wife a moment to answer, but when she finally did, it was in a form of mumbled ‘I’ll tell you later’ as she stared through the window of the truck.

* * *

_ It was all a lie. _

The words were repeating in her mind, over and over again, as she struggled to breathe against the flood of feelings, the incredible pain searing through her veins as she had to release her magic, fueled and primed by her sorrow and betrayal.

_ It was all a lie. _

The flashes of memories she had gleaned from her once nemesis were still playing out in front of her eyes, each new repetition tearing a new wound in her barely healed heart, as she screamed in devastation.

_ It was all a lie. _

The air around her crackled, the earth and stone vibrated, and the glass containers lining the walls were clinking with the power of her emotionally powered outpour. She wasn’t even aware of the pain in her knees or the burning tingling on her palms, too consumed by the storm inside her.

But, then, a very familiar voice appeared in her mind. A voice that she missed very, very much. A voice that she couldn't believe that she could hear. But, a voice that managed to dispel the tempest of her feels.

_ Not all of it. Not even close. Even if she did lie to you, and never loved you, there are people who do. Very much. So much that they would walk straight into Hell for you, Regina. Do not forget them when you think of your past, your Majesty _ .

Even though the Savior was not there, the Mayor could feel her, could feel the love surrounding her and it was the soothing balm that eased the ravages of her torn heart. Even though Emma was not present, she was able to comfort her True Love, an endeavor Regina was truly grateful for and not willing to question. The calming thoughts that embodied her beloved gave enough pause to remember that she was not alone, and definitely not unloved. Despite the hits she had taken that evening, she realized that the past did not really change anything, not in the ways that should matter. She had two children she adored, she had a family. She had her True Love that she couldn’t wait to meet again, and she even had the loving in-laws that accepted her and her relationship with Emma. After all, she was the richest at this point in time, for once having all that she needed to be happy. Of course, the Sheriff was in a different world, currently fighting a war, but it did not mean that she did not appreciate what she had, as opposed to what she once had thought she had had.

Finally able to breathe easier, she realized that she had subconsciously chosen a relatively safe place for her magical outburst, recognizing the dark and damp space almost instantly. Still weak from the discharge, her magical core yet to recover from the previous depletion, she only managed to flip herself over onto her back, feeling the cold cement of the floor beneath her, the uncomfortable clamminess seeping into her skin through her clothes. She was in her cellar, the area of the house she rarely frequented, as only her small distillery was situated there and not much else. It would seem that her magic took her to the safest place in her house, where she had been free to let go of her reins and not destroy anything of value.

As she lied on the hard surface, she used the calming exercises Dr. Hopper had taught her to slow down the furious tempo of her heart beat, her mind firmly focused on counting and instructions, forcefully cleared of all other distractions. She had used it to restrain her magic, but now she was using it to keep herself together, trying to control her emotions. Slowly, and with great persistence, her pulse returned to normal and her magic reverted into its benevolent existence, easily contained and utilized. Only then, Regina became aware of the physical pain she was experiencing, frowning at its appearance. Carefully, she moved her head as she lifted her left hand and saw the cement rash and cuts over the palms, some of the deeper wounds still oozing blood, despite the gray dust covering most of the injuries in a caked layer. A quick glance to the right told her that her other hand was in similar condition. Apart from those injuries, it seemed that her knees suffered as well, along with her pricy pumps, due to her kneeling on the rough surface. It seemed that she also had slight muscle pains, telling her that her magic did a quite number on her, as well as her rampant emotions.

After several self-encouraging breaths, the brunette gingerly rose to her feet, wincing when her moves would aggravate some of her wounds, then with care, climbed up to the ground level of the house, not willing to put additional strain to her already overburdened magic reserves. Almost unconsciously, she directed herself to the kitchen and grabbing one of her towels, she took the diaries resting at the counter, taking care not to touch them directly, using the cloth to handle the books. With the journals in her possession, she directed herself to her bedroom, knowing that the best thing to do now was to get some rest, as she was pushing on two days without a wink, and the past week had been anything but restful with Henry being ill and the appearance of the journals. As she walked into her room, she dropped the notebooks onto her bed and went to her in suite, taking off her clothes and preparing for a long bath needed to relax her muscles. While she waited for the tub to fill, she cleaned the abrasions on her palms, not even acknowledging the blood and dirt flowing away with the water in the sink. Knowing that entering the hot water with still bleeding hands would defeat the purpose of a bath, she willed her magic to heal the skin, using only a light trickle of it, wary of its use so soon after the discharge in the basement.

An hour later, she crawled into her bed, dressed only in one of Emma's beaters and comfortable cotton briefs, pulling the diaries to herself as she situated herself and lied down, unconscious claiming her even before she lowered her head to the pillow completely.

* * *

“So, what did you two learn?” David asked, as he held his mug, finally deciding to break the uncomfortable silence Mary Margaret had insisted on while she had prepared a light dinner for them and clearing away the dishes. He knew from her behavior that something bad had happened at Regina’s and that his wife was more than reluctant to share, but he also had a feeling that she needed to, as they had no secrets between them, not only because his True Love was unable to keep them, but because honesty was much too important and valued in their relationship. So, as he grew tired of watching her wipe the counter for the fourth time, he asked, not missing the sudden freezing of his wife in the middle of the motion.

The woman looked at him and suddenly, her tired eyes filled with tears as she leaned back, shaking her head, unable to properly formulate the answer for her husband. How do you tell someone that you had witnessed a member of their complicated family learn that she had been nothing but a mere pawn for her parents, a tool toward attaining more power, easily discarded?

“Hey,” the man spoke with panic rising in him at such a strong reaction, as he rose from his seat at the counter and quickly reached for his wife, his hands pulling her into his comforting hold as he tried to get her to calm down. He led her to the living room and lowered them down to the sofa, arranging them so he could embrace her with both arms, while she sobbed into his shirt. After a while, when Mary Margaret had managed to get herself together to start talking, she hesitantly told the story of her evening, spending more than a couple of hours speaking of Cora’s past and the consequences it had on both her and Regina.

Learning that Leopold had been engaged with Cora first made David swallow hard, his stomach rolling at the disgust the information created in him. He had known that the King had been quite older than the queen, but the fact that Cora had been the similar age as Eva only drove the point that much further as he considered the ages of the characters involved in the story. After Emma had discreetly confirmed his thoughts about Regina’s treatment by the King’s hands, he held no ill will toward the sorceress that had made his life hell, nor did he hold any resentment toward the mother of his grandson, his once hate and anger turning into compassion, understanding and kinship. He had surmised that Regina’s home before the castle had not been a benevolent one, but now he felt horror as he fully realized the implications of Cora’s coldness and harsh conditioning of an innocent girl that would later become the most terrible villain in his life.

Before the trigger business, while Snow had been, well, indisposed, still wrecked with guilt over her role in Cora’s death, David had often thought about the older woman’s last moments, considering that Regina had at least gotten some measure of closure before the Queen of Hearts had died in her arms, the words he had heard seeming like a good way to share feelings with the devastated daughter. However, as he heard that Cora had meant those words for her elder daughter, the one she had not seen from the day of her birth, and not for the woman she had raised, his heart broke for his former enemy. In retrospective, it made sense that Cora’s specter had ignored the brunette, even going to great lengths to push her out of the way.

It seemed that Regina had been in for a great deal of pain, and it was all for nothing, as they learned nothing of Zelena’s past, except the facts and events relating to her birth.

Only when Mary Margaret fell asleep on him, after exhausting herself with the hard retelling of the evening, he moved, carrying her to bed, gently enough for her not to feel the transition. With ease born of great love and familiarity, he disrobed her and moved her under the heavy quilt, kissing her shirt covered belly before he tucked her in. In a way, he was grateful that the possession had taken a lot out of her, for there would be no other way for her to sleep that night, too concerned for Regina and distressed over the truths she had learned. She would’ve spent the night worrying about the woman and that much stress wasn't good for the baby.

Just like that, his thoughts turned from his daughter's True Love to his unborn child, as he went back into the kitchen to wash the mug that was left on the counter. When Snow had told him that they were expecting, they had spent hours talking deep into the night, discussing everything and anything related to the baby that they were expecting, and one of those topics had been their somewhat taciturn agreement that they would travel to the Enchanted Forest, despite the dangers they might be facing. Mary Margaret, already filled with doubt and guilt for getting pregnant before resolving all the residual resentment and hurt between them and their daughter, had been quite adamant in insisting that they were to go, regardless of any and all complications. He, on the other hand, was reluctant to bring his pregnant wife into a world that was so filled with dangers at any day, especially during the war time, however, he did agree that staying in Storybrooke was not the solution either. So, he had done the only thing he could – he had agreed and quietly resolved to make sure nothing would happen to Snow. Having learned that the Enchanted Forest was in turbulent times only made his resolve that much stronger, knowing that he had to prepare. So, using his sleeplessness, he planned out a workout schedule for himself, noting that he should sharpen his sword one of these days. He even considered going to the hunting and sports store to buy more supplies, such as arrows, crossbows and hunting knives – all made of far sturdier materials than anything they had brought over from their world. Perhaps, bringing the subject of armaments up with Regina and Neal, as they were the only adults apart from Hook who could leave Storybrooke unharmed, would insure them having superior weapons.

After he made sure that the loft was locked up and lights turned off, he changed into pajamas and joined his wife in bed, tenderly gathering her in his arms as he settled for the rest of the night, willing his mind to calm, as he pushed his worries away, to be ruminated under the light of day.

* * *

_ From the moment a small, cold and dark heart had landed in her hand, there was only one thought that Regina had in her mind – to reach her mother as soon as possible. Even though she was quite perturbed to see Snow in her own personal lair, standing among her mother’s precious things, she did not waste any time on long awaited and wanted revenge, her whole attention drawn to the shriveled object she cradled tenderly in her palms. Taking off, she directed herself toward the pawn shop, not aware if she was using magic to travel or going on foot – that hard she was focused on the treasure in her arms. _

_ After a small eternity, or was it only several seconds, she appeared before the harsh woman, the person she had yearned to gain approval from since the day she was old enough to understand that the coldness that woman had directed at her was somehow her fault. Ignoring the fact that her mother was in the middle of a gruesome attack toward laid out Rumplestiltskin, the dagger high in the air – poised to kill, she rushed forward without a thought and pushed the small heart through the back of the woman, and placing the precious object in its rightful place after so many decades spent out of it. As the dagger fell to the floor, the older woman turned to her daughter, a disbelieving smile lighting up her face, as her hand covered her heart, still wincing at the presence of the beating organ. But, the victory and love Regina experienced in that moment all too soon turned to bewildering agony and hatred toward the Dark One and that wretched child of White. The words that would haunt her escaped her mother’s lips and she felt her heart tear. _

_ However, the event did not enfold like the last time. No, now the words were spoken to a nondescript woman with red hair and green skin standing in a corner while Regina was utterly ignored, as her mother’s eyes searched for the woman and beaming in her direction, her hand reaching out for the intruder. _

_ Too confused to even react, the brunette felt the scene change and suddenly she was kneeling on the stone floor before her father’s body, his eyes still open and portraying the shock and betrayal at the actions of his own daughter against him. Once more the unrecognizable woman appeared before her and spoke, with her mother’s voice, making Regina cringe. “Have you learned nothing? Love is weakness, Regina!” The sorceress said before she disappeared in a whiff of a green magical smoke leaving her alone with the corpse of her other parent. _

_ Seeing her father for the first time after that night, Regina could not help but scream her outrage at the fate punishing her so harshly, as she knew, perhaps only subconsciously, that some version of this event had happened years before, long before she had changed and accepted the burdens of her deeds. Now, as she was forced to re-experience one of the most emotionally brutal events in her past, she dissolved into helpless tears, the only comprehensible words leaving her were ‘Sorry’ and ‘Daddy’, repeated over and over again, more often than not drowned by the shuddering cries shaking the brunette. _

_ Once more the scene changed. Looking around, Regina noticed that she was no longer within the walls of her castle, nor in Storybrooke, but somewhere she had never been before. A field covered in snow, undisturbed by wind and ice, surrounded her, but in the distance to the right, a small stone fence enclosed a plot that was not only isolated by the wall of dark rock, but with naked trees covered in crystals of ice. As a lonely bell tolled, along the sounds of sorrowful summons made by the wind, ghostly howling through the area, making Regina’s skin creep with uneasiness, she followed the call – walking toward the sequestered place, all too soon realizing it was a resting place, a small cemetery, albeit very different from one in Storybrooke. Regina walked through the arch of the dark stone before her feet fell upon a forgotten path leading farther in. _

_ In the diminishing light of the setting Sun that shone, the tinsel of ice glimmered, making the trees aglow in the tranquil twilight, the hallowed silence clung in the air. Soon enough, the brunette came upon a lonely figure set at the center of this strange graveyard, and in the lifelike figure the Queen saw a brave knight decked in uniform of her Court, however with more elegant and durable materials, speaking of a high born member of her Knights, its nobility of birth and spirit more than obvious by the guarding posture the knight held. The black marble was covered by the slowly falling snow, its brightness adding to the eerie feeling of the place. _

_ Coming closer to the sentinel carved out of stone, she peered deeply into its features, something about them making her heart squeeze in pain of loss. _

_ But, before she could consider why the sharp lines of the marble face were so familiar to her, a raven cried above her, guiding her toward the raised altar, resting under the canopy of stone and ivy. As the mournful bell still rang out, Regina stepped upon the steps leading her to the marble mausoleum, the uneasiness that had followed her growing into concern tinged with panic, her heart already knowing who would she find on the such altar, but she refused to acknowledge its truth as she came closer to the preserved body. _

_ Hand flew to her mouth the moment her eyes fell upon the face of the person, as her world exploded in pain. There was her Savior, bedecked in the finest cloths her kingdom had to offer, black and styled after the Black Knights’ uniforms, the ivory white skin almost shining against it. And there on her chest, firmly in her grasp, her beloved Knight had the familiar sword placed in the position of honor that her soldiers practiced, its blade broken near the hilt, the larger part of it resting against Emma's belly and legs, while the hilt was put right onto the chest bone, close to her heart. _

_ “No,” she whispered as she stepped forward, her eyes taking in the cold corpse that once housed her beloved True Love. “NO!” she screamed to the heavens as she collapsed onto the shell of the Savior, the briskness of the winter air nothing compared to the ice that now flowed through her veins, as the sea of pain engulfed her, her eyes unable to look away from the serene face frozen in death. The despair and hurt that filled her soul were innumerable times much worse than the anguish that Daniel’s passing had left in her, as she cried before the monument of the cruelty of Fate and Destiny heaped upon her. It was so strong that she had forgotten everything else, everyone else, her whole world focused onto the unmoving hero laid for the final rest, all the joy and happiness gone, and as her eyes drifted toward the broken blade, Regina felt the call of the soulmate from beyond calling for her, to join her, to end this suffering. However, she could not move, not even to grant herself the sweet oblivion from such pain, her body seized in the catatonia of her loss, and as the fires of her magic and her heart dimmed with every minute she spent looking at the features of her Sheriff, Regina was lost to time and space. _

_ After a while, gentle hands tenderly landed on her upper arms, pulling her into a warm body behind her, away from the dead hero. She lacked the will and strength to resist the persistent yet careful guidance of the person pressed against her, not caring of whatever would happen to her. Only when her head landed on a familiar shoulder and her nose detected the more than welcome scent of leather, metal and something intricately connected to her True Love did she realize who had her in a gentle embrace and suddenly, her heart that had almost been turned to stone flared with life and hope, the very turbulence of violent relief breaking her further, as she collapsed in joyous sobs while the caring hands rubbing her back. Surrendering completely to the loving hold she closed her eyes, as a soft murmur of the Sheriff passed over her, comforting her, as she felt her Savior guide her away from the somber place, the heat and light embraced her almost instantly. _

_ When she was calm enough to understand what was happening, she grasped the situation and sighed heavily, while she glanced around the lavish bed, noticing that her beloved was wearing the very clothes she had seen her displayed in, only now she could appreciate the handsomeness it gave to the Sheriff, along with distinguishing nobility. “It is all a dream,” she said with scorn for the event, as she burrowed deeply into the comforting hold. _

_ A light chuckle was heard from the woman holding her, before a gentle touch of lips landed on her forehead before a finger pushed Regina’s face upward, and the regal woman met her beloved for what it seemed to be the first time after leaving her on the shore of the other world, the green eyes crinkling happily as the brunette drank in thirstily the features of her soulmate. She knew what was happening, for Emma had described such instances in the journals, but it did not mean anything less for her – despite knowing that it wasn’t real. Perhaps, knowing that it wasn’t real, it meant more to Regina, because Emma had surmised that their own magic had been trying to console them by using the love of their True Love to create an avatar of their loved ones, summoning them in times of great need. Such appearance of her blonde Savior only confirmed that the Sheriff loved her immeasurably. _

_ “Will you stay?” Regina whispered softly as she reached for Emma’s leather vest, holding on tightly to the woman, as she leaned into the warm body beneath her. _

_ “I am part of you,” the Savior replied softly before she kissed her chastely but with so much love and tenderness. “Even when your dreams are dark, I am here.” Then, gently, she stroked the olive cheek covered in trails of salt, her fingers rubbing off the evidence of her tears. “As you have told me, you are never alone. Even if I am not physically there to hold you, you will always have me in your heart.” The brunette sighed at the slight reproach of her thoughts, realizing that Emma had seen her wish when her eyes had fallen upon the hilt she had gifted to her Knight. And, the Sheriff was right to chide her for her thoughts – for even if her dreams were true, she had no right to rush into meeting her soulmate so soon in the afterlife, because there were still people that needed her. Her boys were the perfect example, and she frowned at herself, acknowledging the fault of her thinking, not comfortable with the idea that she could have abandoned them so easily and without further thought. After all that she had been with Henry, all the hurt and pain, to simply lose sight of him and discard him just like that – it was something that burned her very soul, adding to the still rising amount of onus that seemed that it was going to drown her. _

_ The blonde broke her self-recrimination with another kiss, dousing her doubts and guilt with the everlasting power of love, coaxing a dazed smile out of the Queen with her tender ministrations. “Just hold on, for a little while. It will all end soon. Until then, train the magic and prepare.” With one last kiss, this one with more passion and energy, her Knight smiled lovingly and disappeared, leaving her soothed and relaxed, a soft murmur remaining after the Savior vanished. “Come find me, my love.” _

Regina opened her eyes, finding herself in her own bed with light of the morning falling over her face, still twisted in a false scowl that remained from her dreamscape as she knew why the blonde had used such particular words in her parting. In her hand she was clutching the journals and she smiled at the vivid dream of her beloved that managed to heal her hurt far better than any words she had read, even though they did offer comfort. Not only was she consoled and calm, but also very well rested – something that rarely happened to her, especially after the goodbyes with her True Love.

Stretching her still tender muscles, Regina rose from her bed, ready for a new day, determined to do whatever she needed to be ready for the day when the beans matured enough for inter-world jump. Her mind already on calculating the necessities and demands of the journey, along with the needs of the town she currently presided over, she quickly showered and got dressed, welcoming the beginning of the work week with a renewed zeal. Sending off a short text to Jim that she would pick up the children shortly, she rushed out of the house like a woman on a mission, a list of things to do quite clear in her mind.

“Mommy!” Kyle shouted from the front porch of Kathryn and Jim’s house, holding firmly to one of the banisters of the railing, already dressed in his thick jacket. Right beside him was Henry, watching her with a scrutinizing look, his young mind already assessing his mother’s state. He was more than glad to see the tired lines of her features recede as it only spoke that she had a good night’s rest, something that she hadn’t had in the previous days, but he still wanted to know what had happened during the ritual and after.

“Hey, Mom,” he greeted the brunette, surrendering to her fierce hold as he returned the hug.

“Hi, honey,” his mother replied softly, before she smiled at him, her dark eyes flying over his face as if she had not seen him for a very long time, missing him greatly. However, before he could ask her what was wrong, she turned to the younger boy, picking him up into her arms and walked toward the blonde woman watching them from the door.

“Thank you for watching them,” Regina said with gratitude, smiling as the princess suggested doing it again, mentioning that her door was always open for babysitting. After a short conversation relating to the town business and the Town meeting Regina wanted to set for Friday, to prepare the citizens for the temporary change of the personnel, the brunette and her two boys went to the car.

Taking them back home, she walked into her study. “We’re leaving in half an hour, Henry,” she told her son as she picked all the files that had been left over from the past week, smiling at the thunderous run up the stairs. She didn’t even bother to shout after him, as she looked up to the toddler she had placed on the couch. “When you get a bit older, you wouldn’t run up the stairs, would you? Right, sweetie? You will be quite the well behaved boy, won’t you?” The only answer she got was the happy babble of the child, however it was enough to make her smile again, and this time wider as she tickled the boy.

Dropping Henry off at the school, Regina directed herself to the office, ready to tackle the necessary paperwork, before organizing everything for the winter break, wanting to leave most of it cleared out for Kathryn – and with no glaring problems, the day to day business of the town should be smooth.

While she was steamrolling through the documentation, she called Anton, knowing that the message she left with him would find the pirate captain the quickest, expecting his visit in the afternoon, with the detailed report on the beans and the status of the ship, knowing that he had been determined to reinforce the Jolly Roger, anticipating quite a few more jumps through the portals and the last time it had been only because of Regina’s magic that it hadn’t fallen apart. There was another reason for her furious tempo of work – she wanted to clear up her schedule as much as she could so she could step up Henry’s riding practice, along with her own, as well as to have some time to work on her magic. She fully intended to take her own advice that she had given to Charming the day before.


	19. Chapter 19

He could feel the sweat trickling down his back as he leaned down onto his knees. When he had asked the former knight to help him get into shape and teach him some fighting techniques, he hadn’t thought that he would be pushed to the edge of insanity by his new instructor. His heart was pounding so hard he could not hear anything, his face was brilliant red and he was too hot to even think, not to speak about his rolling stomach complaining to the amount of exertion he had been subjected to.

“Come on, old man, that’s all you’ve got?” The other guy spoke, skipping in place, as he looked at his companion.

“Give me a minute,” Neal managed to wheeze through his mouth as he tried to slow down his breathing, at the same time preventing himself from throwing up. He was regretting his idea immensely, and was only seconds away from calling it off. He would bring firearms into the Enchanted Forest and be done with it, no need for this torture.

“Hey, this is only a warm-up. Can’t believe that you are so out of shape, with all that running around with the Sheriff and Charmings.” His instructor stopped his movements and straightened out, placing his hand onto the still bent man’s shoulder. “You know, if you are going to lag behind, perhaps it is better for you not to go. I mean, you would only be a liability to them.” The former knight knew that he had to injure his pride and to suggest something he was so adamantly against to make him push forward. And, it was the very thing that was needed, as the former Lost Boy glared at him and motioned to carry on with their exercise plan, slowly resuming their jog.

It was an hour later when Jim nodded at him, their lap around the town finished and with great pleasure, Neal threw himself onto the nearby bench that had been their starting point, pleased that he had survived the former’s knight horrific fitness regime. But then he noticed the man picking up something from behind the bench – an elongated bundle that judging by the clanging sound coming from it had something metal in it, and watching with interest, Neal waited to see what his trainer had in mind. Only when the bundle was wide open did he see that there were two swords in it, one of them finding its way to his lap as Jim took the other one.

“Come on, while you are still warmed up from the run,” the knight spoke eagerly, his intent quite clear as he brandished the sword in his hand.

“You gotta be joking,” the Deputy murmured in surprise, his hands holding away the blade as if it was going to bite him. His legs had yet to stop trembling from exhaustion and this lunatic wanted him to wield the sword?

“You asked me to get you ready for the Enchanted Forest, Neal,” Frederick spoke patiently to the disheartened man. “With the little time we have, you have to give your best if you don’t want to be a liability to the others. Which means, that I get to push you till you fall down from fatigue. While you are on your feet, capable of walking - you can also fight.” Gesturing to the weapon in his hold, Jim motioned him to assume the defensive position, quickly talking him through the basic forms of sword wielding.

Jim had accepted Neal’s proposal for their workout, hoping that he could learn the gun handling from someone who had actually used those things in the real world, not only in Storybrooke. He had nothing against David, but he could not help but question his knowledge of the weapon, especially since it had been the Sheriff that had taught him – and, knowing Emma, she would stick only to the most important parts, skipping the rest as it wasn’t necessary for a small town policeman to know more. He wanted more than the core knowledge, and the man currently waving the blade in front of him was his answer to his problem. As the matter of fact, they had an appointment at the small gun range behind the Sheriff’s office right after their lesson, and he, for one, did not intend to miss it.

During the sparring, the son of the former Dark One reflected upon his options, forced to reconsider them by his already waning strength and energy, while the knight attacking him seemed to be untouched by the rough morning they had had, sprightly pushing him through forms as if it was nothing but a light stroll in the park.  _ Perhaps, it would be better if I stayed _ , he thought after he failed to deflect one of Jim’s parries, the broad side of the knight’s sword hitting his shoulder painfully.  _ Then, Regina would have someone she moderately trusted in town, meaning Henry and Kyle could stay behind as well, avoiding the whole thing about having children in the war zone. _ He had not missed the concealed grimace that twisted his sister’s face at the breakfast in the diner, as her eyes had swept over her children. He didn’t need to be an expert on her motivations to guess what had been on her mind in that particular moment, he himself was quite reluctant to bring the young ones into a highly unpredictable and potentially very lethal situation. However, he knew that if Henry ever suspected them even thinking about it… Well, to say it wouldn’t be pretty would be the understatement of the decade and with all that had happened these past years that actually meant something.

After barely avoiding another lunge from his instructor, he firmly decided to at least bring it up with Regina, and it had to be when Henry was not around. His plan hatching in between the bouts of wincing from painful jabs, he once more reinforced his idea that staying did not sound so bad.

* * *

For a moment, it all seemed surreal. If she had been told that Regina would ask her to work from her own study at the mansion, while she practiced magic - Kathryn would have checked that person at the very basement floor of the hospital that the town appeared to hold the insane people. But, now, she couldn't help but chuckle lightly at the incredulity of the situation, as she raised her eyes from the documents at the desk, and glanced over to the Mayor sitting on the floor dressed in yoga pants and old shirt while concentrating on levitating a strange aquamarine colored crystal at the head level without any obvious movements. It was Thursday evening, one day before the well heralded Town council meeting, and the blonde lawyer was looking over Regina’s proposals and notations, familiarizing herself with the plans and procedures that the Mayor was about to institute, making the Interim rule transition as seamless as possible. In truth, all the measures that Regina had proposed and endorsed were very well thought-out and beneficial to their town, providing a stable structure that could stand up to the people’s needs, so Kathryn had no problem of accepting those plans, noticing an interesting tidbit with amusement.

The Mayor had proposed a version of a slightly different power structure of their small settlement, the alterations mostly focused on the relationship between the Sheriff’s Office and the Mayor, providing an outside mediator in cases if those two Offices could not agree on the actions regarding the town. The mediating body, in that case, would be comprised of three people, a member of the council, a professional mediator (for the moment it was still only Dr. Hopper who could fill that role), and a citizen who held no position in the ruling hierarchy of the town – to ensure impartial body to aid their leaders.

The excellent mind that the blonde lawyer had recognized immediately that the stipulations for the sudden change of the chain of command had little to do with the fact that the Interim Mayor and the next Interim Sheriff were married – but with by now the well-known knowledge that the True leaders of the municipality were bound by True Love, and would be married some day in the future. It was a stroke of brilliance on Regina’s part, Kathryn realized, as if the council pushed the motion to the vote in the meeting and ratified it in consideration to her and her husband, it left Regina with open hands to give the position back to Emma, when they returned from the Enchanted Forest with little repercussions from the council. And, the magnificence of such a move was the fact that not many of the council would realize that they would play right into Regina’s hand, some of them still holding a grudge against the reformed Queen. In their pettiness, they would relish the fact that Regina was leaving the town for the time being, and would most likely do everything to ease her departure, without deep consideration of the implications of such motion for the future.

However, Kathryn’s ruminations were interrupted when a very cheerful boy barged in the house, his loud exuberant steps quickly reaching the study, despite the loud admonishment from his grandmother about tracking mud through the house. “Mom,” Henry said, vibrating with joy, as he stood at the open door of the study, knowing well that Regina would doll out a stern rebuke if he dared to step onto the carpet with his boots. “Mom, I did it!” he shrieked in excitement when he saw his mother look at him with interest, and when she rose to her feet to join him, he grinned from ear to ear. “I hit all the targets!” he spoke, not able to contain his jubilance any more. With his pronouncement, Regina smiled with pride and engulfed the young boy into a warm and long embrace, lifting him off his feet, making him giggle half in embarrassment, half in joy. Only when his mother brought him into the room he noticed that his boots had disappeared off his feet, and judging by his grandmother’s slightly surprised smile he could guess that the mud was also cleared off the floor.

Leaving the boy to excitedly retell every tenet of his adventure, Snow approached the blonde and leaned against the desk. Kathryn had been aware that Regina had reluctantly agreed to let Mary Margaret, the former bandit, to teach her son the bow handling, but outright refused to let David come anywhere near him with the light swords he had intended for the boy. But, she had relented to the sword fights with the teaching tools, made of wood, in order to have David and Henry do something together, as she had taken over all the riding lessons.

“So, another natural archer in the Charming’s clan?” Kathryn gently teased her friend, adoring the gentle smile that lit up the short haired brunette.

“He’s okay,” the young brunette spoke softly as she glanced toward the boy in question. “There were some mishaps and temper tantrums in the beginning, but now he is good with the bow David made for him. After all, he did hit every target today in the range of ninety feet.” She then closed her eyes sadly as she sighed, something on her mind. Kathryn did not press as she could understand where the woman’s mind might have gone. Teaching weapons to children can never be easy, and the very necessity for it was damaging for the precious innocence of the young ones, so it would weigh heavily on the souls of adults in charge of it, bemoaning the very need for it as their hearts would clench in pain for the loss.

There was another reason Snow would feel badly about – the missed opportunity to pass on her skills and knowledge to her own offspring, mother to daughter. Regina had told her that Ruby and Mulan had seen to Emma’s training with mundane weapons, making a formidable warrior out of her. It might have been petty in light of the circumstances, but Snow had been looking for a time when she would have introduced Emma to the ways of the archery, perhaps finally having something she could have taught her grown and independent daughter.

“I hoped I would be the one to teach Emma,” Mary Margaret gave voice to her thoughts, quietly enough not to draw the attention of the Mayor and her children chattering away on the sofa, Kyle babbling to himself while Henry was still regaling his mother with the details of his feat.

“At least, she learned it from her godmother and not some stranger,” Kathryn offered a small consolation. “The very person that taught you, if I recall correctly.”

“I know. That’s not the point.” Snow's voice softened with a whine at the end, before the blonde’s eyes sharpened in disappointment as she glared at her friend’s wife.

“Instead of bemoaning another missed chance to bond with your daughter, you should be glad that someone taught her skills that would make sure she would live to meet you,” Kathryn hissed at the young woman beside her. “I know that things are much different than you ever wanted, but you should adapt and move on to the things you still can do, before all your resentment turns you into someone Emma would not want in her life.” With that, the lawyer dismissed her friend and turned back to the papers on the desk, one of her hands landing gently on her bulging belly.

Mary Margaret took the reproach to heart as she knew that it was petty and childish to wish that her daughter would be a toddler again so she could teach it all the important things and values, as a mother should. Kathryn was right, the woman concluded, moving away from the desk and leaving the room, directing herself to the kitchen. The relationship between her and her daughter was fraught with tension, guilt, and resentment, despite all the love they were feeling for each other, and to insist on some things as Snow was wont to, would only lead to further distance between the two women. She didn’t want that. However, if she didn’t let it go, that would be the only outcome.

She looked back on the passing week with unease she associated with the preparations for the war she had been involved in and witnessed. Her husband had been up long before her every morning, using the time to get in shape, and help Killian with refurbishments of his ship. Including the fact that he had been upstanding Sheriff during that time, not shirking any of the responsibilities he had in town, it had been a foregone conclusion that he would be tired beyond reason every evening, collapsing into bed right after dinner. With her work at school, and in the afternoons with Henry’s bow practicing, to say that they hadn’t seen much of each other would be an understatement. But, she could not complain about it, because every ounce of energy they committed to training, would pay up many times in the future, helping them stay alive.

She had noticed that every other member of their travelling party had been preparing for the journey, most of all Regina and Neal. Even that very morning, she had seen Henry’s father run with Jim without a complaint, even though it had seemed that it had been more than hard practice. But, the person that seemed to be using every minute to prepare was Regina. With the town business, horse riding, magic practicing, children rearing, fitness building, and familiarization with weaponry, the Mayor should be dead to the world, but the woman pushed on, composed and sharp. Henry had told her that he had seen his mother push herself to the magical exhaustion more than once with her exploration of the new ways of learning the scope of her powers – using the diaries as guidance, and yet, the woman had met all of her obligations without a hitch.

“Are you making tea, or growing it?” an amused voice intruded, making Mary Margaret jump and turn toward the person entering the kitchen. Seeing the very woman she had been thinking about walk toward her, as if her own thoughts have summoned her, she blinked before returning her eyes to the electric pot she had set to boil. “What is troubling you?” the older brunette asked after a sigh, taking out the mugs, along with ingredients for a homemade hot chocolate, not looking at the absent minded guest.

Even though she had pretended not to hear, Regina had listened in on the conversation between the princesses, trying to understand why Snow had been so weird. Of course she had paid attention to Henry, but she had also followed the quiet discussion, and after Kathryn had dismissed the younger brunette, Regina had waited for her son to finish with the retelling, and had sent him off to change and wait for Jim to bring dinner. Leaving Kyle under the blonde’s supervision, she had gone to find her brooding former step-daughter, rolling her eyes at herself and her desire to help. And, to think that a year earlier, she would have given almost everything to kill the very same woman…

“I just…” Mary Margaret started speaking before she stopped herself, realizing that her voice got high pitch, adding it more immature tinge that annoyed even her. Clearing her throat, she leaned against the counter, watching Regina stir the milk in the saucepan and add the dark and sweet powder, before she spoke again, this time consciously controlling her tone, not willing to expose herself to the mocking scolding from her former stepmother. “Training with Henry just hit a sore spot today.”

Regina hummed as she poured the chocolate into Henry’s favorite mug, topping it off with whipped cream and a dash of cinnamon. Then, she looked at the younger woman, her dark eyes pinning her in the spot, sharp intensity of them telling Mary Margaret that she meant business and would not tolerate any dissention. “I know there is a lot of bitterness in the relationship between you and Emma, but I will not allow you to hurt her with your thoughtless insistence of pretending that she is your five year old child, or ignoring the fact that she grew up without you in her life. I want you to be her mother, Snow, but you will have to learn to be it without dismissing what she had gone through, working together to a place where everything is just fine, as it should be. As for all the missed opportunities, you have another one on the way so you can mother it to your heart’s fill. In just several months, you are going to give birth to your second chance at motherhood.” Her voice wasn’t cruel, nor cold, but it did hold an edge, reminding Snow that it was a monarch speaking, expecting to be obeyed – and, despite her desire to rebel against the harsh words, the young pixie haired woman knew that, as the only person who really knew the blonde, Regina was completely right. The truth was, Mary Margaret had known all this long before, but she couldn’t accept it.

“She loves you, Snow.” Regina sighed as she tried to make her point, imploring the woman’s gentle heart. “Despite all the baggage, she loves you and she forgives you, and on some level she even accepts you as her parent. Can’t it be enough just for now?” And, with those words, she left the kitchen, taking the chocolate to her son, letting the teacher to think about her priorities, knowing that the woman would join them after several minutes, just in time for tea to be served.

The late afternoon passed in gentle quietude, as Henry and Kyle were watching cartoons, the older boy speaking softly to the toddler in his hold, explaining the things happening, regardless of the fact that the small blond probably had no idea what was going on. Beside them was Neal, lightly dozing, his tired features more than enough to suggest that he needed his rest, despite his desire to spend his time with the boys, honoring his role as father/ uncle in the family. Across the hall, in the study, were the other adults of the family that seemed to grow every time something happened. Kathryn was in the arms of her husband while she talked to David in soft murmur, while Regina and Mary Margaret were making a list of necessities for the journey, having been informed previously of David’s idea of buying some of the tools outside of Storybrooke. Having already eaten the take away dinner that Jim and David had brought, all that was left for the evening was to finish the list and go home and get some rest, before another exhausting day. With that thought, the newly appointed DA and her husband left, expecting another trying day, as the day job was demanding enough, but the meeting afterwards was causing them additional strain and anxiety. Soon, the Charmings followed them, Regina seeing them out, pleased to see that Mary Margaret had shaken off her morose mood, delving into preparations with zeal.

Realizing that her brother had dozed off in the living room, sinking into deep sleep because of his exhaustion, she gently transferred him into one of the guest rooms, letting him sleep uninterrupted, having heard about the torture Mr. Ritter had put him through to get him ready for the Enchanted Forest. Closing the door gently behind her, she went back to the living room and sat beside her sons, placing her arm around Henry’s shoulders, pulling him into her as she directed her eyes to the screen.

“Mom?” Henry murmured softly, not lifting his head off her shoulder. Getting an acknowledging hum from her, he gave voice to his question. “Can I come with you? When you go shopping with dad?”

“Why?”

“Well, it’s Christmas soon and I thought… I know we aren’t going to be around then, but wouldn’t it be nice to have presents waiting for us when we get back?” Tremulously, he lifted his head and glanced towards his mother, not knowing how she was going to react to his suggestion. She wouldn’t shout or dismiss him outright, he knew that, but asking him to explain why he was so afraid of her answer would be pointless because he didn’t know. And, asking him to explain why it was so important to him would garner no sensible results as he couldn't give words to his feelings. As he watched the kind caramel eyes peer at him, he saw compassion and understanding shine out of them, while his mother pulled him into her even harder, instigating another side hug, her hand soothingly rubbing his upper arm.

“This is for Emma, right? You want her to see that we want her here, even though we know she wouldn’t be.” It was sometimes strange how well she understood him, Henry thought, but he was glad for it. He nodded with relief as he saw that she did indeed know what he wanted. “Alright, you can come with. And, we will decorate the house before we go…” Hearing this, Henry felt elated, for the first time feeling the joy of upcoming holidays, hoping that Emma would like the surprise.

Regina smiled at his renewed exuberance and sent him off to bed, while she took Kyle with her. It wasn’t a hard decision to make, her own heart set on giving Emma something to look forward to, to help her come home. The memories of a lonely child, later young woman, spending the holidays alone or surrounded by too many people to even be acknowledged saddened her greatly, knowing that Christmastime was not a happy period for Emma, and she was determined to change that, in the years to come. It was that thought that brought her to the upright piano, resting in one corner of the living room. She approached it slowly, as if she was coaxing an injured animal, opening its cover gently while she pulled out the stool to sit on. With an absentminded flick of her hand, she isolated the room with magic, not willing to let the sound wake up the sleeping people in her home, and then she pressed one of the keys, surprised to notice that it did not sound any different than it should. Relying on her memories of arduous hours of practice under the watchful eyes of her mother as she had played one of the early forms of keyboards, along with the happy times she had played songs for Henry to sing along or just to listen. As her fingers flew over the keys, letting them play without a specific tune in mind, she allowed them to be familiarized with the feel of smooth surfaces giving way to nimble digits. After several minutes, she started playing a melody out of her memory, a serenade she had heard several times - the tune that made her appreciate the clear skies in the winter, as the stars twinkled brightly.

Only after an hour of constant playing she stopped, pleased to know that the piano didn’t need any additional tuning, nor did she need more practice. Remembering clearly the previous minutes with tremendous clarity, she hoped that when she shared this with Emma by their link, it would bring a smile to the blonde’s face, knowing that Regina had played again, with her in mind. With that in mind, she lowered the lid, and rose from her seat, directing herself to the study. Although she was beyond tired, she was too restless to settle down and sleep, her thoughts pushing her to practice magic more and more, until her newly discovered part of power wasn’t coming to her as naturally as the rest of it.

Settling down on the floor, she brought the crystals she had dug out of her mother's collection in front of her, intending to use them in her exercise because of their natural resistance to magic, making the work of manipulating them with power much harder than with any other object. Needing much more energy and better control of her ability to successfully levitate several of them than a car on the street, or people, forced her to focus more on her power, learning the tenets of it she hadn’t bothered with before. In essence, she was building her tolerance, her precision, and multi and inter directionality of her power – practicing doing several very different things at the same time, like spinning one crystal in place, while another was oscillating up and down going in a circle around her, and yet another levitated in one spot right in front of her…

It was a very draining exercise, but much rewarding as she noticed that certain feats became easier with time, costing her less and less energy. Even though she was flushed with exhaustion and sweaty from the outpour of magic, she was encouraged by her advancement, considering that she had been at it for only four days. With a satisfied smile on her face she dragged herself to her room, collapsing onto her bed and falling immediately asleep, hoping that the exertion would stop the nightmares brought on by anxiety and her sense of foreboding from coming.

* * *

A soft knock on the glass panel of the entrance to her office brought her attention up, as her gaze went to the figure visible behind the door. “Come in,” Regina called out, as she pushed slightly away from the desk, lowering down her pen, as her eyes flickered towards the clock on the wall. It was late in the working day to assume it had something to do with the Mayor, and yet it was too soon to be someone who would attend the meeting, seeing that it was only five in the afternoon. But, when she saw who it was that entered, she tensed, her magic ready. She did not speak but watched carefully the man that was approaching her desk.

“I am not interrupting, am I?” the wily and slightly manic man sarcastically asked as he flopped down into one of the chairs in front of Regina’s desk, before he brought his boots onto its immaculate surface, barely missing the pile of papers, orderly arranged, on it, daring the Mayor to do something about it.

Rolling her eyes at his juvenile behavior, she waited for him to state his business, as he wouldn’t have come to her if it wasn’t important – not after the last time they had seen each other. They even had gone out of their way to avoid meeting on the street or at the school.

“You used to be more fun,” the man mumbled to himself with a false pout, chuckling at the scowl forming on Regina’s face. When she failed to rise to his bait, he sighed and straightened out, lowering his legs down. “In the spirit of communication our children have, I have decided to pass on the information I have obtained.” Eyeing the woman, he steepled his fingers while his elbows were leaning onto his knees. ‘There is another jumper in town, possibly two. Or was it two, and possibly just one?” Shaking his head, he looked at her and continued. “If I am right, there is one peddler and probably one White Rabbit with the Knave in town.” Nodding to himself as if he agreed with what he had said, he rose from the chair and mockingly curtsied with the lapels of his long leather coat. “I thought you should know…” he added as he turned to go.

“Jefferson,” Regina called after him gently, rising from her chair as she watched the man she had once called her friend skip a step before turning back to her. As his intense blue eyes focused on her, she faltered, not knowing if she should ask him anything – not willing to provoke his anger, and it seemed that asking anything regarding his health, mental or otherwise, could trigger him. As well as asking about his daughter. ‘Can you keep an eye on things?” she spoke after the silence grew more and more uncomfortable.

“One, both, even the whole head,” he said absently as his eyes roamed the room, before again settling on her. Then he stepped forward, raising his hand clenched in fist slowly toward the woman’s torso, mindful of her piercing gaze following his movement. Leaning his head to a side, he hesitated before speaking, as he glanced toward his fist, now pointing upwards. “I am sorry,” he murmured as he opened his hand.

Regina saw a button, crafted from bleached rose wood with inlaid design she would know even in her sleep, and gasped in recognition as she reached for it. She immediately knew where it had come from, as she had once buttoned them herself over the still chest of the man she once had thought was her True Love. “Daniel,” she murmured softly, as she took the button into her hand, handling it tenderly before she looked up at Jefferson. “Why are you giving me this now?”

“There is so much strife between us, a lot of lies and pain. And, yet, our children are best of friends. I don’t want to disappoint Grace any more. We finally managed to get to a place where everything works well enough.”

“What Daniel has to do with it?” Regina asked absently, as her fingers fiddled with the wooden trinket.

“I was the one who led Victor to your vault and helped him take the body.” It was obvious in his slumping and nervous body posture and the timid yet filled with gravity tone of his voice that the man before her was feeling guilty and ashamed of that particular deed. He glanced toward the former Evil Queen in fear, waiting for an outburst, but what he found was much worse. Sadness and loss tinged the dark eyes still focused onto the button, however, there was a shade of relief and understanding in them as well, and it confused him beyond measure. Had she known all along that it had been him who had broken into the vault? Or hoped it would be him? Why hadn’t she come after him, then? “I am sorry for my part in hurting you.”

“I expected you would come after me in one way or the other after the curse broke, especially after I ruined your hat…” the Mayor started speaking as she moved slowly toward her desk, leaning against it, before she lowered the memento onto its surface. Then, she turned toward him and offered him a whisper of a smile. ‘But, then all the things with Emma happened and I… forgot.”

Jefferson came to her, his head above hers as he was still on his feet, and for a moment he seemed like that young man, the world jumper who could not get enough of adventure, as he inclined his head towards her. “She is the one, isn’t she?” he murmured slowly, as he nodded toward the picture of Emma and Henry in a simple yet adorable frame resting beside her desk phone that was visible from his position. At Regina’s tempered nod, he smiled. “I may hate you for all the madness you inflicted on me, but I understand why you did it. And, what you did for Grace with all your manipulations of paperwork has earned you a long time reprieve from me.” He turned to leave, but her hushed voice stopped him.

“So, it worked out,” she asked as he glanced at her over his shoulder. “The Grace family and you?”

“I even live with them now, but you already knew that.” It wasn't much of an answer, but the smile that followed was. Once more he turned to leave, but this time he stopped on his own as soon as he reached the door, looking at her, still perched at the desk. “There are things happening in this town we are not aware of, Regina. Mind the irregularities.” With another nod toward her, he left.

It was several minutes later that her son entered her office, leading a procession of two adults and a toddler swaying lightly while he walked unsteadily beside Neal, holding on tightly to his jeans.

Still leaning against the desk, Regina offered her arm to Henry, sighing in contentment as he joined her side, while she watched her other son’s face light up at the sight of her, but instead of springing on his own towards her, he held on to the security the loose denim provided. “He tripped downstairs,” Henry supplied in whisper, having gotten his kiss on the forehead greeting from her, as he noticed her slight frown at Kyle’s timid steps.

Regina nodded in acknowledgement, letting it go, as there were no tear tracks on the boy’s face, and he didn’t seem any worse for wear apart from being afraid to walk without support, but knowing him, he would be zooming around the room in no time, fearless once more.

“Is everything alright?”

Regina's eyes lifted toward her half-brother’s face, and she noticed his concerned look. Frowning at his question, she was about to ask what had prompted it, when she realized that he would have seen Jefferson leaving the upper floor. “Yes, Jefferson had some vague information to share,” she spoke finally, before greeting her younger boy with a huge smile and engulfing hug, lifting him off his feet. “What are you doing here so early?” she then asked, as she motioned to others to settle at the sitting area, Kyle in her arms and Henry beside her.

“Lad, the floor is yours,” Hook said clearly as he spread out on his chair, the leather creaking with his every minute move. His words led Regina to turn to her son, her expectant gaze more than enough to prompt him to start.

“Grace and I met with Tiny after school, and we checked the beans in the garden. In his opinion, they will be fully mature in four to five days, but he would like to give them a day or two more just to be sure.” The boy said quickly, obviously excited with his news. “So we can go next weekend!”

Regina smiled at his exuberance with indulgence, her mind trying to formulate a way to make him stay in the safety of their little town, but as she met her brother’s troubled eyes, she knew that particular part of her plan might not work, especially if the precocious boy figured out her intentions. But, instead of responding to his excitement, she turned to the pirate.

The clear blue eyes met her dark ones, the shrewd intelligence taking in the tension that appeared on both hers and Neal’s faces, and as Killian glanced between them, he smirked at her conundrum. “Jolly Roger will be ready by Wednesday the latest. The toymaker and one of the short ones have already reinforced her frame, and refurbished the crew quarters and cargo hold, providing more space for both people and whatever we need taking, or bringing over…” He didn’t mention that both he and Marco had worked day and night to carve out another room for the captain, thinking he was allowed to redecorate his bloody ship the way he liked – and he did want a cabin for himself, knowing quite well that Regina would commandeer the original cabin once more. He didn’t even think to begrudge her for it, as he knew that the children would most likely be beside her, and giving them some privacy from the rest of the adults might not be such a bad thing. “She will be loaded up and seaworthy in time.”

“The cannons?” Regina mentioned with curiosity, as she remembered the cumbersome weapons crowding the deck.

“All but two at the bow are decommissioned.” He then went to explain that he had asked around for able sailors willing to work on his ship, as he wanted to have at least some members of the crew with experience, and that he had managed to get two of Eric’s fishermen to sign up, provided that they are paid at the end of the voyage. “They are in need of money for the spring season, and are willing to accept the minimum wage,” he added.

Regina learned that the sailors in question were Warren brothers, poor but hardworking young men hailing from the Maritime Kingdom, and as soon as she heard their names, she was more than willing to agree to Hook’s terms, even providing the money from her own accounts. She had met them often on her walks on the pier, and they had been always courteous to her, even after the curse had broken. The Mayor had even offered them several odd jobs to keep themselves afloat, as they had had no part in her past, and she had borne them no evil will, despite her moniker.

“Alright, Henry, could you and Kyle head down with Killian, I need to talk to Regina for a minute?” Neal said as Killian rose, having finished his reporting duty. The deputy looked toward his son and motioned with his head to go along, his insistent eyes giving the boy no chance to complain. “We'll be down shortly,” he added placating as he patted Henry’s shoulder when his son passed by him. He then kept his silence until Killian closed the door behind him, Kyle safely resting on his hip.

“What is it?” Regina murmured, as she rose, going toward her desk.

“I got an unusual call today, from the convent.” The deputy Sheriff followed his sister to her desk and leaned against it while she gathered the necessary papers for the meeting.

“Really? What is Blue up to these days?”

“It wasn't Mother Superior.”

Regina glanced in surprise as she heard him. For something to happen in Blue’s domain, without the periwinkle pest knowing and being all over it was almost unheard of. Jefferson’s warning came all too clearly in her mind, as she prompted the man to continue.

“The one of the younger ones, Astrid was it, used the opportunity to reach me while the Mother Superior was in hospital on her rounds, asking me to pass a request to the Mayor.”

Regina remembered the kind and timid nun that had watched over her boys that one time she had had to talk to Blue during her working hours, the fresh and bright eyed face coming instantly in her mind. The former Evil Queen had not been deaf to the town’s gossip surrounding the nun and Leroy, that only compounded onto the rumors that had existed in the Enchanted Forest regarding the dwarf that had changed his name because of his broken heart. And, she had not missed Blue’s disdain whenever she dealt with the young woman. The thought of going behind the little self-righteous insect made Regina smirk as she asked Neal to continue.

“She wants to join in, as another magic user. Apparently, she needs to get away from the gossips and the infamy of the town for a while, and is willing to work hard to earn her spot on Jolly Roger.” Neal had, of course, realized how big a deal it was for one of the fairies to even show her dissension with the head of her order, let alone to run away to another world. “She only asked that her participation be kept secret until the very end.”

“Interesting.” Regina considered the opportunity that Nova had presented. It would be good to have another spell caster along for the ride, especially one firmly entrenched on the Light side of the spectrum. And, she did not mind the girl, as she was much different than her mentor. “You are to be our go between?” At the man’s nod, the Mayor hummed in acknowledgement as she started walking toward the door. “I accept, but only if she is ready to leave at a moment’s notice and manages to squirrel away her own wand and some of the dust. Not much, mind you, as Emma had found the functioning mines in our Realm.”

“Really?” Neal started with surprise. “A fairy?” He had been well aware of his father’s hatred of the beings, and he had not missed the disdain his sister held for the kind. “To come with us?”

“We need every advantage we can get, Neal,” Regina replied as she opened the door of her office, ready to leave for the gathering happening downstairs. “So, tell her that we would most likely leave on Saturday next, but to be ready for it happening any time after Wednesday. Too many times things happen unexpectedly in this town.”

“Right,” the man agreed as he motioned his sister to go first down the stairs. “Another thing. I thought I could come with you tomorrow, and leave for New York on Sunday evening.”

“What? Why?” the woman turned around suddenly, glaring at him as she waited for an explanation, as his wondering proclamation brought her to a still.

“I don’t know how long we will be gone from this world, and I have already been away from New York for months,” he spoke calmly, as he placed his palm onto one of Regina’s upper arms, squeezing it soothingly. “I want to check on everything, pay the bills and bring the car here…” Feeling his sister relax at his reasoning, he continued. “Maybe there is something that can be bought in the city?”

“We'll see,” Regina spoke after a moment of deliberation, seeing the validity in Neal’s concern for his property. She left it at that and brought them to the Town Hall, filled completely with the citizens of their little town.

The minute she walked into the Hall, the hushed silence fell over the crowd, reminding Regina much of her queenly days, when she had inspired fear and awe wherever she had gone. Once she might have relished her power to force dozens into fearful quiet, but now it caused her skin to crawl uncomfortably, however, she did not show it and with imperious step she walked down the aisle separating the two groupings of seats, reaching the front table. With a short nod in greeting to Kathryn and the rest of the Town Council seated, she took her place commencing the meeting.

After introducing her proposal to the Council for the acting Mayor and Sheriff, the discussion didn’t last long, as all the members agreed rather quickly to it being the best solution for the moment, and the stipulations that Regina had insisted on were very well placed, giving the clear guidelines for resolving any problems. As Kathryn had predicted, the Councilpersons were all too glad to ratify the proposal, even though some of them did recognize the implications of future use of the guidelines, when the rightful Sheriff returned to her post. With that motion out of the way, Regina dealt with minor budget allocations and winter weather preparations with ease achieved by dealing with such things for years.

“Alright, with that I conclude the business part of this meeting,” the Mayor spoke clearly, although Kathryn could notice a trace of tiredness in the tone. “Any questions, comments, thoughts?” She looked at the crowd, expecting at least two or three hands in the air, but seeing more than a dozen surprised her. “Yes?” she said, directing her gaze to the man in the last row, vaguely familiar to her as she had seen him in the one PTA meeting she had attended.

“Matthew Rogers, Madam Mayor,” the man introduced himself, as he rose from his seat, taking off his hat in the process. “As you have said, you would be leaving for the Enchanted Forest in several days. Does it mean that we could go, too? I mean, there are some people here who still want to go back to our home.” Even though he did not sound confrontational, the man did have a slight recalcitrant edge in his voice.

When she heard his question, Regina looked toward Mary Margaret sitting in the front row, raising her eyebrows in the ‘I-told-you-so’ expression, before she turned to address the very topic her former step daughter had wanted to avoid entirely, as it was likened to opening a can full of worms that only promised to cause a riot of the likes when the curse had been broken. Snow had argued the evening before that their leaving should be glossed over, and hopefully no one would ask troublesome questions, which had caused Regina to grind her teeth in an irked manner as she slowly had explained how that was not only unfeasible, but insulting to the people of Storybrooke.

“Mister Rogers, the answer to your question is far from simple, but I will try to give you a short version. At the moment, there is a realm wide war happening in the Enchanted Forest.” The Mayor ignored the gasps and shouts of shock sounding throughout the Hall, as she kept her eyes on the man. “Miss Ariel brought us news a week ago of an alliance formed between the elusive Wicked Witch of the West from Oz, King Midas, and the military echelon of the Empire – and by the latest intelligence, they are facing off the forces that comprise of our own Sheriff, Ruby Lucas, Prince Phillip and Princess Aurora, Rumplestiltskin and Belle, along with several of my former knights and the villagers of the Safe Haven.” As she spoke, her eyes were drawn to Eugenia Lucas, and seeing the old woman nodding proudly at her words made her feel justified in telling this to the people of Storybrooke. “I am afraid, travel to the Enchanted Forest is not safe until the fighting stops. However, I am pleased to announce that Miss Swan had already begun the process of creating a stable portal that would link the Enchanted Forest with Storybrooke permanently. All the ingredients are gathered, by all estimations it should work. As it is understandable, Miss Swan is unable to construct the portal at the moment, with all the dangers that the Enchanted Forest is filled with. Additionally, exactly the same portal should be built on our side, which means that someone should go over and pick up the materials that the Savior had collected and bring them here.” The people of the town, along with Mister Rogers, were listening carefully as the brunette was speaking, no one daring to interrupt her as the news of permanent connection to the place that most of the citizens had once called home made its way through them. “That is one of the reasons I and the others are going, as I am to work on the Storybrooke part of the project.” What was left unsaid but understood by all was the fact that she was going to bring the rest of her family, namely the other mother of her son, home.

“Thank you, Madam Mayor,” the man said after a moment of hushed silence, his tone carrying more respect than earlier, as he inclined his head to the brunette at the head table before he sat down.

Regina did not comment on it, as she glanced over the crowd, seeing that there was only one hand in the air now. After she saw who it belonged to, she slowly closed her eyes before giving the doctor the floor. “Yes, Doctor Whale?” she spoke with a sigh.

He narrowed his eyes at her resigned words but did not comment on them. “Have you considered the health ramifications of such an endeavor?” the scientist asked, his tone all business, his sharp mind quickly seeing problems with such free travel. “After all, the people from the Enchanted Forest don't have the same vaccinations that the curse provided for us, and introducing their illnesses into our society could cause an outbreak that would only bring the attention of the government.”

“Of course, Doctor Whale,” DA Nolan-Ritter rushed to answer, before Regina said something that could be considered rude or superior. Kathryn motioned to her friend that she would deal with it as she took up the conversation. “There are already certain steps done to ensure that Storybrooke remains safe from such maladies. As it turns out, the Mayor and I have already agreed, in case the project is successful, to give you and the staff you appoint full control of the new Quarantine ward that is supposed to be built following the success of the portal. Along with that, the Sheriff’s Department will have a unit that would represent a border police, with the sole duty to control the influx of people from the Enchanted Forest. I hope that is satisfactory for you, Doctor?” Kathryn might have stretched the truth a little, because Regina only mentioned in passing that Emma had noted something like that should be done, but in truth, both the Savior and the Doctor were right.

“Yes, DA Ritter.” The doctor took his seat with a pleased smile, despite the fact that the blonde had ruined his opportunity to one up Regina. However, the safety of the town was his much greater concern than Regina’s uneasiness.

After that, there were no more questions, as the people were still reeling from the news of the war and the portal. Using their dazed silence to her advantage, Regina closed the meeting, slamming her gavel down slightly harder than intended, as she sighed with relief that the day that had been giving her headaches for a week was finally over. As she waited for Kathryn to catch up to her, she saw Deputy Cassidy step toward the three nuns that had attended the meeting, offering to take them to the convent, as it was already dark and cold outside. If she hadn’t paid extra attention to his moves, she would have missed his masterful way of slipping a folded piece of paper in Nova’s coat pocket, unnoticed by anyone but the brunette now slightly chuckling at her brother’s pickpocketing experience.

“What’s funny?” Kathryn asked, as she stood beside Regina.

“I have forgotten that both of the Sheriff Deputies were criminals in their past lives.” Seeing the blonde’s confusion on her face, Regina smirked lightly. “I’ll explain when we’re in a more private setting.”

Kathryn nodded, understanding that it must be something sensitive. “Your house, Jim can bring supper?”

“Don’t you have your own home to go to? This is the third evening you are spending at the mansion.”

“Why, are you tired of us?” the blonde replied back with teasing, taking the good-natured grumbling from the Mayor for what it was. “Anyways, it would be a good way to celebrate a very stressful and work filled week. And, don’t think I haven’t noticed you doing a lot more that you were supposed to. Some of these documents were not due until after the holidays, several of them in February. One of them in March!”

“I just thought it would make things easier…”

“Yes, yes, and you are afraid to leave your town in my capable hands,” the DA said, as she took Regina’s arm guiding her to where the Charmings and the boys were waiting for them. “Don’t try to deny it, I see right through you.” The truth was, Kathryn was very touched by Regina’s attempt to make things all too easy for her, anticipating that the blonde would need extra time for the pregnancy. Also, she recognized that the brunette was uncomfortable with being caught, so she turned it all to joke by focusing on the pseudo reason – Regina’s well known controlling behavior, and thus shifting the attention from the real reason. However, the Mayor had seen through Kathryn’s ploy, and judging by the gentle squeeze of her arm, she was grateful for it.

Slowly, they all arrived at 108 Mifflin Street, with Jim and Kathryn making a detour to pick up the food they collectively had ordered. It was strange, the brunette thought as she took out the plates for Henry to set them in the dining room, having that many people in her home on a regular basis, sharing friendly meals and conversations. She had accepted Charmings and Neal as an inevitable part of her life and her social circle, but the Ritters were a surprise. Welcome one, but surprise nonetheless.

She leaned against the counter in the kitchen, listening to Frederick and Henry commenting on the place settings and their ideas of who should sit where, her mind absently considering the fact that her life had drastically changed for the better with Emma’s presence, even though the woman in question was not there just now. She had no doubt that her circle of friends would only grow with the blonde’s presence in their home, Miss Lucas and Miss French among the new members of the family that only continued to expand. The future never seemed more attractive, and Regina looked forward to it. However, all the ruminations of the betterment of her life brought out the stark absence of the woman who was responsible for that change. The Mayor missed the Savior fiercely, especially now, when the blonde should have been there to see the fruits of her work – to witness her hopes for her True Love becoming true.

Just a week more, she thought. Just seven days. Nothing compared to the time she had already lived. But, it seemed like an eternity.

She was aware that she was hiding in the kitchen, away from the people who could see what was wrong with her, but she felt reluctant to join them, feeling unsettled with their celebration. Yes, they had managed to prevent the riots linked to the world-travel, and to push the motion that would make things easier for the Mayor and the Sheriff in the future, but Regina did not feel all that festive. The fact was that she would go the next day out of the town to buy weapons and other things they needed for their journey. The fact was that Emma was facing untold numbers of soldiers and that very thought was bringing Regina to her knees – filled with fear and foreboding, terrified that she would be too late to help her True Love, finding her dead in the field of broken bodies, or too far gone in magicks and demands of the war to even resemble the woman that had become the Sheriff of her little town. Regina was not so afraid of Emma going dark – no, she knew, by her own example, that it was something that they could survive and adapt to. What she was afraid of was that the burden of being the Savior, the Keeper of the Balance as the Guardian had called her True Love, would prove to be too much, destroying her from inside, damaging her beyond healing. The Queen knew what war did to people, and only a few warriors became so addicted to the blood spilling that they relished every opportunity to do so, gripped in blood thirst. However, the majority of people fighting – people who were not reared for the warfare – become lost within the horrors they witness, only broken shells remaining, ghosts of people they used to be…

“Hey, you coming?”

She looked up into the bright blue eyes that started growing concerned the longer they were focused on her. Before she could speak, David came to her, immediately noticing her arms gripping her middle and fearful glaze to her eyes, and he lowered his hands gently onto her shoulders. “Regina?”

“Sorry, yes,” the brunette said after she shook herself from the maudlin ruminations, avoiding David’s insightful look. “I’ll be right there.” She tried to shift inconspicuously from his hold, but the kind man tightened his grip, careful not to hurt her, as he peered into her face, some degree of understanding passing through his eyes.

“Some burdens you don’t have to bear alone,” he murmured softly to her, for a moment his blue eyes portraying the sadness and worry he was feeling, before they turned back to kind scrutiny. “In fact, some of them are very much shared.” With a pointed look he gazed into her eyes, forcing her to see, to understand, that she wasn’t the only one who was feeling the absence of the Savior. When she blinked slowly with acceptance and commiseration, he squeezed her shoulders before smiling at her heartbreakingly. Then, he stepped to the side, one of his hands staying on her shoulder as he invited her to come with him, gently guiding her to the dining room, to join the rest of their intermixed family, as the Deputy had come, as well.

It was later, after the children had been put to sleep and Kathryn and Jim had gone home, that the brunette allowed her tiredness to show, knowing that she was among people who would not begrudge her lack of pretense, not use it to their advantage. Leaning back into the sofa in the living room, she listened to the Charmings and Neal discuss shops and malls, as they mentioned what could be found where. Suddenly, the excursion into the ‘real world’ seemed to be much more daunting than she had anticipated, especially with the list of things she needed to buy that seemed to grow with each new topic her guests were keen to explore. Sighing heavily, as she watched them, Regina felt no need to join in their conversation, but she didn’t want to interrupt them – as she saw that the trip was providing a suitable distraction to Mary Margaret and David, turning their thoughts away from the unavoidable wait that they were forced to endure.

“Of course, there are shops in Bangor that should have what you need,” Neal spoke with interest having listened to Mary Margaret’s excited chatter about outdoorsy supplies that would make their forest traipsing only easier, pulling out his phone and opening the web browser, showing her some of the choices.

“Oh, I wish I could come with you,” the younger woman murmured wistfully, as she looked at the pictures flying over Neal’s screen. “It would make buying gifts for Emma easier…”

Having closed her eyes for a moment, Regina frowned at Snow’s words. Something about them bothered her, but she could not pinpoint exactly what it was, as tired as she was. Why couldn’t she come along? It was the end of the week, she didn’t have to be at school and the Mayor was not aware of any other obligations her former step-daughter would have. Something else came to her mind, as well, as she considered the situation, tuning out the conversation happening in front of her.

David had approached her about the armament, suggesting that she could go out of the town to provide them with weapons that would be superior to those in the Enchanted Forest. As he had been making his point, Regina had not considered the fact that he had told her that she would be the one to take care of this, thinking nothing of it – he was the Interim Sheriff, and with Neal joining her and the kids, perhaps he had been loath to leave the town. However, something niggled at her as she thought back to the day the prince had come to her. He had seemed subdued in some way, almost resigned. She had noticed his longing and morose attitude, but with the demands on her office, her overall exhaustion and tension, she had paid little attention to it. But now, brought forward with Mary Margaret’s contemplative words, she realized something, something that made her sit up and look toward the Charmings in surprise.

_ They didn’t know. _

The spell that Blue and Belle had enacted had changed the properties of the borderline surrounding the town, dispelling the harmful effects of it on the inhabitants who would happen to cross over, and the resident leaders of the people were not aware of it.

Blue had not told them. And, as it seemed that no one was spreading the word about it, it was highly likely that she hadn’t told anyone, but Regina herself, about it.  _ Now, what was that all about?  _ The Mayor decided to think further on the topic, but at the moment, she had more pressing things to deal with.

“Why don’t you come along?” Regina said slowly, quite aware that she had startled the other three in her living room, having been silent for so long. If it wasn’t a strange situation in itself, Regina would have laughed at the stunned expression that both Snow and David shared, their eyes wide and mouths gaping after they had turned to her. “Then, you can try and see what suits you best…” she added, quite inanely, her voice tapering off at their insistent stare.

“But, we cannot leave…” David started, watching her with surprise. “The town line is dangerous for us,” he stated, his voice a bit stronger than necessary in an effort to emphasize the hazard that the remnant of the curse presented for them, the lesson they had learned the hard way with Mr. Clark and Belle.

It was rather humbling that Regina could detect not even the smallest trace of mistrust in his expression, as the man was not that good of an actor. Not too long before, he would have strolled to her with the sword in his hands, demanding the truth and inquiring about the catch wary of every world leaving her mouth. Now, his eyes showed only worry and most of it for her – because forgetting such an important fact about Storybrooke would mean only trouble…

“The Protector Spell made it possible,” the Mayor said gently after she cleared her throat, easing the tightness of it due to her emotions, as she smiled at the kind man, appreciating his concern for her.

“Wait.” Snow raised her hand in confusion, her eyes darting between her husband and the woman looking at her. “You're saying that we can leave?” the princess asked pointedly, a trace of anger flowing into her words. “We could leave all this time, and you didn’t tell us?”

Regina nodded. There were no words she could offer and she knew that. She had forgotten to mention it after the Mother Superior had explained it to her, her mind had turned to other things. A simple oversight… But, the harsh edge that colored the pixie haired woman’s words hurt.

“Who else knows?” Snow asked after a moment, her voice gentler and contrite, reading her former stepmother well enough to recognize that it had been an honest lapse, not even a mistake as Regina had certainly too much on her plate to think of everything all the time. She had also seen the slight flinch caused by her own words, visible only in the tightening around the dark eyes, and feeling remorse for her reaction, Mary Margaret reached for the elegant hands resting in the Mayor’s lap, slipping her hand between hers in her effort of seeking forgiveness. A slight squeeze brought out a shadow of a smile, knowing that Regina had acknowledged her conciliation.

“Blue,” the older brunette spoke tiredly, answering the question, determined not to comment on Snow’s ingrained reaction of anger. Gods only know that the instinct was there for a very good reason, and she could not begrudge its existence and occasional flare-ups. “And Belle, I would imagine…”

Ignoring the whole avenue of conversation that Regina’s answer created, Mary Margaret focused on the woman before her, still holding on to the hands. “Do you want us to come along?”

“Why not? It would provide you the opportunity to finish your shopping.” She didn’t mean to sound so distant, but her energy was waning by leaps and bounds. She didn’t mind them coming, far from it, it would make some things much easier, especially with Henry and Kyle tagging along.

“Regina?” Snow managed to ask pointedly enough to show that she wanted the truth, and yet to sound timid at the same time, making Regina roll her eyes.

“Yes,” she answered, her clear tone providing sufficient emphasis. “But, you provide your own transport,” she had to add in an effort to put the other woman at ease – hoping her snooty tone would provide enough of the comforting balance. “I will not suffer through your sugary declarations while driving,” Regina said as she mockingly glared at the couple sitting in front of her, causing them to chuckle lightly.

Quickly reaching an agreement that they would meet in the morning, ready to leave, the Charmings left the mansion, wishing both Regina and Neal good night. Soon after, the deputy took his turn leaving, agreeing to come earlier than others, as he would join them for breakfast.

Having closed the door after him, and checking the lower level for the lights and windows, she dragged herself upstairs, shedding her suit jacket and vest in the process. Silently, she looked into the rooms of her sons, much pleased to see that Henry had already set aside the clothes he wanted to take on their trip. After kissing his forehead as she had removed a hardcover comic omnibus out of his hands, she straightened the comforter around his shoulders, leaving him to his dreams. Repeating the action with Kyle, she smiled at the newest member of her family, before she settled for the night.

* * *

Leaning against the glass door leading into her backyard, Regina sighed with contented exhaustion as she looked up to the clear night skies, safe in the warmth of her home while still able to see the stars of the winter sky. Her house was doused in dark, as it was late, and she had no doubt that most of the citizens were already asleep. The only reason she was still awake was the fact that her mind kept going over the time she had spent with her family, outside of the town, in their journey to finding more suitable arrows, bows and knives, along with several other trinkets that would help them in the wilderness of the Enchanted Forest.

All in all, it had been a successful outing, she thought as she sipped the last bit of the apple cider in her glass before her head went back to the glass separating her from cold and her eyes up to the stars.

It was strange how the giant balls of heated gas millions of miles away could present a soothing picture above her, she absently considered as the twinkling light drew her eyes and mind, the gentle scene potent enough to help the brunette settle down for the night. The Mayor recognized that she had been under staggering amounts of stress and that her body was feeling it, acutely. Her tense shoulders and muscles along her spine were twinging annoyingly and spending several hours in the car each day of their three day excursion had not helped the matter – and, now, her restless mind was refusing to shut down, not letting her get the much needed sleep.

So, she had poured herself two fingers of cider, hoping that the alcohol, along with the quietude of her home would release the tension, but it wasn’t working much. Rolling her neck, Regina pushed away from the door and leaving the empty glass in the sink, she directed herself to her in suite bathroom, hoping that the hot bath in lavender and frankincense would at least relax her enough to grab a few hours of sleep.

While the steam of hot water and the fumes from the bath salts suffused the air around her face, and the heat of the water permeated her body, Regina reclined back and closed her eyes, letting her mind wander back to the beginning of the weekend, going over many of the ‘family moments’ she had experienced over the course of the three days.

It had all begun with Henry barging in her room with a platter of food.

_ A soft knock on her bedroom door brought Regina to her consciousness, and as soon as she opened her eyes, the door opened and her son peeked in with a delighted smile adorning his face. It was an expression she remembered well as he would have it whenever something he had planned would come to fruition perfectly. And, she saw the reason for his self-congratulatory smirk the second he entered her room, carrying a platter with a plate of scrambled eggs with spinach, toast, and coffee while Kyle stepped carefully right beside him. “Hey, Mom,” the boy whispered as he brought over the platter, chuckling lightly at her bewildered and still sleepy face. _

_ However, the haze of sleep left her quickly and she smiled adoringly at her boys, pulling herself up and leaning against the headboard, inviting the kids onto the bed, accepting the platter from Henry. “Good morning, honey,” she murmured to him as soon as he settled beside her, lightly leaning into him. “Hi, sweetie,” she spoke to the toddler climbing over Henry’s legs and positioning him into his lap and clapping his tiny hands in delight. “Did you make this?” she asked after a moment of considering the very tasty breakfast in front of her, her eyes glowing in wonderment at her son, incredibly touched and awed by his gesture. _

_ The preteen nodded happily. “Dad showed me,” he added while he waited for her to try it. _

_ “He’s here?” Regina asked lightly, not letting her surprise show. Just what time it was, if Neal was already there, and apparently had made breakfast for her? _

_ “Aha.” Pulling Kyle toward him, stopping the younger child from toppling over the platter, he continued on at her look. “He came over half an hour ago,” he said, explaining how he had heard him on the porch before Neal could knock or ring the bell, letting him in without waking her up. Regina was not surprised by Henry’s wakefulness, as he always seemed to rise much earlier on days that promised great excitement. So, pretending not to see Henry's scrutiny of her face she continued to eat, humming somewhat exaggeratedly at the excellent taste of her food, while she unobtrusively glanced toward the clock on her night stand. As it was still relatively early in the morning, she relaxed and focused completely on her boys and delicious breakfast. _

The minute she had been finished, she’d sent them down in order to get ready. Several minutes later, she had packed the things Henry had set aside, along with the clothes for Kyle, placing them in a small but roomy suitcase with her own clothes. From there, she had brought it downstairs, leaving beside a small duffel bag on the floor beside the entrance door and greeted her half-brother, pleased to see that her kitchen had been spotless once more, obviously under Henry’s diligent instruction. Not long after, the Charmings had joined them and they had set off.

Their two car party had left Storybrooke without much pomp. David and Mary Margaret had consistently followed Regina in their pick-up truck as they had passed over the town line. Apart from Regina’s sharp gasp at the loss of her magic, there had not been any problems with it, so they had gone on. Setting an easy tempo, the Mayor had taken them to Bangor, having decided the night before that it would serve as a base of operations of sorts, with the hotel rooms already reserved, as she had conscientiously updated her travel plans the night before.

In the city, they had checked in first, and then had gone onto the hunt for what they needed, spending much time in soft conversation among themselves, David and Neal often taking the children to have some more fun, in a park or a kids’ store. As luck would have it, Mary Margaret and Regina, along with additional help from the men, had been able to finish most of the shopping on the first day of the weekend, letting them have a more leisurely pace the next day. As Snow and Regina had agreed, the Charmings would take their purchases on Sunday evening and take them to Storybrooke, because the younger woman had an obstetrician appointment on Monday morning she hadn’t wanted to miss.

So, after a joyfully spent day, the husband and wife had gone home, having previously assured Regina that they would be fine going back by themselves, and then the Mayor had taken Neal to the airport, she and the kids waving to him as he had passed the security.

_ That evening, Regina was watching some inane late show on the TV in the room, lying in bed, the sound of the show low enough not to wake the boys, but still understandable. After they had left Neal, she and the kids had gone to a restaurant, and then at Henry’s insistence to the Sports Arena, where they had engaged in many arcade games and such. No wonder the children were dead asleep, the excitement of the day had worn them completely, barely managing to trudge back into their room and collapsing onto the bed. Having already finished with the shopping and having sent most of it with Snow back to Storybrooke, Regina had decided to spend the first half of the next day in relaxation, just enjoying her time with the children. _

_ It was strange, the woman thought as she absently watched an interview of some actor on TV, how unimpressed she was with the world. She had expected that meeting the world without magic on larger scale than the one available in Storybrooke, apart from that one trip to Boston she had made – to adopt Henry, would be more dramatic, more overwhelming, especially with more people, bigger traffic and much louder surroundings – but, she was not moved. Perhaps, the memories she had witnessed from Emma had dulled the expectancies, or being in Storybrooke had insulated her somehow from it all, however, being in Bangor did not cause her any apprehension she had been expecting. No fear of getting lost, or overcome by the presence of so many strangers… Nothing. Nevertheless, it was exciting to explore the city with Henry and Kyle, enjoying their unrestrained wonderment at the stores, parks, streets… Her son relished the chance to discover the new world under the loving supervision of his mother. _

_ Regina remembered the tale the young preteen had told her about getting to Boston, fearlessly daring to cross distances no child should travel alone. At the time of his ‘escape’, all the fear and anger, tinged with disappointment in his rebellion had prevented her from fully appreciating his indomitable spirit, but as she had listened to his animatedly told story, she had watched him with pride and wonder, seeing so much of Emma’s daring courage in him, a trait she had often called ‘bullheadedness’ in her mind, and the sight of it almost had brought her to tears – her little prince was showing marks of a brave, staunch and honorable man he would grow up to be. But, along with pride and boundless love she had for him, fear came. Fear of every mother, she imagined, as they watched their children grow up in the world that was unjust, forcing them to fight against the evils, against the injuries caused to people around them. Fear that forced her to think of all the wrongs that might find him… _

Just in time when they had arrived back in Storybrooke, in the late afternoon, Neal had checked in, saying that he was on his way back, having finished with all the arrangements quite easily, and by his calculations he had estimated that he would be back sometime during the night. So, she had brought them to Granny’s for dinner, surreptitiously arranging a meeting for the next day with the psychologist, using Henry’s distraction in the form of the mermaid. Waving away Dr. Hopper’s worried expression, she had confirmed the time for their supposed session in the afternoon of the next day, making sure that Henry remained unaware of it.

And, now as she watched the surface of the still warm water move with her each breath, she was more than sure that it had been the right decision to seek advice from someone who could consider the true impact of both options she was forced to choose from. Despite all the worry she had for Emma, for their journey, for the town, for the unknowns that could make her life harder – there was one thing she could do to protect Henry and Kyle from the ugliness of the war. But, she knew her son, she knew he would see it as betrayal – and facing him bearing the expression of such hurt, betrayal and disappointment once more, she didn't know if she was strong enough to do that. Therefore, she was going to ask the Conscience-turned-Psychologist to help her reach the most beneficial decision, as she would gladly give Henry and Kyle up if it meant that they would be safe. But, she also knew that this world was more than fraught with dangers of its own, Emma being the perfect example for it – and leaving her children in it without hers or Emma’s guidance, protection, and love, brought another set of problems.

So, with a heavy heart, she went to bed, knowing that her mind would not stop running through options, contingencies or chances, trying to find a better way for everything that was plaguing her. At least, the fear and worry for Emma was not so predominantly in the forefront of her mind, she realized, chuckling mirthlessly at herself.

* * *

Archie was sitting at his desk, writing down his observations on the patient that had just exited his office. It seemed that with Regina’s proclamation of the possibility of making a permanent connection to the Enchanted Forest, several citizens were faced with severe anxiety – fearing that their loved ones would want to go, or to stay, contrary to their personal wishes. The news had the power to sow discord in families, among long time married couples, even among siblings, and now, more than ever, Dr. Hopper was very sought after.

He personally wished to stay. Not only because of the need that he was relieving in the town, but because he was happier here, and his longtime friend, Marco, was staying too. Archie liked the fact that Storybrooke existed, and that the things like modern amenities and medicines were easily available. And, there was the fact that in Storybrooke he was more respected than in the Enchanted Forest. Here, monarchies and nobility had not much of an influence, unlike at his former home. He did not resent the time that he had spent in his life as the cricket, nor his position as the royal advisor – but he was well aware that, more often than not, his opinion had been disregarded, as people around him had deemed him too soft to deal with others.

Here, with a more structured balance of power and responsibility, no one could push him aside.

Suddenly, the door to his office opened and the Mayor strolled in. Glancing at the clock, he smiled gently at her, seeing that she was several minutes late – which was quite unusual for her, and that was why he did not mention her abrupt arrival. Rising from his seat, he let her settle down in her usual place on the couch while he prepared the tea, observing the ritual he had established with her during her therapy. His attentive eyes took in her sharp clothes, that day following a grey pallet of colors rather than navy blue or black, and slumped shoulders that spoke of intense worry and tiredness. As he offered her the cup, he noted that her eyes as well bore the signs of stress. “How may I be of service?” he asked after a while, slightly unnerved by the silence.

Regina looked at him, her eyes pinned onto his face as she breathed slowly, measuredly, too controlled for it to be her natural rhythm. The hand that held the cup was too stiff, and the other one too white. He had seen Regina this uncomfortable before, but he could not think of the reason why she would be so now. But, he didn’t have to wait for long. “I,” Regina started haltingly, “need your advice on something.”

“Of course,” he hurried to answer before he sipped his tea.

“As you are certainly aware, Dr. Hopper, several of us are to leave for the Enchanted Forest in several days. I am sure that you have heard by now that there is a Forest wide power struggle happening there.” Encouraged by his nod, Regina had let out the air through her nose before she asked the question that had taken her there, to Archie’s office, looking for advice. “Is it better for them if I leave my children here, in the care of someone I trust, or if I take them with me?”

Archie didn’t speak for a while. Not because he didn’t know what to say, but because he wanted to consider every option thoroughly before committing to an answer. Regina had rarely come to him with a question, and he intended to do his best. Leaning back in his armchair, he placed his hands onto his lap, his legs crossed, and the elevated one serving as the holder for the pad he had. Carefully, he started writing down every bullet point he wanted to make, for each case, taking the wellbeing of the children seriously. He took Henry’s personality into an account, as well as the fact that Kyle still might suffer from the trauma of abandonment from being kept on the island of Neverland. As a psychologist, he could not ignore the fact that leaving the boys might leave a dangerous and huge mark on their psyches which would become problems later on in their lives. As he wrote down the reasons for each option, he realized that he had already formed an opinion. One that he could fully stand behind, as both a professional and private figure – for he did consider himself the friend of the Mills family.

As soon as she saw him take up the pen and the notes, Regina settled to drink her tea slowly as she left the good doctor to think on the topic. She was glad that he was taking his time, neither rushing nor proclaiming immediately one way over the other. This way she was sure she would get the opinion she could really trust. He had known Henry for a while, and he could make a deliberation based on that, unburdened by her motherly instincts to keep him away from danger.

“May I assume that you, as a mother, consider Storybrooke the safer option?” Archie finally spoke, as he looked up toward her, not at all surprised to find Pongo sitting beside her on the sofa, his snout resting on her thigh while her right hand was scratching him behind his ears. Seeing her nod, he hummed lightly, having guessed correctly. “And, that the person in charge of the children would be Deputy Cassidy?” Again, Regina nodded in accord to his conclusion.

Archie uncrossed his legs and leaned slightly forward, pushing back the glasses onto his nose. “If Storybrooke is, indeed, a safe place,” the doctor started thoughtfully, “then, from a physical point of view, the choice is clear. However, I am inclined to take emotional health over the dangers of the war torn area. If you leave them here, the children will be left without most of their support and their primary parent, which in Kyle’s case can be quite damaging for his development. It will also destroy the trust you have built with Henry, and the anxiety over the fate of his mothers and grandparents most certainly will cause behavioral problems in him, if not health related issues. On the other hand, the war itself can be damaging for children. Nevertheless, both of them will be surrounded by their family, by your side, and I have no doubt that most of your Black Knights, and what is left of Snow’s soldiers would stand guard over the crown prince and his little brother.” His mouth curled into a gentle smile at the end of his elaboration. “And Henry is a very resourceful young boy, Your Majesty, and quite capable of stealing or re-growing the beans for himself. Are you sure you are willing to leave him without your supervision?” He added with his eyebrow raised, having removed his glasses, attaching a more personal note to his question.

Regina nodded slowly as she frowned. Henry had single handedly organized several people to duplicate the beans right in front of her own nose without detection. What was to say that he wouldn’t do it again, this time directing himself toward the unknown and alone, facing the dangers of the world without their protection? It had been decided, then. They all would go.

“Madam Mayor, forgive me, but I get the sense that it wasn’t the only thing on your mind. If you would like to…”

“It’s about Emma,” Regina interrupted before Archie could embarrass himself. “I’ve learned from the correspondence the Savior has sent me that she has become very emotionally detached, isolating herself from others.”

“Pulling away?” the doctor asked to clarify, but Regina shook her head.

“No,” the brunette murmured. “More like becoming someone emotionally unavailable and cold, while still presenting a powerful command figure among the people.” She sighed and waved the doctor off before even attempting to explain the behavior. “I am well aware why and how she did it, Archie.” She pushed her hair behind her ear as hesitated for a moment. “What I need is to know how to get her back.”

Archie leaned back, once more taking off his glasses and rubbing his eyes, and sighed. “Regina, I cannot tell you what to do when I don’t know in what state Emma is in,” he said carefully. “Doing something blindly can make things a lot worse.”

Regina clenched her jaw and pursed her lips, nodding curtly at his reply. But, as she leaned forward, getting ready to rise, Archie caught her eyes with a gesture to hold on, leaning toward her. “I can offer general advice, if you would be willing to answer a question for me about Emma’s emotional state from before.” His voice was soft and unassuming, letting her decide. Ordinarily, he would not offer even this, given the dangers. However, he did want to help, and the woman in question was not in position to visit him or those like him who would help her professionally. If Regina’s worry was any indication, and usually the Mayor was right about things, his friend was in trouble. So, in his mind, using Regina as a sort of his own proxy, with the knowledge he would impart to her, could only help the Savior, until Emma was back in Storybrooke.

The Mayor lifted her eyebrows lightly in interest as she tilted her head towards the psychologist. “What question?”

“Was she able to be intimate with you?” Archie asked as he was reaching for his cup with refreshed tea. But, his hand froze in the middle of its path to the table when he noticed Regina’s disgusted glare.

“Doctor Hopper! I don’t see how it is any of your business!” The brunette scowled at him, and rose in a single move, already directing herself toward the door.

“You know, as well as I do, that sex is not the same as being intimate, Regina,” Archie spoke from behind her, calm and unflustered by her outburst. He did realize how his question sounded, but he would not apologize for it. “What I am interested in, is if she was able to connect with you on a deeply personal level, so she could share her fears and hopes with you?” His words stopped the woman only a few feet from the exit, making her glance back at him with her eyebrow lifted and his eyes narrowed. The doctor met her eyes and acknowledging her silence as a prompt to go on, he steepled his fingers in front of him. “It would be significant in determining if you can reach her in her disassociation.”

Regina raised her head and sighed, before she pushed her hand through her tresses, huffing at herself. Turning around, she grimaced sheepishly at the doctor, before returning to her seat, pushing Pongo gently out of the way. “I don’t know if the question about intimacy can apply here. You see, Emma and I are connected.” Regina slowly spoke, choosing her words but still not finding a way to explain it properly.

“Yes, by your True Love,” Archie affirmed eagerly.

“No,” Regina frowned, not surprised that he had misunderstood her. Then at his gasp she looked up and hurried to explain. “Well, yes, but that is not what I meant. We are connected by our magics, and I think Emma has abilities that are almost unheard of.”

“What do you mean?”

“We can share our memories, and feelings on some level.” Regina smiled gently, as her mind had gone back in time. “Emma calls it being linked.” Then, the brunette startled herself to the present, and eyed the doctor, not knowing whether to laugh or to snap at him, for the man was now looking at her, his eyes wide and jaw worked helplessly with no words coming out. Clearing her throat, she stared pointedly at him, smirking when he blushed in embarrassment.

“Yes, right. I’ve never heard of it.” He swallowed his curiousness, focusing on the words.

“I don’t think anyone has,” Regina lied, brushing over it quickly. “But, only a few things Emma has shared with me without this method.” But, the woman noted to herself, it ultimately did not matter, as they knew each other so well. “However, I think I know what you are looking for,” Regina spoke suddenly, breaking the contemplative silence that had fallen over them. “Emma doesn’t hide from me. She lets me see her pain and fear.”

“That is good,” Archie agreed with a smile as he nodded briskly. “I believe your very presence will make Emma feel better, but just in case… It is important to establish a safe environment, where she can stop being all the things she needed to be – the Savior, the Hero, the leader, and be just Emma, the woman. It is important that she faces no judgement in this space. At first, she might be reticent to touch or emotional gestures, and it would be wise to let her adjust slowly, without overwhelming her.”

Regina snorted at his words. “So, keep Snow away from her.”

Throwing a rebuking look toward her, Archie went on. “When she gets comfortable with your presence, a loving and unassuming touch can be quite healing. Not only emotionally, but even physically. There were studies done in this world that proved that various hormones are released that are beneficial to health and emotional stability, through touch, hugging and massages.”

“Loving touch,” Regina repeated the words, once more reminded of Emma, as she had been the one to call it so. It made sense, as touch is a source of great comfort. And, with them, it was another way of communication and intimacy.

“Yes,” Archie said, awed how the brunette’s face softened, her dark eyes shining with a gentle loving light – and he knew she was in the past, with Emma. Falling silent, he let her have this moment of peace, leaning back. When she shifted in her place, announcing that she was back, looking intently at him with a light thankful smile on her lips, he nodded, before she rose once again, pressing down her blazer. But, as she was about to open the door, he joined her to see her out. “You and Emma have a unique understanding of each other, Regina. Use that to help you, and you both will be fine,” he added, smiling as she nodded at him and left. But, before she did, she had offered him her hand to shake, in gratitude and appreciation which he had accepted unreservedly, mentioning that he would be available to her for anything else.

* * *

It was late. Or, too bloody early. Either way, it was the middle of the night and not a soul was around, but him as he walked toward the door of the apartment that he had chosen for his hideout. Light on his feet, he took care to step around the creaky patch of floor, not willing to take a risk of being found out. Looking around suspiciously, he glanced at the mirror that was in the hallway, winking at the handsome devil dressed in black leather jacket, a dark nicked shirt and jeans, along with hard leather boots. As he took out a key from the back pocket of his jeans, he chuckled silently at himself, shifting the bag in his hand to lean onto his hip, giving him more room to unlock the door. The first day he had picked the lock, he simply changed it to one he had keys from, sparing him the effort to use the picks each and every time he needed that door locked and unlocked. Slipping into the darkness, he looked around the lit hallway and satisfied that he had not been found out yet, he closed the door and turned around, whistling lightly, taking the bag to the counter, ten feet from the door. He paused, looking at it against the counter and shrugged, shaking his head and reaching into it, taking only a can of beer out of it, leaving the rest for the next day. Then, he walked into the apartment, knowing the position of the furniture by heart, not needing light to navigate himself to the couch.

But, before he could dive onto the sofa, the lamp on the side table beside it lit up, casting the light upon the intruder looking at him with amusement and mild distaste. “Oh, bloody hell,” he cursed as he jumped toward the door but as soon as he reached for it, purplish mist covered it and a current of mild electricity passed through his hand, the sensation making him skid back. Glancing toward the uninvited guest, he considered the windows, but it was too high to just jump through it, and any attempt of being more delicate would make him fail. He straightened with a sigh, as he surrendered, for the moment.

“So, you are my mother’s Knave,” Regina spoke with a sniff of disdain as she sat in the leather armchair, her legs crossed, arms leaning over the hand rests, as she watched him with casual interest. “Or was it the White King now?”

“What’s to you?” Will replied with the air of forced nonchalance, but he was afraid. He had been a slave of Cora’s and the stories had told that the Evil Queen had been worse, or at least less subtle. He didn’t fancy becoming a heart slave again.

“Relax, I am not after you,” she said regally, not blind to the relieved slump of his shoulders.

“Oh, well, that is a load off my mind, then,” he replied flippantly, his fingers rolling the can in his hand.

“But, Gold might be when he gets back and finds out you have been squatting on his property,” Regina added with humor, amused by his reply of letting air through his closed mouth and waving his hand at her, showing no concern or fear of the Dark One.

“He will have bigger problems to deal with than me,” Will said. “And, I am not that easy to catch, you see.”

“How did you end up in my town?” the Mayor asked, ignoring his rebellious reply, frowning when he chuckled.

“You don’t know?” he scowled at her, all traces in fear gone from him, too tired to even contemplate the fact that the woman before him had once been a cold hearted killer. “Your blasted curse, that’s how.” Then he dropped himself to the couch, and opened the beer can taking a large swig out of it. With a defiant smirk he burped and glared at the woman, wanting her gone.

“You came over with the curse,” Regina murmured, more to herself than to him, while she sat there contemplatively. It did certainly explain why he wasn’t considered an intruder by the protective spell, and it opened a whole new can of worms for the Mayor. Storybrooke was a small town, but she didn'’ know everyone personally, nor had she cared to – she had been the Queen and they the peasants, and she hadn’t cared how many lives she would ruin, only that she had gotten her vengeance against Snow White.

“So, if that is all, would you leave? See, I have to get my beauty sleep.”

“Careful, Will Scarlet,” Regina warned, her eyebrow quirked at the man, oddly amused by his brash behavior. “I may not kill you, but it doesn’t mean you will not find yourself in the cell for trespassing and burglary.” Seeing that she had his attention, she steepled her fingers. “We are going to talk about worlds’ jumping.”

“Oh, right,” the thief said in a droll voice as he made himself comfortable. “You’d be going soon, innit right?” He took another swallow of his drink. “But, what it has to do with me? I know sod all about portals.”

“You must know something,” Regina insisted. “You have travelled three words by my calculation.”

“Yes, by a magic mirror I stole from Maleficent, and by following crazy old Whiskers wherever he took me. I didn’t stop to talk about the mechanics of it, did I?”

“You survived this long for a reason. You survived my mother!” The Mayor spoke raising her voice, as her hands lowered onto the rests, clenched into fists. “You must have picked up something.”

“Sorry, no,” Will shrugged his shoulders. “Rabbit has no patience and the mirror was pretty straightforward. I don’t even remember how I got to Oz.” He added absently before he guzzled the rest of his drink, completely missing the woman going still in the chair. But, it was the silence that drew his attention and he looked over to his guest to see her with a frozen expression on her face, before in one blink of an eye, he found himself in the air, spread eagle, and the former Evil Queen’s eyes only inches away from his. He couldn’t even complain, as his voice was gone. He could only stare into her intent dark eyes as she peered into his face, breathing shallowly and her nostrils flaring, her hands reaching for him, resting on the sides of his neck and jaw.

“You. You’ve been to Oz?” Regina spoke after slight hesitation, each word carrying a note of surprise as they tumbled out of her, her voice trembling. The hands resting on his cheeks vibrated with power against the contours of his face, the fingers twitching as they dug into the skin of his neck, growing uncomfortably hot. The calm and composed Mayor that had ambushed him that evening was gone, and in her place was a woman desperate for answers almost manic in her need to gain the knowledge she sought.

He tried to speak, opening his mouth as the lips formed words, but no sound was leaving him. Only after Regina blinked and pressed one of her fingers against his throat, he could feel his voice return. “Yeah, after my sister died,” Will whispered after he felt a slight tingling in his throat followed by his quite audible swallow. “I was there only for a couple of days, getting snatched almost immediately. I saw nothing but that bloody yellow road, and the guards.”

Hearing this, Regina stepped away from him, her hands falling away from his face, as she turned to the side, her heavy sigh loud in the silence that followed Will’s rushed answer. Not even looking at the man, she lazily gestured with her fingers and he was transported to the couch, nearly in the same position he had been before the magic used. Her left hand going to her forehead, she closed her eyes, as her shoulders lost some of their tenseness. Her abrupt reaction had surprised even her, and she couldn’t explain it. The name of the land brought her to the stop, forcing her into acting as she had, in a manner that she now regretted. Judging by the man’s terrified looks he was directing at her, he knew nothing more, and that display of her power – it was a true sign how tired she was, that her control over her emotions slipped. Turning to leave, she thought about words she could offer but finding none, she sighed again and simply started walking toward the door.

“If it’s Oz you are interested in, why don’t you ask the fancy ponce at the hospital about it?” the man said a moment later, having gotten his bearing. Call it his weak heart for the ladies, but the expression of desperation and later loss, swayed him from his choice to be quiet and let the woman leave in defeat. He had heard the story at the Town Hall, he knew that Oz was a topic of interest for Regina, and having heard the rumors about the Sheriff and the Mayor (most of them hastily shared in low whisper at the diner between the two waitresses, until Ruby had gone to join the Savior), he did understand the outburst from the brunette.

“Which ponce?” the brunette murmured as she looked back at the thief, her expression of sadness lightening a bit, as her eyes lit up with purpose and interest.

“The tall one working for the hospital. In the labs, I think.” Will frowned as he thought everyone had known about the man that had arrived about the time the Savior with her mother had returned to Storybrooke, quite unused to the modern world, but get used to it quickly. “The new guy,” he said pointedly, as he leaned forward, his hand fluttering in the air in front of him.

“New guy?” Regina repeated after him, her face scrunched in confusion, now facing the man on the couch.

“Yeah, the new guy.” Will leaned back into the sofa and looked up, as his mind assembled the picture he wanted to share. “Tall scrawny one, dark hair, dark eyes, goes by the name Austin something. He came about, what, eight months, and I know for sure he is from Oz.”

“Are you sure?” Regina asked softly. “How do you know?”

“He is often in the Rabbit after his work. One night he got too drunk to even stand properly.” He looked up at the woman sheepishly, as he considered what he was about to say. “While I helped him home, he started bubbling about his previous life…” he spoke carefully, avoiding Regina’s eyes.

“And, on that walk home, did you help yourself to something of his?” the Mayor said pointedly, her eyebrow quirked.

“Not that I can remember,” Will denied quickly, blinking his eyes in innocence, knowing that she didn't believe him.

“So, Austin something, works at the hospital and he’s new,” Regina recapped, while the thief nodded along, before she thanked him earnestly. “I can pardon you for your misdeeds, Mister Scarlet, but do try to behave from now on,” she spoke with amusement before she disappeared in the swoosh of her magic, leaving the man to his rest.

* * *

“You know, every human needs to sleep, even you,” a soft whisper washed over her as she felt the presence of her half-brother behind her, the gentle affection that had sparkled in her heart toward the man blooming even more when she smelled the strong scent of coffee approaching her. She hadn’t been startled by Neal’s approach, one of the obvious benefits of her magical training. She could feel the people around her now, aware of them on a subconscious level. It was similar to the bond she shared with Emma, but the connection with the Savior was thousand fold stronger, while her new ability only provided the barest sense of presence of others. Turning her head to the side, she looked at his concerned eyes and smiled in gratitude as she took the mug with the steaming beverage out of his offering hand. With a small hand gesture she invited him to sit with her, as she sipped the hot and energizing drink.

“I am too wired,” she murmured as she pushed away the papers littering the surface of the dining room table to clear some space for the mugs she and Neal had in their hands. “Did I wake you?” She turned to him, her eyes seeing the creases on the t-shirt he was wearing, the one he had obviously been sleeping in. The magic had brought her home around half past two in the morning, right after she had left Will’s hideout, and since then she had been in the dining room, looking over the information she had about the employees of the Storybrooke General Hospital, but as it had turned out, it wasn’t much. And, she needed to wait for the working hours of the administration to request the records directly from the hospital.

“No, no,” Neal shook his head gently, as he leaned back in the chair, looking at his sister. She was still wearing the suit she had on yesterday, sans shoes. “Couldn’t sleep anymore,” he added slowly.

She had come to his place in the early evening, on edge about something. She had asked him to pack that afternoon and to come over to her house, and stay for the night and the next day, right until they were to sail out, on Saturday morning. Regina had told him about her conversation with Jefferson while they had been looking through the stores in Bangor, using the moments when the Charmings would take the kids for a break, sharing with him her worry that something bad was about to happen and that it would be caused by someone serving the Wicked Witch.

On Tuesday evening, she had called him to tell her about her conversation with Dr. Hopper about the children, and her conclusion about it, along with her plans to track down the Knave and the other jumper Jefferson had warned her about, asking him to take care of loading the ship with the weaponry they had brought into the town.

Then, when he had come over, carrying a duffle bag with his things, she had left him with the kids, telling him that she had found one of the travelers.

“Did you find what you were looking for?” he slowly asked, as he glanced over the papers. Seeing his interest, Regina leaned onto her elbows, as she started speaking in low whisper, telling Neal about Will and his information. All the while, the man watched his sister get more and more sluggish with her movements. “Regina,” he spoke as soon as she finished, with concern in his voice. “It’s four in the morning. You need to sleep.”

“I am fine,” the brunette insisted but Neal only raised his eyebrow at her before she capitulated.

“Now, go to bed. I will get Henry to his last day at school and then Kyle and I will get you the information you need about this Austin.” He got to his feet and offered her a hand which she gratefully accepted. “We can survive for several hours, while you get your rest,” he added jokingly, as he walked with her toward the stairs.

“I am not worried about your survival,” she murmured with a tired smile appearing on her lips as she looked at the man who during these two months had become her friend, her confidante, her family. In some ways she trusted him more than Snow, but in others he still was a source of many doubts. “What I am concerned about is the mess I would be left to deal with afterwards,” she added as she reached the first landing, glancing back at him. “Call me, as soon as you get them,” she ordered, before she went to her room, knowing that he would not do so, but that he would wait for a more reasonable hour, giving her enough time to catch up at least to some sleep she needed. It seemed to be the one fault of their relationship. He had adhered to Emma’s orders too literally, sometimes taking liberties she would never have allowed him otherwise, in the name of keeping her well.

However, instead of going to bed, Regina walked into her closet and pulled out two duffel bags she had set aside for this very occasion, and placed them on her bed. With a concentrated gesture of her hand, one of them became full with things summoned from her children’s rooms, as Regina took additional care to use the things she had bought in Bangor for Kyle, that were some sizes bigger, for the toddler was growing by the day. Also, she made sure that Henry’s side of the duffel also contained some larger items, as well as several novels and notebooks with pens and pencils. She did not believe that her inquisitive son would much enjoy writing with quills and ink. After she was finished with their things, she turned to her closet again and picked out things that would provide comfort and protection from the cold. Fingering the clothes she had come into the town, she smiled gently at the memories that those carried, deciding to wear them on her way back, with only one exception. The brown coat would be packed, and instead of it Regina would wear a beautiful fur lined cape she had found in Northport on the way back from their excursion.

Finishing up with the packing, she closed the zipper on the duffels, setting them aside, by the door of her room, ready to go. They might not be leaving for another day, but she was ready – prepared, as her insides were driving her to be. Now, she could sleep, for a short while, because everything she had set out to do before leaving, she had done – except finding the intruder. Henry and Grace had harvested the magical plants, her son taking most of the crops with him, but he had left several for Anton and Grace to grow them again. The smart boy then divided the beans, stuffing them in four different pouches: one for him, one for his mother, one for Snow, and one for the rulers of the Enchanted Forest. Kathryn had assumed her office, Jim had taken up the mantle of the Interim Sheriff, and everything had gone without a hitch.

Unbuttoning her shirt, and lowering her slacks, she divested herself out of her clothes, not caring about them laying on the floor, as she walked to her bed, slipping under the covers, enjoying the feel of cool sheets over her slightly heated skin as she breathed deeply, with each breath more of her body relaxing into bed, as her mind sank into oblivion of restoration.

* * *

It was a chilly morning, with the Sun still hiding behind the heavy clouds, throwing deep shadows on the town of Storybrooke. However, the children did not mind the gloominess of the weather, as it was their last day at school before the long winter break, where they get to enjoy the snow and the free time. One of those children was Henry, but his excitement was due to a more important event than the winter break freedom. The next day, he and his family were going to jump to another world and finally see his mother, whom he had missed very much.

As he said his goodbyes in the school yard, he glanced toward the school entrance, where his grandmother was explaining things to the principal. So focused on the woman, he missed his friend’s quiet approach. It was only when Grace touched his elbow that he startled, his head swiveling back to her.

“G-Grace, hi!” he spoke, his voice going high, making him blush. Then he cleared his throat and offered a hug to the girl that had been an immense help and support to him in the past several weeks. “Have a great break,” he murmured as he pulled away from the hug, growing slightly uncomfortable at the contact he had initiated.

The girl only smiled with amusement, before she leaned in and kissed his cheek. “Good luck, Henry,” she said softly, before she scampered off the path, right to her father. When she reached Jefferson, she glanced back and waved with a smile to the stunned boy, still standing at the path, his hand on his cheek, his mouth and eyes wide open, as he watched after her in wonder. She chuckled before she followed her father home.

Henry did not move until he felt a soft hand land on his jacket covered shoulder. He glanced up and frowned at the wide smile that his grandmother was sporting. But before she could say anything, he started walking, telling Snow that they would go to Granny’s before going back home, taking them to the diner by foot, craftily keeping the conversation away from his friend.

As they walked by, they did not notice a man slink out of the shadow of the building behind them and follow them from several feet away, too engrossed in their excited chat about Christmas and presents they had bought for Emma. They didn’t notice him look around as he pulled out a vial of greenish blue liquid and hurried a bit to catch up with them. Only when they heard glass breaking in front of them, they stopped, startled by the strange sound. Snow pulled Henry behind her, ready to run, but she felt and heard the boy slam bodily into someone behind them. Her hand frantically reaching for her pocket, and unlocking the screen of her phone, the pixie haired woman turned around and saw a man she vaguely recognized from somewhere as he grabbed the boy by his shoulders. His dark and intent eyes gave the goosebumps and she tried to pull Henry out of his grip with one hand, with the other going into the call log and pressing Regina’s name, which incidentally had been Snow’s last call. However, she missed the strange mist rising from the liquid that had spilled as the vial had broken, and only when she saw the man place a handkerchief over his mouth and nose, she realized that something was truly wrong. But, that realization was followed by little else, as the woman collapsed onto the cold pavement, knocked out by the mist, and the boy followed soon after.

The man waited several seconds for air to clear, as he constantly glanced around to see if his little operation was noticed. Pleased to see the still deserted street, he lowered his hand from his face and opened the back door of his car, parked right in the space where he had sprung his trap, he pushed the boy inside first, before he grunted, lifting the unconscious woman into the seat. As he turned to leave, closing the door, he saw something glowing on the ground. Coming closer to it, he saw it was a phone, with one name flashing over the whole screen, and with tiny numbers counting up below it. He swore internally, before he stepped hard onto the phone, smashing it, before he rushed to the car. He had much less time than he had anticipated, all because Snow had managed to call Regina – who may have heard the scuffle. He needed to act quickly, and for that he needed an isolated place. Peeling off the curb, he drove toward the harbor, glancing at the unconscious people on his back seat, and then at the bag he had on the front right beside him. He would not fail. Not this time.

Driving into an abandoned boat house he had scouted some days earlier, he jumped out of the car and with hurry he dragged a simple wooden chair to the back of his vehicle. Then he opened the front door, taking out the bag from the seat. Kneeling beside it, he took out a roll of duct tape and placed it around his wrist, before he rose to his feet and opened the back door to the woman’s side. Pulling her out in one strong motion, he lowered her onto the chair and quickly bound her legs, before he took off her winter coat and bound her hands behind her. After he made sure that the woman was secure, he pulled the boy out, laying him on the ground, making him rest on his side, as he bound his hands behind his back, and legs with duct tape, not caring much about him being comfortable.

He went back to his bag and pulled out a white sterile looking box and a pair of rubber gloves, along with a collapsible knife. Snapping the medical gloves on, he opened the box and taking sterilization liquid with cotton balls, and after he sliced open Snow’s sleeve with his knife, he wiped the area beneath the elbow, not minding the awkward angle at all, as he had bound the hands a bit higher than he would have done it usually. Going back to the bag, he took out a needle attached to an empty blood bag and expertly led it into one of the veins on Snow's arm, having already placed the band on her upper arm, to restrict the flow. As he knew that it would take time, he walked over to the boy, his knife at the ready. As he leaned over, he cut through the tape on his hands, spreading the limbs wide, as he unzipped the jacket, pulling the right hand out of its sleeve. Once more, he took his knife and cut through the fabrics of the sweater and the shirt the boy was wearing, mindful not to cut the boy. With a soft grunt, he pulled the boy to a pillar nearby, needing him at least somewhat upright. Leaning the boy’s back against the pillar, and securing his left hand to it with the tape, the man glanced down at the boy, his eyebrows furrowing as he sighed. He hadn’t minded being sent here to this world with a complete set of new memories along with his old ones, like the citizens of Storybrooke would have. After all, his mistress had chosen wisely where to put him, where he would be of most use to her. Now, his mission was coming to an end, and he had one last thing to do. Right up until now, he could pretend that he hadn’t been hurting anyone with his spying and deception, but his final assignment would not be as easily reasoned away to his conscience.

He already had the boy’s blood, from the hospital, but just in case, he had decided to take some more. Having attached the similar equipment to Henry’s arm, as he had done to Snow, he sat on the ground right in the middle of the distance between his two captives, as he looked down at the other vial in his hand, rolling it between his fingers, sighing heavily. His orders had been clear, and the punishment for disobeying would be severe. But, this – this was too much, in his opinion. He understood the pain the liquid in his hand was capable of inflicting and he was highly uncomfortable of doing it to a young boy, but he had his loyalty to his mistress, and his duty. He could not betray her. Sighing heavily, he clenched his fist _. And, he will not _ .

“What?” he heard the woman whisper as she came to. He rose to his feet and walked those few steps to her, pleased to see that the bag was almost full. He crouched beside the bound woman, and with care, pulled out the needle out of her arm, letting the medical tape he had secured it stay, as he stuffed a small wad of cotton beneath it to stop the bleeding. While the pixie haired woman rolled her head, mumbling to herself as she became more aware of her surroundings, he noted down her name onto the bag before he placed it into the white box. Then, he walked toward Henry, judging the amount of blood in his bag, before he repeated the procedure with the boy, as well. Then, he walked back to the boy, the vial in his hand, as he uncorked it, and crouched beside the still unconscious teenager.

“Get back from him!” Snow suddenly screamed from behind him, startling him a bit, but not enough for him to spill or drop the liquid. Not minding the bound woman, he opened the boy’s mouth and poured the potion, grimacing as he held the mouth and nose closed, making Henry swallow that vile liquid, offering the boy one look of regret, before he rose to his feet.

“What did you do to him?” the woman insisted as she struggled with the bonds, the chair moving slightly over the floor with her violent thrashing. “Answer me!”

The man lowered himself down on the floor beside his bag and started unlacing his shoe. “It is a curse. It won't hurt him, I promise.” His words were quiet but potent as he looked over to the woman, as he took off the shoe. “I had to do it, She ordered me to,” he added, his eyes earnest, but it did not make him less of the guilty party.

“Who are you? Who is She?” Snow demanded, as she wriggled her hands, trying to ease herself out of the tape.

“Here people call me Austin, but my name is Walsh,” he replied, seeing no point in hiding anymore. Any minute now, he would be gone, back to his Mistress, and he saw no harm in offering at least some answers, as he took off his other shoe. Then he reached for his bag, and pulled out two sparkling red slippers out of it. “And, She is my Mistress,” he added as he put on one of the glittering shoes on his foot, grimacing at the tight fit.

* * *

It was the sound of her phone that pulled her out of her sleep. Snapping to consciousness, she reached for the cell she had left at her night table, and answered the call, knowing exactly who would be on the other side, as she had picked the ringtone for him weeks before. “What did you find out?” she asked Neal, not even letting him speak first, as she pulled herself into seating position, her free hand going through her mussed strands.

“Good morning to you too,” her half-brother spoke teasingly over the line, making her roll her eyes at him, before she looked at the time. It was only nine in the morning, so she hadn’t slept as long as she feared.

“Right, morning,” she spoke dryly before she cleared her throat. “So, what did you find out?”

“I know who he is, and I have his picture, but I cannot find him,” the deputy Sheriff spoke clearly, as he heard her impatient tone. “He didn’t show up for work this morning, and I am now going to his place. Wanna join me?”

After telling him affirmatively, she listened to the address, and Neal’s directions to it, before she ended the call. She had a bit of time, so she jumped into the shower. Within ten minutes, she was dressed in dark jeans, a red blazer, a scarf and her black reefer, along with boots and gloves. Having taken her phone and house keys, she disappeared, directing her magic toward the address Neal had told her.

She met with her brother at the curb in front of a small residential building several streets from the center of the town, finding him leaning against his car looking upwards. “Where is my son?” Regina asked immediately, as she approached him, her hands in the pockets of her coat.

“David has him,” Neal replied, glancing at her, before returning his eyes to the upper floors of the building. “Mrs. Roberts hasn’t seen Austin since he came back from the hospital last night. In her words, he is quiet, respectful, and always helpful to her when she has bags from the grocers.” The Deputy chuckled as he saw Regina roll her eyes at his poor imitation of Mrs. Roberts’s voice.

“What did you find on him?” Regina asked as she moved toward the building, letting Neal open the door and hold it for her. In answer, he only gave her the file that he had collected that morning, and she looked over it as they climbed the wooden stairs. “He is in the Town Register? But, Belle added only you, Anton, and Hook to it. And, I know I haven’t added anyone but Kyle. How did his name appear there?”

“It’s a forgery,” the former thief answered as he showed the door they needed. “A very good one, but still.” He then pounded on the door. “Storybrooke Police Department, open up,” he shouted at them, before he leaned in to listen if there were any movements inside. Hearing nothing, he looked at his sister and smirked. “Can you open this, or do you want me to?”

Regina pursed her lips at him before she flicked her hand over the lock, and the soft click was heard. She inclined her head toward Neal, as she watched him take out his gun and slowly push at the door, his eyes warning her to stay behind him. He was the first to enter, his gun pointed forward at chest height, as he cleared the rooms. Then he motioned to his sister to come in, chuckling lightly at her slightly annoyed expression.

“It’s empty,” Regina concluded from her own inspection, as she walked toward the kitchen in the small apartment. Opening the fridge, she pursed her lips at the void she found. There was nothing in, and the machine itself was not plugged in. “He’s already left,” she spoke to Neal, the rest of the apartment confirming her statement.

“So, what’s the big deal?” Neal asked as he dropped into a chair by the door as he watched the brunette pace around the living room. Regina stopped moving and looked at her companion, her eyes narrowing at him.

“What’s the big deal?” she repeated scathingly as she stalked toward him, her eyes flashing with annoyance and worry. “He left, Mister Cassidy,” she answered for him, her tone turning to ice. “He, for some reason, has chosen this day to leave his place and disappear from town. Don’t you think it is highly suspicious that just as we are about to leave, the one supposedly from Oz ups and leaves before us?”

“So, you think he has gone to warn Zelena of us coming over?”

“Yes!” Regina hissed at his slow reasoning, as she took her phone out of her pocket. “Call the fairy, and David. We're leaving now!” She then turned to leave the apartment, the dialing tone ringing in her ear, the shuffled steps of her brother following behind her loud in the resulting silence her order had caused. Then she heard his voice letting Nova know about the change of plans. “Anton, is the Captain with you?” she asked as soon as she was connected to the other side of her call. Getting an affirmative response, she asked the kind giant to give the phone to Killian. “We need to leave right now. Get the ship ready.” She didn’t wait for his acknowledgement, breaking the connection as soon as she relayed her directive. Not paying attention to the man behind her, she looked down at her phone, typing out her son’s number. But, before she could enter the last digit, her phone rang, Mary Margaret’s name jumping at her.

“I was just about to call Henry, I need…” Regina started speaking in a rushed manner before she realized that she hadn’t heard the younger woman’s voice on the other side, only the low grunting and sounds that reminded her of the car door opening. “Snow?” Regina froze as she got no answer, her gut churning painfully as her blood turned to ice. “Neal,” she summoned her brother to her side as she put the phone on the speaker, just in time for them to hear murmured cussing, and the sound of a dropped call. Immediately, she called her son’s number but it had gone straight to the voicemail. “Call everyone! Henry finished school half an hour ago.” Rushing out onto the street, she disappeared into the mist of magic, leaving her brother behind to organize the search party. She couldn’t wait, not while Henry was missing. And, she knew, with every tenet of her being that he was with his grandmother, and that someone, most likely Austin Wingers, had taken them for some reason.

She appeared in front of the school, and with hurried steps she went down the street, looking down at the ground for any trace of Mary Margaret and her son. She followed the most direct route to Granny’s as she knew her son's appetite and his penchant to coax his minders into taking him to the diner. As she crossed the road and ducked into one of the less traveled streets, she saw the clue she had been looking for lying there on the sidewalk. The phone that had called her only minutes before was there, before her eyes, smashed, and in the street, where obviously a car had been parked, was Henry's backpack, forgotten and soggy from lying in the piled snow. She kneeled down and took it into her arm, pulling it toward her chest as she fought with herself not to fall apart. Not even conscious of the action she had called Neal, and looking down at the piled snow on the side of the road, she noticed fresh tire marks.

“I found where they have been taken from,” she said with her cracking voice as she reached out for the frozen marks, willing her magic to show her the way. “I know how to find them,” she added breathlessly, giving the man instructions where to come. “Hurry.”

Not a minute later, the sounds of sirens and the tire screeching reached her, and only seconds after that the patrol car with Neal and Jim pulled up beside her, with the front passenger seat empty and the door wide open. She did not waste any time, scrambling herself into the car, urging the current Sheriff to drive even before she closed the door. Jim did not question her, nor the glowing marks on the road, but followed them at the highest speeds he could manage and still keep them all safe from crashing. As soon as he saw that the trail was turning toward the docks, the new Sheriff killed the siren and slowed down, not willing to alert anyone to their arrival. However, as soon as the car rolled to an entrance to the abandoned boat house, Jim stopped the car completely, swearing when Regina jumped out and rushed into the dark space without any preparation.

“Damn it,” he cursed as he reached for the radio, not surprised to see Neal following the brunette, his weapon out and ready.

Regina knew better than to just run into the space where the captor would hold her son and friend hostage, so she ducked to the side, using the deepest darkness along the wall to sneak in, looking for the car they had been tracking. She fought to keep her breaths even and quiet, as she peered deeper into the boat house, carefully creeping along the wall. Finally, she reached an upturned boat, left on the ground, and behind it was the car, parked haphazardly, the engine still running, and the front lights showing the area in front of it, making Regina clench her jaw in anger. She saw Snow sitting in the rickety chair, the silvery tape glowing under the lights of the car, and a little farther in the distance she saw her son, bound to one of the support pillars, his head leaning to his chest.

Snow was currently demanding answers of a man sitting on the ground, trying to stuff his large feet into hideously ostentatious red kitten heels and succeeding. Regina had not missed his reply to his captive and grimaced as she had her theories confirmed. He was indeed with Zelena.

Regina pulled in her magic and in one violent burst, she attacked, pulling the man away from Snow and Henry, tossing him high into the air, using her other hand to direct a second strand of magic to release the woman from the chair. But instead of screams or a body hitting the ground, Regina heard a high pitched screech before a winged creature lunged for her, forcing her to duck. However, instead of reaching for her, the creature grabbed the bag and the other shoe before it disappeared in green smoke, a loud pop sounding throughout the boat house, followed by the thundering footsteps of two grown men rushing toward them.

Not paying attention to them, the brunette turned to her son, kneeling beside him as she tenderly made the tape vanish. With care she lowered him onto the ground, her hands caressing his face, willing him to wake up as silent tears ran down her cheeks, not minding that the gravel was digging into her knees or that there were people gathering around her. Snow joined her, crouching beside her, as she raised her palm with an empty vial in it, a tiny drop of liquid still present. “The man gave him this,” the younger woman murmured softly, as she looked down at her too still grandson. “Said it was a curse and that it won’t hurt him.”

As soon as the other woman said the word curse, Regina swiveled her head toward the vial, grabbing it of Snow’s hand and with the expertise of a long practicing sorceress she casted a spell, looking into the ingredients, relishing as the newly improved mastery of magic allowed to see the results quickly and accurately. As soon as the remaining drop of the potion glowed Regina threw the vial away, growling in anger and pain. It was a curse. And, it was physically harmless for Henry. But not for her.

Regina’s face crumpled as she pulled the boy to her chest, silent tears running into his hair. Snow placed her hand onto the woman’s elbow, afraid to speak after such a violent reaction. But, when the older woman turned toward her, Mary Margaret gasped as her eyes fell on the brittle dark eyes and pale face of her former enemy.

“It is the Curse of the Forbidden Path,” the Mayor spoke, her voice breaking under the strain of her emotions. The startled gasps echoing around told her that almost everyone knew what the curse did. “Targeting me.”

It had been a pretty famous curse in the Enchanted Forest, and in plenty of other worlds, Regina imagined, so it came as no surprise that most of the people flinched at her words. The curse itself had been the reason why the saying ‘True Love can break any curse’ had been coined, as it had ruined many loving relationships over the centuries. It had been a go-to solution for many Royals to subdue their children into arranged marriages, in order to preserve the strength of the kingdoms or to better the standing among the neighboring states. And, the reason for it was the fact that the curse was very effective in its work – it hid the memories and feelings of a certain person from the one who had been cursed with it, making them forget about those who would inspire them to rebel. All it was needed was to put something connected to the target, in this case Regina, into the potion and feed it to the one who was needed to be more pliant, or here, Henry, and the results were immediate. The person that had been cursed would not remember anything regarding the person that was targeted.

“Regina, no.” Snow lifted her hand to the mouth, her eyes widening in horror, as she looked between her former stepmother and her grandson, wishing that the boy would not wake up just yet. Not until they had a solution for this problem, even though she had known what the solution would be – to get to Emma, and have her kiss him once again. She dreaded the next several minutes, because the very second Henry opened his eyes and looked at Regina, without any recognition in his green eyes, the woman would break, and Snow didn’t think that the resilient heart of her friend and future daughter in law was strong enough to withstand that blow. “Please,” she whispered as her hand landed on Regina’s elbow once again, this time pulling her away. “Please don’t,” she begged the proud woman, as she tried to get her away from the rousing boy.

“He might not know who I am,” Regina said in a quavering whisper, her voice breaking at the last word, as her face twisted in anguish and agony. “But, he is still my son.” Holding the boy closer to her, she looked down at his fluttering eyes and parted mouth, a whimpering sob passing through her lips before she caught herself. “I am  **not** leaving him.” She lowered her head as she closed her eyes, hiding her pain from others. She had only seconds now before he opened his eyes, and she intended to make the most of them. “Even if it kills me,” she added softly against his forehead, before she pressed her lips onto his damp and warm skin, her fingers brushing his hair away. Pursing her lips, she bestowed a kiss, committing herself to stand by him, no matter what he would do or say to her, and always, always loving him.

The magic that sprung from the touch was not sudden as it had been with the Savior, or at least to her it didn’t seem so, starting off as a small spark in her heart that had spread through her blood, gaining momentum with each thump of her heart before it had grown too big a wave for her body to contain it. It swelled over into her son, seeping into his skin, his bones, before it filled his heart, which thumped in the same rhythm as his mother’s did. Then, a glittering ring of magic appeared where Regina still held her lips on Henry’s forehead, exploding forward as it purged the effects of the curse.

“Mom,” a weak murmur from the boy reached the adults still staring down in shock over the thing they had just witnessed. Henry’s voice snapped Regina out of her bewilderment and she looked at him with wonder in her eyes, simply adoring the gentle green eyes looking up at her with relief and affection. “What happened?” he breathed, frowning as he saw others gathered around them.

The brunette holding him could not speak, as she smiled tremulously at him, overwhelmed by the fact that he loved her so strongly, so truly, even after everything… Even though she saw concern clouding his eyes and burrowing his forehead, she could not say a word, pulling him tighter against her.

“We learned that you are an extraordinary young man, young Henry, with an enormous heart,” a new voice spoke, gentle and kind. The mother-son duo looked toward the woman who had spoken and immediately recognized the young fairy that had joined them for the journey. Then she returned to Regina. “I believe the curse was used as a distraction, and a personal attack against you, your Majesty,” the fairy added sagely, reminding them that they had been called there for a reason.

“We need to go,” Snow said firmly, as she rose to her feet, feeling slightly dizzy as she stood. As David gathered her in his arms, noticing her pale face, she glanced up at him. “And, you need to pick up our things.”

Before anyone could speak, Neal stepped forward, taking Henry into his arms, and lifted him up, letting Regina get to her feet as well. “Why don’t Jim and Astrid take you all to the ship, while David and I go and bring our things?” he said quietly, gently transferring his son into Frederic’s waiting arms. “You need a moment, and Astrid can help Hook and boys get everything ready for setting sail.” Receiving an acquiescing nod from Regina, Neal leaned toward his son, and listened carefully to where the boy had placed his bag of beans, already knowing where Regina had put hers. Then, with a passing brush over Regina’s shoulder in comfort, he left with David in tow, leaving the others to escort them to the nearby dock where Jolly Roger was currently harbored.

Finding herself in the familiar cabin, this time refurbished to host more people, Regina smiled as she sat beside Henry, whom the Interim Sheriff had laid carefully onto the bed closest to the door before he had left, hugging both Snow and Regina in goodbyes. Snow was holding Kyle as she leaned against the wall of the room, seated on the second bed. It was actually more of a pallet, which could be lifted upright in case they needed more space in the cabin, now serving as a comfortable seating bench. That left the master bed pushed against the farthest wall, but neither woman even looked toward it, their attention directed toward the still woozy boy. In short points they had explained everything that had happened since the moment Henry had lost consciousness, telling him that he had been cursed and shared a True Love’s Kiss with yet another parent, which made him give a brilliant smile to Regina, as he burrowed into her side.

* * *

In the hour that had taken David and Neal to get back with the bags, Astrid and Killian had prepared the ship, the nun working conscientiously under the captain’s supervision, soon joined by the running Warren brothers, who immediately set to tie down the cargo the Captain had ordered kept below deck. The time that had passed also allowed Snow and Regina to gather their wits, preparing for whatever would wait for them on the other side. It also gave them an opportunity to say their goodbyes to the few people gathered on the docks to see them out, Granny and Dr. Hopper among them. Silently, the older woman gave Snow a letter, their shared look telling the pixie haired woman exactly to whom it was addressed, before the diner keeper pulled her into a bone crunching hug.

Finally, it was time to set out. As per earlier agreement, Snow went below deck to stay with the boys, while the rest took their assigned places, ready for whatever might come their way. As Neal brought the line that had secured the ship to the dock onboard, Hook nodded toward David to release the aft sail, giving them enough wind just to get to the open waters. Then, the captain turned toward the brunette standing beside him. “Ready whenever you are,” he said over the quiet sounds of water lapping against the hull, gripping the helm in anticipation.

Regina, not wanting to delay their trip any longer, threw the bean she had selected for the occasion overboard, watching with keen thrill as the whirlpool of both magic and water was created. This time, no warning was needed for others to grab onto the safety lines, knowing that it was going to be a turbulent ride, and the brunette looked out for the other end of the portal, her body humming in eagerness. She was going to meet with Emma in the matter of minutes. The weeks of wait were finally over.

Because she was the one knowing where to look, and her magical senses helping her a great deal, she was the first one to notice a green lightning striking into the portal, making its magic unstable. The ship lurched to the side and Regina gasped as she saw the point she had been so focused on disappearing. Fear gripped her, as her eyes met with the other woman’s on the deck. The grim understanding and panic the young fairy projected told Regina that they were thinking the same thing. The portal was collapsing, and they were still in it!

“What is happening?!” the pirate shouted as he felt the ship drop unexpectedly, forced down by the uneven magic outpour.

“Someone has forced the portal to close on us!” Regina shouted back, seeing Neal’s eyes widening in understanding.

“We are still in it!” Hook screeched in outrage, as he glared at the swirling green magical vortex around them. “Fix it!” he yelled as he attempted to hold the helm still.

“I,” Regina started, helpless, her mind finishing the sentence she didn’t dare to speak aloud.  _ Don’t know how. _

Suddenly, another flash of magic flew in, and this time Regina felt her own blood heat up in response.  _ Emma! _ Her mind screamed, recognizing instantly the taste of the additional boost the vortex received. Her eyes lit up, as she spread her hands to feed her own magic into the portal, Emma’s response giving her the idea. Closing her eyes and feeling the newly discovered connection with her son, along with her love for Emma, Regina let out her power into the swirling stream, grinning in triumph as she felt the ship level up and the portal stabilizing.

However, her jubilation at the success quickly soured as she felt the vortex turn choppy and too unstable for travel once more. “It’s not enough!” Nova shouted from her spot, barely holding on to the line around the mast, unable to help, the sweeping winds of the magical gale preventing her from using the dust. “You know what happens when it collapses on us!” the young fairy added unnecessarily.

“Don’t need the reminder,” Regina angrily shouted back as she pushed another pulse of magic into the portal, joined with a strange tasting magic that seemed to paint the magic of the vortex in purplish tones. Regina grimaced as her senses took in the new magic swirling around them, the barely suppressed deadliness in it obvious but what puzzled her was the strong presence of the Savior’s own personal brand mixed in with it, helping her to keep the portal from closing.

Suddenly, the Mayor had an idea, born of desperation and fury. “We can go back!” she shouted toward the fairy, still sending out the magic into the air around them. “It is only collapsing from this end,” she explained.

Nova looked at her, her eyes wide, before she collected herself. “Go back?” Then she added thoughtfully. “Yes, that could work.” Indeed, the portal was collapsing from one end, and despite the outpour of magic in it, the vortex didn’t seem to be stabilizing for them to get out that way. So, using the time the additional magical boost had given them, Regina could pull them out on the Storybrooke side of the portal, letting it close behind them safely. “I’ll secure the ship,” the fairy said, before she quickly stumbled below deck to maintain the integrity of the hull with the fairy dust.

Regina nodded, her mind fully focused on her new task, thanking the Gods that she had actually practiced on her magic, startled with grim realization that if she hadn’t, nothing would have saved them from a horrific fate. “Hang on,” she shouted in warning before she set her magic loose.

The ship groaned under the stress of going backwards, against the strong currents of the portal pushing it forward, the unnatural direction of travel tossing the vessel in many directions as it undoubtedly slid back. With each new creaking sound, the boat inched toward the opening they had entered in, until they, finally, landed back from where they had started, Hook immediately steering the ship away from the portal, in case it was to attempt to pull them in.

As soon as they left the magical space, Regina sagged against the railing, collapsing onto the boards, her body shivering in exhaustion. She needed a moment to recover, and it seemed that others knew that, leaving her alone for the time being. The brunette heard Snow come onto the deck and inquire why they were still in Storybrooke, with Neal and Astrid explaining as much as they could. Zelena’s name was mentioned, along with Emma’s. But, when the topic of conversation turned toward delaying their journey, Regina pulled herself up, and standing on her shaking legs, she drew everyone’s attention to herself. “We are going back, right now!” she commanded, as her fingers dug into the railing in front of the helm. “Something is very wrong, and I am not leaving Emma to deal with it alone.” Despite the fact that she was barely standing, her voice was very firm and unyielding. “Back to your places,” she snapped at them, as she reached for her pocket, where her own bag with beans was. As she took another one out of it, she sighed, pleased that others had scrambled to their previous stations, ready for another go.

This time, the jump went without a hitch, as they appeared in front of the Charmings’ Castle in a matter of seconds. Not waiting for others, Regina’s eyes took in the scene before her, her look immediately drawn to the outcrop close to the walls of the keep, feeling that most of Emma’s magic had come from there. Without a word, she disappeared into a swirl of transportation spell, letting the power take her there.

The first thing she saw as the purple cloud cleared was the blood covered snow, and she followed it to the grouping of people she mostly recognized, gathered around something black on the ground, too small to be a person. However, she did not see the trademark blonde locks anywhere, even though her sharp eyes flew over every person close by. She then focused onto the people she knew, taking in their sorrowful expressions as they stared at the clothes on the blood covered ground. As her eyes glided over the pile, she breathed in sharply, suddenly realizing why the clothes were familiar to her. She had seen them in her dream, her nightmare. But, comforted by the tingling of her blood, the sign that her bond to Emma was not broken, she found Rumplestiltskin and stepped closer to him.

“Where is she?” she heard herself ask them, as she garnered the answer from their stricken faces. As she passed the man of Imperial descent, her mind absently assigning him the title of Commander, she saw the familiar scabbard lying on the heap of clothes, still tied to the leather belt she had crafted for Emma, the sight of it breaking her heart. Suddenly, the man moved and reached for it, lifting it up towards her, offering it in solemn tribute, his meaning clear. Angry with Commander’s presumption, she grabbed it, almost ripping it out of the man’s hands, ready to shout at them for their silence.

When the familiar shifter spoke her name, Regina hissed at them, her anger evident. “Where the hell is she, for if you tell me she is dead, you will regret it,” she snapped at them, not willing to endure their quiet reluctance to say anything. Closing her eyes, she sighed, as she grounded herself, trying not to take out her frustration on the people that had obviously been through a lot, if the battlefield in front of her was an indication. “She is not dead,” she whispered gently as she looked at Ruby, her voice filled with conviction. “I can still feel her,” she added effusively. “She is alive.”

Rumplestiltskin rose heavily to his feet, groaning as his ribs shifted painfully. He looked toward his daughter, his eyebrows furrowed and lips pursed. “She was burning with magic, Regina,” he said sadly, the term he used telling his former pupil everything – she had overused her power, to the point that her own body had started failing.

“And, you believe that if she isn’t already dead, she will be, soon?” Regina guessed harshly as she gripped the sword in her hands, frowning as others avoided her eyes. “Then, where is she, Rumple?” she asked him, her eyes focused on him, watching him as he stumbled over her question. “You don’t know,” the brunette maintained, her voice sharp and unforgiving. “Hasn’t she died once already?” Regina asked scathingly, her inflection over the verb in her question mocking their surrender to grief, reminding them that she had done the impossible once before, and that giving up on her now would be a betrayal of their Savior. Scoffing at them, she walked away, directing herself to the castle, her strength waning by the minute. She needed to rest before casting the locator spell, and finding her True Love.


	20. Chapter 20

_ Come find me, my love. _

The words, spoken so long ago, even though it had been only days since the dream visit from the brave blonde Knight soothing Regina’s fears, rang out in the brunette’s too occupied mind as she stepped over the dirty snow lumps that covered the field. The words she intended to obey at the earliest convenience, needing to rest first, as she had overused her power in order to get as fast as she could to the clearing. But, as soon as she ate something, and slept for a bit, she would focus on finding her beloved, using the multitude of locator spells and scrying crystals in her possession. However, she first had to see to her children and to secure a space for them, not willing to expose them to the armies gathered around the Charmings’ Palace, and the gruesome sights that surrounded it.

Regina’s lids closed, as her breath escaped her heavily through the closing throat, as she fought with herself to keep the composure. She truly believed her words, Emma  _ was _ alive, but it had not made it easier for her to see the uniform lying on the ground, covered in thickened blood, or to be given the sword she herself had gifted to the blonde woman months before, in a sign of respect to the fallen warrior. It did not make it easier for her to stave off the tears threatening to flow as she understood that the reunion with her loved Sheriff would have to wait just a bit longer. It did not help that she was currently walking through the battlefield, where the devastation of the day was shown in the last light of the day, the twilight only making it seem more terrifying.

The brunette sighed, wrapping her coat tighter, shivering in the cold winter air of the Enchanted Forest as the harsh wind blowing in from the sea picked up, and stepped forward, her eyes roaming the surroundings. The carnage, she had no other word of it, was absolute. Bodies were lying around, most of them bloody, some of them torn apart, but all invariably dead. One small mercy was that all the dead had Midas’s colors on them, or were of the simian variety, but still she had forgotten how the battlefield looked like, what it smelled like. Swallowing hard against the stench of blood and burning flesh, she gripped the sword in her hand tighter, directing her steps toward the castle rising up nearby.

Too lost she was in her thoughts as she walked toward the gates of the Charmings’ Palace, so she did not hear the hooves crunching the blood soaked snow from behind her, nor the loud huffs of the animal closing in. Only when a large black head appeared in her visual field, coming above her left shoulder, she flinched with a startled gasp, before she let the air leave her through her nose, moving the sword to her right hand, as left went up, patting the horse gently on its cheek. “Shadow,” Regina addressed the steed, her voice soft and breathy, as her fingers curled into the black mane, pulling herself towards the mare and leaning into her neck, taking a moment to gather her composure. Emma had told her about the noble animal, had written about telling the horse about the woman who had taught the Savior how to ride, albeit through the memory transference, and Regina, having heard the legends of the Camelot lines, knew that the mare would know who she was.

“Regina!” the woman heard from behind her, the grief laden voice of her father calling out to her. She did not move from the warmth of the black steed, waiting for the injured man to come to her, her eyes closed. “Regina,” Rumplestiltskin said once more, this time his tone softer, gentler as he hobbled to her, helped by his girlfriend, who also led her horse by the reins. Turning her head toward him, Regina saw his dark eyes fly over her face, taking in every detail in relief, before he reached out to his daughter, his hand tremulously shaking in the space between them. But, he did not speak of his elation to see her, despite the feelings making his eyes glow with gentleness. Neither of them was ready for heartfelt exchange, not after the scene Regina had walked in on earlier. “Come, we have the whole wing set aside for the family,” he spoke after a moment, squeezing her upper arm tenderly. Regina nodded and without words climbed atop Shadow, not waiting for others as she set out toward the castle.

The word that Her Majesty the Queen had returned to the shores of the Enchanted Forest spread like summer forest blaze through the masses gathering around the castle, followed closely by the rumors of the Savior’s passing. So as the regal woman appeared before them on the horse that most of the castle inhabitants knew belonged to the blonde Knight, the people stopped what they were doing, standing still with their heads bowed, after they had cleared the way for the woman, letting her get to the gates unbothered. However, as soon as the Queen passed by, the members of the Black Guard stepped away from their places, and went towards the castle; now that their mistress returned, they would be by her side.

As soon as Regina reached the bridge, she pulled Shadow’s mane, stopping the mare as she took in the black scorch marks and burnt bodies, her eyes widening at the remnants of magic covering it. Pressing her hand against her face, she gently nudged the steed forward, letting it pick the way through the scorched bones and melted metal, while she forced herself not to look. But, even the sound of bones cracking under the hooves of the black horse seemed to feed the horror that would inhabit her nightmares later in the day. When Shadow stopped, Regina heard someone’s heavy gait come near her and quickly, the gruff voice of her most trusted lieutenant washed over her.

“Your Majesty,” Damian spoke clearly, despite the hidden sorrow clawing at his insides, for he had heard the whispers. He had failed his mission, regardless of the fact that the Savior had gone by herself to her death, overwhelmed by the magic and wrath – and not even Rumplestiltskin and her friends could have stopped her from getting lost.

The brunette opened her eyes slowly and swallowed hard before she lowered herself to the ground, letting one of the villagers lead Shadow away, treating her with revelry due to the magical steed of the Savior, while she stepped closer to the tall man bowing his head before her in defeat. Regina, despite the belief of the people throughout the realms, knew her people and she knew their ways of thinking. So, the Queen could assume that the soldier before her believed he had failed her and silently waited for her to dole out punishment, as it is expected from honorable and loyal soldiers. She could not offer him words that would comfort him, but she could give him another mission, something to help keep his mind from the perceived failure. “Clear the bridge,” she spoke firmly. “And as much of the fields surrounding the castle as you can.”

“Yes, your Majesty,” Damian spoke, inclining his head and walked away to relay her order, gathering his men around him.

“Regina,” a voice from the keep drew the woman’s attention and she turned toward the wide open door leading into the castle, and saw the princess in charge of the Safe Haven walking slowly to her. The newcomer hurried to Aurora, taking them both into the warmth within the walls. “Regina,” Aurora spoke again, her soulful eyes saying everything she could not put in words as she gripped the woman’s forearm. “What can we do?” she asked instead.

Feeling her energies draining by the minutes, the brunette closed her eyes as she sighed tiredly. “Send an envoy to the ship. And, tell me where Emma…”

“The Royal Wing,” Aurora blurted before Regina could formulate her question. “Do you know how to get there?”

The former Evil Queen smirked with exhaustion, before she directed herself down the familiar path she had walked thirty years before. “I remember,” she threw over her shoulder, as her arm brought the sword in her hand to her chest, leaving the princess to her assignment. It took her several minutes to reach the quarters of the Crown Heir, her tiredness slowing her movements to a sluggish shuffle. When she reached the door, she hesitated over the knob before she twisted it slowly, and entered the room. Not paying attention to the living part of the quarters, she walked directly to the bedroom and collapsed onto the unmade bed, pleased that the pillows still carried a faded trace of scent her lover had left behind. Using her empty hand, she pulled the pillow to her body, curling around it, letting the sword fall onto the mattress beside her, and closed her eyes, needing a moment, just a moment to collect herself.

She woke when a gentle hand touched her shoulder, and a soft, familiar voice uttered her name cluing her to the identity of the person who had woken her. “Belle?” Regina murmured as she shifted slowly, turning toward the young woman standing beside the bed, her hand still on the brunette’s shoulder, holding a platter of morsels in her other one.

“Emma always gets better with a meal after extending herself magically, so I thought…” the kind woman whispered as she looked toward the plate, offering it to the prone guest. “Snow told us what happened on the way over,” she explained as she saw Regina’s brows furrow in confusion.

“Us?” the brunette asked as she pulled herself up, gratefully taking the offered meal, reaching for some of the small bits of dried meat, cheese, and cut up vegetables.

“The whole council is in the living room, along with the people you brought over,” the librarian said with a smile as she glanced toward the closed door leading outside. “It is rather crowded in there,” she added with a soft chuckle, and in truth, Regina could hear soft murmurs of voices trickling in from the other side. The younger woman sat beside the newcomer and sighed, as her eyes fell on the sword lying only a foot away, undisturbed. “I’ve seen her before she disappeared, and those minutes I could only watch helplessly as my friend was dying in front of my very eyes…” Belle swallowed hard, and forced herself to look away from the blade, her sadness filled blue eyes meeting Regina’s. “But, if you say that she is alive… I have to believe that.”

“She is,” Regina confirmed surely, her hand falling over her heart as she peered into her eyes meaningfully, seeing them fill with tears as the younger woman nodded in acceptance of her words.

“Anyways,” Belle said after a moment, wiping her face with her palms. “Your Guardsmen cleared the perimeter around the castle, setting the pyres downwind,” she added factually. “Henry was told that the fires were in honor of solstice, which is rather believable as people are indeed celebrating it tonight.” She saw Regina nod before taking another piece of meat. “Would you join us? The Commander is back, and he, with the others, is filling Emma’s parents on what has happened during your absence.”

“Kids?” Regina murmured in question after she swallowed her carefully chewed mouthful. She did not want her sons to hear all the grisly details of the fighting that she had seen evidence of in front of the gates.

“Ruby, along with one of the Guardsmen and Mulan took them to the Grand Hall.” Belle offered to the concerned mother. “Some of the musically inclined have started a small celebration for the night, with the season appropriate songs and dances…”

“I trust the women know better than to let them participate in drunken revelries?” Regina asked with her eyebrow raised as she slowly brought herself upright, preparing to rise to her feet.

Belle smiled at the older woman. “Of course,” she said gently as she moved, giving the other woman enough space to get off the bed. The kind hearted librarian watched as the brunette rose and flexed her shoulders, the dark eyes darting around the ascetic room. “She was here only to sleep,” she murmured softly as the curious caramel colored orbs landed on her, “and only after someone would urge her to do so.” Belle knew that the room was empty of personal touches, despite the fact that Emma had claimed it as her quarters. The younger woman reached under the pillow Regina had left undisturbed and pulled out a worn book Regina immediately recognized and accepted it from the helpful friend. “She would read it after she would wake.”

As her fingers traced the creases on the leather bound book, Regina smiled sadly, knowing quite well why Emma had been reading it. Despite the fact that the blonde had become increasingly emotionally closed off, she had not skimped out of noting down whatever she had done, writing about her nightmares and plagued sleep as well. She lowered it on the night table carefully, and sighed, before she stepped toward the door, throwing a look at the woman behind her to join her. Then, with another sigh, Regina flexed her shoulders and arranged her features into a familiar unfeeling mask. Striding imperiously into the sitting room she almost smirked at the instant hush falling over the gathered people, as all eyes turned to her. Belle hadn’t been lying, it was crowded with that many people in the room, only half of them seated.

“Regina,” the brunette heard, recognizing the soft murmur at once, and she looked toward the former habitant of the Charming Palace. Snow had an inscrutable expression on her face, her eyes slightly pinched, as she raised her hand, summoning her former enemy to her side, David shifting away to make a place for her on the sofa they had been sitting on. “It is amazing how long have we come since the last time we have been within these walls together, isn’t it?”

“Well, a lot can happen in three decades, even miracles…” Regina murmured as she lowered herself down onto the sofa with elegance innate to her, despite her Storybrooke garbs, causing Snow to chuckle softly.

A large hand landed gently on her shoulder, the fingers lightly pressing, as she felt herself innocuously pulled into the man sitting beside her, the strong and broad chest offering her a place to lean on. It was only for the fact that she was still weary from the use of magic and the adrenaline crash from before, and the seemingly unnoticeable support that David was offering, that Regina yielded to his hold. Soft, barely heard whisper reached her.

“Do you feel better?” he asked her with concern. He had not seen her after they had emerged from the portal, but Snow had, and judging by her deeply furrowed eyebrows and lip she could not stop worrying, it had been bad. It was only moments before, when his wife had seen the brunette leave the sleeping quarters that the tension in her shoulders dissipated. He rather felt than heard Regina’s hum of affirmative reply.

However, the Mayor quickly grew tired of the people watching her, so she raised her eyebrow. “Fill me in,” she spoke, addressing no one in particular, however, her eyes were pinning her father down as he had been one of the few people Emma had kept in her confidence.

Rumplestiltskin started the narrative right at the time when Emma had sent the diaries over, quite skillfully telling the story of the Savior, leaving only private things out of it, allowing the other guests to elaborate on the events he had been only told of, not witnessed. Regina did not interrupt however much she wanted to at some points, not willing to break the flow of the tale. At moments, the pixie haired woman by her side would gasp or squeeze her hand in reaction to the story, but Regina remained silent, the only thing breaking her façade the words depicting Emma’s last fight with Zelena’s magic, trying to restore the portal and keep the people of the Safe Haven more or less safe. The story of the blonde’s unyielding sacrifice brought tears to the dark eyes, spilling over quietly, trails of wetness glimmering in the light of the room. As soon as the old man finished and stunned silence fell over the newcomers, Phillip rose from his seat, helping Aurora along and softly ordered everyone not family out of the room, inclining his head toward the Royalty that remained seated.

As soon the room cleared, Regina rose from her seat and walked away, wiping her cheeks, her back turned to the married couple and the three others – the former Dark One and his wife and son. However, her desire to escape their scrutiny brought her to the small desk in the corner where she saw the familiar clothes, carefully folded, each garment laid out separately, the dried blood crusting over the creases in the fabric. The leather boots tucked under the desk, the heavy fur cloak was thrown over a simple wooden chair, and the rest of the uniform was placed on the surface of the desk, along with the weapons Emma had carried aside her sword. Set aside was the black hauberk, a necklace with its circling pendant resting atop of it, its shimmer contrasting with the light swallowing darkness of the metal weave.

Coming to the desk, the brunette swallowed hard against the sob fighting to leave as her eyes took in the all black garments, stiff and smelly; her fingers reaching toward the turtleneck Emma had worn underneath the hauberk, grimacing as she felt the rough and rigid fabric, no doubt doused in the precious blood leaving the Savior as she had fought with the onslaught of magic. Disregarding the people behind her, Regina picked up the turtleneck and pressed it against her chest, not caring for the tears that once more slipped out of their confines, and with a sharp exhale, she sprung into motion, directing herself toward the door, her magic wrenching it open, just in time for her to pass through. She was aware that the others called after her, their rushed steps trailing behind her as her powerful stride carried her across the halls of the castle, bringing her to the hallway guarded by several men, most of them dressed in the black uniforms with her crest on their chests. She didn’t even slow her steps as she passed through their guarding posts, the men wisely moving out of her way, familiar with the determined expression of their mistress.

One of the village guards, belonging to Aurora’s court, looked up at the sharp rattle of someone’s footsteps echoing in the hallway made entirely of stone. Straightening his posture, he gripped the pommel of his sword, ready to command to whoever was coming to stop, as he was under orders not to let anyone but Rumplestiltskin and Charmings in. Leaning slowly to a side, hoping to catch a glimpse of the person, or rather persons – as he could distinguish different feet pounding the floor, the man blanched at the people approaching his post. Seeing the former Evil Queen stride imperiously toward him, Snow White, Prince Charming and Rumplestiltskin rushing behind her, the soldier quickly stepped out of the way, opening the large wooden door, the idea of stopping the determined sorceress not even crossing his mind, despite the meeting that was going on inside. As others passed by him, not noticing his cowering stance, he sighed in relief and closed the door behind them.

As Regina’s eyes took in the people gathered around the table, something inside enjoying the startling effect she had on the council. However, the first one to snap out of the surprised pause was her faithful man, jumping to his feet, his hand moving to his chest and inclining his head to his monarch. The sharp clang of the metal shook others into motion, rising from their seats. Phillip stepped slowly toward her, his eyes darting toward Snow, on the left from the sorceress, before he spoke.

“How can we help you, your Majesty?” he asked carefully, unnerved by the dark eyes looking at him. But, instead of answering him, Regina passed by him and motioned for the rest of the council to step away from the round table they had been gathered around, sighed as she saw what she had come here for. Nodding to herself in accordance as the map on top of the hardwood surface of the table suited her needs, the sorceress climbed atop of it using the chair her lieutenant had been sitting on, and with his helpful assistance, she moved to the center of the circle.

“What are you doing?” Phillip asked as he watched the brunette straighten, his motion forward stopped by Damian’s warning look as the proud soldier placed his hand on the hilt of his sword.

Regina ignored him as she scowled at the strong lightning in the room, the glare of various torches and lanterns spread through the space too bright for her to see the results of the searching spell she was about to initiate. “Douse the lights,” she ordered sharply, unwilling to squander what little of magic she had regained on such a task, when she needed it for much important endeavor. Quickly, the room was filled with darkness as the people closest to the light sources extinguished the flames, leaving only several lanterns lit just so they would not stumble in the pitch darkness, before surrounding Regina in a circle around the table, while they watched her with interest, straining their eyes against the poor lightning. The former Evil Queen stood in silence at the center of the map, shrouded in shadows, before she lifted her hands, leaving her elbows firmly pinned against her sides, her spine stiff and straight as she looked slightly upwards.

“What is going on?” Snow whispered softly, her eyes not moving from her former step-mother, as she asked the old man standing beside her. Several moments before, Regina had given her the turtleneck, gently placing it in Snow’s hands and she had returned to the center of the table.

Rumplestiltskin sighed softly before he replied. “She is attempting to find Emma, and she needs a map for it. The spell should point toward the specific location on it.” And, only moments after a soft chanting could be heard coming from the brunette sorceress. Despite the fact that darkness covered her face, Rumple knew she had her eyes closed, as her mouth moved, her hands in front of her in the height of her chest, palms facing upwards. The air thickened around them as the remaining flames in the lanterns flickered, and the table started vibrating in the slow hum, following the rhythm of the chant.

The first one to notice something on the map was the Commander of the Imperial Army. He quickly pointed the others toward the glowing part of the map where the depiction of the very castle they were in was, not calling out as he didn’t want to break the woman’s concentration. But before others could wonder at the location the spell was showing, another spot on the map started shining.

“Regina’s castle,” David murmured softly as he frowned, the creases of his brows seeming deeper in the eerie glow coming from the table. “Isn’t it supposed to show only one spot?” he whispered toward the former Dark One. As no answer came, he glanced toward the old man and saw his confusion portrayed clearly in the furrowed brows.

Another location shone, this time at the picture of the Dark Castle. And, yet another spot appeared, the place Rumplestiltskin recognized as the place where the Dark Vault was located at this time. Several more places were highlighted before Regina lowered her head down and opened her eyes, widening them the instant she took in the multitude of the targets on the map, portrayed in the overwhelming brightness coming off the colored leather.

“Her magic is too strong to find her with it,” the former Dark One offered gently, breaking the silence, attracting the piercing dark eyes from the sorceress to his face. Raising his hand, he gestured toward the map. “It seems it remains behind for long after she leaves,” he added unnecessarily, causing the brunette to roll her eyes at him, before she nodded in agreement. Then, she assumed the previous position and started chanting again, this time the words were different than before, making the former sorcerer hum in proud acknowledgement, recognizing the changed particulars of the spell. Once upon a time, Regina had been very stiff and unimaginative with her power, using it in most obvious ways, not even bothering to tinker with it.  _ And, why should she? _ He had thought at the time, for she had garnered results she had wanted. But, now, he watched his former student change the spell to accommodate her needs, something she had never done under his tutelage, showing an enormous talent for spell crafting, the changes she was implementing instinctual and yielding the desired effects.

He quickly glanced at the people around the table, seeing only expectancy and intrigue on their faces, scoffing at their ignorance. The sound he made brought his beloved to his side, and he pulled her to him gently, smiling with tenderness as Belle leaned her head against his shoulder. With a smile on his face, he looked upon his daughter with pride, as he listened to the newly altered spell weaving through the air. What people around them failed to understand was that spell crafting was a hard and treacherous work, where a simple off word, even a slightly off accent, could destroy the precious balance of the spell, changing its properties, and more often than not, it becomes dangerous for everyone in the vicinity of the crafter. To simply start chanting a new spell based on the old one, without checking if the properties had changed in a suitable way was sheer lunacy, but for some reason, Regina managed to invent a new spell on the spot, a feat only great spell crafters of old could boast with. Even he, when he had been the Dark One, had not dared to use something without testing and adjusting it first, despite his nigh immortality.

“I thought you could not search for someone’s life essence?” Belle asked in a murmur, her knowledge of magic, although rudimentary and only gained from books, providing her with translation of Regina’s new chant. Her question drew the attention of people near them, Snow and David stepping even closer to hear the answer.

“You can if you have caught a sense of it before. And, since Regina and Emma are bound to each other in such intricate ways, she can use the connection they have to pinpoint what she needs.”

Suddenly, the surface under Regina’s feet started glowing again, only this time it was glowing indiscriminately, the entire map alight with the strong iridescence, even the areas where purportedly magic could not be used for scrying, such as the Infinite Forest and the Dragon Caves. “Oh,” Rumplestiltskin gasped, his jaw hanging as he reached for the map. Regina’s spell worked, there was no doubt about it, but the result they were seeing was indeed strange. The life essence of the Savior was somehow compatible with the life essence of the lands falling under the group name of the Enchanted Forest, almost as if the Savior herself was part of it, or rather the embodiment of it. But, how was it possible, Rumplestiltskin wondered, remembering Emma’s ominous words they had shared before the Savior had gone to the Dark Vault.

Regina, of course, due to the knowledge she had gained from the diaries, could surmise what the light was about, chuckling exasperatedly at her True Love’s uniqueness. Emma, with the blessings of the other original magical species, represented the Enchanted Forest, having become the Keeper of the Balance, the Sheriff of the Enchanted Forest – as the blonde had noted down, the disdain for additional titles obvious in the tone of her writing. Shaking her head at the obstacles Emma had unwittingly presented, Regina brought her hand to her chin, tapping it lightly with her fingers. Discarding idea after idea, the brunette glanced down at her teacher.

The former Dark One noted the look of askance directed at him, and considered the options his immense knowledge offered him, but after discarding most of them because they didn’t have the right ingredients or proper tools at the keep, he shrugged, leaning heavily onto his cane and Belle. Then, accidentally, his eyes caught the bundle Snow had in her hands. Feeling his eyebrow rise in wonder, he looked toward his daughter, but before he could speak, he saw that she too had seen the blood covered turtleneck. “It could work,” he spoke clearly as he motioned to Snow to give the black cloth back to Regina, knowing already what spell his daughter had in mind. Incidentally, the spell required something personal and blood of the person the sorcerer was scrying for, and the turtleneck fit the bill on both counts quite nicely.

“Torches,” the brunette spoke as she lowered herself a bit to receive the sweater, catching the eyes of her lieutenant before she looked into the concerned green ones. “I am fine,” she whispered gently, settling herself in crouch at the edge of the table, where Snow, David and Neal were standing, with Rumplestiltskin to his son’s side.

“What just happened?” Neal asked in hushed tones, glancing around, his eyes taking in the fervent rush of the people starting up the torches they had extinguished only half an hour earlier. “That light, was it supposed to do that?” he asked, as he nodded toward the map. At his father’s smirking shake of head, he scowled. “So, it didn’t work?”

“Oh, it worked, dearie,” Rumplestiltskin spoke softly and with a rare show of pride as he reached up to one of Regina’s boots, tapping it lightly as he had not dared to touch her anywhere else. They still weren’t there. “But, instead of showing where our missing friend is, it only illustrated that our Savior is so much more than any of us would even dare to dream.”

“So, what now?” the worried father murmured, directing his glance to the black cloth that was currently being held between Regina’s firmly clenched fingers.

The brunette shifted, placing one of her hands on her knee, ready to rise, but she waited until the blue eyes lifted to her own. “I have one more thing to try, and even if it doesn’t work, there are other options,” she tried to reassure David, but she could see that her attempt was not successful, taking in the creased forehead and tightness around his eyes while he pulled his wife to his front, Snow’s closeness doing more for him than Regina’s words. With a heaving sigh, the sorceress pulled herself up, opening her blazer to ease some of the sweltering heat that had enveloped her. The men had lit not only the torches that had been used before, but also almost the same number of new ones, making the room almost too bright. However, even though it was icy cold outside, the presence of that many flames in the enclosed space brought the temperature way up, and it was worse for Regina, who stood elevated on the table.

Feeling a small drop of sweat travel down from her nape, following the line of her spine, tickling her lightly, Regina internally chuckled. In her mind, she could not help but imagine Emma from her dream, fully dressed in her approximation of the Black Knights’ uniform standing among these people in this very room, while she, she who had grown up in this world, was there in jeans, a long sleeved t-shirt and a blazer. Shaking her head lightly at her trail of thought, she closed her eyes, willing her magic to comply with a set of orders. It was a rather simple spell, but it demanded a lot of energy, and that was the sole reason most witches and sorcerers would avoid using it if they could. One other reason was the fact that a reasonably easy counter spell could neutralize its seeking powers.

At first, there was nothing. Then, a small, almost invisible trace of vapor appeared over the black sweater, growing bigger by the second, consolidating in silver mist that slowly creeped down from the turtleneck and started spreading over the map, making Regina an epicenter of the vapory circle spreading outwards. It only stopped moving when it covered the whole map, well almost all of it. Understandably, the section that showed the Infinite Forest was still visible. Then, the color of the mist started changing, slowly turning gold, glimmering under the torches, before it vanished in an instant. 

The second the mist vanished, Regina bent down, her eyes scanning over the map, looking for a mark that would denote Emma’s location. However, as she looked over the leather, inch by inch, she gradually came to the realization that the spell had not found the blonde, as the unchanged surface of the map laid beneath her feet.

Before her disappointment had a chance to set on her, the door to the Council Room opened, the wood slamming hard into the wall. A man of the Empire, a soldier clad in black armor with the gold lines covering it, strolled inside, his almond shaped eyes passing over the people before they settled on his superior. Three stiff steps later, the soldier stood before the commander and whispered softly into his ear, the murmur of his voice heard in the silence that followed his entrance. Garnering a nod from Cheng, the soldier moved away, but before he turned to leave, he looked up toward the woman on the table and catching her eyes, he bowed smartly, his right hand going to his chest, where a silver swan was inlaid in the hardened leather. With that gesture of respect done, he spun on his heel and left, closing the door behind him.

“The representative of the surrendered soldiers asks for an audience with the Council, to plead for mercy for his people,” the commander spoke the second his underling left the room. When he had seen his lieutenant pay respects to the Savior’s mate, he had forced himself not to close his eyes, forbidding himself to be pulled to the memories, still all too vivid in his mind. He had not been there when Emma had disappeared, but he had been the one to volunteer to secure the enemy’s camp and the people. His men, aided by the Lockley’s band, had quickly surrounded the encampment and seized control. Apart from a few overzealous knights in Midas’ court, no one had given them any trouble, throwing down their weapons the instant they saw the swan shapes on the armors of his men. An hour later, a young lad by the name of Jonas had offered his assistance as he had been familiar with the camp, and a subject of the daring rescue of the day before. Quickly the drab and miserable atmosphere of the camp had cleared, giving way to quiet celebrations, the people having the need to revel two separate occasions. With the Sundown, the Winter Solstice had begun, the longest night in the year, a night people of the Enchanted Forest spent around fires and home hearths, reminiscing of the hardships of the previous year and hoping for a mild winter to follow the rebirth of the Sun. Music and stories often would follow such revelries, and food would be shared with friends and family. It was a tradition among many folks of the Forest that no one should be hungry on the Midwinter Eve, no matter how small the harvest or the harsh famines following the descent of the winter colds. Cheng had noticed that even his own people had followed the traditions, the cooks of his regiment preparing mutton hot pot and rice balls, and doling out the precious rice wine, offering the servings to the ‘prisoners’ they had been in charge of. Even within the castle walls, a small company of the Imperial Guard had taken a corner of the Great Hall and started a small celebration, letting anyone join, the music from the string and wind instruments ringing out pleasantly within the walls. If he had not been greatly mistaken, even the Hero of the Empire, Hua Mulan herself had joined the musicians for a song, showing her prowess at playing pipa, the lute-like instrument of his people, to the young shifter and the boys belonging to the Savior and the regal woman on the table.

Nevertheless, he could not forget the sounds of the mournful melody one of his soldiers had played on the erhu, the two string fiddle from his homeland, the second he had joined the revelry, others joining him in playing the notes of the lament his people only offered to very important and remarkable men and women of the Empire. Honoring a stranger with this dirge was unheard of, but in his mind, it was the right thing to do, especially for the woman who had tried so hard to keep most of the people involved in this war alive.

At least what he could do was to offer a small reprieve to the dark haired sorceress, keeping others from questioning the failure of the spell. Although he was a pragmatist and what his mother would call a cold realist, deeply within his heart he had hope that Regina was right, and that Emma was alive. He had been present for several of her miracles, why not believe capable of surviving the impossible? After seeing her being given veneration from the creatures his people deemed evil, incapable of nothing but destruction, he would easily believe that the Savior was one of the wise Immortals the legends of his nation talked about. So, he stepped toward Prince Phillip and pulled him into the discussion about their captives, unobtrusively guiding him out of the room, pleased to see that most of the Council members gravitated to them, offering their suggestions. However, the Chief of the Wolves and the lieutenant of the black knights stayed behind, their loyalty to Regina coming first.

Before he ducked out of the room, he glanced back one more time, his eyes linking with the dark ones. Even though he was more than several feet away he could see the gratitude in the barely there nod Regina offered him, and in return, he brought his hand to his heart, inclining his head as well. Then, he turned and left, rejoining the prince’s Council, his mind still with the former Evil Queen and her mate.

“Alright,” Belle said in the silence that followed the commander’s exit, and clapped her hands before she turned to the others in the room. “I think we can all agree that this day has held much excitement and that most of us need to rest. So, why don’t we retire for the night and reconvene in the morning?” As she spoke, she purposefully kept her eyes on the Charmings, not drawing attention to Regina’s descent, aided down by the chief of the shifters. With a passing glance to her husband, she took Snow’s arm and pulling her away, she started talking about the housing of the people in the castle, involving both David and her stepson in the conversation.

“She is crafty, I give you that,” Regina spoke with a sigh, leaning tiredly against the table, her hand going to her forehead, trying to rub away a low grade headache. “Is it that obvious?” the brunette murmured, glancing toward her former teacher and her father, placing her hands behind her to lean against them. She saw the old man direct his eyes toward the two other men in the room, discreetly standing on the other side of the table, waiting for orders. “Ah,” Regina uttered with a smirk, shaking her head at the former Dark One. “Damian, my family and I will set out for my castle by noon the latest. Secure the necessary things for the travel, and prepare to come with, along with some of the knights.”

“Yes, your Majesty,” the lieutenant said with his head bowed, and hurried out to comply.

The queen turned her eyes to the shifter, raising her hand in front of her, summoning him to her with a mere gesture, frowning when he lowered himself onto his knees in front of her, his eyes carefully looking down in submission, making Regina sigh heavily.  _ Wolves and their traditions _ , she cursed within the confines of her mind, feeling too overwrought to deal with the life debt Emma had written her about, but understanding that she had to acknowledge the customs if the blonde’s partnership with the shifters was to remain intact. “Liam,” she said gently, speaking his name though they had not been introduced officially, her soft voice bringing the tall man’s head up. “With your faithful service to the Savior, I consider the blood debt of your line repaid in full,” Regina proclaimed clearly, making sure that her eyes were connected with the deep blue ones of the Wolf. “Rise, Liam, Son of the Moon, and stand proudly,” she added as she offered him her hand.

For a moment the bulky man did not move, his eyes gazing upon the elegant limb hanging in the air in front of him in wonder, before he hurriedly took it, his roughened fingers gently handling the soft hand, as he stood to his feet and bowed deeply, his forehead almost touching the hands between them. “The debt might be paid, your Majesty, but our loyalty remains to you and your mate,” the chief spoke, his voice rumbling deeply in the quiet of the room. “We stand with you.”

Regina squeezed the man’s fingers in appreciation of his words, offering him a barely there smile before she took back her hand. “You and your people may join us tomorrow, if you wish,” she said in return, knowing that a chance to leave the castle would not be squandered. After Liam smirked roguishly at her, he mumbled a good night to her and the former Dark One, rushing off to share the news to his kin and people.

“Taking your knights with you and releasing the wolves,” Rumplestiltskin murmured softly as he pulled a chair to sit down, his ribs and leg bothering him too much to continue to stand. “You should not be splintering the forces right now, it leaves everyone vulnerable.”

The brunette scoffed at her father, sinking into a chair beside him. “There are ten thousand people in front of the gates of this keep. Phillip can choose as many soldiers as he likes for his new army. But, my people are coming with me, to help protect my family. And, the wolves were free from the start, here only by their choice and faith in Emma. It is their choice. I will not deny them their rights just because they are handy in fights.”

Rumplestiltskin chuckled softly before he shook his head. It was interesting how much the two women seemed to share, often sounding like each other. But, instead of mentioning that to his daughter, he asked a question. “So, you are leaving in the morning?” the old man asked, choosing to drop the topic of armies and the war.

“I have the supplies I need for more extensive scrying in my chambers at the castle, and I don’t think we should waste any time,” Regina said, confirming what she believed Rumplestiltskin had known all along. “But, that is not why you stayed behind, is it? There is something you want to talk about, something you didn’t think others needed to hear.”

“It’s about Emma,” he whispered softly, suddenly his face tightened with grief, and his dark eyes clouded with pain for the young woman. “I have told you that she had fought Zelena for the control of the portal, but what you don’t know is how she did it.” Rubbing his face tiredly, he sighed before leaning back in his chair, pushing his words through his narrowed throat. “There was a red magical poison headed toward the palace, something Zelena had dug out of the Vault,” he started, his eyes directed at the map on the table, not able to look at his daughter. “Somehow, Emma managed to, I guess recycle it is the right word, and force it into the portal using its magical potential to help her stabilize the passageway.”

“The strange tasting magic,” Regina murmured in understanding. “I wondered what that was…”

“The thing is, in order to repurpose it, she had to pull it in herself, her own body aiding her at the conversion.” Rumplestiltskin shook his head, the moment he was telling about playing out before his eyes. “I don’t know what she did, but somehow it… It worked.” He swallowed hard and lifted his head, his eyes darting toward Regina, not quite meeting her. Then he tapped his cane, in a manner Regina had long before learned that it was his tell, a tick to show his nerves. “However, I believe that in order for it to work, some of the malicious effects had to remain behind,” he added, his voice rough but silent, turning into a broken whisper when he spoke another two words. “In Emma.”

The brunette lowered her head as she let the ominous words sink in. She had felt the vile presence in the magic of the portal, entwined with the Savior’s brand, and it had almost made her physically ill to be in its presence. To consider the fact that Emma had somehow managed to push that abhorrent type of magic through herself… To consider the pain, the sickness it would have caused to her True Love… She couldn’t imagine it, and yet she knew that the blonde had thought it would be a small price to pay. “You…” she tried to speak, but her voice broke even before she could utter one word, making it sound more like a squeak than an actual word. After swallowing against the tightness in her throat, she cleared it and started again. “You think she poisoned herself to save me?” Even though she knew that the question was more than redundant, she had to ask.

For the first time since others had left them, the dark eyes locked, the pair belonging to the old man meeting Regina’s in a look that shared much pain and comfort at the same time. It was a look of saddened acknowledgement of the truth they both knew. “For you and the children, there is not a thing she wouldn’t do,” he spoke softly, before he placed his palm against the side of Regina’s face, wiping a glistening tear as it slid down her cheek. “As there is nothing you wouldn’t do for her,” he added heavily, sighing as he returned his hand to his cane. “Even make yourself believe that she is coming back,” he murmured with anguished certainty, rising from his chair, his other hand going up to his face, preemptively wiping his eyes before anyone saw his sorrow in the form of liquid.

The newcomer did not scoff at his words. She didn’t even feel the anger that he doubted her. In his place, she would consider anyone who claimed that Emma had survived certifiably insane. But, she knew her Savior. She knew things about her True Love no other human did. She knew, without a doubt, that her heart was telling her the truth – the blonde Sheriff was alive. She might not be in perfect shape, but she was alive.

“I know,” Regina uttered haltingly to her father’s back, rising slowly to her feet, using both the back of her chair and the table to lift herself up. “I know that what you saw,” she continued when she saw him stop, his head turned to the side, listening to her. “What you experienced,” she added as she stepped forward, her words gentle but firm. “Makes it hard for you to believe that there is any way for her to survive.” She stopped her slow advance several feet behind him, one of her hands pushing the strands of her hair away from her face. “But, Emma is not like us,” Regina spoke with conviction as she silently begged her father to listen. “She is so much  _ more _ , more than you will ever know.”

Rumplestiltskin sighed and turned sideways to look at his daughter. “Regina, her being the Savior does not make her immortal and what I saw… No one can survive it.”

“Not even someone with the blessing of Unicorns?” Regina offered with gentle smugness, needing to counter his insistence of Emma’s demise.

“What?” his surprised gasp sounded too loud in the quiet room, making both of them wince, before Rumplestiltskin moved, reaching for Regina’s forearm, gripping it tightly. “She was Blessed?” he asked in awe, searching his daughter’s face for the answer. “No one has been blessed by a magical species in centuries! It’s impossible.”

“Is it, really?” Regina had to ask, a soft smile playing on her lips. “After everything she has managed so far? And, didn’t you hear when the commander spoke of her encounter with the Yaoguai? Didn’t you say she had used their magic, even though it should be impossible? You’ve seen her prowess with magic. Hasn’t she proven already that impossible in fact isn’t in her vocabulary?”

Question after question, Rumplestiltskin could feel his conviction crumble into hope that the blonde was truly alive. She had lived through things no one had before. “She’s alive,” he whispered softly, a silent chuckle following his words.

The brunette smiled weakly at the hopeful expression appearing on the face of the former Dark One. “I need to find her,” she said, interrupting his silent joy. “I know Zelena is a problem, and potentially a very big one, but Emma comes first.”

“As she should,” Rumple agreed with a nod. “While you are away, I’ll stay here. After all, I am the only one who knows the Wicked Witch. Well, apart from Emma.” He glanced toward his daughter, expecting a question or two about his statement, but as nothing came, he frowned in contemplation. It would seem that the diaries Emma had sent over held a bit more of the information than he had assumed. He had enjoyed the surprised and bewildered looks when Regina would seem too well informed of the events in her absence. However, it seemed that even he had underestimated Regina’s knowledge of the past two months.

“You never told me about her,” Regina suddenly said.

It was a topic he had inadvertently opened with his comment, but he had known that it had been coming, ever since the Sheriff had taken the information about the unstable witch out of his head. He had been prepared, even though he had hoped that the brunette would take her time in asking him about her half-sister. “When I found out about her, you were already under my tutelage. I needed you focused, without any presence that could sway you from your path.”

“And after?”

“I was protecting you in some ways. In others, I was protecting myself. I wasn’t about to give you an ally against me.” Rumplestiltskin heard his daughter’s soft hum as she opened the door for them, leading them back to the Royal quarters, a silent agreement shared between them that it had been enough of heavy topics for that evening, and they both needed their sleep. 

* * *

Followed by his wife and Rumplestiltskin’s son, right after Belle had left them to go to her room, David lazily walked through the corridors of his former home, his feet guiding him toward the quarters he had once shared with Snow. Even though the Palace seemed to be restored to its previous glory, he could not help but note the differences, slight as they were. It would appear that his daughter could not resist adding a bit of her own flair to the place, changing small bits to suit her reasoning better. The outcome was a surprisingly warm and welcoming castle, one that still seemed like a home to Snow and him, but still had bits of Emma’s spirit within its walls.

He opened the heavy wooden door to the royal quarters, pleased that no guards were posted in the halls, and let the two of his companions pass by him first before he too entered the room, making sure that no one could eavesdrop on them.

“Do you think it’s true?” Neal asked softly, watching the woman light a match that she quickly used to start the fire with already prepared fire logs. “What Regina said, about feeling Emma?” He glanced between David and the brunette while he stepped to one of the high back chairs by the hearth, weakly sinking into it, swallowing hard against the doubts that were filling his heart. He did not miss the look the couple shared, nor Snow’s cautiously optimistic smile as she approached him, taking her seat in the remaining chair, her face lit by the newly born blaze spreading over the kindling.

The green eyes that seemed amber in the dancing light of the fire found his. “When I bit the cursed apple Regina had given me,” Snow spoke slowly, turning her head slightly to include her husband, even though he knew the story perfectly, having lived through it himself, “David felt the pain it caused me.” She offered a loving smile to the man still standing, before she looked back at the son of the former Dark One. “When the Heartless stormed our home and almost killed him, I could sense the life draining out of him.” Snow looked up toward David once more, raising her palm in the air to him, and in an instant, the love of her life came to her, gripping the offered hand gently, his other one tenderly landing on his wife’s shoulder as he took his place beside her, perching on the armrest of the chair, mindful not to topple them both over.

“My daughter and your sister share a bond forged not only in True Love but in the magics they share. And, the connection between them is infinitely stronger and more intricate.” Suddenly overcome by weariness, Snow sagged against the strong body of the man beside her, feeling the effects of the very long and eventful day. “So, yes,” she said softly, yet with conviction of her faith and hope. “I think it is true that Emma is alive.” Then, Snow grimaced, remembering something. “I am not saying she is fine or anything of the sort, for she hasn’t been in a long time, but she is undoubtedly alive.”

“Yeah,” Neal murmured. “We saw the clothes Ruby brought,” he added weakly, trying not to think of the amount of blood that he had spotted on them, missing the contorted face of the blue eyed man as an expression of repugnance twisted the muscles around his mouth.

Indeed, they had seen the clothes. When David had realized that the garments his daughter had been donning on for the better part of a month, her apparel that of a high ranking knight in the Evil Queen’s contingent – one of the infamous Black Knights, David had blinked at the sudden wave of disgust and resentment toward the Savior. She had proudly worn the uniform of people who had enjoyed torturing and killing innocent villagers, people he had spent several years fighting against. People who had tried to take his newborn daughter out of his hands, using their swords to do so. Yes, Regina was reformed, he had groused in his thoughts, and Emma wore the clothes as a tribute to her True Love, and for the ease of blending in they afforded, but still… The sight of them had made him grind his teeth. He was honestly surprised that Snow had not reacted just as, or even more, violently to them and the fact that her daughter had worn them. However, Snow only seemed perturbed by the abundance of precious life liquid soaked into the leathers and fabrics.

The pixie haired woman felt David tense under her, and throwing a worried glance upwards, she saw his jaw firmly clenched as the muscles bulged out. She had noticed his strange reaction to Emma’s uniform before, and now the mere mention of it brought the rarely witnessed temper out. Instead of addressing him about it, she only squeezed his hand, noticing that her quiet acknowledgement of his sudden anger brought him out of whatever furious thoughts he had been thinking. However, upon seeing that he was still upset about something, she decided to get to the bottom of it, when they had privacy to hash it out. But, for now, she would do her best to comfort him and keep the conversation going, not drawing attention to David’s unusual behavior.

Luckily, Neal remained unaware, to Snow’s great relief, asking another question. “What happens next?”

“Knowing Regina, she will retreat and rethink her options, searching for another way to locate Emma.” The woman nodded slowly to herself, quite confident that she had judged her former step-mother correctly, as she absently brought David’s hand to her lap. “In the morning, or midday, we will set out for her castle…”

“Don’t you mean, your castle,” David grumblingly interrupted, staring back unrepentantly at his wife, undisturbed by the reprimanding look she had thrown at him.

“Her castle,” Snow insisted sharply glaring at the man by her side, before she looked back to Neal, “probably on foot, unless the Empire commander deigns to let us borrow some horses,” she continued. “At the castle, she most likely has something to help her further.”

“So, she is the only one who can find Emma?”

“She is the only one who knows what to look for,” David joined the conversation, his voice a little brusque, but that didn’t let him not acknowledge the fact that ordinary measures of finding someone could not be used to track his daughter down. “It was magic that took Emma away, and Regina is the only one I trust with locating my child,” he admitted, albeit reluctantly.

“There is also the fact we have tried to ignore so far,” the pixie haired woman added softly. “Emma is dangerous in her grief,” she said, not letting Neal’s halfhearted objection filled scoff to stop her. “I, for one, don’t want to add to the already big list of problems by committing suicide in the form of rushing someone in the grips of magic-powered black hole.” She swallowed as the words she had heard from Rumplestiltskin about her daughter’s last moments in his presence rang out in her mind.

_ She was no longer herself. There was nothing that we recognized as Emma in that body. There was only fury and vengeance – a vessel of scourge, determined to wipe out anyone who stood in her way, be it friend or enemy. No reason, only hate and pain. _

“Takes a lot to frighten your father, Neal, and Emma terrified him, regardless of his attempt to pretend otherwise.”

“I know,” he agreed softly, tiredly, as he, too, remembered the words his father had spoken. He rose to his feet, waving in goodbyes to the couple and left the room, vaguely remembering Belle’s instructions to his assigned quarters.

As soon the man left, Snow jumped out of her seat and turned, her eyes flashing as she glared at her husband. “What’s with you?!”

David only raised his eyebrow at her outburst, not answering her. He slipped down into the seat Snow had vacated and placed his elbows on the hand rests, steepling his hands in front of him, his blue eyes regarding his wife, the anger that had been brewing in him finally allowed to surface.

“You started this when we saw Ruby,” the woman spoke, more to herself than to him. “Has she done something?” But, then the realization hit her. “You cannot be seriously upset about the type of clothes your daughter has chosen to wear?”

“I can’t?” David challenged sharply. “The Black Knights, Mary Margaret!” he pushed through his teeth, his jaw once more clenched in anger. “The murderous, heinous scum who hunted us down, killing indiscriminately! And, she wore their colors!”

Snow shook her head at the man in front of her, understanding that most, if not all of his anger came from frustration and helplessness, fixating on one point of contention. She had frowned upon Emma’s choice of garments, but the knowledge she had gained about the past changed how she thought about it, understanding and forgiving many deeds she had suffered from. And, with the wisdom that comes with time and separation from the events in the past, she could see them a bit differently. She could see the gray, as Emma would remark.

“What would you have her wear?” Snow asked, her voice persistent as she placed her hands on her hips. “The white and gray with the red stripe of your supposed father? The blue and gold of mine? The colors of our own resistance?” She did not move, but only gentled her voice as she tried to reason with her husband. “These mean nothing but awful history to her, especially with the connection she shares with Regina. Regina is her present, her future. Why not wear her colors? At least, until she establishes her own. You yourself have remarked how at home she looks in black.” And, it wasn’t like there were tailors around ready to create a new set of garments, with the post-curse state of the lands and the war, Snow thought to herself, but chose not to comment on it.

“She is the White Knight!” the man insisted, pushing himself away from the chair, his powerful and angry strides carrying him across the room, to the balcony, where he reached for the artistically carved stone fence, gripping it firmly, as he lowered his head, the sharp cold of the winter’s air taking away the raw edge of his temper.

“Just because Rumplestiltskin and Henry called her so,” Snow spoke softly, her shoulder leaning against the entrance to the balcony, her hand falling to her belly. Experiencing such a strong déjà vu, she took a moment to appreciate the fact that everything ended well. Well, until the next threat came. However, the current situation demanded her attention back. “We have always insisted that she is our Savior, David. That our daughter is so firmly entrenched in the Heroes’ part of the equation. And, I think our beliefs let us blind us to who she really is underneath the titles.” Snow approached her husband slowly, placing her hand onto his back, tenderly rubbing the root of his neck in an attempt to soothe him. Then, something occurred to her. “She is a flawed human being under all of it, with all the weaknesses we all have, trying to do the best she can under the circumstances.” Lightly, she forced him to turn, trying to look into his burdened blue eyes. “Despite all our desires, we cannot protect her – especially not from her own destiny. She killed, yes, but, then, we all have. How many soldiers have you slain, trying to escape George? How many men have I pierced with my arrows? Death is an inescapable part of any war, no matter how we wish to spare others…” With a sigh, she came to her point, having realized the irrational burst of panic David had felt at the sight of the uniform had sublimated into anger, wild and indiscriminate. “Her actions are her own, born of necessity, regardless of what she had chosen to wear.”

David looked at her in surprise, his anger diminishing under realization that Snow knew better about the reasons for his temper than himself. He had believed that it was the bad memories of black knights, and Emma’s willful aligning with them, but in fact it was his fear over her questionable actions that had clouded his judgement.

“Yes, perhaps some things shouldn’t have happened, but…” Snow paused as her throat tightened with emotion. “She is our daughter.”

“I never wanted this for her,” David murmured as he let go of the fence, leaning against it, and pulled his wife into his arms.

“I know,” Mary Margaret spoke after letting out a long defeated sigh.

Their somber silence was interrupted an hour later, when Snow’s best friend entered the quarters David and she claimed for their own.

* * *

Her eyes opened wide, the dreams disappearing in the dark of the night as she brought herself up, pushing away the fleece blanket she had used to cover her body. For a moment, she didn’t know where she was, the sharp edge of anxiety and fear still present in the rhythm of her pounding heart and rapid breathing, the shallow gasps loud in the quiet of the room she was in. Then, a warm body beside her moved, startling her enough to stop her exhalation, as she waited, her every muscle tense and ready. But, instead of presenting danger that she feared, the body next to her curled into her pillow, a small hand fisting the cloth of the loose shirt she was using for sleeping.

Regina sighed, letting her lungs release the captured air, and as her eyes got used to the darkness of the room, she looked down at Kyle burrowing further into the warmth her body had left behind, her heart finally slowing down, shaking off the effects of her nightmares. Lowering her head, she kissed her son’s forehead, before she slipped out of the bed, using a small pulse of magic to dress herself without disturbing her boys, who unlike her seemed to have good dreams.

She had to admire the resilience of children, especially Henry’s. Even though he had understood what had happened, catching snippets of conversations around him, he had not given in to fear, his indomitable heart evident in his ardent support and belief he had offered her the scant hours before.

_ Regina entered Emma’s quarters, having already sent her father away. As soon she closed the door, her eyes fell on the boy standing next to the things displayed on the table in the corner, his light fingers tracing the delicate chain of Emma’s necklace, his look of saddened understanding finding her immediately. _

_ Before she could address him, Ruby approached Regina, Kyle in her arms, calling out to his adoptive mother with eagerness, as if he had not seen her for days rather than hours. As the toddler reached for Regina, the shifter tried to apologize for not covering the uniform, but with only a sharp shake of her head and pointed look, the queen dismissed her, a barely there smile offered to the wolf easing the young woman’s uncomfortable stance. _

_ “Ruby,” Regina’s soft utterance stopped the woman at the door to the rooms. “Thank you for looking after them,” the older brunette said as she settled her younger charge against her hip. _

_ “Of course, Regina. Good night.” Ruby smiled at both Henry and the Mayor before she ducked out, closing the door behind her. _

_ “Henry,” the woman spoke softly, as she stepped closer toward her son, her heart breaking for the boy standing beside his birth mother's bloody clothes. “I will find her,” she added, her promise firm, as she reached for his shoulder, gently squeezing it. She stood there, expecting a slew of questions, inquiries, accusations but none of it came. The preteen boy did not indulge his inquisitive nature, but instead, he lifted his head slightly and turned toward Regina, giving her an encouraging smile. _

_ “I know,” he said softly, his eyes glimmering in the low light of the several lanterns spread through the room. “I know you will,” Henry spoke softly, with conviction, leaning into her side, his arm going around Regina’s back, holding her in a strong hug. “I believe in you,” he added emphatically, his faith in his mother evident in the determined voice and strong squeeze of his embrace. Regina closed her eyes against the powerful emotions filling her at her son’s words. For months now, she had enjoyed her reestablished connection with the boy, truly enjoying their interaction and affection – but, as she had found out that very morning, he loved her in ways she could not have imagined, ways that she had thought had been reserved for Emma only, given her extraordinary nature. To know that she, too, shared True Love with him, that he loved her deeply and devoutly despite all the hurt and pain and suffering they had inflicted on each other in the past – it was indescribably invigorating and empowering. However, it wasn’t the love part of their bond that she was inordinately proud of, even though she admired it. It was the acceptance and understanding that was intertwined with it in order to create a True Love’s bond. _

_ As there were no words to add to Henry’s proclamation, Regina kissed his forehead, pulling him into a somewhat clumsy embrace, due to the other child in her arms. Then, she took them to the bedroom, getting them ready for the night, acquiescing to Henry’s plea to stay with them during the night. _

With another glance to her sleeping children, Regina slowly opened the door of the room, slipping through without rousing either of the boys. After she closed the door behind her, she paused, inclining her head at the scene that welcomed her, her eyebrow going up in curiosity. The warrior woman of the Empire stood before with her back turned to the brunette, dressed in a manner Regina would deem causal, especially for the warrior she had rarely seen out of her armor. Black leather pants encased muscular legs, tucked into knee high soft leather boots, and the woman’s upper body was covered with a heavy silk jacket that fell over hips, intricate golden brocade strips adorning the cuffs and lapels of it. Over it was a simple hide belt, polished and clean, with the sword attached to it on one side, and a small dagger on the other. The woman herself was slightly bending over a large platter, her long hair falling over her shoulder freely, its luscious tresses shining like silk in the low light of the room. Mulan seemed interested in the food presented on the platter, too lost in contemplating it to notice that she was no longer alone.

It was a rare expression of exulted wonder on the warrior’s face that forced Regina to break the quiet, letting a soft chuckle slip out of her as she stepped forward, a soft smile pulling on her lips as the almond shaped eyes found her. “Enjoying yourself?” Regina asked gently, as she poured a cup of fresh black tea from the pot beside the platter Mulan had been browsing.

“Mhm,” the warrior replied, her hand lifting a small but tasty looking morsel before she dropped it into her mouth. After swallowing it with a hum of appreciation, Mulan moved slightly aside, leaning onto the wall beside the platter. “Compliments of your cook,” she said, gesturing toward the food. “He seems to remember that you are an early riser. I simply brought them here. But I don’t think even he expected you to be up at this time. It’s only three hours after midnight.” There was a subtle question in the woman’s words, the way of surreptitious query letting Regina choose whether to answer or not, and the brunette appreciated the seemingly perfunctory inquiry and the woman’s unobtrusive manner.

“As you said, an early riser,” Regina answered before she sipped the still hot tea. “However, that doesn’t explain your presence at this hour,” the Queen noted, looking at the woman over her steaming cup.

“Traditionally, people of the Empire that have entered adulthood do not sleep on this day, doing whatever is necessary to stay awake until the birth of the new Sun,” Mulan started speaking, once more looking over the food. Brunette stayed quiet, having a feeling that the warrior was choosing a roundabout way of answering. “Mostly, we celebrate the solstice with music, dancing and storytelling, accompanied with delicacies of our kitchens. Some, like our Elders, meditate and think upon the past year, considering their previous decisions and deeds. But, there is always a certain ceremony to it.” Pausing to chew on another morsel, Mulan gestured to her clothes, the meaning quite clear to the woman beside her. The unusual and quite frankly expensive jacket was the warrior’s way of adding a particular pomp to the occasion, forgoing her armor for one night of the year. “I was passing by the kitchens when an opportunity rose to assist, and unobtrusively slip away from the revelries. I can exert only so much of my patience, and after listening to boisterous soldiers telling  _ my _ story many times, rather embellished and inaccurate, if I may add, I found it lacking.”

“I would have thought Miss Lucas would keep you company,” Regina said after a contemplative sip, taking in the smile that appeared on the face of the warrior at the mention of the shifter. It was strange to see Mulan at ease with emotions, but she could excuse it due to the rambunctious celebrations still happening in and around the palace, the soft tendrils of music and laughter even reaching the quarters of the crown princess.

“She is sleeping. Your sons were very demanding last afternoon, and I am afraid Snow was not better.”

Regina lowered her tea chuckling at the mention of pixie haired woman and sat down at the table, gesturing to her guest to join her before she focused on the food. “So, apart from offering you my breakfast, what can I do for you?” the queen asked nonchalantly, partaking in the food William had sent up.

Adjusting her sword, the guest sighed, placing her forearm onto the table. “It is more the matter of what I can do for you,” the warrior spoke slowly, pushing her and slightly toward Regina.

“I wasn’t aware that I required assistance,” the brunette replied, raising her eyebrow as her eyes scrutinized the Empire native in front of her. Even though the words sounded sly, the tone of them was not. In fact, Mulan sounded sincere and respectful.

“Nonetheless, I offer it regardless.” The warrior leaned forward, her eyes not moving from Regina’s face. “Be it in the form of a willing ear and shoulder, additional guard for you and your family, or an errand girl, it matters not. I am at your disposal.” It was an offer of unconditional support, the first one she had received since she had arrived at this place, not counting Snow’s almost demanding insistence to do whatever was necessary to bring her daughter back. Mulan didn’t look at her with sympathy and loss, as many of the people of the castle did, but with quiet compassion and firm backing. Why was she different? Why was it so easy for her to believe Regina?

“You aren’t going to question me?” Regina asked as she frowned, her skepticism clear. “Or my insistence that Emma is still alive?”

Mulan reached for the pot and a cup, pouring herself tea, stalling for time as she tried to formulate what she wanted to say. Perhaps the morning of the Solstice, right after Emma had disappeared was not a good time to try speaking on the matter, but the warrior wanted to show that she had not faltered in her belief in her friend, that she had remained true and loyal to the Sheriff. Even though Emma had been gone not a full day yet, the Empire heroine could not help but feel it deeply. Her friend had suffered through too much already, and she wanted to do as much as she possibly could to ease that pain, and if that meant relegating herself to a mere servant to the former Evil Queen, then that was what she would do.

“I have been watching her carefully, during the times she was with us,” the warrior started, her voice soft and filled with concerned affection toward the Savior, as her fingers traced the rim of the cup, the metal warm under her skin, signaling that the tea was still hot. “I’ve seen her grow and change – turn into a leader unlike any I’ve known, and one I would follow into the heart of Darkness itself. I’ve seen her do things, know things, that should have been impossible. Even with our last conversation, I learned more about our Savior than I could ever dream.” Mulan chuckled softly at the understatement of her words, her mind transporting her back to the previous morning, to the moment when the Hero of the Empire and the Savior stood together on the wall, their hushed conversation unheard by anyone but them. “She told me, the last time we spoke, that she was different. A creature of magic, not unlike fairies and unicorns.” The sharp eyes of the Empire woman took in the fact that Regina’s curious expression had not changed at her words. And, why should it, the warrior mused within the confines of her mind. If anyone knew Emma’s potential and abilities, it would be the woman the Sheriff had shared so much of her with. “If that is indeed true, then assigning the fallacies of our kind to Emma would be a mistake – an underestimation. And, in light of what I know and believe to be true, I have chosen not to underestimate her.” Slowly, an encouraging smile appeared on the lips of the warrior. “That means, not underestimating you, as well.”

Regina felt her eyes tear up at the heartfelt words Mulan had shared with her, and wordlessly, she reached out for the woman’s hand, squeezing it in gratitude she could not voice. Swallowing hard against the pressure forming in her throat, the brunette brought herself closer to the warrior and leaning her head to a side, she sighed. “She is still vulnerable, still mortal,” she had to say, her tone barely louder than a whisper, her own words serving as a caution against believing Emma to be omnipotent.

“Which is why you need to find her,” Mulan replied simply, as she turned her hand under Regina’s fingers, grasping them lightly returning the comforting squeeze. Then, she rose to her feet, using her other hand to drink the rest of the tea. “I will join you in your search.”

“And, Phillip?”

“He is my friend and he understands my reasons,” the warrior explained simply before she smirked at the Queen. “And he knows I would follow a certain shifter almost anywhere.”

“And, she is coming with us, no doubt convinced by Snow and David’s insistence,” Regina added wryly. The Empire woman nodded once, before she turned to leave, the time to go getting near, and some preparations were in order. “Mulan,” Regina called softly just before the woman was about to close the door behind her. When the almond shaped eyes peered back at her, the brunette allowed her emotions to surface, letting her brown orbs show them to the other woman. “Thank you,” she spoke empathically, “for being there for her when I couldn’t.”

“I would do it again, for both her and you,” the warrior said sincerely, before leaving Regina alone with her thoughts. 

* * *

It was still very dark, but he could feel it in the air – the Sun would soon rise, signaling the end of the solstice. The end of celebrations. If it were a time of peace, most of the people that had been reveling would catch up on their sleep, while only those absolutely in need would work. However, it wasn’t a time of peace, and with the first morning light, soldiers would return to their duties, and he would start a council pertaining to the status of the prisoners and where they would be housed.

Phillip shuddered as he pulled his cloak closer around him, standing at the top most watch tower, looking at the still blazing fires spreading throughout the fields around the castle. One day before, it had been the blonde Sheriff that had stood there, in the cold, surveying the surroundings, waiting for a real fighting to start. Only one day passed from the moment he had held his wife and unborn child to his arms, praying to live through the siege. And, now, it was he that stood there, alive and well, with all close to his heart safe. All but one.

He had wandered the halls of his temporary home long after most of the Council members had retired, including his darling wife, with his thoughts and the music rising up from the throne hall his only company. Only when he had come upon his friend on her way to her rooms, his solitude had been interrupted. The restless spring in her movements as she had hurriedly explained to him that she and Ruby would join Regina on her way in the morning had clued him in her firm belief that the Savior still lived. At his reluctance to accept it, she had only patted his shoulder and murmured words that, although he had firmly doubted it had been Mulan’s intent, had caused him to feel uncomfortably warm and cold at the same time, the prick of shame lodged deeply within him.

_ The Witch isn’t caught or dealt with. Do you really think  _ **_she_ ** _ would abandon us in the time of need, after all the times she had saved us before, even to her death? Have you so little faith in her? _

He had relied upon the Savior far more than anyone had assumed, and he hadn’t even thought to thank her for it, other than mindless words thrown in passing, meaningless in the reality of the debt he owed to the blonde woman. It was his guilt, and his shame, that had brought him out into the freezing cold of the watchtower, as his thoughts turned to the woman who had made the victory they had celebrated through the night possible.

He leaned against the heavy frame holding the warning bell, as he thought back to the day of the unfortunate hunt he had taken his hunters on, early in the days of the Savior’s dutiful exile. The blonde had saved his, and the lives of his men that day without a moment of hesitation, even engaging Ogres on their behalf. Since that day, the Sheriff had been a godsend, providing them with an early warning to the impending attack, and all other instances she had managed to keep them safe. Emma had given them shelter in the home of her parents, had brought them allies, uniting the unlikeliest of comrades under her, garnering loyalty that most leaders would be envious of. She had instructed the Wolves to chase the deer into their pens for food, having already filled the larders with other necessities to survive the winter, making it possible for the villagers of the Safe Haven to prepare for the siege. Her magic had kept the castle intact under the volleys of trebuchets of Midas’s army, and even after that, she had spent the night with Belle, healing the wounded. Not to mention her wall of fire…

Ever since the village had moved, he had felt irritation toward the men who had clearly had more faith in the Savior’s skills of leadership and warfare, despite the fact that Emma had not been involved in them before; having obeyed him only because he had seemed to be appointed as ruler in her absence. The irritation had turned to anger, when all the Wolves had disappeared at her call, almost followed by the Regina’s soldiers, who had been left behind only because they had not been fast enough to reach her before she had gone to the cliff. That anger simmered under the surface, hidden, until the chief lieutenant of the black knights had told him that he would follow his monarch, as well as the Wolves had planned to. In truth, he had expected such news as soon as Regina had returned, but what he had not expected had been the commander of the Imperial Guard telling him that a small contingent of men, along with him, would join the Queen, leaving him at the Charmings’ palace without most of soldiers who had defended the castle. To have his friend and constant companion for the last several years leave him for the Savior’s family had been the last straw of his control over the indignation. However, the words Mulan had uttered softly had brought his anger to stop, and instead, there was only shame and remorse.

He had allowed his own insecurity and self-importance to cloud his mind, and forget that without Emma at every step of the way during this war, he and his people would be lost many times over. She was the one deserving of people following her and he could not, in honesty of his newly found humility, begrudge her loyalty, respect, and affection she had inspired in hardened warriors. Rubbing his eyes tiredly, he exhaled slowly, letting all of the gathered emotions flow out of his troubled heart, the visible steam of his breath vanishing almost immediately in the freezing air. Left behind was the feeling of peace settling in. He still had some good men by his side, and if he was not wrong, many of the enemy’s army would join him. After all, with Midas dead and the Safe Haven as the clear victor in the skirmishes, there was not any rush to make a cohesive unit of soldiers.

The Sun rose over the water, the light flooding the fields around the castle quickly, sparking a round of joyous cheers to spread throughout the valley, and in the castle halls. The sound of boots drew Phillip’s attention away from the morning vista, his eyes falling upon one of his soldiers.

“The Council members are waiting for you, Sir,” the young man spoke as soon as he saw his liege look at him.

Phillip nodded in acknowledgement, and with a last glance toward the blazing trail of light on the sea water, he ducked inside, his steps quick as he directed himself towards the meeting.

* * *

Henry pushed the large wooden door of the castle stable, entering the large space teeming with people hurrying around as they prepared for the journey that was ahead of them. Narrowly avoiding collision with several soldiers, the boy finally ducked into the last stall, usually assigned to the King’s steed, but for the moment, it was occupied by the Camelot-bred. The intelligent dark eyes followed the boy’s movements as he approached the mare, slowly and with care, a sliced apple in his hand.

“Hello, Shadow,” he said gently, reaching with his free hand toward the muzzle, allowing the horse to smell him in introduction. “I am Henry, Emma’s son,” he added softly, coming closer to the black mare. When the smart animal huffed in acknowledgement, before sniffling around his other hand, gently pushing him, he chuckled and gave her the apple, using his other hand to push back the forelock of jet black hair, scratching tenderly the skin below.

“I see you met the Savior’s boy,” a droll young voice said from behind Henry, startling him. He turned around with a wide smile, having recognized the tones of his friend. The boy was dressed in what Henry had learned to be a traditional groom’s uniform in Snow and David’s domain, carrying a bundle of black velvet under his arm, while over his other shoulder was a newly polished saddle, his fresh face wearing a large grin. “She’s a beauty, ain’t she? Give me a hand, will ya?”

“Sure,” Henry said quickly, helping Elias to lower the saddle on the ground beside the rest of the gear. Then, following his friend’s instructions, he helped get Shadow ready for the ride. However, just as he was getting ready to take the mare outside into the courtyard, where the rest of the horses waited to be mounted, a tall man wearing the armor he had seen on his mother’s people appeared in front of him, a child sized cape thrown over his arm.

“Master Henry, Her Majesty is waiting for you outside,” Damian spoke softly, quite aware that his gruff and large body often frightened the little ones. “And I am to give you this,” he added, giving Henry the cape.

The boy smiled at the man, gesturing toward the reins he was holding as he threw the heavy cloth over his shoulder, deciding to put it on later. “Elias and I were just about to bring Shadow out for her,” he offered, starting toward the now wide open door of the stable, sharing a look with the other boy under the mare’s neck. As soon as the three of them stepped into the courtyard, he saw his mother standing in front of the still closed gates, dressed in the clothes of this realm, the heavy cloak over her shoulders, Ruby and another groom beside her. And, there, behind the three of them was a magnificent bay filly, already saddled and ready. At Elias’s nudge, he turned over the reins, and rushed forward, running up to his mother, holding the cape on his shoulder during his quick dash.

“Hi, Mom,” Henry spoke breathlessly, eyeing the horse as he stood beside the brunette. “Ruby,” he greeted the other woman after a moment. “What’s up?”

Regina took the cape of his shoulder and quickly placed it over both of his shoulders, tying the straps with expertly fingers, used to the task. Then, she pulled him toward the filly, letting the shifter explain.

“This is the horse Emma used to ride before she found Shadow,” the younger brunette spoke, placing her hand on Henry’s shoulder as she signaled the groom to bring the bay closer. “She is well trained and obedient. Your mother and I thought she would be perfect for you.”

“Really?” Henry asked, turning toward his mother and getting a smiling nod in return, he skipped toward the filly, repeating the introduction he had offered to Shadow. “What is her name?”

“Emma never got round to naming her, so I just call her Chestnut,” Elias spoke from behind them, finally reaching them.

“Hey, Chestnut,” Henry whispered to the horse, taking the reins from the other groom, and with Ruby’s help mounted up, letting the groom adjust the stirrups for him. He waited impatiently while the others mounted up, chatting with Elias to pass the time, often throwing glances around, surprised by the sheer number of people joining them. However, not all of them were on horses. All of the shifters, aside from Red, were on foot, their chief close to his mother, a large bundle in his arms. Only when Regina took it off him and tied it to the back of the saddle, Henry caught a glimpse of the familiar hilt. But, before he could ask his mother about it, one of the soldiers carefully brought his steed to them, offering Elias his hand.

“Their Highnesses want their groom with them,” the armed man explained as he motioned toward Snow and David watching them closely, Neal already mounted up beside them, after he was met with a bewildered look from the boy. “Come along, boy, we’re setting out soon,” he urged Elias to move, extending his arm closer to the boy. At the sound of the gate opening and the portcullis going up, the groom jumped, quickly settling behind the soldier, waving Henry as the man brought his horse to the back of the formation.

As the boy watched the people mount up, he offered a small wave to the two women astride beautiful horses, right behind them, Ruby bending low in order to speak with one of the Wolves, and nodding at something the fur covered woman said, his curious eyes following the shifter move toward front.

Henry turned forward, nudging Chestnut to stand closer to Shadow, as he watched some of the Wolves make a protective circle around the two of them. “Don’t worry,” his mother’s voice brought his eyes to his right side, where Regina was, astride Shadow and with Kyle in front of her, in a contraption similar to the baby carrier. “They are really fast,” she continued as she offered him a gentle smile. Then she raised her hand, signaling Damian to set out.

“Move out!” The loud words spoken by the Black lieutenant started the whole procession, people riding out slowly over the bridge to the hard ground before allowing their horses to pick up the speed. In the field several hundred yards away from the gates, the large group was met with the Imperial Guard contingent counting thirty men, the commander joining Damian at the front after he greeted Regina. It was only then that they were allowed to press the horses to go into the canter.

Very pleased with the fact that his mother had given him the cape with a hood, along with his woolen scarf, as the cold breeze during the ride became freezing, Henry hunkered low over the horse’s neck, conserving heat, having noticed that both Snow and David were using the same tactics to keep warm.

* * *

Two hours passed, and the riding party never stopped for a break, too eager to reach the shelter of Regina’s castle soon. They didn’t push the horses, but kept them going at speeds they could successfully endure for half a day and more, the time Snow had estimated that they would need to get to the castle. And, the light canter of horses allowed the Wolves to easily keep up with the horsemen. They ran through the forests and fields surrounding the roads the riders used, serving as scouts while joyously running, after spending weeks being cooped up in the Charmings’ Palace.

The chief of the shifters suddenly slowed down, his eyes no longer on the land in front of him, but turned to the gray skies. Regina noticed his peculiar behavior, pulling the reins lightly, matching Liam’s pace. “What is it, Liam?” she asked softly, so only he could hear her, as she too looked up.

“I think that we should stop as soon as we get out of this copse,” the Wolf answered reluctantly, not willing to say more to the nature of his concern.

“Here?” Regina wondered out loud, as she tried to recall anything of importance nearby but coming up short.

“We’re about to have a visitor,” the shifter added softly, still looking up.

Suddenly, Regina could feel something reaching out to her, a consciousness without a body, slowly sinking into her mind, its touch gentle and affectionate. For some reason, the only way to describe what was happening to her was to liken the feeling to the surface meld she had had with Emma at one time. As soon as her mind made the comparison, the small clues Liam had given her fell into their place and she understood.

_ Quite the clever one. Listen to the pup. _

“It’s her, isn’t it? The Last of her kind?” She murmured as the group rode out of the small forest, looking at the shifter. Liam’s eyes went wide at her words, but quickly he recovered and nodded in confirmation. So, as soon as the last soldier cleared the woods, she stopped Shadow. “Halt,” she said, letting the magic enhance the word, instead of yelling. 

“Your Majesty?” Damian spoke questioningly as he steered his steed near to his monarch, closely followed by the Empire commander.

“Everything is alright, Lieutenant,” Regina reassured her man, before she looked around, noticing that all of the Wolves were now among them. Oddly, each mount had one of the shifters beside them, and the brunette quickly realized it was for added help with the horses for when the animals smelled the dragon. “Dismount,” she said firmly, before doing so herself. “And, no weapons!” she ordered sharply, her fierce gaze meeting both her lieutenant and the commander, before she extended her gaze to the Empire woman in the back. With relief, she saw Liam stepping toward Chestnut, helping Henry off his saddle, gently keeping him to his side.

“Regina, what is going on?” Snow’s voice filled the air, as the younger brunette walked toward her former step-mother. “Why have we stopped?”

“You’ll see soon enough,” the Queen murmured as she gently transferred the sleeping child to his grandmother. “No weapons,” she reiterated to Prince Charming standing beside his wife.

“What is that?” one of the soldiers spoke as he pointed to the sky, where a dark shade appeared, taking the form of a very large bird, getting bigger by every second.

“It’s… a dragon…” another one murmured, as he pulled on the reins of his suddenly skittish horse.

“A dragon!” quickly spread through the crowd, the yells giving way to panicked shouts, before Regina lost her temper at the men, making a sharp metallic sound, like a whistle, with her magic, forcing them to shut up. “No one move one inch!” she grounded through her teeth, the very earth vibrating with her words, as she glared at her men, reminding them who was in charge, for now they stood steady in their places – reminded firmly of their oaths. Oddly enough, the first person to obey was her brother, his dark eyes watching her closely with interest.

Then she looked toward Red and Mulan, her eyes gentling as she beseeched the couple silently to trust her, and to help her control the crowd. Luckily, Ruby took cues from her magical kin, noting their lack of panic and outright fear, as they stood firmly beside the horses, preventing them from bolting. Mulan, on the other hand, did not need further clues, the conversation she had had with Regina that very morning all too clear in her mind. Hers was not to question the Queen, and if Regina wanted her cooperation, then, that is what she would get. With quick steps, the warrior rushed to the bay, nudging Ruby to come along, and she smiled at the frightened boy frozen in panic beside the horse. “No need to be afraid, Master Henry,” Mulan whispered gently to him, her soft hold pulling him toward her and Ruby, the two women guarding him from both sides. She did not miss a pleased rumble coming of the Chief of shifters, nor did she miss the grateful look the Queen sent her.

“Regina, what are you doing? We have to move, we’re in the open.” David grabbed her arm, but her hard gaze made him let go. But, before he could say anything more, the dragon roared as it landed, only twenty feet away from David and Regina, the ground trembling under its weight and the wind rising from its powerful wings that gleamed in the winter Sun. Having prevented the noble prince by her side to draw his weapon by catching his hand, squeezing it in warning, she stepped forward slowly as she glanced toward their visitor, frowning when she heard the unmistakable sound of the blade leaving its sheath.

“Lower your sword, David,” she spoke over her shoulder before she looked toward the dragon in front of her. “It is not needed.” Then, she stepped closer, bowing slightly to the golden beast, her eyes taking in the magnificence of the creature of the skies.

“Well met, Guardian. Blessed are the winds that have brought Lady of the Skies to us.” Regina’s words rang out clearly in the silence that followed her approach, the respect behind them causing the men to gasp in surprise, her knights stunned that she knew one of the legendary beasts by name, and the Empire soldiers recognizing that the Savior’s mate was turning out to be just as extraordinary as the blonde was.

The golden eyes focused onto the woman, as the huge head hovered several feet above ground, only two yards away from the Queen. “The Sheriff spoke well of you, child,” the deep rumbling voice filled the air. “It is fortunate she also spoke the truth.” Then, the powerful voice gentled, as the dragon raised her head to look at the others, a growl sounding deep in her throat as her eyes fell on the man who had slain her son. “Your search is over,” Guardian spoke.

“You know where she is?” Regina asked as relief filled her body.

“You know Emma?” Snow asked from behind Regina, stepping beside her husband. “Tell us,” the woman implored firmly, ignoring Regina’s warning hiss.

“First, the word of Midas’s demise? Is it premature?” the dragon said, her eyes returning to the queen in front of her, completely disregarding Snow’s demands.

“No,” Regina answered quickly. “Emma took care of him personally.”

“Took care of him?” David scoffed softly, too ignorant to know that both Guardian and Regina could hear him, as well as could all of the Wolves. “Don’t you mean, murdered him in cold blood?” he murmured, thinking only Snow would make notice of his words.

Suddenly, the majestic beast growled, the golden head swiveling toward the insolent man. “Midas had plenty to answer for, and the Sheriff was within her rights. His end was just and timely.” The cold reprimand forced both Charmings to step back, flinching away from the golden eyes glimmering with fire.

“Why won’t you tell us where she is?” the pixie haired woman wailed at the beast. “We deserve to know.”

“You deserve nothing!” Guardian roared, stepping closer to the couple, taking care not to accidentally run over the Savior’s mate, as faint pillars of smoke rose from her nostrils.

“She is our child!” David yelled back, holding Snow to his side, placing himself in front of her.

“You cannot know the pain we…” Snow started, but the sharp shout from Regina broke her off.

“Snow, quiet!”

Suddenly, there was only silence, as the golden eyes regarded the couple with cold fury. “You dare say I know no pain of loss,” the dragon hissed, the words washing over the Charmings, and over the others as well, the rumble of it felt in the ground. “When it was your True Love that killed my son!” Guardian addressed the woman, before the large head swiveled toward David. “Isn’t that right, Dragon Slayer?”

Although she was familiar with the fact that the dragon David had killed on Midas’s orders ages before was Guardian’s offspring, Regina was quite surprised that the beast allowed that information to be known to the entire group of people. Fearing that one of them would do something to spark bloodshed; she quickly walked toward the Charmings, intending to somehow talk down the enraged creature. However, before she could even dare to speak, the large golden body moved, its powerful wings spreading to their full span as the dragon reared onto its hind legs and tail, stretching upwards and releasing a powerful pillar of flame, its heat melting the snow cover around them, followed by a thunderous roar that almost shook Regina off her feet. Then, the beast took flight, using its lift to set down farther away from the couple that had provoked it so.

“Stay quiet,” Regina hissed before she pivoted around, walking imperiously toward the dragon, her glare warning anyone away from following her. She approached the still furious creature, minding its flicking tail. “I apologize,” she started humbly as the golden eyes focused on her, before a gentle voice in her mind stopped her.

_ Do not plead on their behalf, child. They will answer to another. _

“Do you wish to hear the news I bear?” Guardian spoke aloud after a moment, and with Regina’s solemn nod, the creature lowered the golden head, drawing near to the woman. “The Dark Knight is no more,” the beast spoke in tones that carried over the field, enjoying the anguished sobs echoing the words. “Let her rest in peace.” Slowly, the large eye was covered with a scaly lid, before the golden iris again focused onto the brunette, as the dragon showed her teeth in playful smirk, seen only by Regina. “The fight against the Wicked Witch is no longer hers; you must bear her burden and continue in her stead. You must end it, for the sake of the world.” Guardian carefully brought her snout to Regina and licked her forehead, before once more spreading her wings. “May we meet with better tidings, Protector.”

Honored that the majestic dragon, the last of its kind, had bestowed a title upon her, Regina watched the golden beast rise up to the sky and fly away, her eyes following its flight long after it became obscured to the others, using magic to amplify her vision. Then, as Guardian disappeared from her sight, she turned toward the others, grim mask falling over her features, in accordance with the news the dragon had delivered. She walked up to Shadow and mounted up, others emulating her actions with little delay. No one spoke, as they waited upon her orders, only soft sobs of the Savior’s mother heard in the clearing. With magic, Regina transferred Kyle out of Snow’s arms into her own, and with a clack of her tongue, she urged Shadow onward, letting the mare set the pace, guiding her toward the White Castle, her former seat of power.

On one side, she felt the silence was too cruel to the others, especially the parents of the lost Knight. But, on the other hand, she needed the quiet to sort through what she was feeling, the traces of the meld still present in her thoughts. And, if the knowledge she had of the dragon’s mannerisms and its penchant to speak in riddles and allegories was to be known, it would be shared by the beast itself. So, she kept quiet, only offering a soft, soothing smile to the boy riding beside her, and he smiled back, his eyes burning with questions roaming in his head, but the faith of the previous night still firmly shining through.

She sighed with relief when she saw the shape of her former home looming in the distance, softly telling Henry to force Chestnut into a gallop, as she wanted to reach the walls of her keep as soon as possible. There, within the walls of the castle, she would be able to retire for several hours, sparing herself the questions that would no doubt start at the first convenient opportunity.  _ Only to manage till tonight _ , she spoke within her mind, her words sounding both exasperated and elated at the same time to herself. 

* * *

The sharp wind flew over his taut skin, going through his shaggy hair, as he sat on the top of the wall that surrounded the castle, his naked back turned to it, while his watchful eyes passed over the forest in front of him. Although the temperatures were below snap freezing, he sat on the hard stone, covered only in his fur lined pelt breeches and fur wrap boots, the skins he used to cover his torso folded beside him. It was his innate magic, the heat of his dual nature, which had kept him warm through the cold. It was a ritual for him of sorts, something he had learned from his father. Only those with masterful command over their Wolf could keep the magic thrumming constantly in their blood, giving them abilities their animal forms had while still human. Fighting off immense cold was one of those abilities. Another was unusually strong hearing and sharp night vision. So, as the Alfa of his tribe, Liam practiced his control every time he had time, often causing others of his clan to look at him with awe and incredulity.

This particular evening, he had chosen the farthest spot from the castle he could and to still be within its bounds, chased away from the halls by the tension he could feel rising among the members of the Savior’s family. With the Sheriff’s mate sequestered in her private quarters, the Black Guard turning everyone away but her boys, the others turned to each other, venting their frustration and sorrow by raging against Regina’s unusually cold behavior and avoidance, hashing and rehashing the words they had heard that afternoon from the unlikeliest of sources, often sprouting accusations and theories that had made the Wolves and most of the Empire men uncomfortable, choosing to stay away from the grieving family.

In fact, most of the Wolves had taken a chance to explore the woods and the shore surrounding the palace. He had remained behind, as a self-appointed guard, his senses spread out to monitor not only the areas in front of the high walls, but also the castle itself. At his post since the Sunset, he had sat there, noting the passage of time by the various sounds coming from behind him – the change of guard the Black Knights had instantly formed, the evening meal preparations, the slow settling down for the night of the castle inhabitants until the sleepy quiet covered the ominous arches of the White Castle.

A sound came, one that should not have been made that late in the night, and Liam was instantly aware of its location. Not sparing any second to consider his actions, he threw his pelt over his shoulders, jumping off his guard place, catching himself in a roll over the snow covered ground before he started running toward the source of the sound, his feet silent on the castle grounds. Vaulting easily over the inner walls of the palace, he stopped for a moment to judge his approach.

Again, his ears picked up the sound no one but him would have been able to hear from that far away. The sound of shifting pebbles as someone walked over one of the paths in the Royal gardens. Quickly, he started climbing the tree that would place him within a range of one of the lower levels of the gardens, from where he would be able to see where the intruder was. As the only way leading to the Royal gardens was from the Royal chambers, apart from scaling the walls and climbing the trees as he was now doing, he concluded that there were only two options to who the person walking over the pebbled paths could be. Either it was young Henry or queen Regina, or it was an intruder, meaning them harm. As he had not heard the large and heavy iron inlaid doors to the brunette’s quarters move, neither had he heard the guard stationed at them greet anyone, he was wary to assume it was one of the Royal family.

With stealth his kind was proud of, he sneaked onto the small level of gardens, the most inner part of them, hiding behind one of the pillars as he looked around to see who was making the noise which had started all of this. However, no one was there. Peeking out of his hideout, he carefully entered the garden, mindful not to step on the shifting stones of the paths, but lightly hoping over the frozen ground he watched for the intruder, his sharp eyes surveying every shadow and every nook. His search brought him to the center of the garden, where a beautiful apple tree stood, where only a small stalk had been the last time he had been there. The tree was in full bloom, its leaves deeply green and fruits scrumptiously red, despite the fact that one of the most vicious winters the Enchanted Forest had seen in its latest history had taken hold.

His mind away from the intruder, he stood in front of the towering tree, gaping at the vision that only magic could bring. Slowly, he jumped atop of the small stone fence circling this miracle, and remaining in crouch, he leaned slightly, his arm outreached, his fingers meeting the warm bark of the apple tree. Still not believing that what he had felt was true, he laid his palms over the rough surface, wondering at the source of such a miracle.

“It is her gift for me,” a soft whisper came from behind him, startling him into a half turn as he faced his intruder. There, under the branches of the tree, the woman shrouded in darkness stood, her eyes thirstily passing over the fruit bearing tree, gorging on the enormous sign of affection from the Savior. Then, the woman moved one step forward, her eyes falling onto the shifter. “From a seed buried in the soil, left forgotten, she had given me this…”

Realizing that this tree was something rather personal to the brunette, the shifter slowly came down, moving away from it, his head bowed in respect toward the Queen. “I apologize, I’ve intruded,” he murmured, as he stepped backwards, intending to return to the wall, to his post.

“In worry for the safety of my family, no doubt,” Regina said knowingly as she followed him, coming out of the shadow the tree provided. Only then, Liam saw her attire, making him frown. The woman before him was dressed as if she was to leave the comfort of her castle, into the freeze of the winter, the fur cloak covering her shoulders and back, the hood of it resting on top of her head with only her face exposed to the cold air. Underneath the thick cloak, she had dark leather leggings and boots lined with fur. Devoid of any jewelry, the only thing she had on that contrasted the black of her clothes, were the brown saddle bag and the bundle with the Savior’s sword in it.

“You’re leaving,” he spoke with bewilderment, his eyes pinned on the gleaming hilt of the blade.

“Yes,” Regina replied softly. “And, I have a favor to ask of you.”

“Anything,” he offered, the shock over his discovery leaving him in an instant. He knew that Guardian had powers he couldn’t fully comprehend, and it was likely that she was the one guiding the woman in front of him in her quest.

“Only Henry and Damian know of my absence, as of yet,” the brunette started as she walked with him to the pillars surrounding the inner garden. Leaning against the white marble, she peered into his iridescently glowing eyes, the yellow-golden eyes of the Wolf looking back at her with interest. “I’ll come back as soon as I can, but I don’t know when,” she continued. “Keep them safe, at any cost,” she finally whispered, her eyes fleeting toward the stairs and upwards, to her quarters, where her children were sleeping. “No matter what anyone else says, if your instincts tell you to move them, do so. Both my Captain and Henry know I trust you on this.”

“The others?”

“If you can help, then by all means do so. However, my children are the first priority.” Regina lifted her glove covered hand and placed it on Liam’s hairy cheek, guiding his head lower, not really surprised by the warmth his skin was exuding despite the cold. The gold shimmering circles of light told her where his eyes were, and if she focused, she could feel his innate power flowing through his body, giving it strengths and senses no ordinary human would have. It was soothing, in a way, to be around someone magical, who could feel that pull deep within her soul. And, that evening, during her ruminations over the events of the day, she finally understood Emma’s mysterious words from her diaries.  _ They see me as the ultimate Alpha _ , she had written, and Regina had thought that it was only because Emma was born of True Love, and had its magic. But, the truth was much more complicated – and she glimpsed one part of it that day, during the surface meld with the dragon. Anyone earning the respect of one of the oldest and most powerful races in the existence of the Enchanted Forest was someone to bow down to and obey. With that in mind, Regina smiled at the chief of the Wolves in front of her, realizing that it was his dual nature that urged him to protect her and her children, as she was the mate of the Sheriff. “Liam, I am not asking you for the blood oath, and I think that you know why,” she whispered gently, rubbing her fingers into his cheek as he lowered his eyes, her other hand going to the gold bangle he had tied to his belt, the shape of swan not visible in the darkness, but she could feel its lines under her fingers. “I trust you, Liam,” she insisted as she brought his face to her own, offering him the matriarchal benediction of his people, leaning her lips against his eyebrow, soft words murmured under breath.

She stepped back, letting her arms fall. And, with the last look toward the Palace, she disappeared in the colored smoke. Then, his enhanced ears picked up a soft hoof fall on a small forest road, barely a stone throw away from the high walls of the castle. Rushing toward his post, he saw the black horse and its rider in the distance, pausing for one last glance of the keep, before setting off to the south, the Camelot-bred taking the Queen out of his sight far sooner than he had expected it to.

With a sigh, Liam reached for the circle of gold at his hip, tracing the shape of the elegant bird, his mind on both the woman who had made this for him and the woman who had touched it only minutes before, lowering himself into the seating position, his senses already primed to detect any danger to his charges.

* * *

_ Little one needs you, child. She needs you to help her. You cannot dally for long, she might not last. But, no one can know where you are going, or why. Secrecy is still needed. When you are ready, ask Shadow to take you. _

The words Guardian had shared with her hours before via their meld, in the scant moments of silence in the aftermath of the news the dragon had offered out loud, came to her as she urged Emma’s trusted horse to hurry, despite the fact that they were already going too fast to actually see where they were headed. The words did not offer comfort, but inspired fear in Regina – heart stopping fear that she was already too late to help her beloved, to save her. The brunette had fought hard with herself to stay until the dead of night, needing the Charmings and Neal asleep before she would even consider sneaking out of the castle, each hour that passed making her feel as if she was making a big mistake by waiting. However, Guardian had said secrecy was paramount, and she listened, despite every tenet of her being telling her to ignore it and go immediately.

In order to distract herself, she had spent time with her children, telling her eldest that she would be away for a while. Henry’s indulging smile had been her only answer as the boy had sat on the lounge chair. His shining eyes, so alike his mother’s, had watched her with amusement, the boy offhandedly telling her that she should bring the sword along wherever she was going as she might need it. Later during the evening meal, she had met with her trusted lieutenant whom she had promoted to captain, an honor she had been long overdue of awarding him with. With vague explanation to please his curiosity, she had given him his orders, mentioning that the Wolf, the leader of them, would be the authority on the safety of her children, simply because he had superior instincts and senses. After her children had fallen asleep, she had packed, taking only the most necessary things. Among them, the flask Belle had given her in secret.

_ Despite the sheer number of people located in the War room, the Council session was rather short – the only goal of this meeting had been to decide where to house the prisoners. It was concluded when she, with earnest agreement from Snow, offered her own castle to the people, letting Phillip deal with the details. With that finished, she quickly left the room, her hurried steps ringing off the stone halls as she walked to her quarters. However, she was followed by someone, and glancing over her shoulder Regina could see the young beloved of her father rushing towards her, all the while, the young woman was looking around to see if anyone else was nearby. _

_ “May I,” Belle timidly started as she came to Regina, motioning to the older woman to continue on towards the rooms. “May I speak with you?” _

_ The brunette looked over the woman in front of her, surprised to see her nervous. “Of course,” she offered, guiding the librarian into the sitting room of Emma’s quarters, closing the door behind her. “Is something wrong, Belle?” she had to ask, as she reached for the woman, to stop her from pacing in front of the fireplace, gently forcing her to sit down, seating herself right beside the young woman. _

_ “Wrong?” Belle looked away from her hands, into the expectant brown eyes, her bewilderment at the odd question disappearing as soon as Regina raised her eyebrow in disbelief. “No, no,” the girl chuckled softly. “Nothing’s wrong. Just, I’ve been thinking.” _

_ “Yes?” Regina prompted with a smile, amused by the speed Belle had recovered her vivaciousness. _

_ The kind woman nodded, as if to steel herself, and stuck her hand between the ruffles of her skirt, pulling out a flask, a small metal container Regina had only read of, and gave it to the brunette, closing Regina’s unmoving fingers over it, while the older woman stared unblinkingly at the engraving the flask held. _

_ “I don’t understand,” Regina murmured softly as she lifted her head, meeting the gentle blue eyes. _

_ “Emma gave it to me,” Belle said in a whisper. “It’s Fìorleigh…” _

_ “I know what it is,” the Queen interrupted quickly, her voice much too sharp than she had intended for it to be. “She meant this for you, Belle.” _

_ “I know,” the other woman replied softly, leaning slightly back, worrying her hands as she looked down at the flask. “And, it has helped, greatly.” Belle sighed. “But, I cannot help but wonder… Maybe, now it’s she who needs it… If I had a way to help and I didn’t, I would never forgive myself.” Shaking her head to dispel the dark thoughts, the girl rose from her seat, smiling at Regina. “So, take it. And, if she is okay, you can give it back.” The slightly teasing manner she spoke to the older brunette coaxed a slight smirk out of Regina, and she nodded in assent, squeezing the flask firmly in her hand. “Well, then, that’s all… Good luck!” _

_ The Mayor chuckled as she watched the other woman escape from the room, leaving her to wake the boys and prepare for the journey. She knew that the young woman still harbored some well-hidden fear of the Evil Queen, and her raised voice didn’t help matters, so Regina disregarded the abrupt exit of the librarian. _

Apart from the constant whipping of the strong winds caused by the incredulous speeds Shadow was managing, Regina was aware of little else. She could not even differentiate any sounds, the constant thrum of her own heart beating was deafening to her, the roar of her blood in her ears keeping her from being able to listen. And, if she could, she thought to herself, there would be nothing to hear but the incredible staccato of the hooves pounding over the frozen earth covered in day old snow. She didn’t notice when the magical steed passed a thick line of trees that went along the border with the Infinite Forest. Only when the air around her changed, becoming doused with the strong scent of pines and cedar trees, along with a heady feel of errant magic that permeated the place, she realized where she was, her inability to locate her beloved with ordinary means explained.

Sometime later, in Regina’s estimation after five or six hours of the breakneck ride across the realms of the Enchanted Forest, a couple of hours of their flight through the woods of the mystical forest brought them to a small creek wandering around a low hillock, following the gentle slope to the West, deep in the woods, when Shadow slowed down, easily continuing on in much more sedated pace, crossing the water, her hooves breaking the ice over the stream, before stepping onto the other bank, the dark earth rich and softened by the damp. Trusting the mare, Regina kept quiet, as she sat up in the saddle, her hand pushing the heavy cloak off her head, using the slow gait of the horse to gather her bearings and to see what was around, her eyes surveying the quiet forest in front of her under the weak light of the early morning. As Shadow carefully picked her way up the hillock, the woman looked ahead, noticing a row of uniformly looking boulders planted at the top of the rise, and it seemed that the horse was taking her right to them.

Several minutes passed, and Shadow stopped, turning her head back, the intelligent eye looking at Regina with expectancy, followed by a barely heard neigh. The brunette patted the neck of the animal in understanding before she dismounted, throwing the reins across the saddle. Then, she turned to the boulders, now right in front of her and came closer to one of them, scrutinizing it thoroughly. It was a ten feet tall piece of hard granite rock that was about three feet wide at the bottom, and several inches less at the rounded top. It was mostly covered in thick moss, but Regina could see dark gray patches peeking out from the green-gray coat, weathered by time. However, the most interesting thing about the stone was the deep engravings at the outer side of the boulder, and after several seconds of deep study, the Queen could recognize the symbols. “Elvish,” she murmured softly to herself, frowning in surprise, as she traced one of the letters with her leather covered finger. And, it must have been a strange dialect, because she could not understand it, only familiar with several symbols, the meaning of the words scripted on the stone escaping her. Tilting her head, she stepped away, glancing at the boulder to the left, three paces away, and she saw that it, too, had the same symbols engraved. But, what were they supposed to be? A warning sign? A border? And, what was she supposed to do?

Her examination of the stones was interrupted by a loud snicker from behind her. “What?” Regina spoke with mild irritation as she looked back at the horse. Shadow snorted twice before she moved, walking right between two of the rocks and then, she stopped, shaking her head at Regina and neighing. Rolling her eyes at the mare, and herself, the brunette chuckled lightly before she, as well, passed by the slabs of stone. Greeted by another snicker and a restless tap of the front right hoof, Regina sighed in exasperation. “Don’t you think this would’ve been easier if you could talk?” she said as she lifted her leg into a stirrup, before she vaulted in the saddle. When the horse snorted in suffering agreement, the woman grinned and patted the neck of the majestic steed, yelping in surprise when Shadow bolted suddenly, her reprimanding words falling on deaf ears. The horse sprung into gallop, gleefully jumping over the fallen logs or naturally formed ditches on the way, while Regina held the reins tightly, with exhilaration filling her blood, getting over the playful startle, as she enjoyed the current pace very much. She could feel the hooves pound the earth, the muscles move underneath her effortlessly. She could hear the whistles of branches passing her as well as her own excited breathing.

All of a sudden, the horse and the rider landed on a small dirt road in the middle of thick woods that looked recently traversed. Regina pulled the reins gently, bending down to investigate, noticing the fresh wheel marks pressed into the hard-packed ground. “It looks only a day old,” the woman noted aloud, as she righted herself in the saddle. “Where now?” she asked, letting Shadow go wherever she wanted.

Following the road up North for several hundred yards, Regina felt a shift in the air, immediately becoming more alert, stopping them in place. They weren’t alone anymore. Calling for her magic, the sorceress saw the shadows move among the trees, quickly hopping from one to another, until she was surrounded. Then, the sound of blade coming out of its scabbard was heard, and one of the shadows became solid, as a man, tall and armored man, stepped forward onto the road, standing in front of Regina, barring her way. A long lance was in his hand, the sharp tip of it gleaming in the shaft of light passing through crowns of trees, while the man himself still remained in the shade. However, the rider could see he wore a heavy hauberk with mail coif covering his head, with gauntlets and greaves protecting arms and legs. And, off the belt, a sword was hanging.

“Hold, in the name of our Queen!” the man cried sharply, lowering the tip of his lance toward them. “Surrender and you shall not be slain,” he said as he drew his sword, his comrades coming out of hiding onto the road, each man with his weapon ready to fight.

But, before Regina could even move, another rider joined them, coming from behind the lancer. As soon as the others saw him, they parted to let him through, the lancer saluting him as he had sheathed his blade the moment he had seen him barreling down the road.

“She is expected, Brandon,” the rider spoke simply, his words the dismissal enough for others as they slinked back into the shadows of the forest, before he looked at Regina. “Follow me,” he said to her before he turned around, kicking the flanks of his horse, forcing him to gallop away, returning to where he had come from.

“You better follow, lass,” Brandon encouraged her, walking away from the road.

Urging Shadow to comply, Regina quickly gained on the other rider, the speed of her horse noticed by the man, who then slowed down as he looked at the brunette by his side. While his hazel eyes passed over the black clothes and cloak of the woman mounted a top of one of the most magnificent offspring of his people’s unique breed. In return, he was examined and judged, as well; dark, dissecting eyes taking in his appearance. The man seemed young, in his twenties, but he did not have the air of inexperience around him. No, the rider had an edge of hardness and duty visible in the tenseness of his body, as he sat with his back straight, his left hand resting lightly on his thigh, only inches away from a dagger holster tied to his leg. As they rode through a patch of light streaming through the forest roof, the glow of the Sun fell on his face, alighting his healthy and clean copper skin of his face, devoid of beard, while his dark brown hair was cropped close to his scalp, the gentle fuzz of it tamed with oils. Despite the fact that he was dressed impeccably in deep blue velvet and brocade as a duke or count, even his leggings embroidered with silver, he had the poise of a man who spent most of his time wearing heavy armor.

“You respect your horse,” he spoke after a moment of silent regard, his voice losing all the gruffness from before, cordial tone somewhat easing the tension between them.

“She is not my horse,” Regina quickly answered, surprised by his opening. “Shadow doesn’t belong to anyone,” she added softly, her gloved fingers sinking into the low end of the steed’s mane, the gentle touch causing the mare to huff in return, her visible eye roll making the brunette chuckle. “I ride her because she lets me.”

“Shadow?” the man asked with a smile.

“Name she chose. Name that suits her.”

The man glanced toward Regina and hummed in response, as he guided them along the treacherous path through the dense forest, their road steadily climbing. “It is curious,” he said slowly as they followed the narrow lane snaking up the rise, one dangerous bend at the time. “Not many people earn the right to ride one of the Gallant-bred, as it takes a special kind of person to do it. It is the blood of unicorns in them, you see – it seeks virtue and grace.” He shook his head in amusement. “To see that the Evil Queen is one of those people…”

“Actually, I prefer Regina,” the woman replied sharply, frowning slightly at the odd way he had described Shadow, and his manner of addressing her.

The man nodded contritely in acknowledgement. “Apologies, your Majesty.” He then motioned for her to stop, right before they were to come to the top of the climb. “There are stories that said you have changed, that you aren’t the tyrant you were before the curse. I am glad to see that they weren’t just stories.” He watched her with a serious expression on his youthful face.

“Why?” Regina asked, as she tried to see beyond the rise, her curiosity piqued by the apparently intended pause in their journey. “Why is that important?”

“Because, otherwise you would not be able to set foot into this forest,” the man spoke gently, before he urged her to climb the last part of the path, coming to a snow filled plateau on top of the wood covered hill, where a small settlement was. She gasped as she saw what could only be a village, built long ago, the magnificence of the masonry not the least bit belied by the small size of the hamlet. A few small cottages, built of blocks of stone and wood, surrounded another building, situated at the very edge of what seemed to be a cliff of the hill, or rather the plateau, which looked at a big valley below. The white marble pillars stood atop of stairs that went along the whole front side of the building, holding up a dome consisting of two slanting surfaces serving as roof. And, in the triangular space formed at the front, with intricate relief filling every inch of it, there, right at the widest point, at the center, was a beautifully carved representation of the sigil of the Order of the Red Dragon, with a twelve point crown above it.

As soon as her eyes fell on the Royal Seal of the Order, Regina gasped, bringing her hand to her mouth. Numbly, she slid from her saddle and walked toward the marble construction, passing through the village without noticing anything else on the way. She could feel the man’s presence at her back, gently leading her forward, to the stairs, but she could not look away from the lifelike relief of marble with a dragon standing on a round table depicted on it. Suddenly, her foot hit the first step, making her lose her balance, and if it wasn’t for the firm hold of the man that had brought her there, she would have collapsed onto the stairs.

Only then, Regina was able to look away, to lower her eyes. There – at the top of the stairs, in front of the large doors leading inside the magnificent one story building, stood a woman, with kindness and wisdom shining out of her amber eyes, as she looked at Regina, offering her a gentle understanding smile. The woman was waiting, her hands holding one another, lightly resting at her belly, the rich, dark color of her skin standing out against the whiteness of the marble surrounding her, and the purity of her white dress embroidered with golden designs. A golden circlet rested atop of her thick and silky hair in the color of burnt umber, proudly announcing that she was the ruler of these people, the ruler of this small village, but she had not needed it, for her own patient stance spoke of her royal status.

“Lady Regina,” the man spoke as he slowly released the gentle hold he had on Regina, taking her hand and guiding her up the steps, toward the royal. “It is my great honor and immense pleasure to present to you the rightful Queen of Camelot, Her Royal Majesty Queen Morgan.”

As soon as she had seen the seal on the top of the building, she had known that it had to do something to do with Camelot, with the Knights of the Round Table, the members of the Order of the Red Dragon, but she hadn’t thought that the man would take her to meet the former wife of the legendary king, who had been dead for decades now. And, here, in the Infinite Forest, nonetheless.

“Regina,” the queen murmured softly, a tender but small smile pulling at her lips. Then, she inclined her head toward the still silent woman. “Welcome to Dragon’s Bluff,” the regal woman spoke, her rich and soothing alto breaking Regina out of her stupor.

“Queen Morgan,” Regina murmured as she inclined her head in greeting, accepting the hand that the other woman had offered her, not knowing what else to say to the woman who was supposedly the most powerful sorceress of her time, a legend just as famous as her former husband had been.

The host chuckled lightly at the brunette’s still dazed expression, before she turned to the man standing beside them. “Thank you, Percy. I’ll take it from here.” She smiled at him, and after watching him quickly jog down the steps toward the horses, she took Regina’s arm, linking their elbows, and patted the guest’s hand in an indulgently comforting gesture. “Come along, you have traveled a great distance to be here. You must be hungry.” The monarch said tenderly as she brought Regina inside, leading her to a small terrace, where a table was already set with food. “Help yourself,” she offered, as she poured a freshly squeezed apple juice into cups, giving one to her guest and sitting down, leaning against the railing of the balcony, gesturing to the other woman to do the same.

“Your Majesty,” Regina started, having taken a sip out of courtesy, the cold juice relieving some of the uncomfortable warmth of the hall, as she was still in her cloak, but before she could say anything else, she was interrupted by her host, the woman who was much older than her, because Camelot had fallen thirty years before the curse she had set on the world, and the sorceress didn’t look a day over forty.

“Do not stand on formality, Regina. It will only waste precious time, time we cannot afford to squander.” Lowering her cup onto the table, Morgan looked at her guest, her ocher eyes seeming to see through her. “Let me make some things clear, while you eat, child,” the woman spoke, as she waved her hand at the fruits and vegetables strewn across the surface of the table. “You have found yourself in the ancient forest of Brocéliande, deep within the Infinite Forest,” the queen started, raising her hand to stop Regina from asking questions. “There is a whole history and geography that you should know about this place and us, but it can wait. The important thing at the moment is the fact that you have found yourself in the Marble Hall of Dragon’s Bluff, the House of Healing.” Morgan paused, waiting for her companion to connect the dots.

“House of Healing?” Regina whispered in awe, her eyes tracing the marble covered walls before she froze, the words she had said suddenly making sense. “She is here?” the brunette breathed weakly, dropping the morsel she had in her hand, and jumping to her feet as she looked around, trying to see a way to get to her beloved. “Emma’s here?”

Morgan rose, as well, albeit in a more sedate manner, catching the brunette’s eyes. “Yes, she is here.”

“Take me to her. Now!” Regina winced at the sharp echo of her voice, before she stepped closer to her host. “Please.” After a long, concerned look Morgan gave her, the Royal nodded and gestured toward the left of the two hallways, leading the way. After a long winding way down, spent in silence interrupted only by the sounds of their feet meeting the hard blocks of rock that lined the steps in the narrow staircase, they came upon another hall, carved into the side of the cliff, which did not seem as empty as the entrance hall above them. Here, Regina could see several women and boys rushing about, no doubts to take care of their charges. As soon as Regina’s feet met the floor, Morgan laid a hand on her upper arm, stopping her from continuing on. “Wait,” the woman said, her shapely brows creased in worry. “You need to know something first,” she added softly, suddenly her eyes filling with sadness, visible under the poor lighting of the torches lining the wall, as she hesitated over her next words.

“What?” The whispered word carried so much emotion, almost too burdened with it to be properly vocalized.

“She is in a really bad shape, child,” the sorceress spoke softly, stepping to a small corridor of the main hall, leading her guest toward the place where currently the Sheriff was residing. Turning the latch, Morgan pulled the door open, gently stopping Regina from entering. “The magic she used, it is killing her,” she said as she gently moved the brunette, shifting her into position to see into the room without going in. “Somehow, she found a way to keep herself alive, but… She did it, and she is still doing it by pulling in the ambient magic into herself, to battle the poison within her. The good news is, without it, she would have succumbed to the mist minutes after coming in contact with it. The bad news is it makes it impossible for anyone to approach her without enormous suffering. Even I, who, by most accounts, am the most powerful practitioner around, cannot stay in her presence for more than a minute without coming to the brink of death.” With innate tenderness of a mother, the sorceress placed her hand onto Regina’s shoulder, her fingers digging into the thick weave of the cloak. “The magic, too, is damaging to her,” she whispered softly, hating the need to tell the younger woman the terrible condition of her lover, but the brunette had to know.

Regina felt hot tears slide down her cheeks as her eyes took in the scene in the room in front of her. It was a tight space, not more than ten feet from wall to wall, without any furniture crowding it. Light inside was provided by four bowls of burning oil, one in each corner, illuminating a person hovering above the center of the chamber, three feet above the ground. It was a woman, without a stitch of clothing on her, almost every inch of her ashen skin covered in still oozing welts, blood dripping off her onto the hard floor beneath, creating a gruesome puddle in the shape of a person. The woman had blonde hair, but the color was hard to recognize under layers of rust caking it. Only when her ever rotating body turned around enough for Regina to see her face, did Regina see Emma in that body that seemed broken beyond repair. “Oh, dear God,” the brunette sobbed out.

Morgan closed her eyes against the pain she saw in Regina’s face, knowing that it was only going to become worse. “I managed to place the room under constant magical charge, to feed her… to help her suppress the poison.”

“But, she is dying,” the other woman continued, her voice breaking as she looked into the dark skinned woman’s face. “And, since no one can get to her, she is dying alone…” Regina spoke, her face twisting in anguish, as she swallowed hard against the tears, her fingers seeking the wall beside her, for she needed something to help her stand upright.

The sorceress nodded sadly, inability to help the blonde inside weighing heavily on her shoulders. In fact, she took it as a personal insult. Never in her time in the Marble Hall did she have failed to heal, even the wounds that had been sure to be lethal. However, the ailments the Savior suffered from seemed to be too much, even for her, Morgana Le Fay, the witch queen of Camelot, whose power was often said to rival Merlin’s. “I was hoping you would have a solution.”

With her eyes deeply focused on the nude body of her mate, the irises turned dark in grief, passing over every cut, every bruise and every line on it, each newly discovered injury bringing fresh tears on, Regina took a moment to think. Though she was terrified for her beloved, the wounds and condition of the Savior stark and hopeless, she could feel a trace of relief coursing through her blood, helping her breathe a little easier. Finally, she could lay eyes on her True Love, no matter in what condition she was. Finally, the wait and search were over. Now, the only thing left to do was to help her.

The former Evil Queen pushed herself off the wall and gave a miniscule nod, before she turned to her host, the dark eyes still burning with sorrow, but also with determination. Quickly, without superfluous motions, she took off her gloves, giving them to the woman that had just appeared by their side, no doubt summoned by the sorceress. Not minding her audience, she wiped the tears of her face, breathing deeply, her shoulders and body straightening up in defiance. Then, she untied her cloak, at last removing the heavy garment that was rather unnecessary in the heated halls of the House of Healing, giving it too to the young helper. “I am going in,” Regina announced firmly, her fingers deftly dancing over the buttons of her elegant jacket, freeing her from its confines, glancing over her shoulder in gratitude when two gracious chestnut colored hands helped her slide it down of her body.

“She’ll kill you,” the older woman warned gently as she passed the jacket to the young healer’s apprentice standing beside her, but she didn’t do anything to stop her guest.

Regina smiled, the affectionate twist of her lips erasing the still evident traces of grief. “She is the love of my life,” the brunette spoke softly, her gaze pinned on the woman she was talking about, while her hands rolled the sleeves of her shirt up. “My True Love.” She looked back at her host. “She gave her life to save me. I am not going to surrender her to her death without doing anything and everything to help her. If it kills me, so be it; but I am definitely not letting her spend another minute of her existence alone!” Her voice rang out of the stone walls of the hall, drawing the attention of other healers in it, but they were dismissed quickly with a light hand gesture from Morgan, and they went about their work. Taking a breath to settle her turbulent emotions, Regina pressed her lips before she blinked slowly. “I am going in,” she reiterated in softer tones, no less insistent.

“What do you need?” Morgan said simply, her words signifying her acceptance.

“A bowl of hot water and a small towel,” Regina spoke after a moment. “And, something for her cuts,” she added as she lined herself up with the door, gathering courage to step inside. She didn’t think Emma was going to hurt her, even in her mindless fight to survive. It was her experience of their first meld that offered her that solace, that security that the Savior’s magic would recognize and spare her. But, the imagery painted by Rumplestiltskin’s description of the ravaging devastation Emma’s power was capable of was suddenly fresh in her mind, giving her a slight bit of doubt, enough to hesitate for a moment.

The mistress of the Marble Hall nodded toward her apprentice, sending her away to comply with Regina’s demands, before she watched the woman who the world had unjustly betrayed stand there unaware of anything else but the blonde in the room. Morgan had heard the whispers that the Evil Queen had been conquered by the Savior’s mercy, but to see such deep love and resolve in person warmed her embittered heart. With the knowledge that the Savior was Regina’s True Love, she was not the least bit surprised when the former villain entered the room, her steps filled with purpose.

With only one step in, Regina could feel the power that filled the air, making her very bones vibrate with magic, and she shuddered, clenching her fists. After the sparsely spread magic of Storybrooke, and ravaged sources of power in the Enchanted Forest where the magic was thinly available, being in the presence of so densely filled air took some getting used to. Gasping at the sensation of her own blood singing at the bountiful of power, she gritted her teeth, forcing herself to take another step.

It took her several seconds longer than she expected, but finally, she reached her beloved, stopping herself from touching the pale skin, not wanting to cause Emma undue pain. There was another reason she did not place her hand onto Emma’s shoulder. She could feel the gentle tendrils of the Savior’s magic swirling around her, the taste of it so familiar it made her heart weep in joy, but still different. Regina could not explain it, even to herself, but in her mind, she likened it to a way a grown man is different from the child he once had been. The power was stronger, headier, and strange, with many things about it that she could not identify, but it was still Emma’s magic, the force she would recognize no matter what else was mixed in. Regina smiled as the Sheriff’s power pressed against her, seeking its counterpart in her, coaxing her own levels of magic up, as the two magical signatures mingled, re-familiarizing with each other.

“Amazing,” Regina heard from behind her, the awed whisper bringing her attention to the door. There, Morgan stood, looking at them with wonder. Beside her, the young healer held a large wash bowl filled with steaming water, a towel thrown over her shoulder, her eyes wide and mouth slightly open, as she watched the woman most of their world feared gaze lovingly at the Savior, unharmed by the blonde’s magic.

“I need more light,” the Mayor spoke as she quickly took the bowl and the towel from the healer. “Thank you,” she offered to the girl as she turned to bring the water in the room.

“Gwen, why don’t you go and ask one of the boys to open the panels above us,” the brunette heard Morgan say as she lowered the bowl onto the ground, away from the congealed blood. “And, I believe she is going to need more water.”

Crouching down and dipping the towel into the hot water, Regina sighed, regarding her lover in front of her, steeling herself to come to Emma, to touch her, despite the hurt she might inflict with her ministrations. But, the wounds needed to be cleaned. Slowly, she folded the towel and rose to her feet, and she brought the wet cloth to Emma’s face, wiping the dirt and blood and tears off it, unearthing the lines she had dreamed about, she had yearned for the last two months. She traced the too sharply defined cheekbones, the sunken eyes and bruised skin around them, the hollows of cheeks, her touch loving and nurturing, while she tried to swallow the anguished moans that fought their way up her throat.

She needed a distraction, something to keep her composure, because if she fell apart at the sight of her girlfriend – her soul mate – since the love of her life looked like she had suffered enormously even before the whole business with the portal, she wouldn’t be able to help Emma at all. So, in order to be useful, she cleared her throat and glanced over Emma to the kind monarch that waited by the door.

“Why is she levitating?” she asked, careful not to place any inflection on her words, for she did not want to come off as accusing or ungrateful.

Morgan leaned against the frame of the door and caught the guest’s fleeting look of unease, visible only in the eyes, as Regina continued to wipe the blood off Emma's body. “We cannot get to her,” she spoke clearly, preparing for a very long day. After all, she was the mistress of the Marble Hall, where she healed and taught others the arts. Perhaps she couldn’t help the person she had intended to, but she would help the one she could – namely Regina. And, if the only thing she could do for Regina was to keep her calm and stable, she was going to that, no matter what happened, because no one, not a single one person was going to die in her house without her doing her best. “And, leaving her on a bed for an inordinate amount of time, regardless of the position, with her wounds still bleeding…” When Regina looked up at her again, Morgan saw the clenched jaw and trembling hands. “I couldn’t risk infection to set in. Not in her condition.”

“The same goes for clothes?” Regina queried, even though it was an obvious answer, as she used her forearm to wipe her forehead, removing the drops of sweat that had formed in the intense heat of the room.

The brunette didn’t get an answer. Instead, she raised her head, her look drawn by the sound of metal sliding over stone, the high pitch of it grating. Suddenly, above her, two panels opened and strong light streamed inside, the Sunlight almost blinding Regina as it filled the room. Shifting out of the glare of the Sun, she waited a moment to get used to the brightness, before she stepped back beside Emma, continuing with the wash, careful not to look too closely, for she knew that seeing the injuries under the shine of daylight would make it impossible for her to hold it together. The shadows and oil fires had somewhat obscured the body, hiding most of the damage in the soft glow of bluish flames, making them seem less terrible.

“Regina?” Morgan called out after a moment, willing the woman to focus on her rather than to try and fail avoiding looking at Emma. But, as she witnessed the brunette’s reluctance to look away, she tried to gain her attention by answering her question. “Her nudity is the reason those bowls are in there.” Seeing the dark eyes glancing in her direction, she motioned to the light giving bowls. “It is a special high heat solution. With four of them burning at once, the temperature of the room is high, as you can feel.”

Indeed, the heat of the room was much higher than the pervasive warmth of the hallways of the House of Healing. Though she had barely spent ten minutes in the room, Regina was already drenched, her damp black shirt sticking to her skin uncomfortably. Even with the newly opened panels above them that allowed the fresh air to stream inside the room, the heat was immense. But, the heat was not the problem. It was the fresh source of light, showing the brunette something she had not even noticed before. The hands of the blonde in front of her were not only covered in blood, but the skin itself was blistered and peeling. With grim understanding of the cause of such injury, Regina dropped the bloody towel into the washbowl and sighed heavily, stepping away from Emma, her wet hands unbuttoning the soggy shirt and taking it off, leaving her only in bra, the golden necklace her lover had used to wear around her neck.

“I need fresh water,” she murmured as she walked to the door, having scooped the wash basin of the floor. “And ointment for her wounds. Something for the magical burns, too, along with bandages.”

Morgan nodded as she moved from the door, letting Regina out of the room. Luckily, Gwen was also there, with one of the boys, and she sent them both off to follow the brunette’s instructions, murmuring an additional request to the boy. Turning back to her guest, the ruler of Brocéliande noticed that the black shirt was now hanging off the door knob while Regina was trying to fix her hair to stay out of her face, the olive cheeks flushed and covered with a sheen of sweat. However, before she could make a comment, the boy she had sent away rushed back, his arms laden with things.

“My lady,” the boy spoke softly, respectfully looking away from Regina’s almost naked upper body as he offered her his burden.

Regina took in the things the boy, Galen, had brought and nodded gratefully, accepting them. Apart from a jar of a green paste she assumed was one of the healing ointments, several stripes of bandages, a skin of some drink, there was a set of clothes she had seen the girls and boys of the House wear on the lower level – the light and breathable weave of linen allowing them to work in extremely warm conditions without being bothered by heat. Along with the two piece set of white linen clothes, there was a head scarf and sandals made of grass twine, completing the ensemble. While she looked over the things she had gotten, several other boys came carrying two chairs and a small collapsible table, setting it next to the door into the healing chamber that had Emma, pressed against the wall of the hallway in order not to block the entrance. Behind them, Gwen and another young woman slowly walked, both carrying heavy burden. Gwen had a large platter with the washbowl filled to the brim with hot water, and an also full ewer standing right beside it, and a small bar of soap was lying on a folded fresh towel. The other woman brought food and drinks, rightly anticipating that both the guest and her mistress would stay there for a while.

The Mayor walked back in the room, using the small corner of the room out of sight from the door to change into the more suitable clothes, easily parting with her fur lined pants. Slipping into the white linen pants, she chuckled at the sight she was – the loose pant sleeves falling only to the middle of her calves. The upper part was a sleeveless tunic that reached slightly over hips, and the headscarf was easily fixed to keep hair off the face and neck.

“You look like you belong here,” Regina heard Morgan say, her gentle voice holding no trace of indulgence nor dishonesty.

“Healing arts were never really my forte,” the brunette replied after she took a sip of the liquid from the skin, enjoying the cool and refreshing drink of cold juice.

“And, yet, you are here – healing,” Morgan retorted, her voice light as she brought one of the chairs to sit on it. She saw Regina lower the skin away from the burning oil and reach for the wash basin, and this time she had a plan – she would ask the brunette questions about her past, providing her with enough distraction not to focus too much on Emma’s poor condition, just enough to wash and take care of the wounds. Just as Regina took a swipe at the blonde’s left upper arm, slowly leading up to her hand, she asked her first question. “How did you two meet?”

“Me and Emma?” Regina glanced up; her lips unconsciously letting a small smile appear on her face. “It was our son, Henry, that brought us together,” she started the tale, the ease of telling this particular story helping her along as she cleaned Emma’s magic ravaged hands. She told of the bitter upending the two of them had engaged in the early days of their acquaintance, of the devastation of Henry’s illness brought on by the cursed apple turnover, and of the timely rescue Emma’s True Love for their son had achieved. As she tenderly covered the blistered and burnt skin with the greenish paste, and expertly bandaging the hands, she told of the events in Storybrooke since the curse had been broken, slowly weaving her story of two women, who were fighting of the opposite sides of Good versus Evil battle, falling in love – believing in one another despite the overwhelming reasons to yield to doubt. She spoke of their sacrifices for each other, and for their son, winding up the tale with the daring rescue of their boy from Peter Pan’s clutches and the True Love Kiss the two mothers shared. With the story finished, Regina turned to Emma, using the ewer to wash her hair, restoring its luscious blondeness and waviness. Her fingers slid through the wet tendrils, gently untangling the knots the lack of care had created, and for a moment, Regina could pretend that Emma was only sleeping as she used the warm water to wash the soap and blood away. She could pretend because she had managed to clean all the blood while she had talked about the blonde, and if she didn’t look too closely, she could even ignore the welts and bruises covering the pale skin. It was then that the brunette stepped away, washing her hands in the remaining water in the basinet and pushing it away with her foot, not needing it anymore. She straightened and rolled her shoulders, wincing at the twinging muscles of her neck and back, a consequence of her leaning over Emma’s body, before she walked to the door, picking up the skin on the floor on her way, taking the other chair set for her. Even though she was out of the small quarters, Regina made sure to keep her lover in her line of sight, too afraid to even properly look away lest she disappeared.

Partaking in a light meal that the junior healers had brought over, Regina felt the keen eyes pass over her features, studying her. Morgan had not interrupted her while she had spoken, and she had a feeling that now the royal of these lands was considering asking questions. But, what the woman asked was not what Regina expected.

“What I don’t understand is why she stayed behind?” the mistress of the Dragon’s Bluff spoke after a while, letting the brunette eat and drink in peace. By all accounts, Morgan thought that the two True Loves would end up going back home together, with their families, but they hadn’t. The Savior had stayed behind, with the former Dark One and several of their friends, while her entire family had left. It didn’t make sense – not when you consider that Midas had made his move after Regina had left. So, there had to be something else, something very important - something that Emma had considered her mission.

The black woman saw Regina’s jaw clench for a brief moment, almost unnoticeable, but Morgan saw that show of contention. “She had her reasons,” Regina spoke slowly, her voice even, unaffected, but the queen was not fooled. She tilted her head, her amber eyes watching the brunette with interest.

“You didn’t agree with them?” Morgan asked after a moment, and her inquiry brought a scowl out of Regina, who then leaned back in the chair, glaring at her host for insisting on this.

“I did,” she snapped sharply, her voice low as she didn’t want to attract any undue attention. “I do agree with them,” Regina continued in softer tones, “but, I…” She stopped speaking, working her jaw as she fought to keep the tears away. Her temper was too raw to be dealing with this calmly, and she couldn’t risk angering her host with an outburst of epic proportions. After some time, she looked up breathing deeply while pushing the head scarf of her hair. “I just hate,” she started again, every word spoken with emphasis as she looked into Morgan’s curious eyes. “I hate that she had to be the one to stay here, alone, in order to fulfil her duty or whatever…” Regina rose from the chair and walked slowly into the room, her eyes on her lover. “I hate that she had to be abandoned by everyone she loves,” she whispered as she reached for the already dry locks of blonde hair, letting them pass through her fingers, her voice trembling under the strain. “And, I hate that she was left to clean other people’s mess, once more,” the brunette added, using her palm to wipe her wet cheeks. “But, she is the Savior,” she said in a falsely joyous tone after a moment, the voice getting stronger as Regina looked into the face of the woman she loved. Tracing the pale cheek in front of her, she added, “And, people need the Savior,” the words echoing with anger and resentment.

“Isn’t that who you love? The Savior?” the copper skinned sorceress asked gently, having risen from her seat, daring to enter the room for a brief moment, only to give Regina a bottle filled with healing lotion for the wounds. As soon as Regina looked at her, accepting the bottle, she stepped back to a safe distance, the energy surge she had experienced inside not doing any permanent damage.

“No,” Regina murmured with a smile, her eyes returning to the blonde, as she opened the container with the lotion. “I fell in love with an obstinate Sheriff of Storybrooke, the woman who was never afraid to stand toe to toe against me, and never afraid to help me. I fell in love with a clumsy, awkward woman who stumbled through most of her heroic deeds.” Softly chuckling at the memories her own words were stirring, she started dabbing the wounds with the lotion. “I love Emma. Her being the Savior is only a small part of who she truly is.” Regina looked up, her eyes meeting Morgan’s, the words Emma had spoken on Jolly Roger at the very beginning of this continuous adventure ringing all too vividly in her mind – the words she cherished deeply. “Just as the Evil Queen is only a part of me…”

The women fell silent, Morgan returning to her chair, pleased with the results she had achieved. Not only did she manage to keep Regina from concentrating too much on what she had been doing, but also she found out something new about the couple and the former Evil Queen herself. Now, came the hard part. Figuring out how to neutralize the poisonous red mist Emma had pulled in and healing the Savior from magical over-expenditure part, which Morgan conceded was seeming impossible at the moment But, in that room were the former Evil Queen and the Savior, the two arguably most powerful magical practitioners in this world, the queen of Camelot included, and Morgan hoped for a miracle. She hoped that her friend was right and that Emma would survive this.

“I know why you wanted me to talk,” the brunette noted, breaking the silence, as she capped the container with the lotion, her task done. “And I appreciate it,” she said, discarding an errant piece of bandage wraps she had been using to apply the ointment onto the welts, meeting the tired amber eyes with a knowing gaze. Then, she clasped her hands. “How do we heal her?”

“I don’t know,” the black woman whispered back. “This thing…” the mistress of the House of Healing hesitated before she entered the room, sticking to the wall right by the door. “I haven’t seen anything like it before, or even heard of it. The only thing that has been working against it was Emma’s continuous suppression, but that cannot last…”

Regina nodded sharply, pivoting toward her beloved. “So, basically, you need someone who has learned about it to help you decipher it?” she asked pointedly as she brought herself to Emma, her hands hovering over Emma’s torso. “Someone who has fought it before?” she offered.

“You have someone in mind?” Morgan wondered where Regina was going with it, for she had thought from what she had heard that the Red Mist had been an unknown poison, long forgotten in the Dark One’s Vault, with properties no one could really explain.

“As a matter of fact, I do,” Regina said firmly, before she reached for Emma, one of her hands going to Emma’s chest while the other one grabbed one of the bandaged limbs, letting her innate magic establish the link with her beloved, the most intimate and fastest way of communication between them. Her move was so quick that she had disappeared into the meld without hearing Morgan’s agitated voice warning her not to do that. If she had heard it, she would have been spared of what happened next. 

* * *

Fire. It was burning her alive, from the inside out and she could not breathe. The pain of the scorching heat enveloped her so suddenly that she forgot why she was even there. She did not remember why she would be there, with this immeasurable pain, she didn’t remember who she was. For, there was nothing but agony. However, after an endless moment, she managed to take in a lungful of air and it helped her reorient herself. She was Regina and she had entered the mindscape of her True Love. This wasn’t her pain, this wasn’t her torture, and that simple realization made it both easier and more difficult for her. It was easier because she could focus now, knowing that the pain was not real, thus making it manageable and simply suppressed – but, it was heartbreakingly difficult because the torture she had felt moments before was something that Emma, her brave Knight, had been experiencing since the very second she had allowed the poisonous magic to enter her bloodstream. Only a second of it was powerful enough to destroy Regina mentally, but to feel it the whole time she had been in the House of Healing without reprieve… Regina realized that, even if she managed to exorcise the red mist out of her lover, Emma might never heal from this…

Shaking her head at her thoughts, the brunette ordered herself to focus – her mind searching through Emma’s, looking for the consciousness of her True Love. Suddenly, she found herself in a dark, circular room, built out of strange stone that seemed to glow in the darkness. It took her only a second to realize that the walls consisted of the square rocks that were actually smoldering. The room was completely insulated from the outside world, with no light and no air coming from anywhere, the sweltering heat suffocating Regina. In the weak light of blazing stones, the brunette could see the woman she was looking for, sitting at the center of the room, in a lotus position, with her eyes closed. Emma was a picture of calm and relaxation, seemingly unbothered by the fire, despite the dangerous place her mindscape had become.

“Emma?” Regina spoke as she threw herself on the scorching floor beside the blonde. “Emma.”

Without opening her eyes, the Savior smiled, turning her head slightly toward Regina. “You are here,” the blonde murmured softly, her voice filled with relief. Then she slowly blinked, her tired eyes finding the dark ones that roamed the room frantically. “Regina,” Emma whispered with adoration as she lifted her hand to touch the apparition before her – to touch the woman that she loved and lost. “I knew you’d come,” she added softly, as a wide smile overcame her face.

Regina frowned as she reached for the cold hand touching her cheek, something in Emma’s sluggish behavior not seeming right. Wincing as the searing heat licked at her knees, she peered into the blonde’s face, seeking answers, but it was Emma herself who provided them.

“Am I dead?” the Savior murmured as she leaned her head forward, lifting her other hand to Regina’s shoulder, squeezing it gently. “No, I still feel pain and exhaustion…” she whispered in disbelief as she looked over the face she had thought she was never to see again. “I don’t care. You are here.” Emma tilted her head as she sighed in wonder. “With me.”

Grabbing Emma’s hands, Regina shook her lethargic lover, the terror of her realization forcing her to move. The Sheriff thought she was dead. “Emma!” she said sharply, “I am here.” Faced with the lazy smile of the blonde, she brought her hands to Emma’s cheeks. “I am here with you.”

Cold fingers covered Regina’s as Emma peered into her eyes with affection. “Oh, I know,” the blonde whispered tenderly. “I know you are here,” she repeated obliviously, nodding at her words uncoordinatedly, her motion severely disjointed and weak. “You are always with me. Whenever I needed you to remind me that I wasn’t alone, you were there, standing before me, more beautiful than ever, telling me that you love me, that you’ll see me soon. That I can go home in a little while.” Emma removed one of the gentle hands of her face and brought it to her lips, kissing the knuckles lovingly. “You always give me the will I need to go on,” she murmured against the warm skin under her lips. Then, nuzzling into the other hand, still on her face, she closed her eyes and exhaled slowly. “But you being here is not the question,” she said after a moment spent gazing in the stunned dark eyes. “The question is whether you are alive.”

“You don’t think I am?” Regina gasped in horror, as her realization had been confirmed.

“No, I don’t,” Emma replied, and the brunette saw the anguish manifesting itself clearly in the tortured gray eyes as they feasted on the familiar features of the olive face. “But, for some odd reason, I believe  **_I_ ** am,” the blonde continued, not moving her look from her love’s dark swirling eyes. “And, my magic is offering me comfort as it has before. Or, this is some weird purgatory…” She chuckled at the idea, the brittle laugh making Regina shiver. “As far as I am concerned, this is heaven,” Emma spoke, gesturing wildly to the room that was holding her captive and cooking her alive. “You are here.”

Taking the cold hands into her own, Regina brought Emma closer to her, letting the blonde lean her head against her shoulder. “These are your only options?” she asked slowly, trying to reason with her ill beloved. “Dead or insane?”

“I saw the portal explode, Regina,” Emma murmured slowly, explaining. “After everything I’ve done, it collapsed. You were gone. And, I… I felt it. I felt you leave me. No one can survive the destruction of the vortex.”

“Like no one can survive the explosion of Marbh Teine?” Regina replied pointedly. “Like no one can survive the poison of the mist? Like no one can emerge victorious after facing the very Darkness that had created the first Dark One?” At the end of her questions, Regina raised her voice at the obstinate woman in her arms, trying to snap her out of her somnolent and delusional state.

Emma lifted her head from Regina’s shoulders and squinted at the other woman. “Why are you yelling at me?” she asked curiously.

“Because you’re being ridiculous!”

“I am not,” Emma insisted softly. “I just…” She broke off, hiding her face in Regina’s shoulder, refusing to continue. The brunette could feel the hard swallow of Emma’s throat and a small shudder that passed through the weak frame in her arms.

“Just what?” the former Evil Queen prompted gently, pressing her lips against the cool forehead. She felt arms going around her middle, holding her firmly as Emma burrowed deeper in her shoulder, a deep sigh, more felt than heard, following.

“I don’t want this gone,” the blonde mumbled into the warm skin of Regina’s neck, her breath tickling the brunette. “I don’t want to wake up and find out that you are truly gone.”

Regina tightened her hold over the blonde, as the words reached her. “Oh, Emma,” escaped her lips.

“Judging my luck with people,” Emma started speaking again, and Regina could remember the instances her lover was talking about, as the memories played out vividly in her mind, each one showing an instance when the Savior had been abandoned, feeling of desolation and loneliness clutching her heart. “You would be. And, that…” Emma’s voice broke off as a harsh sob left her. “That would mean not only that I lost you but that I didn’t save you,” she continued after a moment in a halting and painful whisper, her hands clenching on Regina’s back, gripping the light tunic the brunette had on tightly, the engulfing embrace almost crushing. “It would mean I failed. I am the Savior and I failed to save the most important people in my life.” Slowly, the Sheriff lifted her head and brought her lips to Regina’s, kissing her chastely, before she spoke again. “So, if this is a dream that my magically fried brain cooked up for me, I don’t want to wake up. Ever.” Her tone turned insistent at the end, as she leaned in to kiss Regina again. “And, if I am dead,” she continued, a small trace of impertinence so typical of the Sheriff of Storybrooke evident in the falsely light tone as she winked at the woman in front of her, “well, there is nothing I can do about it, now, can I?”

It was excruciating to see her lover so deeply convinced that she was dead, but Regina could see why Emma was so insistent in her belief. When someone had been left behind their whole life, certain expectations and doubts formed, and anything that went against them would be discarded as wishful thinking or a hopeless dream. Especially now, when Emma knew she was dying, and hallucination of her True Love was more likely than Regina actually being there.

“What if I am not dead?” Regina whispered into Emma’s ear, still holding her tightly against herself. But, before Emma could respond, her head already shaking, the brunette just squeezed Emma’s shoulder. “No, just listen to me. Can you do that?” Her words were followed by a barely there nod from the blonde. “What if, while I was in the vortex with others, I used my considerable power joined with Nova’s to pull the Jolly Roger out of the portal, back where we had come from? What if I got it out before the vortex collapsed and I used another bean to make another jump, successfully this time?”

“Wait,” Emma blurted as she pushed herself away from the loving embrace. “You’re saying…” she started speaking, her disbelief visible in the furrowed brows and narrowed eyes, but Regina interjected.

“I wasn’t inside the portal when it blew,” Regina insisted, inclining her head in emphasis. “You gave us enough time to escape. Emma, you did save me. You saved us.” The Mayor brought her left hand to Emma’s chin, grasping it firmly with her fingers as she leaned in, connecting their foreheads. “I came to find you and I won’t let you wallow in your pity and guilt, when I am here, right in front of you! Alive and real!”

Emma blinked at Regina’s strong voice, frowning. “If what you are saying is true…” she started hesitantly, her voice filled with doubt, interrupted by an exasperated chuckle from her beloved.

“Humor me,” Regina offered with a smile, shaking her head at the strong disbelief Emma was showing.

The blonde raised her hand in appeasing acceptance of Regina’s words, before she continued talking. “If what you say is true, that means that…” Emma froze as her eyes grew wide, before she jumped to her feet, wildly looking around, her hands gripping Regina’s upper arms. “You are here in the meld!” she said loudly, with a trace of panic coloring her voice, before she looked at her beloved. “Regina, no! It’s too dangerous for you to be here!”

“I am not leaving until you tell me how to heal you,” Regina asserted firmly, as she stood in place, waiting for Emma to calm down. “Please. We didn’t go through everything just for it to end like this.” She brought the blonde’s face to her own and kissed her passionately, letting her fingers tangle into the tendrils of Emma’s hair. “I am not losing you!” she said, every word enunciated strongly.

Emma stepped back, breathing deeply as she watched the teary dark eyes look back at her with intensity she had never seen before. “Alright, so, you know about the mist,” she managed to say after she got her breath back, her demeanor suddenly sharper and more focused, as she still held Regina with wonder.

“Yeah, it’s something old from the Vault,” Regina confirmed, pleased to see her Sheriff somewhat herself again.

“Very old,” Emma added as she considered something. “It is not an ordinary type of magic either. The principles today’s curses and spells use do not apply to it. So far, I could only determine that it is like a very toxic flood. It keeps destroying everything in its way; no matter the dams and walls you place to stop it. Eventually, it eats through everything I keep throwing at it.”

“So, what? We wait it out, and keep throwing energy against it?” Regina asked incredulously. “That is not the solution, Emma. We both can see that!” The brunette gestured toward the walls that enclosed the chamber they were in, still glowing with heat.

“I don’t know!” Emma snapped suddenly, ripping herself away from Regina’s hold, throwing her hands up in the air, before she brought them to her face, rubbing her eyes. “I don’t know, Regina,” she added after a moment, her voice gentler as she offered a conciliatory shrug. “When I pushed it through me, I didn’t think about the after part.” Before Regina could say anything, she waved her hand to stop her from commenting. “All I can say is that it has a purpose, and until it fulfills it, it will not stop.”

“Destroying…” Regina agreed softly, seeing Emma nod. However, something occurred to her and she raised her head. “But, how did you make it help you stabilize the portal? It wasn’t so bent on destroying, then.”

“I wasn’t really thinking then. I don’t know what I did… I guess I somehow gave it a different purpose…” Emma returned to her previous position, right in front of her True Love, gathering her gently in her arms, as she leaned in and returned the kiss. “You need to go,” she murmured against warm lips, her heart beating stronger with every second Regina refused to part from her. “Regina,” her soft whisper turned cautioning as she brought her arms to Regina’s shoulders, passing them over her back.

“Okay,” the brunette acceded, lowering her head as she initiated a crushing embrace, loath to release her beloved.

“I need you to promise me something,” the blonde said as they separated from their hug.

“Anything,” Regina breathed out, even though she had a feeling she would not like Emma’s request.

“You will not return into the meld until I am healed,” Emma said firmly, her grip on Regina’s shoulders tightening. “You can merge your magic with mine if you think that would help, but do not form the link.”

“Emma,” Regina shook her head, but the insistent hold of her lover stopped her from objecting. But, it was Emma’s feverish look in her tired, bloodshot eyes that had lost all traces of green, which convinced her to comply. The Sheriff was still worried about her safety, and if promising not to risk exposure to the mist by their meld would keep Emma focused on healing herself, then Regina would swear on the grave of her daddy, if need be. “I promise,” she offered in a tight whisper, her words causing Emma to visibly relax.

With another kiss instead of goodbyes, Regina prepared to break the link, but a gentle touch at her elbow stopped her. “Talk to me,” Emma whispered demurely, looking toward the glowing walls. “I like the sound of your voice,” she explained quickly, glancing at her before again looking away, the vulnerability in her eyes so endearing and tragic at the same time. Regina smiled and squeezing Emma’s forearm closest to her, she nodded.

“I will,” she promised before she felt the link between hers and Emma’s consciousness dissipate. 


	21. Chapter 21

It had turned eerily quiet in the halls of the House of Healing, the lack of footfalls on the stone steps and floors so unusual for that time of day. Ordinarily, there was at least someone walking the corridors of the three levels of the cliff-side infirmary, one of the healers doing the inventory or watching for the torches to always be lit. However, as the House of Healing did not have other guests in need of help other than the Savior, the witch-queen assumed that her pupils had decided to give her and Regina space, due to awe and veneration they were feeling toward the person that had been personally delivered by the Last of her kind’s magic. It wasn’t only that she had been brought into Brocéliande by Guardian’s intervention and taken care by her behest, but also the fact that even the first level novices at the healing arts could sense the power of unicorn whiffing off of her, and coupled with the knowledge that she was the Savior and True Love Born, it made for a very awe-inspiring personality. There was also the fact that the White Knight of the lore suffered from a malady that their mistress, the chief healer of the Marble Hall, could not even treat, let alone heal, and that inspired fear, for they had yet to see her fail, and the prospect of the first one being the Savior was a daunting one.

Morgan did not mind the silence, nor the absence of her novices. If she needed them, she could summon them easily enough. No, the lack of curious eyes was welcome, she thought as she watched the two women in the small room, a cell, really – both oblivious of the world around them. She dared not to move her eyes away from the True Loves, because she feared that Regina’s reckless move would result in her having not only the Savior as the patient, but also the former Evil Queen, suffering from the same poison, the one she could not heal.

During her sentry, the royal noticed that Emma’s wounds had started healing, welts and open cuts slowly closing up and replaced by new and undamaged skin. Even the violent red of the burns under the bandages lightened, leaving the healer with confusion. As far as she knew, and she knew only what her friend had told her of it, the meld exerted the power, it did not conserve it, and healing while in meld and fighting off the poison of the mist was supposed to be impossible. And, then she understood, her bewilderment turning into concerned relief, as she let her gaze continuously sweep over the two women. It was the access to Regina’s power that healed Emma, allowing the Savior to use the temporary boost to redistribute her own power in her fight against the thing that was killing her, giving her more time and better chances.

The wise amber eyes scrutinized the brunette before the mistress of the Marble Hall, the familiar features of the former Evil Queen not the only thing of interest for Morgan. As Guardian had delivered the Savior, the dragon had left her with a message, one that she had not understood at the time, but now, as she watched Regina wield her power with fearless respect, like one a swordsman would give to his faithful blade, she realized what the words truly meant.

_Soon will come a time for your heir to learn, dear friend. Teach her, as you would your own child, for she is already close to your heart._

Morgan had thought that the cryptic words related to the patient in her care, as she had assumed that the most powerful of all sorcerers would be named as her heir, for she had none of her own, and she was the last of her line, with all others gone from the Enchanted Forest. But, as her eyes feasted on the woman she had known since the day she was born, she considered the words from Guardian. The message had more sense with Regina in mind, as the former Evil Queen was indeed close to her heart, being the child of a man she had once considered one of her closest friends, young Henry Dordéan, as her father used to call the easily excitable boy, too curious for his own good. Hummingbird, her father, Marcus had used to call him affectionately, and he shared his care for the boy with his youngest daughter, thus creating a friendship that had endured Regina’s mother, the fall of Camelot, the Dark One, and even Regina’s husband. Morgan had been present at Regina’s name day at Henry’s request, and even though she had not been near the child since that day, she had enjoyed the tales her friend would tell her whenever he would come to her, his travels allowing him to visit her regularly. And, always, she had sent gifts for the girl with him, greatly saddened that she could not participate more in her life. But, Henry had warned her of Cora and Rumplestiltskin, and with everything happening in her own kingdom and homeland, she didn’t have the patience to go against them. After the Camelot’s fall, Henry had extracted a promise out of her that she would help Regina, but only if he was not around and Regina had love in her heart.

She had smiled when she had listened to the brunette speak of the son she shared with the Savior, her heart squeezing at the mention of the boy’s name – the love Regina had for her children was insurmountable, rivaled only by the love she had for the blonde Sheriff. And, now, as she watched Regina stand beside her True Love, Morgan felt that it was finally time to make good on her promise. However, that meant that the witch-queen would have to explain the history of her family to Regina, along with many of the family secrets, in order to teach her magic to the brunette, and some of those secrets were painful. Nevertheless, Morgan decided it was time, and as soon Regina was willing, the tutoring would start – the stories of her magical line to be told first.

Quickened breathing of the Mayor brought Morgan’s attention to the brunette, just in time to see the dark eyes peek beneath the slowly opening lids. For a moment, Regina seemed to be disoriented before the anguished swirling eyes rose to meet the amber ones, the sadness and torment quite visible in them, along with the quiet contentment caused by finally being able to talk with Emma. “Regina?” Morgan called softly, edging somewhat into the room, ready to jump in if need be.

“She is in tremendous pain,” Regina murmured sadly, her hand tenderly passing over Emma’s collarbone, gentle touch meant to soothe as much as it could. The skin under her fingers was cold, like Emma’s hands had been in the meld, and it worried her deeply, even though the brunette could see that the wounds were gone. “She doesn’t have much time.”

The witch-queen closed her eyes tightly at the woman’s barely heard whisper, the words hitting her strongly. “Did she know how to…?” Morgan asked hesitantly, waiting for some directions. Seeing Regina shake her head in response forced a sigh out of her, at a loss on how to help the Savior.

“She did say it was like a flood…” Regina said after a moment, her hands returning to the Savior’s chilled skin, as she looked at Morgan, her eyes hardened with resolve. “We can try overpowering it, the same way Emma has been keeping it at bay,” the brunette suggested.

“Alright,” the healer agreed with a short nod, rubbing her hands together, ready to finally do something to help. “So, I assume, you need me to enhance the intensity of the magic field?”

“Yes, and I will join my magic with Emma’s,” Regina added, determination emanating from her in a strong wave, as she focused on her objective, directing her power into the body in front of her, careful not to sink into the mind link, although she could feel the connection call to her. She wanted to delve into Emma’s mind, to see her Sheriff again, but she had given a promise, and she intended to keep it, and instead of allowing herself to accept the welcoming embrace of the Savior’s consciousness, she gritted her teeth and willed her and Emma’s energies to work together against the poison flooding the blonde’s bloodstream.

“We can have more magic users here,” Morgan offered softly as she adjusted the intensity of the magical levels in the room, frowning at the outpouring of raw power now present. “They could help with the feed.”

“No,” Regina said, not looking up. “Too much of it and it would kill Emma, regardless of the mist,” she maintained, her voice soft and firm at the same time. Her hand pressed hard against Emma’s chest and it sank through the bones and flesh, her fingers enveloping the weakly pulsing organ in a gentle hold, Regina trying to recreate the same method the Savior had used on her when the manticore poison had been killing her. Slow and strained beats of the heart in her hand forced Regina to hurry, the impending collapse of Emma’s defenses frightening enough to shake the brunette’s barely mustered confidence, and with a softly whispered plea for her efforts to work, the former Evil Queen closed her eyes and focused on streaming her power right where it was needed, attacking the red mist in the body.

Seconds ticked with every gradual thump of Emma’s strained heart, slowly turning into laborious minutes. The only sound apart from the barely heart hum of the charged air was the ragged breathing of the Savior, accompanied by the soft exhales of the witches fighting for her life. The bronze colored sorceress stood beside the pale naked body of the Savior, for the first time able to remain in her presence for longer than several moments due to the overcharged air and Regina’s direct magical feeding link, her magic joining well with those of the former Evil Queen and the Sheriff. And, the treatment seemed to be working, Morgan noted silently within the confines of her mind, albeit too drawn out for it to be effective. The magic that they were using in order to stop and overcome the red mist was burning Emma from within, and despite the fact that it was the only way they had for helping the Sheriff, it seemed that it was killing her quicker than the poison – and both Regina and Morgan knew it.

When the tortured organ stuttered in its sluggish rhythm, Regina stopped, pulling her hand away, afraid that she was doing more harm than good at this point. With frustration and fear evident in her every move, she threw her hands away from Emma’s body, and stepped back, a soft growl coming from her as she clenched her fists in impotent anger. “This isn’t working,” she barked sharply, her right hand flying to her forehead, while the other one rested on her hip. “Damn it,” Regina cursed under her breath, not knowing what to do next, aware that her hostess was watching her silently, out of ideas. The dark shadowed eyes returned to the nude Sheriff, still levitating at the center of the room, while Regina thought back on everything she had shared with Emma during the meld, hoping a small bit of information had managed to float to her consciousness, just like all the memories she had shared with the Savior had found their way to her brain. While she was looking internally for a solution, she reached out to her True Love, holding her hand and whispering softly into Emma’s ear to hold on, to keep fighting.

The witch-healer quietly stepped out of the room, giving Regina her space, the urging pleas, though spoken low, were much heartbreaking, and the old heart of the Camelot Queen could not bear the sorrow they caused in her, her own scarred and grief-laden spirit crumbling under the anguish she felt. She sat down heavily on the chair Regina had been using earlier; Morgan closed her eyes against the burning sensation under her lids, her breath leaving her in a long and helpless exhale. However, when she heard the rapid thuds of someone rushing down the circular stairs of the Marble Hall, someone wearing heavy and hard boots, she straightened and looked toward the first landing, expecting to see one of the soldiers she had under her rule, her anguished expression quickly disappearing under the burden of leadership. But, it wasn’t just an ordinary soldier who jumped down onto the floor of the lowest level of the House of Healing. No, it was her most trusted man, the last knight of his order – Percival the Virtuous, out of his extravagant clothes, a simple set of work garments on him, and he seemed in a great rush.

“What has you in such a hurry?” Morgan spoke gently as she raised her hand toward him, a simple wriggle of her fingers allowing him to her side, the man grasping tenderly for it as he leaned down a bit.

“The Gallant-bred is missing from the pen, and none of the people had seen her,” he said in low tones, his eyes darting into the room before looking away. “But, there is a herd of unicorns five leagues to the West,” he added, clearly remembering the horses’ penchant to roam and meet up with their kin. “She-Wolf has crossed the border; she will be here in a couple of hours.” He then crouched down. “Guardian sent us a message. She said that the Keeper of the Balance must survive, or we are all doomed.”

“Then, I am afraid we are doomed,” Morgan replied heavily, her eyes slowly shifting away from the worried face of her knight to the two women in the chamber.

“So, she’s…” Percival murmured in disbelief, his head falling down in dismay.

“Not yet, but…” The queen had no heart to speak the next word of her sentence, even though it was heard all too clearly in her silence. Soon.

Suddenly, there was a movement in the room drawing the attention of the queen and her knight. Regina stood there, a new wave of determination feeling her as she looked toward the two people watching her. “I have an idea,” she spoke clearly, her eyes glowing with hope and resolve. “I need your magic wielders.”

Morgan had risen from her seat the very moment Regina had uttered the first words, and now she only waved Percival away, letting him deliver the message to the others. “What happened?” she asked, coming closer to the brunette.

“She said it has a purpose, and that she had somehow changed it when she forced it out of herself, thus managing to stabilize the portal. What is in her right now is the residue of the magic she had pushed through herself. We are going to get it out.”

“How?” Morgan waited for a moment before she started talking again. “If we strip her magic away in an effort to take out the mist, we’ll kill her.”

“That is why I need you,” Regina said firmly. “You know things about the craft I cannot even conceive of, and I am sure that somewhere in that repertoire is a way of isolating the foreign magic in someone or something.”

Morgan hummed softly in agreement, her lips creasing in a small lopsided smirk as she saw the brunette’s knowing gaze directed at her. “Yes, there is something, but you are forgetting one thing. She won’t let me near her.” But instead of loss of vigor Regina had been portraying, her cautiously countering words only brought a sassy smirk from the former Evil Queen.

“You are going to teach me,” Regina said, her posture and gleaming eyes reminding Morgan of stories people had spread about the Evil Queen, her ruthlessness and willpower. The self-assurance the brunette showed in the face of her dying lover, daring the allegedly most powerful sorceress in the Enchanted Forest, had to be admired, and Morgan did admire Regina for her boldness and grit.

“Am I now?” the Queen of Camelot replied, clasping her hands in nonchalance, truly enjoying Regina’s power play. She wasn’t going to refuse, but she wanted to see the woman’s next move.

“Keeper of the Balance must survive,” Regina uttered sharply as her eyes narrowed at the black sorceress. “I don’t think you will let your pride or your trade’s secrets stand in the way.”

“So, you heard,” Morgan sighed, before she nodded in acceptance. “Alright, I’ll teach you.” However, before Regina could even blink, she added, “But, there are conditions which we will discuss later.”

“Sure.”

Shaking her head, Morgan entered the room and with clear and simple instructions, she slowly guided Regina how to find the particular type of magic and single it out of the mix. With the added help of her junior healers, the queens worked tirelessly, their combined effort slowly yielding results.

“Easy,” Morgan murmured softly in Regina’s ear, standing right behind her with her palms splayed over Regina’s shoulders. “Don’t try to constrain it, just guide it out,” her voice directed the former villain as she was trying to bring the mist out into the air around them, with the others ready to contain it. “Don’t force it, just coax it toward you. Easy, easy. That’s right.” The guiding never stopped. “Think of it as a wild wolf, child. You cannot beat it into submission. You either kill it, or set it free into wilderness. We tried killing it, it didn’t work.” At Regina’s pointed look, Morgan chuckled. “Think of it this way – enclosed and trapped, it can hurt us. In the wilds, we can shoot it, or send our dogs after it.”

“You don’t care much for the wolves, do you?” the brunette noted breathily, the strain her magic was putting on her considerable.

“On the contrary, one of my best friends is a Wolf,” the older woman replied easily, as she patted Regina’s shoulder. “Now, focus.”

At last, half an hour later, the last of the poison left Emma’s body, the malicious red mist swirling and crackling in the magically charged airs, the young craftspeople catching it deftly in their net of protective bubble, forcing it into a small container. As the last trace of it disappeared, Emma’s skin lost that strange pinkish tinge to her pallor and the strangled breaths eased somewhat, but the Savior herself seemed unreachable.

Regina frowned as she leaned over the still hovering body of her True Love, her slow moves quickly becoming frantic as she could not feel Emma’s magic, when it would ordinarily rise to meet hers, without fail.

“What’s wrong?” Morgan asked, quickly brought back to Regina’s side by the brunette’s sharp gasp.

“She is not reacting to my presence,” Regina spoke without looking away, her hands reaching for Emma’s face, her fingers gently moving the lids of her left eye apart. When the white of Emma’s eye welcomed them, Morgan acted with speed, grabbing the brunette’s arms.

“She is only passed out,” the healer spoke with certainty, as she brought Regina’s hand to Emma’s heart. “It beats stronger than before, and steadier. She breathes normally, as well. And, we can still feel her magic.” Morgan ticked off the signs that the Savior was getting better. “She has been through a lot, a lot longer than you think. Let her rest.”

“She needs a proper bed. And, a normal room.”

“Of course,” Morgan said soothingly, motioning to one of the more strapping young men in her employ to lift the Sheriff. Only, before he could actually come closer, Regina summoned a white beater and underwear onto the blonde, allowing her at least some modesty, now that people could actually come near her. After telling the burdened man in which room to put the blonde, Morgan excused herself with other business, calling after Regina to announce her visit at a later time, guessing that the brunette would like to catch some rest as well. 

* * *

Again, at the top of the stairs of the Marble Hall, this time shrouded in the darkness of the night, stood the Queen of Camelot, expecting another traveler in her home. And, right on time, a small two wheeled cart pulled by an old and sturdy mule rolled into the village. Morgan smiled at the sight of the rickety old thing her friend still insisted on using, its cargo space packed with wooden boxes, bottles and jars with a random pelt thrown here and there. As usual, one of the wheels creaked, its high pitched whine quite familiar to Morgan’s people, and those of them who were out and about stopped to shout a happy greeting to the newcomer, a gruff and short response coming to them from the driver of the cart.

“Yeah, yeah, it creaks,” the driver grumbled good-naturedly at the welcoming smirk Morgan was directing at her. “But, creaky wheels for the creaky bones. It’s rather fitting, isn’t it?”

“You’re not that old, She-Wolf, and given the endurance of your kind, you aren’t going to be that old for a while yet,” the host replied with humor opening her arms for the other woman, welcoming her into a heartfelt hug. “Speaking of old, how is your grandmother?”

“She’ll outlive us all,” the newcomer said with a gentle and affectionate laugh as she thought about the matriarch of the Wolves. “Now that the news of Queen Regina’s arrival has spread, she is itching to go out of the Forest and meet with her.” The Wolf chuckled lightly before her easy going manner turned serious. “I met with Guardian, and passed along the news, but when the queen would arrive, I do not know.”

“She is already here,” the sorceress spoke in reassurance as she smiled at her friend. “And, the Savior no longer hangs on the verge of death.”

“That is truly good news,” the shifter murmured as they entered the great hall of the House of Healing, shrugging a heavy cloak off her shoulders. “I know how worried you were about the Savior and her health. I just didn’t expect her True Love to be here so quickly.” Her deep blue eyes, unlike her sons, held star shaped circles of silvery gray right around the pupils, however it only added to their magical glow aided by her species’ traits as she looked around the hall in the darkness of the evening. She followed her friend to the private wing of the Marble Halls. “Where is everyone?” Indeed, it was odd for the Marble Hall to be so desolate at this time of evening, seeing that the hall served as a communal center of the village, with a dining hall and a library being only some of the rooms open to the villagers.

“Giving the guests some space, I’d assume,” Morgan replied as she poured them some mulled wine. “I think Percy is leading a quest of finding the Savior’s Gallant-bred and making sure she is safe.”

“Does that boy ever stand still?” the shifter asked before she took a sip of her wine, seating herself in one of the soft high back chairs Morgan had in her private rooms, shifting it lightly toward the happily crackling fire in the hearth.

“That boy is older than you,” the sorceress remarked with humor, before she answered her friend’s question. “I think that my choice to remain hidden for these particular events in the Enchanted Forest isn’t sitting too well with him.”

“He wants to get out and help fight the good fight?” the newcomer asked rhetorically, causing her friend to hum in response. “Have you changed your mind?”

“About going outside?” Morgan looked at the shifter’s curious eyes. “No, I haven’t. But, it doesn’t mean I won’t help any way I can from here. Aileen, I already welcomed the Savior and her True Love into Brocéliande. And, I’ve decided to take Regina in to teach her the craft. Isn’t my allegiance clear?”

“You don’t have to justify yourself to me, dear Morgana. I know your heart on the matter.” The Wolf, Aileen, spoke gently, offering her friend a soothing pat on her forearm. “Now, tell me about that craft teaching business. I wasn’t aware you were considering it.”

The rest of the evening, and most of the night passed in conversation between the two friends. The simple session of filling each other in on the events of the past days turned into friendly discussions on history and magic practices, especially used in healing. The Wolf, the shifter-village’s appointed healer and spiritual guide had a different perspective to offer to Morgan, who had been part of truly powerful people where magic and the crafts had been used in everyday life, treasured and respected. Later, in the evening, the women reminisced of their pre-curse times, often bursting into laughter over an anecdote, helped by the generous offerings of mulled wine. 

* * *

Despite the sheer exhaustion, and the still tingling nerves burned with too high levels of magic coursing through her system, Regina could not relax enough to sleep. Even though she did keep her eyes closed, her other senses kept careful watch on the prone woman beside her, lying in bed, deeply unconscious after the ordeal she had been through. Turned to her side, with her arms tucked under her chin, Regina breathed slowly, her inhales matching Emma’s, wishing she could sink into restful slumber. Instead, her own body was too busy cataloguing the ways it had made sure that the blonde was truly beside her. The gentle warmth of the body next to her provided a constant reminder, along with soft breaths, that Emma was indeed there, by her side. A familiar scent, mixed with the healing ointments, provided a soothing comfort to the brunette, one she hadn’t felt since their last night together, at Tri-point.

Giving up her hope that she would fall asleep, the older woman rose from the bed, slowly shifting away, loath to cause any disturbance to her True Love, and dressed into her clothes, folding the linen garments at the foot of the bed afterwards. Now, that the air in the room was not so heated, there was really no need for her to be out of her own comfortable clothes, not that she had anything against the clothes she had been given. Mindful of the stone floor, she walked carefully to the beautifully carved window, its arches being the most extraordinary thing in the room. Even though the stone itself had been hard red flecked granite, the intricate details of the curvatures were simply breathtaking, the low lighting of newly lit lantern only enhancing their astonishing presence. There, along every bend of the stone was a carved vine with leaves, and in the weak shadow light they seemed alive, with leaves flickering with each move of the flame. Beneath the arches, up to the middle of the window lengthwise was a stone seat, with fur and pillows draped all over it. And, on the other side of the window was a heavy velvet drape, its outside facing surface layered with pelt. Seeing the curtain used to close the window, in a manner of speaking, Regina smiled to herself. During the first days of the curse, she had been in awe of the world she had ended up in. The plumbing, the electricity, the central air, cars… It all managed to amaze her, and frankly, terrify her at first, until she had gotten used to it, and then accepted it for what it was – every day convenience. But, not here. Not in a world where magic existed naturally, and where all the people still used their own two hands for work, be it in the fields and farms, or doing various crafts. Here, an extravagance such as a glass panel on the windows was just that – an extravagance, one most villagers could not afford.

Now, she had no doubt that Morgan could deck these windows in most beautiful works of art if she wanted to, but this look – the stone arches and curtains, they reminded Regina of purity and simplicity, something that a healer would greatly appreciate.

She stood by one of the arches and peered into the dark, the fog lifting of the grounds of the valley below hiding much from her view, but it didn’t bother her. In fact, the empty landscape of thick mist helped her focus more on her own thoughts and memories. As her mind was no longer occupied with overwhelming desire to find Emma, she could consider the place she had come across, and the people she had found here. First, it had been a long held belief that Queen Morgan left the Enchanted Forest after the death of her son, Mordred, retreating to Avalon as the rest of Camelot folks had done, the mystical island protected by the true Lady of the Lake, a woman of considerable power no one knew anything about.

There had been stories that Lake Nostos had been the home of the Lady of the lake, but the stories, as usual, had been wrong, and David had not slain the Lady of the Lake, but the lady of _a_ lake. In truth, her daddy told her that the island of Avalon was not in any actual lake, but far from the shores of Camelot, in the Endless Sea, and the reason the people called it the lake was because of the phenomenon that appeared when the Lady allowed Avalon to become visible to the people of the Enchanted Forest. The sea waters around the ferries would turn sweet and fresh, as if a brand new spring had produced it. Due to the rules of geography even the children of this world knew, any large body of sweet water is called a lake, not a sea…

Regina’s thoughts turned to her host. Camelot had fallen with both the death of King Arthur and the disbanding of the Knights of the Round Table, and that had happened when Regina had been six years old. She remembered, because her father had taken her to see the procession of Camelot citizens leaving the shores of the Enchanted Forest, and it had been a huge deal for a young child that had not been much away from her home. By some luck, her daddy had managed to get to the front of the procession, where the body of still breathing Arthur had been carried, only two of his Knights accompanying it. _Remember this day_ , he had whispered into her ear at the very moment she had seen the mists of Avalon appear and the ferry dock to the pier. _Remember this day as a sad one, for Camelot has fallen – not because of evil and enemies, but because of the darkness of people themselves_.

She hadn’t understood the words he had told her that day, but she had always remembered them, along with amazement she had felt at the sights that she had seen that day.

But, if her calculations were true, Morgan was well into her eighties by now, and she looked not older than forty did. And, Regina had a feeling that youthfulness the queen possessed had nothing to do with magic, or at least not the kind she was familiar with. So, the thirty two years that had passed since the fall of Camelot, not including the twenty eight of the cursed years, and somehow, in that time, Morgan had remained unchanged. And, not only Morgan. The man that had brought Regina to the House of Healing, Percy, was none other than Percival the Virtuous, one of the youngest Knights of the Round Table, she had realized. One more man came to her mind as she considered the strange youthful appearance of the Camelot people. A former Knight turned mercenary, one that she had seen plenty of times during her married years at the White Castle, sneaking into the King’s quarters at all times of day and night, no doubt because Leopold had been one of his most generous and prolific employers. The man Snow had regarded with kindness and childish affection one awards the most famous knight in the world. Lancelot of the Lake. He too had seemed too young for his age, taking into account that he had been over thirty when the civil war in Camelot had broken out.

Even though it was curiosity she intended to learn more about, Regina’s mind turned to another topic. At the same time, she turned away from the window and lowered herself onto the stone windowsill, sinking against the comfortable pillows, her eyes going to the woman on the bed, the soft light of the lantern beside her not strong enough to reach the blonde, hiding her in the darkness of the room. But, Regina could make out her face, and hear her breathing. Only now, she could fully comprehend the stories others had told her, the tales about Emma’s adventures in the days leading to the battle. Now that she wasn’t looking for her beloved, she could fully take them in. Belle had told her about the encounter with Zelena and the Dark Matter, as the young librarian had called it; Commander Cheng had told her about her decisive and brusque actions against the Empire soldiers, along with the destruction her attack on the mountain keep had wrought. But, it had been her own lieutenant that had shared a story that reflected Emma’s doubts most clearly, as he had described her frenetic laughter filled moments. She hadn’t found the time to talk to Ruby or Mulan in depth about Emma’s emotional status, but she had gleaned some of it from a few pointed comments she had heard from those two women. It had seemed enough at the time, as she had been preoccupied with finding Emma, rather than learning about her mental state.

However, in the quietude of the night, Regina could not shake off the feeling of heartbreak the memory of Emma’s dazed and amazed look when they had seen each other in the link, the grief and pain burdened eyes gazing upon her with revelry and awe. Obviously, with each instant of having to deal with something traumatic and hard, Emma had lost some of her faith that she would meet Regina again, finally giving up completely – thinking Regina had been only a specter of her mind, created by her own magic to ease her passage to the great beyond. With that dazed look directed at her, Regina had understood that her greatest fear she had felt in Storybrooke had come true – she had been away for too long, and the isolation had left a large, seemingly ineradicable mark on Emma’s psyche. And, only because Regina remembered the kind words of Doctor Hopper about traumas and their healing, she remained somewhat calm. She had no doubt that the blonde, and her, had a long road in front of them to recovery, despite the fact that the time was the commodity they could not afford. Not in the time of war. All too soon, she would have to leave and go to her children, hating to leave them alone for much longer, but she was frightened of what it would do to the blonde, because, despite Emma’s miraculous healing, brunette knew the Sheriff could not leave the House of Healing for a long while yet.

Suddenly, her mind made a sharp turn to Henry. She had glossed over the impact of the Curse of the Forbidden Path, but the truth was that she still could not wrap her mind around the idea that she shared True Love with her son. It seemed impossible, and yet it had happened. Long before, at the time of the kiss that had broken the curse that created Storybrooke, Rumplestiltskin had excused Emma’s bond to Henry with her Savior-ness and being a True Love born, his overly complicated explanation being boiled down to – the rules of the game hadn’t applied to Emma because she had been born of True Love. But, this? With her taken into the account? It simply was too strange. Oh, she did not doubt for one second that her son loved her, immensely so, but why would she of all people have two True Loves in her life? Was it the Savior’s blood in Henry’s veins that allowed him to connect with her that way or was it something else? Or was the thing about being equals and balancing each other in the True Love coupling true, and because she was Emma’s counterpart, she was allowed the same luxuries? Or, perhaps, it was her newly awakened power that was able to simply overcome the curse itself? Or, the curse in Henry recognized the small tenet of Emma’s magical signature in Regina’s magic and reacted to it? She didn’t know, and the thing was, any of these options could be true. Perhaps, she would ask Guardian about it the next time she saw that glorious beast of the skies. 

A soft knock at the door interrupted Regina’s ruminations, startling her into movement. She looked toward the door; surprised to see that now everything in the room was visible, bathed in the dull light of dawning skies. Her thoughts had kept her occupied through the night, Regina realized as she crossed the room and carefully opened the door, her eyes falling onto the young woman she had met earlier.

“Gwen, right?” Regina murmured softly instead of greeting as she stepped out into the hallway, even though she doubted they could disturb Emma. “What can I do for you?”

“Mistress Morgan sent me to ask if you need anything, and to announce that she would bring breakfast shortly, as she assumes you do not want to leave Savior alone?” the girl managed to rush through, her pitch rising toward the end in question.

Regina smiled tiredly at the junior healer, and nodded, both in answer and in acknowledgement of Morgan’s visit. “I wouldn’t mind some extra furniture for the room, Gwen,” she said softly opening the door, as she let the other woman see the bareness of the quarters she and Emma had been put in.

“Of course, your Majesty,” Gwen bowed shortly before she dashed away, her hurried movements making Regina shake her head in amusement. In her estimate, it would take only minutes before someone showed up with a table and some chairs, and probably something more…

And, indeed, only a minute later, she saw three people walking down the hallway towards her, each one carrying something. As she opened the door of the room to let them pass by her, Regina was surprised by the silence that followed their moves, the wooden furniture making nary a sound as it was assembled. A small square table and two simple stools were placed against the wall across from the bed, and the two men that had brought them left without a word, offering only a short nod to Regina. However, Gwen stayed, fussing over the table cloth and stool pillows. Only when the crisp withe sheet was arranged perfectly did Gwen step away, whispering to the brunette that the mistress of the house was already on her way, excusing herself shortly afterwards.

As she was expecting Morgan, Regina left the door open, her feet taking her to the bed, where she checked on Emma, using her tender fingers to spread the soft silky blonde strands over pillows. The sheriff's breathing had not changed during the night nor did she look closer to waking up, her non - responsiveness worrying her True Love.

Moments later, the brunette heard a soft chuckle from behind her, her attention drawn to the woman entering her room. Despite the fact that Morgan was one of the most famous sorcerers, and a queen with many loyal subjects, the woman was carrying the heavy metal tray filled with food and a pitcher with her hands, unbothered by the burden. Lowering the tray quietly on the freshly set table, Morgan still held that gentle smile that Regina had seen on her seconds before.

"What's funny?" the guest asked carefully, remaining by Emma's side. As she watched Morgan take her seat on one of the chairs.

"Not funny. Interesting." Motioning to the table, the older woman invited the other to join her for breakfast, her silent summons answered almost immediately. "Long ago, in the time of the first Men, the concept of Balance of the World was imagined as a duality, the pair consisting of two opposites, which together made harmony. Back then, people still devoutly believed in gods, and the duality took its anthropomorphic form in Divine Parents. Even now, some of the ideologies exist, mostly within the Empire, Agrabah and the Infinite Forest."

"You think it has something to do with us?" Regina asked nonplussed as she perused the food the other woman had brought. "Because Emma is the Keeper of the Balance?"

"No, you misunderstand me. It had nothing to do with Emma's titles. I just realized that you and Emma have slipped into the archetypal roles of the Divine Parents, with Emma assuming the role traditionally assigned to a man." But before Regina could comment on those words, Morgan continued, her eyes imploring the brunette for patience. "It has nothing to do with gender. Or, at least, in theory it does not." After a moment of pause to collect her thoughts, the other woman added. "What I meant is that Emma, whether by choice or fate, became a warrior, defender and destroyer, using sword and magic as her tools. She fights. But, you. In the time you've spent here, you have been the nurturer, the healer."

"A Divine Mother..." Regina uttered in understanding. “But, Emma can heal, too."

"Yes, and quite well from what I hear. The roles aren't fixed, nor should they be. You would use the tools and traits the situation you are in demands. That is the true show of balance."

“Okay,” the brunette mumbled hesitantly, still not understanding where Morgan was going with this. She reached for a cup in front of her, bringing it to her lips and sipped the strange sweet and sour liquid in effort to stall, but the taste of it was oddly refreshing and soothing at the same time, deepening her bewilderment, as she looked down at it, peering into the clear liquid, trying to guess what it was made of.

The witch-queen smiled at the younger woman’s frown, knowing that her random topic had confused Regina, but, in truth, she was nervous about talking with the newcomer. Partly, it was because she feared awakening the famous temper of the Evil Queen by telling her things about her past that would certainly change some opinions of the events Regina had witnessed or heard of. The other reason – well, the main reason was, she had to share so much of her own personal pain in order to tell the story and that was something she never desired to do. Years passed and she had finally learned to put it to rest, and now, with this story, old ghosts and scars would most certainly show up again. However, despite her reluctance, Morgan understood the necessity of the conversation, not only because she had chosen Regina as her heir, but for Emma’s wellbeing as well. So, gathering her courage and steeling her will, Morgan lowered her cup and entwined her fingers in front of her.

“I think it is time for you and I to have our talk,” she started, outwardly seeming firm and insistent even though her heart was still hesitant to be so exposed. Her words brought Regina to attention as she, too, put down her drink and looked over at her, her eyes fleetingly glancing to Emma, as if to check on her. “First, there is something you must learn about Brocéliande.” With a steeling breath in, Morgan started speaking.

“Brocéliande is a sequestered part of the Infinite Forest that belonged in my family since the first man bearing the name of Gorlois of Tintagel, the name my father, Marcus Gorlois, shared with him, founded the Tintagel line of sorcerers. As he also had come from those who wielded a great power and possessed vast knowledge of the crafts, my forefather foresaw the need for secrecy and retreated into the Infinite Forest. In his meanderings through the magical forest, he found a place shrouded in mystery. Immediately, he sought to understand what was happening there and so Brocéliande was created. You see, this small part of the Infinite Forest exists in a different dimension, and that made it be slightly out of Time itself. My ancestor learned that every time he entered this land, he would stop aging, but he wasn’t frozen in time. After many explorations, he also noticed that hardly a day would pass in the rest of the world during his stay in Brocéliande, despite the fact that he remembered the Sun setting down for more than ten times. Gorlois singlehandedly placed each of the border stones, carving them in an old Elvish dialect his family was fluent in and dousing them in his blood, binding this land to those descending from him. With his son, he founded a village outside the borders of Brocéliande, keeping it secret even from his own people, fearing that his kin would become too dependent on the strange effects of time that place had. His son Cador, years later, found a mystical island, with similar properties as Brocéliande, and considering it his own right, he claimed it in the name of our family. However, in recent years the island had shed its shroud of secrecy, becoming a thing of legends.”

“Avalon,” Regina gasped in wonder.

“Yes,” Morgan confirmed softly, before she continued on. “Slowly, the Tintagel line became more and more powerful, its members worshiped and feared throughout the realms. The wizards and witches of my family were the advisors in many courts in history of the Enchanted Forest and the rest of this world, and many others. However, slowly, malicious darkness grew in the world, corrupting and destroying it. Kingdoms and fiefdoms fell under it, with the remaining folk running in fear. One of Cador’s great grandchildren stepped forward to help, and he used his considerable power to bind the Darkness into one mortal being, containing a soul, and thus the first Dark One had been created. Fearing revenge from the creature he had made, the wizard retreated into the Infinite Forest and ordered his family to close ranks. No longer did the Tintagel line sorcerers travel the lands, but the people in need would come to them, if they dared to cross into the Forest. But, isolation had its costs, mostly the lack of knowledge of the outside world, so the Guild of Authors was born. Those were the people of our line, chosen to record the events of the world, forsworn to be truthful in their observations. Right up to my father’s death, the title of the Author would fall on one of my blood, groomed for it since birth, understanding the responsibilities of the role. But, afterwards, thanks to Merlin’s meddling, it fell to ordinary humans, who often could not resist the temptation of the power their quill possessed. Soon, the last Author had to be captured and punished for his willful and whimsical writing that somehow had changed some details of the events he was reporting on.”

“Wait, wait,” Regina spoke, waving her hand in front of her, completely disregarding the pointed look the sorceress directed at her. “You made the Dark One? Why would you do that?”

Morgan closed her eyes tiredly at the reproach in Regina’s voice. “The alternative was much worse.” The dark skinned woman sighed and clasped her hands on the table, leaning onto her elbows as she drew herself closer to the center of the table and Regina. “This way, all that malice was at least somewhat contained.” When she saw the brunette’s outrage evaporate from her posture, Morgan reached for Regina’s hand, squeezing it gently, her soft fingers contrasting with the other woman’s. “And, that is the only reason why your _teacher_ knew of our existence and power, trying to gain some of it unsuccessfully for decades, before my father swore that if Rumplestiltskin did not yield his pestering, he would count the millennia from the Pandora’s Box at the bottom of the Endless Sea.”

Regina did not miss the strange inflection of Morgan’s gentle voice as she mentioned Rumplestiltskin as her teacher, the narrowed eyes telling her that the Queen of Camelot had known the truth of Regina’s origins. But, as the older woman did not mention anything else of the former Dark One, the Mayor decided to let it be for the moment, as she truly was not in the mood for another discussion of her fathers. “How did you meet Arthur if your people were in isolation?” she asked after a moment of silence given to her to absorb the new information.

“To tell you that, I must begin the birth of my eldest sister,” the healer spoke softly, a tender smile passing her lips as she mentioned her family. “Elain was born first, pride and joy of my father, the leader of our people. In honor of her arrival, he had sent word to the kings and lords of the realms, offering them his assistance only in time of need, and only if it did not cause harm to others. Not many dared to travel to him, but those who had often were rewarded not only with help but also with tokens of the Tintagel line, which signified given help and offer to come again. And, shortly after Elain’s fifth birthday, when my other sister, Nimue, was not even a year old; a scrappy boy with mud and dust covering his face and light brown hair, barely standing at four feet, stumbled into the village, having only dirty ripped clothes on his body and a golden token firmly gripped in his hand. He only managed to utter his request to be taught magic before he passed out from malnutrition and hard conditions of the journey the boy had faced on his way to there. Moved by his determination, my father decided to foster the boy, bringing him up as one of his own, teaching him the crafts as he had done later, with us. The boy would later grow up to become a most famous wizard you know.”

“You grew up with him?”

“Indeed I did. Even though he was different from us, we accepted him as our brother, and Vivian and I adored him when we were children, as sisters often do their big brothers. Even though he was more than fourteen years older than I was, he would often stop what he was doing to help me with my practice or chores. He also helped my father teach Vivian and me the simpler forms of magic when we were young enough to start with the crafts. He was the one who consoled me when Elain had run away from us for reasons unknown at the time. He was also the one who guarded Nimue, Vivian and me on our way to Avalon, where Vi would take her place as the chief sorceress of the island, the Lady of the Lake. He was the one that helped me bring my ill sister and her newborn son to Avalon to heal, giving the babe name Galahad.

However, it all changed when King Uther rode into our village, at the urging of his good friend, the king of the neighboring lands, with his son sitting in front of him, in the saddle. The young man had been hit by a poisonous arrow during a hunt, and none of the healers at Uther’s court knew how to heal the prince. I was eighteen at the time, already helping my father with his work at the House of Healing, and when he alone brought Arthur into Brocéliande, I was the one that nursed him to health. It was then that I got to meet my future husband.” Lost in the memories of a time long past, Morgan tapered off, her eyes gazing into the distance, before she visibly shook herself to present. “In the following years, Arthur spent more time in our village and in Avalon than at his father’s court, and when I was twenty four, our relationship was crowned with marriage, the rites presided over by both my father and Merlin in the castle city that my husband would name Camelot, where he would create the Order of the Red Dragon, both in commemoration of our time spent at the Dragon’s Bluff and his father’s name that he had inherited.

Right after we were married, he was taken to the sword stone where the famous blade rested, waiting for its rightful owner, by one of the priests from the abbey at Avalon, while my sister came to me with one request I could not refuse. As the island was not a place for a child, both my sisters, one in spirit and other in person, were imploring me to take in the boy and raise him as my own, even though the world would know him as the boy from the Lake.”

This time it was a knock on the door that interrupted Morgan in her tale, but she saw the way Regina’s eyes widened in surprise when the younger woman realized who had been the boy. With a somewhat relieved sigh, the Mistress of the House of Healing gestured toward the door, the magic she wielded opening them quietly, showing a young girl standing there, her hand still poised to knock again. “I beg your pardon, your Majesties,” the young woman spoke softly but without fear people usually held while talking to Royals. Regina had noticed that before, as well, but she had been engrossed in Emma at the time, but now she saw the affection Morgan had for her people, as the older woman rose from the chair and walked to the newcomer.

“It is alright, Briana,” the Mistress of the Marble Hall said soothingly as she stepped in front of the young woman. “What is it?”

Regina saw Briana lean in and nervously glance at her before speaking further, her voice low, but still loud enough for the brunette to hear the next words. “One of Brandon’s men is here, with news about the border.” After making sure Morgan wanted it discussed in front of the stranger, the young light brown eyed healer continued. “It is deteriorating at an more accelerating rate, and the men think it will flicker out in three days’ time.”

“I see,” Morgan murmured with a slightly concerned frown, before she smiled at the girl and nodded. “Tell the messenger that I will see to it shortly. Thank you, Briana.” With a gentle pat on the young woman’s shoulder, the sorceress sent her away and closed the door of the room, returning to her seat. “Now, where was I?”

“You just told me that you raised Lancelot,” Regina remarked in amused disbelief. Then she gestured towards the door. “What was that about? Isn’t Brandon one of the guards on the road here? And, why do you have guards, if there is blood magic in the stones circling this place?”

“Yes, Brandon is the Captain of the Guard, and he indeed guards the border because the blood magic is failing. And, before you ask, it is crumbling because an heir to the Tintagel line hasn’t been announced since the last one died, and Gorlois placed some very strict guidelines for the magic in place. One of those was the fact that there must be a contingency for the current ruler of his people, for if the person in charge dies without an heir while the border is still active, Brocéliande would be unreachable to anyone.”

“So, why didn’t you name one after your son’s death?” Regina asked softly, mindful that the topic was a sensitive one.

“I did. As Elain’s son, Lancelot had been chosen to serve as the Heir, even though he refused to be the next Lord of the Tintagel lands. But, your mother killed him to serve her own goals and I was left without kin in the Enchanted Forest.” Shaking her head at the brunette’s lack of response, Morgan sniffed softly, getting herself more comfortable on the sturdy chair, using the wall as a backrest. “Right, so, Lancelot,” she murmured as she pressed down her dress, before she looked at Regina, ready to continue. “Camelot flourished, our son was born, and we lived fifteen years of peace and prosperity, guarded by our loyal knights, Lancelot among the first.” Morgan sighed and bit the inside of her lip as she brought her fingers to a simple gold chain bracelet on her left wrist, holding a great deal of meaning to her. “Mordred was a joyous and happy boy, so filled with life and with most gentle soul, but he was different that the rest of us, and the secret of it weighed heavily on him, turning him moody and isolated, out of fear to be found out and publicly ridiculed, or worse, exiled. And, constant badgering of his father’s Captains to learn how to fight and kill had often brought him to tears, as he did not want to shed blood. He did not see honor and glory in that.” Regina noticed that the bracelet had a runic inscription on a small plate, the letters making a name, the name Morgan spoke with utmost love and heartbreak. _Mordred_. “One evening, he confided in me that he wished dearly that he had been born a daughter, and that I or Merlin, as the best in our fields, perhaps could do something about it.”

The former Evil Queen swallowed against the tightness in her throat as she realized what Morgan was telling her. Thankfully to her exposure to the ‘World Without Magic’ and its intricacies, Regina had learned a lot about sexual identities and preferences, but she also knew how cruel and judgmental her own world could be, and more often than not was to the people who dared to say that they had been born of the wrong gender. If anyone had found out about Mordred, it would have been only his royal blood that would have saved his very life. “Did they…?” she tried to ask, fearing that she already knew the answer.

Morgan inclined her head slowly in answer. She cleared her throat and after a suffering sigh, she spoke. “I was blamed for it. People thought I had done something unnatural to conceive him and now the fair king was paying the price for falling in love with a witch from the Infinite Forest, where only bad things live. It gave Merlin a great opportunity to usher a new queen for him, a more _acceptable_ one.” The scorn in her voice was too obvious, even though the woman showed no outward signs of her displeasure and disdain at the memory. “Not that I blamed the silly girl, she was too dazed by the riches and prestige…” The sorceress reached for her cup and drank deeply, before she smiled sadly at Regina. “It broke my son’s heart and he changed. He became vengeful and obsessed about punishing his father, waiting for his moment. I tried to stop him, but I myself was hurt by how easily Arthur could disregard me… Anyways, we went back to my birth home, where my sister Nimue welcomed us with the news that our father was dying from an unknown malady, and only at his deathbed, he shared the secret of his demise, two years later. By the time I could wrap my hand around it, the news of the new queen’s infidelity reached the ears of our loyal subjects in Camelot.” Morgan chuckled humorlessly as she leaned onto the table. “It appeared that Guinevere grew bored with Arthur’s inattention and with the empty life of a trophy bride and sought excitement elsewhere. Namely, that excitement was with one of the Knights of the Round Table, Bors. However, when the King discovered them, he flew into a terrible fit of jealous rage and drew his magical sword and slew the knight kneeling right there, the man having thrown himself in front of his lord, begging for forgiveness and mercy. That very act of unreasonable madness was what sparked the fracture of the Order and the civil war. I was told later that it had been the moment Excalibur had stopped protecting Arthur, deeming him unworthy of its loyalty.”

Regina rose from her seat and walked to the window, her head spinning as she understood that most of the stories around Camelot’s fate were false. Suddenly, the words her father had spoken on the day of the funeral made much more sense. But, how had he known, she wondered as she placed her hand against one of the two pillars supporting the arches of the window, looking outside, her gaze passing over the entire valley below the cliff. “I thought it was Lancelot who was involved with Guinevere,” the woman noted softly, before she leaned against the pillar with her hands that were pressed against the small of her back, the caramel eyes gentle as they met with the amber ones. “I think most of the world does.”

“It was a clever effort to discredit Lancelot, and many of the knights believed it, because his infatuation with the young queen was a poorly hidden secret. In fact, everyone but the king knew about it, but because Lancelot was too honorable to do anything about it, no one said anything. Not until after Arthur had killed Bors and sent Lancelot away with Guinevere to kill her and bury her in the Marches, where her body would rot for eternity.” The older woman sighed heavily as she, too, rose from the chair and walked not toward the window, but to the bed, looking upon the laid up Savior with an inscrutable expression on her face. “I am sorry that it worked.”

“I assume he didn’t kill her?”

“No, he took her where he knew no one could find her, providing shelter and sanctuary for her. Unfortunately, she fell ill soon after, and perished. If I had to guess I would say that her heart was broken and her soul fled her body, escaping the unbearable pain of existing in the world where she had witnessed a man she had been married to turn into a savage beast, and the man she loved killed right in front of her, with half of the realm baying for her blood. Lancelot even came to me and asked me to try and heal her, but I could not. In his grief, he accused me that I could not get past the fact that she replaced me and that was the reason I let her die. He returned to his king, refusing to speak to me again, for a very long time. But, Arthur descended into his madness and one by one, his knights were killed off in the war, and Mordred grabbed his chance to get his revenge. At the eve of his twentieth birthday, Mordred faced his father’s army with his men, at Camlann, where the two armies fought almost to the last man, and where the both men I loved dearly received their mortal wounds.” Quickly, the woman brought her hand to her eyes, wiping the tears away as she turned away from Regina in an effort to hide her pain. After several minutes she used to compose herself, Morgan continued her tragic tale. “The only people walking away from that battle were Percival, Bedivere and Lancelot. Dear Bedivere arranged for Arthur to be taken to Avalon with my blessing, taking Excalibur with him, to return it to the Lady of the Lake, and he chose to go with his king to the island, leaving these shores forever. Percival chose to remain by my side, and dear Galahad… He saw the man he considered his father figure use the magical sword on the boy he loved like a brother, and he saw Mordred’s sword pass by Excalibur and give a mortal wound to his own father. Something that should have not happened if Excalibur still was loyal to Arthur, but as it turned out, Arthur’s mad attack on Bors broke the sword’s enchantments, rendering him unresponsive to the man that had wielded him solely for the killing of an unarmed man. Lancelot lost everything that day, everything that mattered to him, and from that point onward, he was only a shell of the man he had been before. Not only did he lose his family, but he lost his king, the very ideals he believed in and most of the people still believed that he had been the one to betray Arthur.”

“So, he turned mercenary,” Regina commented under her breath, causing Morgan to direct a sharp look her way. “My late husband used his services often, and so did the other kings…”

“Well, he had to earn his living somehow,” Morgan spoke with false frivolity in her voice before her awkward smile fell off her face and she grimaced in pain. “What was left of Camelot went to Avalon, and the few that decided to stay followed me here, away from the world.” The woman gestured to the walls of the room, her motion encompassing more than just the Marble Hall.

The Mayor pushed away from the arches of the window and slowly she walked to her prone beloved, gently lowering herself onto the bed and reaching for Emma’s hand, needing a tangible connection with the woman after the upsetting history Morgan had shared with her. “I would have thought you would have left for Avalon, as well. To be with your sisters. But, instead, you are here…”

“I remained here because I could not abandon the man I loved as a son - no matter how much he hated me.”

“And, after he died, why did you remain?”

“I wanted to bring his killer to justice. And to keep a promise I made to a dear friend of mine.” Morgan directed a meaningful look at Regina, one that the brunette did not understand. “But, until I could do any of those two things, I chose to stay here, away from the eyes of the Enchanted Forest, allowing my name to pass into legends and stories.”

“You hid, you mean,” Regina remarked bitingly. She didn’t know where the venom was coming from, but the idea that Morgan’s presence in the world could have changed the history was strong in Regina’s mind. It could have made it better. Or worse, she realized suddenly.

But, before she could offer an apology to her host, Morgan made several hurried strides to Regina’s side of the bed and stood before the seated woman, her towering height inspiring tinges of fear in the former Evil Queen. “I am not hiding,” the woman bit through her clenched jaw, every word enunciated and cold, as she pinned Regina with her blazing eyes. “My people and I are not out there not because we are cowards that are waiting for the dust to settle, as you might be inclined to think, but because we do not belong to this world anymore, Regina!” Morgan said, her words getting heated with passion as she glared at the younger woman in front of her. “ _We_ are relics of time that _never_ was, and we have no business in deciding the fate of the people who live and fight out there today.” Suddenly, the sorceress sighed, her fiery temper fading and she sat beside Regina, taking one of her hands into her own, her still sharp look encompassing both her and Emma on the bed. “People revered Camelot, seduced by its promise. Only few realized that Camelot was a noble and remarkable idea, but it had never come to fruition.”

“What do you mean?” the brunette asked softly, after she heard the quiet admission from the woman next to her.

“Camelot fell at the very moment my…” Swallowing hard to stop herself from misspeaking, Morgan glanced away for a moment before she continued on. “Arthur decided that power was more important than the very principle his order was built on: Humility, Righteousness, Honesty, Mercy, Love, and above all else, Loyalty. He was too easily seduced by Merlin’s whispers in his ear.” Morgan’s tone turned wistful at the end, a long suffering sigh escaping her as soon as she finished speaking. 

“You still love him,” the younger woman spoke in a whisper after a moment.

“He was my love,” Morgan replied softly. “He was weak and forgave him for it, a long time ago. But, what he did to our son… That, I could never forgive, no matter how much I still love him.” At Regina’s sympathetic look, the sorceress cleared her throat and released the other woman’s hand, patting her thighs, the slightly awkward move signaling the end of the current conversation. “But, that is not important right now,” Morgan spoke as she rose from the bed. “I don’t know if you caught the part about Brocéliande having different relations to Time, but I feel the need to underline that Emma has been here a lot longer than you think.”

“I did catch that but you derailed me with other things,” Regina answered with restraint, not willing to jump at the woman again for no reason. “How long?”

“Three weeks up to the moment you arrived.”

“So, what, two weeks here is one day outside?” Regina quickly calculated, her eyes going to the Savior, as she considered the fact that Emma had been in pain a lot longer than she had imagined.

“Yes,” Morgan confirmed. “As you can see, it is a rather useful anomaly.”

“That is why your family built the House of Healing here, because it provides you with additional time…”

“Right.”

“You never told me what happened to Merlin. And, your other sister? Nimue, was it?”

Morgan smiled at Regina, a soft chuckle leaving her lips. “Perhaps, another day,” she promised. “But, now, little afal, as I cannot do anything about your mother, I want to fulfil my promise to the dear friend I mentioned.” The older woman let her smile widen at Regina’s startled expression, knowing that particular nickname would bring a lot of memories for the brunette.

“Afal?” Regina murmured in a daze as she looked up toward the Mistress of the Marble Hall. “That is what daddy used to call me when I was a child.” At Morgan’s knowing smirk, Regina narrowed her eyes. “What is this?” she asked immediately, her countenance changing drastically as she was ready to defend herself and Emma with the magic already coalescing in the air around her. “Some ploy to… What, hurt me?”

“I may have given you a lot of leeway, but I will not tolerate your baseless accusations when I have been nothing but good to you and your True Love,” the Queen of Camelot and the last remaining descendent of the Tintagel line spoke with steely edge to her voice, unbothered by Regina’s attempt to amass magic in the room. “You do not talk to me this way, Regina,” she reprimanded strongly, standing firmly in front of the former Evil Queen. “Your father raised you better than this.”

“You know nothing of my father,” Regina threw back.

“Oh, I know plenty of both of them,” Morgan replied with a sneer. “But, I know all about Henry, more than you’ll ever know,” she added firmly, and then, when she saw Regina hesitating, she chose to attack. Or, rather, simply disarm. She grabbed Regina by her chin, the touch giving her enough to cut off the brunette from her magic, and then she gentled her hold. “He was a friend of mine. One I was very sad to lose.” The experienced sorceress understood that her guest was suffering from simple overload of information, on top of exhaustion and emotional distress, and being so off kilter, she had reacted instinctively when one of the old wounds had been poked strongly. Morgan knew how Henry had come to meet his end, she knew the madness that had followed the woman in her hold, but she did not blame Regina for his end. She blamed Cora, Rumplestiltskin, the White monarch, even Henry himself, but not the child drowning in her own pain and misery. “I am not here to exact revenge or anything like that, Regina,” Morgan whispered soothingly into the frozen woman’s ear, bringing her gently into her arms and lowering her down onto the bed, letting Regina lean against her. “The promise I made to your father was to help you and teach you when he is not around.” She placed her fingers under Regina’s chin, bringing the tearful dazed eyes up to look at her. “He hoped I would get a chance to be in your life properly, now that you are away from the Dark One and the Queen of Hearts’ dangerous influences.”

"How?" a weak voice asked after a long silence that had enveloped the room. Morgan looked at the woman, pleased to see that the shock had been replaced by inquisitiveness, the younger queen slowly gaining her composure back. The healer waited for Regina to elaborate on her question, lifting her hand to move the black tresses hiding the other woman's face back. "How did you meet him?"

Instead of answering immediately, the Mistress of the House peered into Regina's face, her eyes boring deeply into the swirling dark eyes. Morgan then turned away, rising to her feet, and took Regina's cup off the table, filling it up with the fresh batch of the drink. Then, she crouched in front of the other woman, placing the cup into the still trembling fingers. "King Xavier was one of the few who dared to visit us, especially when one of his boys was ill. Henry was our favorite. He even had a special name, courtesy of my father." Urging Regina to take a sip, she placed one of her hands onto the woman's knee, squeezing it lightly in encouragement. "Later, he would often visit me in Camelot. Arthur and I were guests at his wedding, and we, with my sisters, were there on your name day. I remember holding you in my arms, while Henry stood proudly by my side, looking at you as if you were the whole world to him. And, you were."

"I doubt that was still true in the end," Regina commented weakly, the memory of that day, forever branded in her mind.

"Did you know that he had come to me right after your banishment?" Moving herself to the bed, beside Regina, Morgan inclined her head with earnestness in her gesture. "He had felt terribly guilty for wanting execution to take place. He said that he had hoped that you would at least find peace, if not happiness, for he hated the fact that you were letting your pain and desire for vengeance blacken your most loving and kind heart." Morgan touched the brunette's left hand, needing her attention. Suddenly, a folded piece of paper appeared right above Regina's palm, before it dropped onto the welcoming hand. "This letter was sent six months after Snow's wedding. You should read it." Leaving Regina with it, the older woman quietly moved towards the door, pausing at the door to add something else, but seeing the brunette stare at the wax seal at the letter as her eyes filled with tears, Morgan changed her mind and left.

The red wax circle was unbroken, the indentation of her father’s sigil still intact, even though Regina could see that the letter had been read, many times. The paper had turned yellow and worn due to passage of time, the creases along the fold lines deep, but she could still recognize the specific brand her father had been using for his communiques. Gently and with care, Regina slipped her finger under the seal, unfolding the letter, gasping as she saw the familiar cursive flowing over the page. But, as she straightened the paper, something fell out of it, hitting the stone floor with a soft, barely heard clunk, drawing her eyes towards it. There, on the ground, lied a necklace, the one she had not seen since she had carelessly flung it away many years before. A thin golden chain with the pendant shaped as a circle with an apple tree in it. Slowly bending over, Regina took it in her hand, letting the pliant metal flow through her fingers onto her palm, her thumb passing over the apple tree in remembrance. It had been a birthday gift from her father, and he had given it to her right after he had returned from one of his travels, while she had been still a child. With the necklace in her hand, Regina clenched it into a fist and looked at the letter, reading the words that had been written more than thirty years before.

> _My dearest friend,_
> 
> _It is with great regret that I am writing you this letter, instead of visiting you as I have promised, but I dare not leave the castle at this time. Also, it is very likely we will not see each other again, my friend, for my darling daughter is exceedingly determined to evoke the Dark curse, preparations for it consuming her completely. So possessed by it she is, she no longer notices anything other than what she needs for her task, having forgone meals and sleep entirely._
> 
> _I sincerely hope that she will find what she is looking for on the other side, as I only want her to be happy. But, I fear, even if there is hope for her, Regina would not seize it, too submerged into the darkness her mother and that wretched creature had inflicted on her._
> 
> _As it well may be that we will never see each other again, I feel the need to offer my deepest gratitude for your friendship. Your guidance and compassion has often given me strength to endure, and your family has made me feel more accepted than mine ever had, and for it, I am forever in your debt. Because I have you in my life, it has been infinitely richer than I had ever hoped. I also hope your ward has not given you much trouble, because last time I saw him I offered several remarks that weren’t much appreciated._
> 
> _However, this old man has a favor to ask. Do you remember the promise I made you give? If, for any reason my daughter returns to the Enchanted Forest, would you keep it? If she does return, I believe she will be in need of help and guidance, Morgana, and there is none other I trust more than you. Especially with her life._
> 
> _With much love and adoration,_
> 
> _Yours,_
> 
> _Henry Dordéan_

Regina frowned at the name signed at the end, recognizing the elvish word for a type of bird. Morgan had said that they had given her father a special nickname, but she didn’t think he had accepted it so willingly, signing his name with it. However, it did explain how he had come with the endearment for her. Little afal, he had called her, and now that she actually thought about it, she realized it meant little apple. That was why he had given her an apple tree necklace and the tree itself; because those had been the things he had associated with her.

Folding the paper carefully, she placed it at the nightstand, twining the chain around her fingers, so it would stay in her hand, as she pulled herself up on the bed, settling herself beside Emma’s head on the pillow, taking the blonde’s hand in her free one. Leaning against the headboard, Regina turned onto her hip. She sniffed, hard, before wiping away her tears, and closing her eyes, she breathed heavily, using Emma’s presence as her focus in order to keep herself under control, for she feared that after many things she had learned that day, if her composure crumbled, she would need days to return to some semblance of being okay.

* * *

“Did you tell her?” Morgan heard from behind her as she passed into the main hall of the House of Healing. Without bothering to stop or turn around, she continued walking towards her private quarters, knowing that her friend would follow her there without a question. In the silence interrupted only with soft footfalls of their feet, the Mistress of the Marble Hall arrived to her destination, a small sunroom off the living quarters and directed herself to the open glass panel leading to a narrow but long terrace. Placing her elbows at the railing, Morgan lowered her head and sighed heavily. “That bad?” Aileen spoke commiserating with her friend, her palm landing gently on the older woman’s shoulder the moment shifter joined her outside.

“It wasn’t bad,” Morgan murmured, leaning her head to her right, knowing Aileen would hear her perfectly. “Exhausting… gut-wrenching…” With another tired sigh, the sorceress glanced at her friend. “I don’t think I have told anyone the story of my life in one setting. Until now.”

“I cannot imagine how it must feel like,” the Wolf spoke gently, as she brought Morgan into a side hug, her arm going around the queen’s back, squeezing the opposite shoulder. “And, her?”

“I left her with Henry’s letter,” Morgan mentioned after a small shrug.

“Do you think it wise?” the shifter asked gently, her concern evident in the lowered timbre of her voice. “Her father must be a very sensitive topic, and after all this…” Aileen gestured to the lower level in a wide sweep of her palm. “The emotional backlash must be pretty brutal for her right now.”

“I know,” Morgan exhaled, pushing away from the railing, her hands going to her face, rubbing it in an exhausted motion, before she placed them back on the stone fence, only now she was facing the glass panels of her room. “But, it was necessary. She needed to know that Henry was my friend, and that she is safe here, regardless of her mother’s and her deeds in the past.” The sorceress pressed her side to her friend’s, as she focused onto the dark blue – silver eyes. “She has to trust me.”

“Poor child,” Aileen commented with a soft exhale. “And, Geilgeis?” she asked with interest.

Morgan looked at her friend and chuckled gently at the name the shifter had bestowed on the Savior. White Swan, indeed. “Unchanged,” the healer spoke, frowning in concern at the mention of the blonde. “I don’t like it. With her self-healing and the unicorn blessing, she should be well on her way to recovery. This long to be entirely unresponsive…” Shaking her head, Morgan grimaced with worry.

“She did spend weeks under that red mist thing,” Aileen offered. “Who knows what residual effect it might have?”

“It’s not that I am concerned about. It’s a magical overload.” Morgan started pacing down the length of the balcony, as she told her friend about Regina healing Emma. “The amount of magic in that room, Aileen, it could have torn the world apart.”

“You expected her to show symptoms of overcharge,” the Wolf concluded after a moment spent following Morgan’s rapid steps with her eyes.

“Frankly, not only show the symptoms, but the whole range of them in full intensity.” Stopping her fast movement, the queen looked toward the door to her quarters. “As the matter of fact, I keep waiting for the summons.”

"Do you think Geilgeis is in danger, right now?" the shifter asked, moving away from the railing, ready to rush out if need be. "Should we go down?"

The sorceress entered her sunroom and went straight to the crystal decanter on a small table right beside some chairs, pouring a hefty portion into one of the glasses, before she turned toward her friend and inquisitively gestured to another glass. At Aileen's nod, the older woman poured the drink again, this time in a moderate amount, before she gave the glass to her friend, draining her own in several quick gulps. Exhaling at the sharp bite of the spirit, Morgan lowered herself into one of the chairs. "Regina is with her, if anything happens, she will know." Tapping her finger against the arm rest, the chief healer sighed. "As for the danger... I don't know; I’ve never had the Keeper of the Balance as a patient before. Anything is possible with that one."

"But your gut tells you that it is coming," the Wolf insisted after she took a sip of the stiff drink.

Morgan looked upwards with exasperation. "It also tells me that I am overly agitated and emotionally drained and that it can contribute to misinterpretation of events..." she added tiredly, rubbing her eyes.

The Wolf woman reached over to her friend, clasping one of the bronze skinned hands. "Well, you know I am here to help."

"I do, thank you."

The two women fell silent, as they let the warm rays of the winter Sun bath them, caressing their faces with light. Occasionally, the healer woman of the Wolves would sip the drink in her hand, her other one still holding on to Morgan’s, proving a quiet grounding presence for the woman who had lost so much in her life. Closing her eyes against the glare of the Sun and leaning back, Aileen thought back to the day when her friend had found out that Lancelot had been murdered. It had been the last straw for the strong woman, breaking her already too scarred heart, and since that day, Morgan had been different. Withdrawn and aloof, the woman had committed herself to a lifetime of isolation, the only goal in her mind had been to find the woman who had killed her sister-son. But, when the news of the Savior had spread through the land, and that Cora had followed the blonde to another world, the sorceress had reluctantly decided to finally join the rest of her family, and live out her days in Avalon, away from the worldly troubles of the Enchanted Forest. However, when the word of the newly reformed Evil Queen had reached Brocéliande, the Queen of Camelot had gained a new fire in her eyes, stopping all preparations for the long journey to the mystical island. It had been then that Aileen had learned about Morgan’s final promise to Henry, the kind man she had met once or twice during his visits to the Infinite Forest.

It had been he who had recommended the Infinite Forest as a place of refuge, his subtle manipulation bringing them right into the fold of Camelot folks. With his intervention, Morgan had offered the Wolves an abandoned village for their usage. Later, the healer had learned that it had been one of the three main settlements of the Tintagel line, abandoned after the fall of Camelot, when most of the ancient family had chosen to leave the shores of these realms. As a prospective healer with unusual talent for the medicine of non-magical variety, Aileen had been invited to Brocéliande where she had gained a lifelong friend in the Camelot queen.

Thinking about her own village, the shifter opened her eyes as something occurred to her. "Hey, I just remembered,” she spoke softly after a long time of silence, hours having passed since the last spoken word. “In my cart, there is a parcel. Grandmother sent over several pelts from the white coat deer." Aileen leaned over in her chair to her friend, smirking slightly when she had seen that her sudden speech startled the other woman.

"White coat deer? Why?" Morgan frowned, quite surprised by the words the shifter spoke. White deer were native only to the Infinite Forest, deep in the west, and notoriously hard to catch or hunt, their speed the least of worries for hunters. Their natural habitats were usually high on the slopes of mountains, in areas quite treacherous to pass, and many lives had been lost while trying to climb the most inhospitable part of the mountain range in the Infinite Forest. Risking the lives of the precious Wolves seemed so unlike Althea.

The Wolf shrugged as she rose from the chair, offering her friend a hand. "It's for the child, she said. The Savior needing a proper coloring and attire for her station, or something..." Guiding them to the stables where Aileen’s cart had been put away, the shifter glanced at Morgan. “I thought, perhaps, to let Rhain, or maybe Selwyn, take a look at it and see what they could make for Geilgeis.”

The Mistress of the Hall smiled gently at the other woman’s proposal. Showing the skins to the cobbler and the tailor did seem like good ideas, so she nodded in agreement, her hand passing over the soft, pliant leather roll in the cart. She was ready to offer a suggestion, when the young healer she had sent to Regina that morning came out of the Marble Hall, running straight toward her with a panicked expression on her face.

“The Savior is seizing,” Gwen uttered urgently the second her feet brought her to her Mistress. The announcement was enough to set both women into a hurried hold, as Morgan had already summoned the magic for the transporting spell. With Aileen in her arms, the witch-queen disappeared from the stables, her precise move landing them only short steps away from Emma’s bed.

* * *

She had fallen asleep, Regina realized as her eyes opened slowly. She was lying beside her True Love, her head dangerously close to Emma’s shoulder, almost leaning on it, while she still had Emma’s hand in her own grip, her other hand tucked closely to her chest, clenched into a fist, with the necklace still in it. With a slowly released sigh, the brunette shifted her head so her chin would touch the shoulder in front of her, and gently threw their arms around Emma’s belly, still lying on her side.

“I know I should be patient,” Regina whispered softly into the blonde’s ear. “And, let you rest and heal in peace. But, I worry, darling. With every second gone without seeing your beautiful eyes, my concern grows stronger.” She brought her nose closer to Emma’s neck, the sharp herbal scent of the ointment she had lathered over the Sheriff’s skin slightly unpleasant to her, but Regina didn’t care much about that, because she could detect the familiar fragrance of her beloved underneath.

As the lids slid slowly over her eyes, Regina cleared her throat discreetly. "But, until you are ready to join me, I will honor your request," she added in half whisper, her exaggeratedly formal speech more for Emma's benefit than her own, the blonde's humorous and sarcastic genuflection coming to Regina's mind, bringing her to weakly smile at the unconscious woman, before she started speaking. She began with the most important topic of all, their children.

But, as she was telling Emma about Kyle's impressive catching up, Regina noticed that the hand in her hold was no longer cool to touch. At first, she had dismissed it because hand holding normally did tend to heat up the palms. However, only minutes afterwards, she noticed that the shoulder she was leaning on was uncomfortably warm, as well. Tapering off, she brought herself up onto her elbow and peered down at her beloved, her eyes widening at the flushed skin. Quickly, she brought her hand to Emma's forehead, hissing in frustration when her fingers encountered unnatural heat.

Jumping off the bed, Regina didn’t even think about it, but the second her feet landed on the floor, the door to their room swung open, the sturdy wood slamming the stones of the wall quite hard, the noise of the hit reverberating strongly throughout the corridors.

Hardly even reacting to the startling sound behind her, Regina uncovered the Savior, frowning at the heated but dry skin the blonde exhibited. "Gwen," her voice spread through the infirmary level as she was trying to think of the most suitable way of bringing Emma's fever down.

Then she saw a muscle in the Sheriff's arm twitch. "No," Regina murmured helplessly as she watched another twitch appear in Emma's right leg. "No, don't you dare do this!" she said as she kneeled beside the Savior's limp body, her hands expertly moving her beloved onto her side, witnessing the spasms spread over the entirety of Emma's body.

Her panicked shouts brought the young healer to their room, the girl managing to catch only a glimpse of Regina struggling to keep the Savior steady before she tore out in full sprint, no doubt to find and inform her Mistress.

Knowing that help would arrive soon, Regina summoned a piece of stiff and thick leather, managing somehow to place it in Emma’s mouth just in time before the muscles of the blonde’s jaw grew tight, snapping it close, but not doing any damage to the teeth and the tongue due to brunette’s quick thinking. However, the convulsions were getting stronger and Regina had to use all of her strength to subdue her beloved, earning several hits in the process.

“Oh, damn it,” Morgan’s voice sounded from behind Regina, and the black sorceress quickly joined the younger woman on the bed. “We need to bring the fever down immediately,” the witch-healer concluded as she patted Regina’s arm in both consolation and encouragement. Then she turned to Aileen. “Take her to the baths,” she commanded, gently moving Regina out of the way, so the shifter could lift Emma’s body into her arms.

“The second floor?” Aileen asked, as she carefully passed through the door, mindful of her precious cargo.

“No, too late for that,” Morgan shook her head as she squeezed by Aileen urgently. “There is one right around that corner.” As soon as she gestured the direction, the shifter rushed away, the other two women following her in step, until Morgan held Regina back. “Have you ever dealt with cases of overcharge before?”

Visibly holding her temper in check, Regina frowned at the question. “Yes, but I’ve never seen this…”

“One thing you must remember, Regina,” Morgan spoke as she brought them to the washroom, where Aileen was already lowering Emma into freshly poured water filling the lowly sunken rectangle of carved stone. “Not a single speck of magic can be used around her while she is suffering from overcharge this intense.” Then, hurrying into the bathroom, the sorceress kneeled beside the stone tub and touched Emma’s forehead with her hand, sighing in slight relief as she didn’t detect a rise in temperature. “How long can you stay in there?” she asked her friend, drawing Regina’s interest, because she saw no reason for not being able to stay in clear water for long. Until she realized the water did not give out any vapor of steam. Not even thinking, she threw herself on the floor beside the tub and ducked her hand into the water, her hiss of pain as her knees landed on the hard stone superseded but the yelp she let out at the frigidity of the water.

“Regina,” Morgan cautioned, her voice filled with both warning and persuasion, when she saw the anger building in her future pupil, the expression of Regina’s face growing darker with each second passing. “It is necessary to lower her core temperature,” she said firmly, rising to her feet slowly, with her arms in front of her, as she glanced over to her friend, who was watching the former Evil Queen and the benefactor of her family with guarded amazement. Aileen was sitting at the bottom of the pool, in the cold water, Emma’s head limply leaning on her vest covered chest, while the rest of her body was submerged in the two feet of water in the tub, her skin already losing the flushed look.

“So, she can die of hypothermia, instead?” Regina countered angrily, setting herself down on the floor, her eyes pinned to her True Love, unable to deny that the water worked.

The older woman sat beside her and chuckled softly at Regina’s recalcitrant comment. “No need to be dramatic,” she said gently, sharing a teasing smirk with Aileen. “It is only for a short while.”

Right at that moment, Gwen entered with two more healers, Regina recognizing both of them from earlier. Needing no instructions, they created a makeshift cot beside the sunken pool, on the other side from the two queens, covering it in soft towels and blankets that could be easily removed if need be. While the two boys puttered around the bed and the rest of the supplies they had brought with them, Gwen rushed outside, returning only a minute later with several bottles of different colors and sizes in her arms. “Good girl,” Morgan murmured softly in praise as she took one of the bottles out of her arms. “Will you bring Aileen a spare change of clothes,” she addressed one of the boys, as she motioned the shifter to bring Emma out of the water, the young healer nodding and leaving without a word.

“She is still convulsing,” Aileen noted as she rose to her feet with the Savior’s tense body in her arms. Instantly, Gwen and the other boy reached for the unconscious woman, gently lowering her on the pallet, even though it was difficult with Emma having spasms in their hold.

“But, it isn’t as bad as it was before,” Morgan replied as she guided Regina to sit beside Emma. “I know that this is incredibly terrifying, but we must persevere with calm heads,” she said to the brunette, tenderly squeezing her shoulder in support.

Regina swallowed hard against the obstruction lodged in her throat, and placed her palm against her belly, feeling her innards rolling in fear. “What do I do?”

“Her body is fighting off the effects of the excessive magic passing through her system,” the sorceress started gently, gesturing to the girl with the bottle. “That, in itself, is a dangerous situation, but Emma is also weakened by the effects of the mist,” she added gravely.

“I don’t need you to recap what has happened,” Regina suddenly snapped at the other woman, her sharp tone causing Aileen to growl lowly at her. Ignoring the Wolf that was climbing out of the pool, the brunette continued, in a slightly restrained voice. “Tell me what to do.”

Morgan raised her hand in both conciliation for Regina and show of restraint for the shifter. “The thing is, the stronger the attack of overcharge, the faster it works and the less it lasts. Our only job at this point is to keep Emma alive long enough for her body to recover from it.”

“Keep her alive?” Regina gasped, almost falling over at the words the black sorceress uttered.

“And, prevent as much damage as we can,” the shifter added in low tones as she crouched a bit away from the cot, so that the water dripping off her clothes would not soak the bedding.

“How?” the brunette breathed in desperation as she looked at the new person in her vicinity, absently concluding that this was the She-wolf Percival had announced, recognizing the subtle trickle of shifter’s power around the woman.

“Right now, we ease her muscles from cramping, so they would not snap tendons along them,” the newcomer said, gesturing toward the bottle in Morgan’s hand. “That is a muscle relaxant and combined with a massage, it should do the trick.” The Mayor nodded at the wolf-healer’s explanation, also giving permission to Morgan to pour the liquid into a small cup Gwen had already brought to her. “Oh, and by the way, my name is Aileen,” the shifter added as an afterthought.

“Regina,” the former Evil Queen replied inanely as she watched the Camelot Queen force Emma to drink the concoction. Aileen only smiled at the woman, quite understanding the woman’s response. “Come on,” she said gently, nudging the brunette into action. “Let’s start.”

As she brought herself onto her knees for easier access to Emma, she realized that her necklace was still wrapped around her fingers, so she quickly placed it around her neck, it joining the one she was carrying for Emma. Then, she cupped her palms, letting Gwen pour into them the mixed oil blend she would later learn that was made of mixing eucalyptus, lavender, basil, and peppermint oils with almond oil, created specifically for soothing spasms and muscle and tendon pain caused by overcharge. The slightly sharp and refreshing scent of eucalyptus and lavender enveloped the room as she gently spread the oil over Emma’s leg, her hands rubbing it deeply into the skin, while Aileen did the same for the other leg. The two women worked in baited silence, manipulating the muscles of Emma’s arms and legs to relax, while Morgan monitored the Savior for any changes in her condition.

“She is getting hot again,” the sorceress warned after a while, her words forcing Aileen and the healer boys in action, lifting the Savior and lowering her in the water, with the shifter already in it to hold Emma’s head above water level.

The only reason Regina wasn’t the one in was the iciness of the bath, one that Aileen could endure without much trouble, whereas Regina would contract pneumonia afterwards. But, that did not mean that the brunette didn’t spend her every second beside Emma, prostrating herself by the edge of the pool so she would be close by, watching the blonde’s face for any signs of betterment.

Time and time again, they would repeat it all, and so the hours passed. The Mayor could barely move her fingers anymore but she would still knead the trembling muscles of her beloved, her tears falling silently when the Savior would moan in pain, too much taken by her feverish dreams to know reality. Many fears Emma confessed that night, each in the form of a waking nightmare caused by the high fever, each a cause of pain and guilt and remorse for the former Evil Queen. Even though she was by Emma’s side the whole time, watching, listening, consoling, she did not miss the grave looks Morgan and She-wolf would exchange, nor did she miss the faltering beat of Emma’s heart, weakened by the strain, first from the red poison, then from overcharge. She knew that her beloved would not be able to endure for much longer. That high and persistent fever would have been deadly for any man, but the Sheriff held on, only by the skin of her teeth.

The morning came quietly, almost unnoticed. Morgan was leaning against the wall closest to the pallet, while the shifter was laying beside her, soaking up on her warmth, the regular ice baths taking their toll on the strong countenance of the Wolf. The two women, although beyond exhausted, held on to their waking states, watching the young ones lying beside the bathtub. Regina was whispering something in Emma’s ear, hoping that at least her voice would help with the terrors the blonde had experienced that night, firmly holding her hand, as if the pressure alone would be enough of an anchor to keep the blonde in the realm of the living.

But, then, the shifter lifted her head in a sudden move, her frown filled with agitation. “Quiet,” Aileen ordered, as she brought herself up to her knees, leaning over the Savior’s pallet, her hand urging Regina to heed her. “She is not breathing,” the Wolf spoke urgently, quickly placing herself at Emma’s head, opening her mouth widely and lifting her chin. “And, her heart is stopping,” she added quietly, ready to give the breath of life, glancing up at her friend. However, when she saw Morgan’s clenched jaw and widening nostrils, she faltered. It had been truly amazing that the Savior had lived this long.

Regina saw the woman hesitating and in a powerful raging move, she pushed her away. “I am not letting her go,” she screamed at the people in the room and placed her hands on Emma’s chest, thanking all the gods she had learned CPR in Storybrooke. “You may have given up,” she said, instead of counting the beats. “She may have, as well. I am not going to.” Lowering her head down, she breathed out, filling Emma’s lungs for her.

“Regina,” Morgan spoke after several repetitions, her voice only a heartbreaking whisper.

“No,” the brunette snapped, continuing on with the CRP. “Come on!” A rib cracked under her strength, but she pressed on, mumbling numbers under her breath, interspersed with anguished pleas for Emma to react and not leave.

“Regina,” the Camelot sorceress tried again, but the dark eyes that glanced up at her were blazing with fire, the rings of purple, pink and white swirling with the molten dark, the force of Regina’s look taking Morgan’s breath away, and sending a shiver along her spine. The woman in front of her was radiating so much power that she dared not stand against her, even though Morgan was more experienced and knowledgeable in the crafts.

Suddenly, Regina stopped, her eyes losing the additional coloring, and the magic tapering off. However, she did not seem lost in anguish, as one would expect of someone who had just lost their loved one. No, the brunette still held her determined expression, however, it was rather focused on her hand, than on Emma. And, the others saw why it was. Her hand had started crackling, electricity running along her skin, the bluish glow of the power lighting her face in an eerie light. She pressed it against Emma’s heart and the second she touched the bare skin of the blonde’s chest, the Sheriff convulsed with the power running through her. Once more, Regina repeated her move, only this time, when she pulled away, the shifter could hear something that had not been there moments before. A heartbeat, weak and slow, but there, followed by a shallow breath taken by the Savior. It was followed by another, and yet another, its rhythm becoming stronger with each new beat.

The former Evil Queen sat back on her haunches, her breath leaving her in short spurts, as she trembled, not knowing whether to cry or laugh, and somehow doing both, gathered in Morgan’s hold. However, her blubbering didn’t last for long because, the very second Aileen confirmed that Emma was going to be fine, Regina passed out, her eyes rolling in her head and her body limply leaning onto Morgan.

“They are truly meant for each other,” the shifter said gruffly, her voice holding the edge of her emotions. “Each fighting to their last breath, not giving up on the other.”

“They are bonded beyond anything this world has ever seen,” Morgan agreed softly, cradling Regina’s head onto her shoulder.

“Do you think it safe to move them?”

“Yes,” the sorceress spoke to her friend. “I believe Emma’s overcharge is over, apart from maybe a simple case of exhaustion. They will be much more comfortable in bed, and they deserve the rest.” She did not need to say that the two women would be watched over until the danger truly passed. So, with the help of the younger healers, Aileen and Morgan moved the two women into the room they had been using previously, settling them gently into the bed. The sorceress pulled the curtain over the pane-less windows, preventing the daylight from bothering her charges, before she sat down onto one of the chairs, preparing herself for the vigil, letting Aileen take the first sleep. 

* * *

Regina's eyes snapped open, the brunette startled awake by a soft murmur of her name coming from very close by. Taking a deep breath, she turned to her side, lifting herself onto her elbow, looking down at the still sleeping woman, barely recognizing the blonde's features in the darkness of the room.

"I don't think she is having bad dreams," a whisper came from the seat by the window, hidden in the darkness, making Regina look toward the owner of the voice, where she only saw the two eyes glowing slightly in the dark. As she frowned, peering into the shadows to confirm the identity of the intruder, Regina heard a strike over some kind of stone, creating sparks in the darkness, and immediately after a small candle was lit, its weak flame casting light on the familiar woman's features, the warm expression on the shifter's face welcoming Regina.

"Aileen?" the royal spoke softly, her confusion clear in the small furrow of her brow, as she brought herself up into the seating position, throwing one arm around her knees to hold herself up. "What are you doing here?" she asked, her other hand pulling the blanket around her.

"Did you really think you would be unsupervised after what has happened?" the Wolf said in answer, her gentle voice barely louder than a whisper from before. Then she took hold of the candle and rose to her feet carefully, so she wouldn't dislodge any of the pillows and furs on the window seat, walking up to a simple chair beside the bed, the one Camelot-Witch had been using earlier, and she sat down, placing the light source onto the night table. Noticing Regina's look at Emma, now that there was more light in the room, the shifter spoke again. "Except from occasionally murmuring your name, she is sleeping firmly, on her road to recovery. Morgan bound her ribs, and she said they were healing nicely and quickly."

"How long was I asleep?" Regina asked, not looking away from Emma, even though the other woman was right behind her.

"It is only evening now, child. Morgan reckons you should rest more, at least for several days." At Regina’s soft snort of sarcastic disbelief, Aileen smiled, leaning back, crossing her arms over her chest, quite ready to spend the rest of her vigil in such a position. As she crossed her legs, she noticed a discrete look directed her way, the brunette conducting a scrutiny of sorts. Catching dark eyes in her gaze, Aileen smirked at the royal. "No need to be shy around me, your Majesty. You can ask your questions." Leaning slightly forward, the Wolf winked at the woman, her strange eyes drawing Regina's attention. "But, if I seem familiar to you, it's because you have saved my family."

"So, you are related to Liam?" the brunette prompted, as she pulled herself back, fluffing her pillow behind her back, all in an effort to make herself more comfortable. Aileen chuckled when Regina fussed with her blanket, tucking it over her uncovered shoulder, before she looked at the shifter, waiting for an answer.

"He is my son," the Wolf replied simply. "My eldest and pride of my people."

"I have no doubt," the monarch replied quietly, in agreement. "I have left him in charge of protecting my children, because I know he is worthy of my, and Emma's trust." At the mother's proud and pleased smile, Regina sighed softly, thinking of her own children, missing them dearly. But, it had been Henry who had told her that Emma needed her more for the moment, and it made it easier for her to stay away, although not much. "Have you seen him since Emma took him from the village?" she asked gently.

"Once, a couple days before the battle," the shifter replied. "One of his men had died and the Savior brought him and the body into the village, for the burial rites." Regina had heard of the man's demise, Liam himself having told her of it. "It is not unusual for us to spend much of the time apart," Aileen said sadly. "However, it doesn't mean I am not hungry for any news of him."

Smiling at the subtle plea for stories of Liam, Regina nodded gently, before she told the Wolf about her more than capable son, most of her words inspired by Emma's accounts from the diaries, but several things she had to say from her own experience with the Chief. Not long afterwards, Morgan came with the food, relieving the Wolf-healer from her shift.

"I didn't think I'd see you up for a while yet," Morgan spoke softly, mindful of the sleeping woman, as she brought a bowl of fortifying broth to Regina.

"I never was for much sleeping," the brunette replied with a meaningful grimace, before her face was overtaken by a grateful smile for the food and company. She glanced toward Emma and sighed. "Lately, dreams do not provide the escape or comfort, one should hope for."

The Camelot Queen smiled in understanding as she sat down, her amber eyes taking in both the women on the bed. "Hopefully, that would change now," she said, looking pointedly at the blonde.

Regina hummed in agreement, eating the fulfilling warm soup. In a short time she was done with it, leaving the bowl beside the candle, as she settled back in her previous position, her eyes on the older woman watching her.

"You want to know, don't you," the older royal spoke after several moments of steadily building awkwardness. "About Merlin?"

"Actually, I was about to ask about daddy, but I won't say no to _that_ story."

Morgan snorted at Regina's eagerness, crossing her legs. "It's not a pretty one," she prevaricated, rolling her eyes at the brunette's raised eyebrow.

"Like most ones involving people with power," Regina noted wisely.

“Alright, then,” Morgan sighed unhappily, brushing off some lint off her silk covered knees. “You remember I told you Nimue remained in the Infinite Forest, with our father?” Receiving confirmation in the form of a nod, the sorceress continued her tale. “On his deathbed, our father shared his well-founded suspicion about the cause of his illness, pointing his accusing finger at the man he had adopted as a son. Merlin had come to him, demanding the control over the Authors to be given to him, because he had presented himself as the only viable choice of the successor left, since I had been married and too busy with the court and children, Elain had disgraced father with the child out of wedlock, Vi had been ordained as the Lady, and dear Nimue would not amount to anything in his humble opinion. Father, of course, had refused him, telling him never to return to the Infinite Forest. Shortly afterwards, he had fallen ill. My sister and I had been too shocked to learn about father’s accusations and we hadn’t done anything regarding them, as we were too busy with the funeral arrangements and grief, until the news of Guinevere’s betrayal reached us, pushing the issue completely to the side. Vivian came to father’s burial, remarking the oddest thing to the two of us.” Morgan looked at Regina, noticing her attentive expression. “You might have wondered why Lancelot is called that, if his birth name was Galahad,” the sorceress said with a pointed look. “At the time he had come to live with us, Elain had written to me, telling me to think of a new name for the boy, because she wanted to protect him from her sins. And, so, I came up with Lancelot.” She smiled at the memory of the young boy, too eager to rush into the Knights’ practicing grounds. “No one in the know thought it odd at the time, until Vivian spoke of Elain’s reaction to the knowledge who had given Galahad his name. Namely, my sister was overcome with rage and anguish at the same time, locking herself up in her quarters for weeks, confessing to Vivian that she had believed Nimue had named him, because she had mentioned the name before. And, the reason she wanted another name for her son was, as Vivian learned, Elain didn’t want Merlin to know who the boy was, as he knew his birth name.” Unable to sit still, Morgan stood up and walked slowly to the window, pulling the covering for a bit, to let some fresh air in. “While I was away, trying to heal Guinevere, Elain had snuck back into the Enchanted Forest under a disguise, meeting with Nimue at their childhood spot, where she shared a secret, one so dark and damaging that the mere action of shedding light on it broke Elain completely. Visiting our father’s grave, she waited for me to return, before she left for Avalon, swearing that she would never leave the island again. She died not long after, despite Vivian’s best care.”

Regina listened to the story carefully, her frown deepening with each new detail, before her eyes widened in realization, when something she had learned from Emma had helped her understand the reactions of the eldest sister. “Lancelot was a child of rape,” she whispered in disgust and sorrow, the last for the woman who had suffered. “And, Merlin was the culprit.”

Morgan was leaning against the wall, looking out of the small part of the window uncovered, her body almost hidden in the darkness, but Regina could see the twisting features of grief, anger, and betrayal marring her face. Clearing her throat, the sorceress spoke again, acknowledging Regina’s supposition. “The man who was our brother in everything but blood had done us so much harm… And, yet, none of us could really believe it. Not until Nimue shared what Elain had told her. But, while we were dealing with our outrage, our brave sister concocted a plan to get justice for Elain and our father, luring Merlin into an expertly set trap, right here within the borders of Brocéliande. She used magic to make herself look exactly like Elain, sending a message to the wizard that she wanted to meet him, throwing in some forgiving words. But, when he showed up, coming to her, Nimue unveiled herself and entombed both of them in one of the caves not far from here, the dragon magic preventing Merlin from setting himself free. You see, the spell Nimue used was an old one, one our father never had taught to Merlin. As long as a trace of her remains in that cave, it shall remain sealed, and since her body cannot be removed from there, that is likely to be for an eternity.”

“Did Lancelot know?” Regina asked softly, wiping her tears of her cheeks.

Morgan nodded sadly. “He learned of it shortly after Elain’s burial, two months after Arthur and Mordred had died.”

After a while, Regina brought her hand to the apple tree necklace around her neck. “What does my father have to do with all of this? That is, I presume the ward he spoke of was Lancelot.”

“Henry was the reason Lancelot returned to me. When you were about to be married, you and your family were moved to the White Castle. There, Henry met with Lancelot, and already knowing my side of the story, he convinced my wayward boy to let go of his grudge he had held against me for Guinevere’s death.” Morgan turned away from the window and sat beside Regina, taking her hand into hers. “Lancelot told me the exact words Henry had told him. _A broken heart can be just as deadly as any mortal malady_ , he had said to my boy, and Lancelot to me.”

“When was this?” Regina asked with a deep frown, something about the phrase familiar.

“Right before your wedding night, about the time your _teacher_ reappeared,” the Camelot royal said meaningfully, knowing that Regina had realized why Henry had said that. “It was then, he made me promise not to interfere in your life for as long as Cora and Rumplestiltskin were part of it, no matter what.” Bringing her other hand to Regina’s face, she wiped away an errant tear, before she offered a saddened smile to the younger woman, squeezing her hand. “But, all of that is in the past, Regina, and you, I am afraid, have the future to worry about. So, I am going to leave you to get some more rest.” Patting Regina’s knee in goodbyes, Morgan rose from the bed, and quickly left, giving the brunette no time to say anything in response. The former Evil Queen chuckled softly at the sorceress’s escape, and lied back down, her brief foray into the waking world leaving her tired and sore. With her face, and body, turned toward Emma, she fell asleep only inches away from her True Love.

Three more times she woke to find someone else in the room, either Morgan or Aileen, standing, well, sitting, guard over them. The healer in the room would engage her in small talk to pass the time, sometimes bringing her food. Then, Morgan came to her with a peaceful smile, the third evening of their convalescence. The sorceress told Regina that the vigil was over, because both her and Emma showed definite signs of improvement and healing, and all they needed was more rest. Placing a gentle affectionate kiss on the top of Regina’s head, the Camelot Queen smiled softly at the women in bed. She murmured that the food would be delivered every meal-bell and that they should join them outside when they were ready. With a gentle squeeze of Regina’s shoulder, Morgan said her goodbyes and left.

* * *

Once more, the brunette startled awake, in the middle of the night, the slight shift of the bed alerting her to movement near her. Blinking away the last remnants of her sleep, she looked around in the soft light provided by two candles that were almost burnt out, left behind by the healers. It was visible enough for Regina to see a figure sitting at the foot of the bed, back turned toward the brunette. “Emma?” the Mayor murmurs softly, not moving, as she was overwhelmed with joy that her beloved was finally awake, and there was no need to rush – so Regina took her time, letting her eyes pass over the beater-covered body in front of her, most of the shoulders obscured by the wavy unruly hair. Slowly, Regina brought herself up, bending her knees and propping herself with her left arm placed behind her, her other arm unconsciously reaching out for the seated woman in front of her. But, as she drew closer, Regina noticed that the blonde was too still, her shoulders and back tense, almost vibrating with apprehension. “What is wrong?” she asked softly, shifting her own body so she could sit beside her.

However, the moment the bed yielded under her, Emma turned her head to look at her, her eyes flying over Regina’s features, the poor lighting preventing the brunette from seeing much apart from the longing gaze passing over her. With a heavy sigh, the Savior opened her mouth as if she were to say something, but then she changed her mind, shaking her head, and pushing away from the bed, her steps weak and halting before she reached the table, leaning heavily against it, her eyes not moving away from Regina.

“You don’t have to keep it in anymore,” Regina said gently, as she glanced worryingly over Emma’s shaking knees and bare feet on the cold stone floor. “There is no need for you to be strong for me, or anyone else,” she added softly, remembering Archie’s cautious warnings. “Share your burden with me, my love.” As she spoke, she brought herself up to her feet, her every action exceedingly slow and careful, noticing how the much beloved eyes vigilantly followed her every move, each inch that took Regina closer to the Sheriff caused the blonde woman to get more tense. Almost, as if Emma was afraid of her, of what she might do. Or be, the royal concluded sadly. She was afraid, terrified even, Regina realized, because she believed her True Love was not real. Casting a look around them, she could see that the room was somewhat mirroring their last meet, with the dimness and lack of windows – the curtain not seen in the shadows. It was too similar to the place in Emma’s mind, and the parallels were making Emma extremely wary and fearful.

“You still don’t think I am really here,” Regina murmured softly, coming closer to Emma, so close that she could feel the heat coming off of the pale skin before her. If only she moved her hand for an inch, her fingers would touch the beloved in front of her. The former Evil Queen had an idea how to help Emma come to her senses, her thoughts making her chuckle within the solitude of her mind.

With careful moves, the brunette stepped around the Savior, coming to her side and bringing her head beside Emma’s, almost cheek to cheek. “Can’t you feel my breath over your skin?” she asked in a sensual whisper before she blew a warm breath at the bared neck, enjoying the sigh of goosebumps appearing afterwards, followed by a barely there shiver. Lifting her arm, she placed her palm onto Emma’s, squeezing it lightly before she pulled her hand upwards, letting her fingers trace the soft skin on the underside of the forearm, coming to the crease of the elbow. “My fingers, don’t they seem real?” Slowly, she brought her fingers down to Emma’s palm, intertwining them with Emma’s for a moment, before she lifted it and brought it to her cheek, using her own palm to press against Emma’s, letting her own heat warm the slightly colder skin of her lover. “Do you not feel _me_?” She noticed the pulse quickening in the hand she was holding, followed by heavier breathing and slight tremors shaking Emma’s frame, as the woman in question swallowed hard, her eyebrows brought closer in expression of disbelief overpowered by reluctant hope. “I am here, Emma,” Regina uttered insistently, slowly tracing her hand up Emma’s, reaching the blonde’s shoulder and neck, gently winding her fingers into the soft tangled strands. “I am alive and with you, here,” she said, gently pulling Emma’s head down, bringing it closer to her own. “All you have to do is accept it.”

Shuddering, Emma closed her eyes, allowing Regina’s insistent hand to guide her head, and she leaned her forehead against Regina’s, a harsh sob fighting through her body the very second they met. “Regina,” she gasped, feeling the warm lips touching hers, lightly but lovingly, and after a long moment of just experiencing the soft contact, Emma responded, sharing a chaste but heartfelt kiss with her True Love. Breaking the kiss, Emma moved her hand off Regina's cheek, gently guiding it into thick dark hair, while she brought the other onto Regina’s hip. Murmuring softly her name, Emma pulled the brunette into a clumsy, unsure and slow hug, as if too long had passed since her last human contact.

“I am here,” Regina would respond to each murmur of her name, placing her lips over Emma’s temple, with her hands roaming Emma’s back and neck, worried by the shivering the blonde exhibited. But, when a quaking sob broke out of the Savior, Regina felt Emma’s knees buckle, and only due to her reflexes and shift in balance she prevented them from ending up on the hard floor. Wasting no time, she brought Emma to their bed, inelegantly arranging the covers over them because the blonde refused to let go, her weeping moans overtaking her completely. “I am here, my love,” she whispered into the ear that wasn’t currently pressed against her heart, embracing Emma firmly in her soothing hold, her heart hurting as she watched the strong woman in her arms fall apart.

Hours later, Emma’s body was too exhausted to continue crying and sobbing, and the blonde’s breathing evened out, but Regina knew that the woman was not sleeping. No, Emma was still holding her beloved tightly, her ear firmly pressed to Regina’s chest, where she listened to the strong beats of the steadily working muscle underneath. The brunette used her fingers to caress Emma’s back and neck, often passing through the blonde tresses, gently untangling them, letting the Sheriff absorb the affection in silence, once in a while lifting her head to kiss her love on the forehead, slowly lulling her in restful sleep, following her shortly.

In the morning, the brunette was woken by a soft one sided conversation happening in the room. “Don’t worry, Geilgeis, we’ll have our time later,” Regina heard the shifter speak to her beloved, before leaving the room, having removed the curtain from the windows and brought food and some clothes for Emma. In the light of the day, she saw her lover turn to her, the tired eyes still not returned to their previous coloring, but they were close enough.

“Hey,” Regina murmured softly, bringing herself closer to Emma, their noses gently touching.

“Hey,” the blonde responded affectionately, her voice hoarse from the night before, saying nothing more. And, she did not need to, all her emotions clearly shown in her eyes, as she took in her beloved’s face in the bright light of the morning, made more beautiful with a loving smile Regina gave her.

Regina yearned to kiss the life out of the woman in front of her, but she didn’t want to rush Emma, especially not after the previous night. She would follow the Savior’s lead in intimacy; however, her honorable decision did not lessen the desire coursing through her body, the fire fanned by a soft upturn of Emma’s lips. However, the blonde found a way to douse the building craving by a simple uttered word.

“Others?”

Smiling at Emma, Regina pulled away from the blonde, but not before landing a gentle peck on Emma’s cheek. Uncovering herself, she got out of the bed, dressed only in the linen shirt Morgan had provided for her. “Tell you what, why don’t you get dressed and join me at the table, and I’ll tell you everything you want to know,” she said over her shoulder, picking a piece of bread from a platter on the table, before she tossed it into her mouth. Then, passing Emma on her way to the window seat where the rest of her clothes were placed, she teasingly touched the blonde’s shoulders with a smirk on her face.

Having quickly dressed up, the women sat at the table, and in between bites, Regina told Emma the happenings in Storybrooke, not going into much detail but covering all the important things, most elaborately speaking of their children. When she saw the curiosity and desire to learn more of Henry and Kyle’s adventures, the brunette started telling stories about the kids in more detail, making Emma chuckle softly at some of the anecdotes. All the while she was speaking; Regina scrutinized her beloved, taking note of the lessened emotional response and unwillingness to look away. The Mayor sighed with the realization that it all seemed unreal to the Sheriff, although the truth seemed to be slowly sinking in, with each new story and gentle touch.

Even though Regina shared most of the things of the past two months in Storybrooke, she was careful not to mention her encounter with the spy from Oz, and subsequent curse on Henry. Not because she believed Emma didn’t deserve to know, but because Emma’s reaction to Sidney’s attack had not been dismissible. The blonde had pushed away from the table, ready to crush the man with her bare hands, even after Regina had told her of the resolution, and such volatility of temper was hardly helpful in Emma’s emotional and physical recovery.

So, in the interest of Emma’s recuperation, and her own, Regina suggested that they go for a light walk, to ease the blonde into everyday routine, especially after such a long time of unmoving, and, right after their meal, slowly, the two women set out. At first, the brunette thought that their expedition was about to end even before it had started, as she realized that to go outside, Emma would have to climb three sets of stairs, spiraling upwards. However, the Savior sighed heavily at the sight of the winding staircase and bravely started the climb, smiling weakly at her beloved when Regina insisted that they take a small break.

“Oh, dear, I did not think you would be going anywhere today!” greeted them as they stepped onto the marble floor of the ground level. Regina turned, smiling at the woman approaching them in a rushed walk, placing a soothing hand on Emma’s shoulder, her subtle touch showing the blonde that it was all right and that the woman was a friend. “Not ones to dally, are you?” Morgan asked rhetorically, as she led them to her private quarters. “Come, please, have a seat,” she offered as she flagged one of the boys in white linen uniform. “See that our guests are moved to the private quarters on the first level,” she ordered him before sending him away, already pouring the women tea.

Regina accepted both cups, passing Emma’s along, as she was seated closer to Morgan. “I was tired of the room, and it would do us some good,” she said, looking into Emma’s eyes, easing the suspicion in them, before she directed her look at their host, taking a sip.

“Well, I must say it is lovely to see you up and about, Keeper,” Morgan spoke, not missing the tightening of the skin around Emma’s eyes. Sharing a look with Regina, the sorceress tried again. “Do you prefer Savior, or Sheriff?”

Emma lowered her cup, swallowing her sip, before she looked up to the black woman in front of her. Regina had explained in broad strokes who the sorceress was, and how helpful she had been, but Emma did not know her, and thus, didn’t trust her. However, since Regina was vouching earnestly for the woman, with all the looks and touching her thigh discreetly, the Sheriff was prepared to play nice, as it were, with the woman. “Emma,” she said in her raucous low voice, before she cleared her throat. “I prefer Emma,” she added, slightly louder, but with the similarly rough quality to her voice, the product of not speaking for a long time, and the fever. Then, to ease some of the expectant tension, she continued. “When I am not in a position of power and responsibility, that is. When I am, Sheriff and Savior would do.” The slight quirk of her lip clued Morgan on the teasing, at the same time when Regina’s soft chuckle did.

After that, the three women settled in a short chat, Emma keeping to one word answers, as they drank their tea. When they were finished, Morgan looked at the blonde and smiled. “I assume you are going to need a bit more than what you have on now to go outside?” she asked, making Emma look at herself with a frown. Dressed in deep green velvet leggings, a thick matching velvet jacket and sheepskin boots, Emma looked very beautiful, but it was not enough to protect her from the cold of the winter.

“I have something for that,” Regina replied, summoning the bundle she had left on Shadow’s saddle, taking the sword out of it. Giving the sword back to its rightful owner, Regina had to smile at the cautiously delighted look that passed through Emma’s eyes as she reached for it. Then, the brunette turned to the remaining bundle and with one hand gesture, it turned back into its previous shape, placing it over Emma’s shoulders, settling down on them perfectly. The rich black velvet fitted with fox fur on the underside flowed over Emma’s body, showcasing her powerful figure impeccably. “There,” she said, with her hands on Emma’s shoulders, gazing lovingly upon her hero.

“Indeed,” Morgan agreed, her voice breaking the adoring look the two women had been sharing. “Well, have a good time on your walk, and we’ll catch up later.”

With another smile for their host, Regina led Emma outside, letting the blonde take in the surroundings, as they strolled about the village. Then, as they passed the last house, they walked toward the walled part of the cliff, the place obviously serving as a viewpoint of sorts, with the benches and all.

“What’s wrong?” Regina asked softly as they sat down, having witnessed Emma’s false starts several times. “Are you in pain?”

Emma shook her head in answer, before she turned toward the village. “They speak…” she started, before she had to clear her throat again. “As if, we are on vacation. Without hurry.” The frown marring still pale face deepened. “And, you do the same.”

Regina nodded in understanding, before she kissed the blonde’s forehead in an effort to ease the burrows. “I forgot to tell you about the way time moves here,” she murmured as she brought Emma in a side hug, narrowing her eyes in worry when the blonde leaned tiredly against her. “We are on vacation, of sorts. It is because two weeks here equal one day on the outside of Brocéliande, and that gives us the time we need. Time you need.”

Emma hummed as she took in the knowledge her lover shared with her, before she lifted her head, deciding to say something that had been troubling her since Regina had done that small piece of magic on her cloak. “There is something wrong with my magic,” she whispered, looking away from Regina, afraid that her admission would cause an unforeseen reaction. But, she didn’t need to doubt her beloved, because the brunette used her finger to bring Emma’s eyes back to hers, caressing Emma’s cheek gently.

“You have suffered through a very serious magical exhaustion overcharge,” the brunette spoke softly. “It might take a while for it to build back up.” Then, she brought her finger to Emma’s lips, stopping the wallowing comment before it could be formed. “You have the time. Take it. Don’t worry about it.”

“Time,” Emma mumbled, kissing Regina’s finger before she pulled her hand away, holding it in her own. “Because it moves differently,” she added absently, as she looked over the cliff, her eyes noticing a river and bare patches of land below, as she sighed tiredly. “Why not?” she sighed with exasperation, leaning her head against Regina’s shoulder. “If there is the Infinite Forest, why wouldn’t there be a timeless one?”

Regina softly snorted at Emma’s familiar frustration with the magical places and objects, pulling the other woman closer. “It is a lot to accept, I’ll give you that.”

“After everything, it’s really not.”

Truly, Regina could agree that after everything they had learned and found out, one more mystery did not add much to the pile. So, she did not say anything more, nodding in agreement when Emma suggested that they return to the House of Healing and find their new quarters. Getting directions from ever prepared Gwen, the two women slowly walked down to the first level of the cliff-side infirmary, admiring the spacious hallways and open view from the windows, providing ample light to the corridors. Turning right, after passing several doors on their way the women came to the large double doors, with one of them opened, and the same boy from before stood at attention beside it. “My ladies,” he addressed the women when they came close enough, inviting them inside. “Compliments of my Mistress,” he spoke as he gestured over the large space, serving as both the living room and the bedroom, one side of the room covered in windows in its entire length. To the side, there was another door, smaller and unobtrusive. “Private washroom and latrine are through there,” he gestured towards it. “If you need anything, someone is always around on this level.”

“Thank you, Keith,” Regina recognized Aileen’s voice coming from behind them. She and Emma turned around to see the woman carrying something large in her arms as she waited by the door. “I’ll take over from here.” When the junior healer left the room, the shifter walked in, depositing her burden onto the freshly made bed. Then she walked slowly around Emma, her eyes narrowed in inspection, judging the blonde’s general health. “If your muscles are sore, a massage would do you good,” she commented. “You’ll find everything in there,” she pointed toward the bathroom, before she turned to Regina. “Don’t put much pressure on her rib. It’s healed but…” Then, as she went to the doors, she looked over her shoulder. “Have fun,” she added with a wink before closing the door behind her.

The second Aileen had left the room, the Mayor had walked to the bathroom door, and now, she stood by it, peering into the dark room. With a small magical surge, she lit the candles lining the walls of the room, providing gentle light, intimate and warm, perfect for relaxation and enjoyment. “Come on,” she urged as she walked in, inspecting the racks of oils, shampoos and bath salts, and towels, chuckling at the sunken bath, or rather bathing pool in the floor. But, unlike the one Emma had been taken to cool down, which was only three feet deep, this one was twice as deep on one side of it, and on the other it was four feet, and fitted with a sitting bench in the pool, so one could sit comfortably and still have their head above the water. And, there, on one side of the pool, a foot away from the edge was a strange block of leather in the floor, along the entire length of the pool, all of its eight feet, and four feet wide, raised an inch above the soft limestone lining the floor. Crouching down, Regina pressed her hand against it and gasped as it yielded under the pressure. “It’s a pillow,” she exclaimed with exhilaration, as she looked at Emma. “Come, take your clothes off,” Regina said immediately as she walked over the rack she had inspected earlier, picking up several pristine towels and a small bottle of lavender oil.

“The Wolf said to have a massage if my muscles are sore,” Emma said, as she eyed the raised pillow reluctantly.

“And, they are not?” Regina asked suspiciously, raising her eyebrow as she looked back at the blonde, over her shoulder. “You are moving too carefully to pass as fine, Emma,” she added slowly, her insistent look finally convincing the Savior to comply.

“I am different than before,” Emma mumbled as she took off her clothes, sighing as she saw Regina place a large towel over the pillow, and bring several bowls of strange smelling oil closer to it, lighting them with her magic. Becoming busy with her boots and leggings, she turned her back to brunette, in an effort to hide at least some of her body from the dark eyes.

“Yes, all that stone carving did wonders for your physique,” Regina commented as she came closer to the blonde, her hands landing gently on Emma’s shoulders.

“It’s not just carving,” the blonde muttered with self-deprecation, her look falling down to her hands, hands that had wielded weaponry that had sent hundreds to their deaths.

“I know,” the other woman said gently, encircling Emma from behind, using the height her still dressed feet provided over her lover to lean her chin comfortably on top of Emma’s shoulder. “You have turned into quite a warrior. But, it doesn’t make you a monster. Or any less beautiful.”

“I did things,” Emma tried again, before a soft hand touched her cheek, turning her head towards the brunette by her side.

“Your friends were very keen on telling what had happened in the time I was away, sharing most if not all of their observations of you. You yourself have written me the most detailed reports on your deeds, Emma. I know that what you were forced to do does not lie easily with you, but that is the price of war.”

“Did you speak to Cheng?”

“He did fill me in on what had happened at the mountain keep, Emma. But, those were not deeds of a monster, dear.” Regina sighed as she saw Emma’s unconvinced look. “Did you react a bit over the top? Perhaps, but considering the day you had up till then, it is more than understandable.”

“I single-handedly killed almost a thousand people that day,” the blonde spoke with an edge, as she stepped out of Regina’s hold, bringing her hands to her face, unbothered by her nakedness now. “It was a bloodbath.”

“They didn’t surrender, Emma. They were the Empire soldiers on the foreign soil – invaders, as the matter of fact, and they did not heed your words to surrender unless they wanted to suffer the consequences.” Regina leaned against the small cabinet Emma had placed her things on, giving her beloved space, but still trying to reason with her. “If you had walked away without involvement, what would have happened?”

“They’d live,” Emma answered quickly, before she sighed again. “And attack the people of Enchanted Forest.”

“Could you live with yourself if that had happened, when you had been in a position to stop them?”

Regina’s pointed question forced Emma to answer truthfully. “No.”

“And, didn’t Commander Cheng tell you that sometimes his people answer only to a show of force?” Getting only a nod in answer, Regina continued, approaching Emma cautiously. “You did what you had to, to save your friends and prevent a greater loss of life. Is it regrettable that so many people had lost their lives that day? Yes, of course, but you had no other choice.” She saw that Emma was on the fence about it, and she realized she had one last thing to say, coming closer to her lover, taking her hands in her own as she looked into the troubled eyes. “Take Mulan for example. She is the best warrior in Phillip’s army, isn’t she? There isn’t one who could stand against her, not even in Midas’s regiments. Right?” When Emma agreed with a murmur, she continued. “Imagine a full regiment of warriors like her, marching on your friends. Do you think anyone could survive such attack?” Lifting herself on her toes, she kissed Emma chastely before she added. “You stopped that from happening.” When Emma grumbled under her breath in response, Regina chuckled softly and pulled her toward the already prepared spot, forcing her gently to lie down onto the towel covered pillow. “Now, close your eyes and relax.”

“You love doing this, don’t you?” Emma mumbled as she turned her head to the side, letting her eyelids close, appreciating the gentle scent of lavender spreading through the heated air of the bathroom.

“My hands on your body?” Regina spoke seriously, as she straddled the blonde, seating herself on the Savior’s thighs as she pressed her hands onto the small of Emma’s back, causing the blonde to moan with pleasure. “What’s not to love?”

* * *

Silence enveloped the softly lit room, interrupted by a quiet murmur of the dancing flames of the candles lining the walls and burning oil occasionally sizzling in the bowls of clay placed around the pool, their scent mixing with the soothing fragrance of oils used for the massage. Sometimes, a light creak of the leather pillow would be heard over the soft whisper of the blazes. That is, until a pleasure filled moan sounded, quickly followed by another one, longer this time, slowly turning into a pleased deep sigh. Gentle hands, slickened by lavender oil lifted from the pale, glistening skin of the lower part of the leg, transferring to the other leg, pausing for a moment before rubbing in a generous amount of freshly poured oil, causing the prone woman to moan again, as the diligent hands worked wonders on the aching muscles of her calf, lifting the leg slightly in the air to ease access.

Slowly, Regina kneaded the oiled flesh in front of her, tracing the muscle lines with her fingers, careful not to cause any undue pain, but to provide relief and relaxation, as well as some gratification. She had started with gentle, caressing touches, gradually pressing down harder, noticing that the woman under her tender care would almost imperceptibly shy away from more intimate touches, tensing up whenever her hands would pass over the inner sides of Emma’s thighs, or the underside of her breasts, her barely there flinches clearly stating that Emma wasn’t ready for any intimacy of a sexual nature, even though her body did show signs of arousal. To make things even more complicated, each delighted sigh or pleasured moan Emma would make, caused Regina to experience a wave of heat, her desire burning through her blood, flushing the skin and shortening her breath. However, the sweat covered brunette respected Emma’s reluctance, constraining her hands to provide only a healing touch.

When she was finished with Emma’s left foot, having already massaged her entire body, back and front, Regina rose slowly from the floor she had been situated on, satisfied that her beloved had dropped into a relaxed doze, her breathing even and deep, finally getting the rest from the walk they had had that day, the rest she needed to heal. But, there was one thing she had wanted to do since she had seen various hair lotions on the shelf in the washroom, and for it, she needed to take a different oil. Straightening up and stretching her back, Regina unbuttoned her sweat doused shirt and dropped it by Emma’s things, wasting no time to disrobe fully, not willing to get oil on her clothes she had been careful with during the massage. However, with what she intended, avoiding oily stains on her pants would be impossible, and with that in mind, she picked another large towel, wrapping it around her middle, its lower edge covering her down to her knees. Then, she walked to the rack with various vials, jars, and bottles on it, taking the one she had seen before, cradling it in her hand as she hummed with satisfaction at the inscription at the top. Almond-Argan-Chamomile it said on the small piece of paper tied to the neck of the dark brown glass bottle. Pleased with her find, Regina also picked a wide-tooth comb and a leather twine from the shelf and brought it all with her as she walked over to Emma, careful not to make much noise. Lowering herself onto the pillow in the floor right above Emma, she gently lifted the blonde’s head and quietly slipped her crossed legs underneath it, creating a cradle of Emma’s head out of her lap and the towel. With tender ministrations, Regina covered each strand of the golden hair with the curative oil, rubbing some of it into the scalp, before she slowly and gently started passing the comb through the hair, removing the knots and restoring its natural shine, lost to the fever and damaging magic that had passed through Emma’s body.

It was strange for the brunette to experience that amount of comfort she received from simply being able to touch her True Love, or pass her hand through the luscious tresses of her beloved, the anxieties and fears she had experienced during her leave soothed away with regular contact. And, after two months of missing the woman dearly, this simple pleasure, the gesture of giving a rub down to the aching blonde was immensely fulfilling. Having Emma asleep in her lap with her face relaxed and peaceful was priceless.

After a while, Regina reluctantly gathered the oiled hair, using her hands to wind it gently into a bun, using the leather twine she had taken earlier to hold it in place, while soaking up the nutritional oils. Then, with a soft caress over Emma’s face and shoulder, she coaxed the sleeping blonde to turn over onto her belly, using another towel to cover her from her shoulders to feet, not for modesty’s sake, but because, even though it was very hot in the room due to burning oils, Emma’s body was slowly starting to cool down, muscles losing their warmth in the state of relaxation, and Regina didn’t want to risk any more trouble for her lover.

Having sorted Emma out, the brunette hummed softly to herself, once more finding herself at the shelf, this time taking some of the salts for the bath she planned to take. After grabbing a handful of a curious and colorful mix, she walked up to the edge of the pool and threw the salts in, before she used her magic to operate the levers used to control the water flow, forcing the boiling hot water to pour into the pool, creating a pleasing smell as soon the steaming liquid hit the salts at the bottom. Glancing toward the still sleeping blonde to check if the hissing gurgle of the water caused the woman to stir, Regina smiled lovingly at her beloved who was still lost in her dreams. When the water reached two inches below the floor level, the brunette stopped the flow, closing her eyes at the steam filling up the room, the vapors smelling of vanilla, honey and lavender. 

* * *

A soft splash of water was what had awakened her, but because it was a gentle sound, Emma did not startle awake, but slowly came to wakefulness, her eyes still closed. She perked her ear and smiled at the quiet sigh she would recognize anywhere, especially since she had had some experience in causing it. Without moving her body, she lazily let her lids separate, showing her the woman she loved slip underneath the water level, enjoying the steaming bath. Shortly after that, the top of Regina’s head broke the surface, slowly emerging, appearing as a goddess in the mist rising of the water, her wet hair slicked back, completely uncovering her face, and for Emma, that face was heaven itself.

Shifting quietly, so the leather underneath would not creak, Emma brought herself to the edge of the pillow, placing her left forearm under her cheek, watching while Regina was enjoying the water. It might have been a little creepy, the blonde thought to herself, but she had missed the brunette too much to care about decency. And, while she was still hesitant to touch and jump back into their relationship, right where they had left off the night before Regina had gone to Storybrooke – mostly because the pain of the days after still haunted Emma and made her fear the next separation, which would come inevitably; Emma was not opposed to looking at her beloved, re-familiarizing with the contours her hands had traced before.

“You can join me,” Regina spoke suddenly, casting a knowing glance in her direction as she treaded water with her arms, the hot liquid coming to her chin.

Emma smiled, before her lips upturned in a rakish grin. “Maybe later,” she murmured, extending her right arm to the edge of the pool, casually dropping her hand in the hot water. “I am good here.”

“Mhm,” Regina smirked at the blonde, her eyebrow curved, as her eyes glowed with mirthful teasing. “Right you are,” she added mischievously as she reached for a sponge, her moves suddenly turning more sensual, purposefully tempting, her alluring dark eyes meeting Emma’s with heat, silently gloating when she heard the blonde choke slightly on her own breath. But, she slowly toned down her seduction, not willing to push Emma into doing something damaging for her wellbeing just because of their lust getting out of control.

Quickly rubbing her skin with the sponge, Regina washed her body, before she swam up to the ledge where Emma’s hand was still lazily treading water. Rising up slightly, she emerged from the water so Emma’s palm would be on her shoulder, and with her hands, she pulled herself a bit up, using her jump to lean over Emma and kiss her swiftly before she returned into the water with a smirk. “Do my back?” she said softly, turning around in the water and offering Emma the sponge over her shoulder.

She heard Emma’s soft chuckle from behind her, and rustling of the leather and towel as the blonde sat up. “Too bad you don’t have one of your hand maidens for this,” the Sheriff remarked teasingly, taking the sponge and dousing it with water, before she lowered her legs into the bath for easier access, tying up her towel to stay in place with one hand. Gently moving Regina’s tresses off her shoulders, she leaned in and pressed the sponge at the base of the brunette’s neck, starting the gentle motion of washing.

“Then, I guess it is a good thing you are handy,” the Queen said haughtily before she hummed in pleasure as the coarse surface of the sponge passed along her spine, scrubbing the skin between her shoulder bones, her soft hum turning into a full-fledged groan of deep satisfaction when Emma abandoned the sponge all together and dug her fingers into the flesh along the spine at the shoulder level, the expert pressure unlocking the knots Regina didn’t even register she had, relieving accrued tension in the root of her neck and shoulders. “Oh good God,” she gasped when the blonde found another one, dismantling it within moments.

“Been spending a lot of time in the office?” the soft whisper of the Savior washed over Regina, when her hands stopped with the knot breaking and lowered down, sliding down Regina’s shoulders and upper arms in soft caress. With one slick motion, Emma slipped into the water, behind her lover, pulling her close in a gentle embrace, her hands resting on Regina’s belly, nuzzling her nose into the sensitive area of the place where the brunette’s skull met the spine, her warm breath causing Regina to tremble slightly.

“Research,” Regina murmured quietly when her head leaned back on Emma’s shoulder, before she turned in Emma’s hold, looking into the gentle green eyes focused onto her face. “Distractions,” she added softly, her hand reaching for the Savior’s cheek, her touch gentle and caring. She could see that the grayish blue pigment of Emma’s eyes was receding, and as the spring green started establishing itself in the irises of her beloved, Regina felt her worries regarding her True Love leave her, at least for the moment.

Under the affectionate regard, the blonde sighed happily, enjoying the surrounding warmth of the water and her lover in her arms. “I love you,” Emma suddenly whispered, bringing Regina’s body closer to hers, leaving no space between them, her hands pressing against the brunette’s back. “I love you,” she repeated softly, her forehead meeting Regina’s.

“I love you,” Regina affirmed gently, with understanding, as she returned the hold just as strongly. It was the first time Emma had said it in a while, out loud at least. It was also the first time the Savior truly believed that Regina was there, with her, accepting her presence as a fact. But, it was also a promise, one that Regina could see Emma intended to keep with every tenet of her being, she herself feeling the same. Holding on, the brunette leaned her chin onto Emma’s shoulder and just enjoyed the full bodied embrace, her eyes closed. She smiled when she felt the blonde’s hand play with the waterlogged tresses, obviously appreciating its newly seen length.

“You are letting it grow out,” Emma murmured softly, the dark lock wound around her finger.

“It was a time for a change. And, after having the same hairdo for almost three decades, one gets bored with it…” Regina felt the Sheriff’s body shake with the slight chuckle Emma let out at her flippant tones. “Speaking of which, we should get out of here,” she spoke as she brought herself to the shallower part of the pool and lifted herself up with her hands, taking a seat on the ledge before rising to her feet, her naked body exposed to the hot air of the room. She could feel the blonde’s hungry eyes over her flesh but before she could comment on that, she saw Emma submerge herself under water, in an effort to stop. Chuckling at Emma’s antics, she wrapped a clean towel around herself, using a smaller one for her hair, before she picked up the ones for Emma to use. Then, she gathered their clothes and left the bathroom, giving the blonde some space.

When she entered their sleeping quarters, Regina stopped at the sight awaiting her. The hearth in the wall away from the bed held blazing fire, warming the room against the evening chill. And, close to it, a dining table was set, laden with food and drinks, its extravagant set up completed by a silver candle holder with three lit candles in the middle. Against it, leaning on the polished silver stood a piece of paper with elegant handwriting strewn across it, a simple M at the bottom denoting whom it was from. However, before stepping to the table, Regina walked toward the bed, where fresh and thick robes were strewn across it, the comfortable garments perfect for lounging in them. Using her magic, the brunette slipped into the soft robe and sorted out their previously worn garb, cleaning them herself rather than to rely on Morgan’s helpful staff, placing their clothes into the dresser she had noticed earlier, standing unobtrusively in one of the corners. Along with their previously worn clothes, the dresser was filled with other garments, obviously intended for Regina and Emma, as the brunette could see that the new articles of clothing were in their sizes. With an appreciative hum, she closed the dresser and turned around. Then, she approached the table, smiling at the festive feel to its setting, as her fingers touched the pristine white cloth, before she reached for the note.

> _The fact that you are together again should be cherished and celebrated, for you never know when you will be apart, and for how long. With my compliments, enjoy. M_

Holding the note in her hand, Regina considered plentiful at the table, her hand idly fiddling with her apple tree necklace, smiling softly as she would glance upon the loopy lines over the parchment.

"What's this?" came from behind her, and Regina turned, her eyes taking in the blonde standing in the doorway between their room and the washroom, wrapped in a towel, with another one in her hand, drying her hair. Her curious eyes were taking in the scene in front of her, the amused glance she had thrown at Regina showing her obvious relaxation, as well as her glorious skin gleaming with fresh healthy pinkish shine from the hot bath did.

“Our dinner,” Regina spoke, offering the note to her. She watched as her beloved came closer to her, the still wet locks of blonde hair framing the fair face, a soft smile pulling on her lips as Emma’s hand came in touch with hers, before taking the paper. As the green eyes focused on the words, Regina reached for a pitcher at the middle of the table, pouring fresh water into the cups, waiting for the blonde’s reaction.

“Quite hospitable people, aren’t they?” Emma murmured as she accepted the cup from Regina. The brunette chuckled at the thinly veiled suspicious tone in the whisper before she took her seat, the spread reminding her that she was actually famished.

Emma joined her quickly, after donning the other robe, bringing her chair closer to Regina’s side, rather than to sit at the other end. Even though the silence between them was not uncomfortable and was filled with much love and appreciation, the blonde broke it with a softly whispered question about her time in the Enchanted Forest, easing them into a light conversation about their past two months of separation.

* * *

Bringing her cup to her lips, Regina watched her beloved, noticing that the muscles she had worked hard to relax were tense again, the shoulders once more carrying the burden of the world on them as Emma was leaning against one of the pillars of the window bay, looking outside into the night, her deep sighs having brought the brunette's attention back to her. "You seem away," Regina said softly after sipping her drink, deciding to break the silence that had fallen over them.

Emma looked back over her shoulder, meeting the inquisitive eyes of her love, her brows slightly narrowing as she sighed again, pushing away from the window. "I just... It seems I have spent so much time expecting and waiting for the all-out war, that now..."

"You don't know what to do with yourself?" Regina supplied gently, welcoming the blonde to her side, reaching for her hand and squeezing it in comfort. "If you are too restless to sleep, we can go out," she offered in a soft whisper when Emma leaned against her, the blonde's posture somewhat rigid and muscles coiled.

The Sheriff nodded absently before she rose, looking around for a moment, her eyes falling upon the dresser in the corner, directing herself towards it, her mind fully set on getting something to wear for the cold winter night. Watching the blonde pick out the garments she had worn that day, Regina took another sip of her drink before she lowered her cup onto the small table beside her seat, lifting herself onto her feet with elegance, doing her best to dispel the concern she was so sure her eyes were showing. She made no comment when Emma brought her sword, tying it to her waist, even though she noticed the woman’s uncomfortable shrug of her shoulders. The movement was something Regina had been used to see in her soldiers when they were out of armor, but not in her beloved, who had only worn the black hauberk for two months. Choosing not to draw attention to it, Regina silently dressed and followed her beloved outside, throwing her cloak over her shoulders, prepared for the sudden change of temperature as they stepped out of the Marble Halls. The brunette let Emma guide them as it seemed that the woman was looking for something.

Slowly, the Sheriff walked down the steps, before she turned right, the scent of hay and animals guiding her toward the stables. And, there, free of any rein or leash, calmly munching on oats in a bucket set aside for her, stood Shadow. As soon as Emma came closer to the black mare, the Gallant-bred raised her head and snorted before turning toward the blonde, bumping her lightly on the shoulder. “Hey, girl,” the Savior spoke softly, her hands going onto Shadow’s neck. “Having fun, aren’t you?”

Regina chuckled when the horse neighed with exuberance, shaking her mane, before she nudged Emma toward the brunette. In that moment, the former Evil Queen pledged her love to the magical steed, for the sole reason of making her True Love laugh out loud as she obeyed the mare’s insistent request. And, because Emma reached out and took Regina’s hand into her own, the move so natural and unencumbered by worries and reluctance that seemed to fill the blonde’s every action, that one instant of jovial mood enough to push back the restlessness and broodiness for a little while.

Together, holding hands, they walked in silence, circling around the settlement, their feet moving in sync; bringing them to the edge of the village, near the cliff the House of Healing was situated on.

Emma stopped and looked up into the starry night sky, her breath visible in the cold air, but her face hidden in the shadows of the night, as they were away from the lanterns of the village. However, Regina could see where the blonde was looking, as well as the melancholic frown slightly creasing Emma’s eyebrows. “The stars are different here,” the Savior spoke, still looking up into the sky, before she lowered her head, catching Regina’s eyes. “There are some constellations I recognize, but it is not the same sky. I didn’t even notice it before. Until…” Emma hesitated for a moment, her jaw moving as if she was fighting with herself about the words she needed. Unable to watch her struggle, Regina stepped closer and brought her hand up to Emma’s cheek, her fingertips gliding over the cheekbone. At the soothing touch, the blonde closed her eyes, but she didn’t move away, even though her breath hitched at the searing warmth it brought, not only physical but also emotional.

“I remember,” Regina murmured as her digits caressed her beloved’s cheek. “At the time, it was a welcome reminder that I was far away from the pain this world had brought me, and I relished the fact that even the night sky did not bear the mark of my world.” Emma opened her eyes and looked into hers, a reply almost jumping off her lips, but the brunette gently covered them with her hand. “However, after we came back, the difference only amplified the fact that we were separated.” She peered into the eyes of her True Love, eyes that were now filled with muted relief for Regina had understood perfectly what Emma had been trying to say. “So, I know,” the brunette spoke before she brought Emma’s head to hers, leaning their foreheads together, sighing with pleasure when the strong arms encircled her shoulders, bringing her into a firm embrace.

They stood there for a while, just soaking in their connection, when a small shadow passed over them, its movement making Emma startle and reach for her sword, drawing the blade almost fully out of the scabbard before Regina’s hand fell over hers. “It’s okay,” a quiet whisper flowed to Emma’s ears as Regina tilted her head upwards toward the silhouette flying above them. And, as soon as the blonde recognized the shape of her friend against the stars, Emma allowed the weapon to slide back in its place, breath leaving her lungs in an explosive sigh, as she tried to step away from Regina. But, the gentle touch of Regina’s hand over hers turned into a firm hold the very second Emma moved, keeping her in place. “Stay,” the brunette said firmly, but her voice was gentle. “Stay with me.”

Even though she was clenching her teeth, Emma nodded briskly, returning to her previous position, but Regina could feel the moment of their embrace was irrevocably broken, as the blonde was tense, with her hand still on her sword, ready to pull it out any second. “You said time moves differently here,” Emma said suddenly several moments after, the question obvious in her voice, as the light eyes met the dark ones, a furrow in her eyebrows deepening at Regina’s confirming nod. “That is why she is here,” she spoke after a moment, her face clearing of the confusion Guardian’s appearance created in the Savior.

“What? Why?” These past months there was rarely a time when Regina could not follow Emma’s trail of thoughts, more often than not knowing instinctively what the blonde had in mind even before the words were spoken. But, now, the brunette did not have any idea what had occurred to the Sheriff. Or what the time movement had to do with the dragon.

“The eggs,” Emma replied succinctly, her hand lifting off her hilt and landing on Regina’s upper arm. “With the time difference, the eggs must have already hatched,” the Sheriff spoke in rushed whisper, the excitement, although muted, very much evident in her behavior.

“Of course,” Regina said as the meaning of Emma’s previous words finally came to her. However, the smile on her face was not only due to the fact that the Lady of the Skies was not the Last of her kind anymore, but also to the disappearance of the tense and expectant posture Emma had been having.

The sound of crushing the ice crust over the frozen snow tipped off the women that someone was coming toward them in hurried step, giving them ample warning in advance, and apart from Emma returning her hand onto the hilt of her weapon and angling herself toward the source of the intrusion, the blonde did not react, the jumpiness of the earlier moments not present.

“Oh, good, I caught you,” Morgan spoke the very moment she saw them, slowing slightly down as she approached the women. Her eyes glided over the blonde, scrutinizing the Sheriff’s health. The expert healer was pleased to note that apart from some residual pallor and stiffness, the Savior seemed back to normal – so much so that if Morgan hadn’t been the one who had taken care of the blonde when she had first arrived, she would doubt that the Sheriff had ever been in mortal danger. Nodding to herself after the examination, the Queen of Camelot glanced over to Regina and smiled gently at the brunette. “I am aware that you cannot spend much time in Brocéliande, and if you are willing, tomorrow we can start with the further preparations.” In several sentences, Morgan explained her desire to have Aileen and Percival train with Emma, to help her offset the loss of magic in case it doesn’t return. She also offered to teach Regina in the crafts of her family, explaining that her desire was, in fact a selfish one, as she wanted Regina to accept her appointment as the Heir of the Tintagel line.

“You both must agree, because of your bond, the rules are slightly different,” Morgan cautioned, placing her hands onto the women’s shoulders, squeezing them lightly before she let go of them. “If you agree, come to the practice grounds in the morning.” After showing to Regina where the grounds were exactly, Morgan walked away, leaving them to think about the offers.

The former Evil Queen watched her father’s friend disappear into the night, her white garb making her appear as a ghost created out of the mist, the image of it staying with Regina even after the woman was gone. She was both surprised and not by the Queen’s desire to make her the next ruler of the Tintagel lands, and she assumed that desire had been the sole reason why Morgan had been so free sharing her past to the stranger, even if that stranger had been her dear friend’s daughter.

“The Heir thing,” Emma’s voice startled her out of her stunned silence. “It’s a big deal, right?”

“It is a long story, but, yes, it is. Huge.” The brunette leaned against her beloved, relaxing into the welcoming arms around her, smiling at the light scent of almonds coming from the wavy blonde tresses flowing over Emma’s shoulders.

“You should do it,” the Sheriff spoke after several seconds of considering quiet, her tone serious and low as she lowered her arms. “If you want to, I mean.”

“Emma,” Regina spoke as she peered at the blonde, concerned by her sudden retraction and sheepish grimace that passed over the Sheriff’s features. “What are you thinking?” she asked carefully, maintaining their connected gaze.

Emma shook her head before she surrendered to Regina’s insistent stare, the tinge of shame for her thoughts bringing some color to her pale face. “You know all the titles this world has saddled me with,” the blonde said lowly, looking somewhere above Regina’s shoulder, to the East, where the rest of their friends and families were, before she returned her eyes to the patient caramel ones. “It would be nice if you had just as many,” she mumbled quickly, her childlike response making Regina burst into a soft laughter. Scowling at the chuckling brunette, Emma crossed her arms and cleared her throat. “And, the Heir of Camelot would perfectly counterbalance the Evil Queen,” the Sheriff added, paying no heed to Regina’s softened countenance, nor to the light kiss landing on her cheek.

Only when Regina murmured ‘My hero’ in an exaggeratedly coy tone did Emma grumble, gently pushing the brunette with her shoulder in retaliation, once more making her beloved chuckle. Taking the other woman’s hand, she pulled her onward, directing herself toward the marble covered building, enduring the lighthearted snickers behind her back. However, the truth was that she enjoyed hearing her True Love so at ease, for she had not missed the signs that the separation was just as hard on Regina – perhaps even harder, because the Mayor had been forced to keep her façade of being OK around the people who knew her best. So, guiding them back to their temporary rooms in this mystical place, Emma glanced at Regina over her shoulder, offering her a light smile that made her eyes crinkle under the lights of torches placed at the entrance of the Hall.

Minutes later, behind the closed door of their room, Regina stood in front of her seated Sheriff, using a small pulse of her magic to put their cloaks away. She came closer to the blonde - who was leaning back, using her hands to prop her up against the bed as she was sitting on the beautifully carved chest at the foot of it – and lowered herself onto Emma’s lap, throwing her arm around the blonde’s shoulders for balance. Her other hand went to Emma’s collar bone, where the golden chain with the circular pendant rested, finally returned to its proper place – the Savior having put it on when they had dressed before their walk. “Aside from the benefit of the extra titles, do you think I should do it?” she murmured, continuing their conversation from earlier.

The recuperating warrior shifted, understanding the seriousness of Regina’s question, and as her back straightened, she brought her arms around the woman in her lap, holding her steady before she made the brunette’s fingers fiddling with her necklace still, covering them with her own and keeping them in place. “I would not say no to anything that can give you an advantage over Zelena,” Emma answered truthfully, looking up into her lover’s face. “I have a feeling that she would use every weakness and vulnerability you have against you.”

Acknowledging Emma’s point, the older woman tilted her head pensively, as she thought about the things she knew of the Tintagel sorcerers. “Tintagel is supposedly the most powerful line of wizards in the history of the Enchanted Forest,” she said.

“So?” Emma pulled the woman in her lap toward herself, intertwining their fingers together as she leaned her forehead against Regina’s cheek. “If you are afraid of the power you’ll have access to, think of this – you are the only one I know who returned to the side of the Good with powers intact. You’ve beaten the lure of the dark magicks before; you’ll withstand it now, especially with the guidance of Morgana Le Fey.”

“You trust her?” Regina asked, leaning slightly away in surprise.

“I trust you, Regina,” Emma replied quietly, but with such belief, radiating strongly out of her. “You consider her someone you can trust, and that is enough for me.”

Unable to respond with words at such incredible show her lover offered her, Regina leaned in and pressed her lips against Emma’s, pouring everything she was feeling into the kiss, surprising both of them with the passion of the gesture, losing herself in the ardor of their connection, having missed it dearly. After some time spent in furious lip lock, she tried to pull away, quite aware that she had just ambushed Emma, but the Savior’s hands kept her in place, one of them holding the back of her head, while the other one was between her shoulder blades, pressing her into Emma’s body. All the while, the Sheriff continued to kiss her with urgency and need, with consuming and unyielding desire threatening to engulf them both and burn them to cinders.

Suddenly, the blonde moved, her arms quickly changing their position and as she rose to her feet, Emma expertly held Regina to her chest, causing the brunette to yelp in astonishment, her cry of surprise immediately turning into gregarious laughter of mirthful exasperation when Emma dropped her onto the bed, joining her right after – her shocking move the perfect thing to break the tension their kiss had helped build up between them. The younger woman simply leaned over Regina and looked at her, her eyes shadowed by the poor light in the room, but even so, the former Evil Queen could see the scars on Emma’s spirit the separation and war had dealt. It was a painful reminder of the fact that Regina had known – it would take time before they could enjoy their time together, without shadows of past falling over them and turning their mood melancholic or outright morose.

Speaking nothing, Regina brought her hands up and gently, with soft cajoling in her touch, she brought Emma’s head onto her shoulder, her lips landing on Emma’s ear, while her hands wandered over the strong back, the movement comforting and warm. She didn’t need to speak, for she knew the blonde was grateful for her understanding. And even if she hadn’t, the warm tears washing down her neck would have been the answer enough. So, she made them both comfortable under the duvet, keeping them fully connected in a firm embrace, and went to sleep, her mind repeating the kind words of the friendly doctor back home in Storybrooke, about time and patience, and most of all, Love. She was patient, and her love for Emma was without bounds.

If nothing else, in Brocéliande, they had time, such as it was.

* * *

_For the moment, she could not see anything, still aware that she had gone to sleep in Regina’s arms around her, their comforting weight on her back. But, quickly a familiar scene appeared in front of her, the place that she had been last before succumbing to Guardian’s transportation spell._

_It was bright around her, the rays of the low hanging Sun hitting the frozen snow, making it shine, its brilliance still visible, despite the battle raging. She stood at the edge of the cliff, not quite corporeal, right beside her own body clad into the black garb she had worn that day, while the air surrounding her body shimmered, due to magic rushing into her, and the world around her faded away, her friends and compatriots relegated to mere shadows at the edge of her consciousness while her eyes were able to see only one person clearly. Only the target for her rage, the devastating storm building inside of her, ready to be unleashed upon the woman who had caused her so much pain in a short amount of time. In her mind, there was only one need – to destroy the redheaded menace of the Wicked Witch of the West, and everything else was irrelevant. She could feel everything that she had felt that very moment, even though she was still standing at the edge of the cliff while her memory unfolded._

_Emma watched as the Savior made one staggering step forward, moving slowly, each second immeasurably drawn. She watched as her friends writhed in agony that she had caused them, she watched as her lover’s father had been pushed away, and she felt her breath leave her – for she was watching herself be a wrathful creature of nightmares, something she had never thought she would be capable of becoming._

_“This is a dream,” Emma murmured to herself in disbelief as she delved deeper into the memory that had been hidden from her until now. She had a sense of her crimes, but the true account of them had been obscured by her suffering. The burn of the magic and the fever of the poison had kept her from remembering what she had done, but now, as she was recovering, it came forth – devastating her in the process._

_She remembered the very second her hand closed around Midas’s windpipe and started squeezing, her hatred and anguished desire to punish him making her resistant to his magical hand, the power of gold helpless against the torrent that was her. She remembered the feel of her overused body, held up on her will alone as she stood there, and brought demise to the tyrannical king. She remembered his terrified eyes, swirling in their sockets, as he begged for mercy and help. And, she remembered how the enemy king had turned to ash in her grip, disappearing in the wind swirling around her, leaving no trace of his existence behind._

Jerking her hand away and gasping in horror, Emma sat up, her own reaction bringing her out of her dream into the present. Breathing heavily, the dread still keeping her blood cold, she pressed her hand against her thundering heart, consciously using her left, as her right one was still in front of her, an object of her horrified scrutiny, expecting to see blood and ash all over it, the scent of the life-giving liquid still too strong in her nostrils. But, it was only pale skin that met her eyes, wounds and dirt washed away by Regina’s healing touch.

As if Emma’s own thoughts had summoned her, the brunette brought herself closer to her beloved, startled awake by the sudden movement the blonde had made. Seeing the Sheriff leaning over her knees, her fast breaths loud in the quiet of the room, Regina did not even think but lifted her hand, intending to deliver a soothing presence to the Savior. She had not been spared of her nightmares, but she had not woken in panic as Emma had. So, she reached for the blonde, almost expecting Emma to shy away from the touch; however, instead of evasion, Regina was met with the familiar magical pull, too strong for her to hold back, and in a blink of an eye, she found herself in a very familiar place. Bringing her hand to her forehead, feeling dizzy by the sudden change of scenery, Regina leaned against the desk in front of her, letting a chuckle loose the moment her eyes fell on what she was wearing. This particular pant suit Regina hadn’t worn since the day of the adventure at the well, the strong reminder of the blonde Sheriff it carried had been enough to keep it in her closet during her Storybrooke days of their separation. Then, after she had gotten some bearing, she looked up and saw Emma sitting in her chair, staring at the hand in front of her in shock, clad in her traditional town outfit, skinny jeans and leather jacket.

“Interesting venue,” Emma heard Regina say, noticing a tilt of amusement in her voice. “Although, I’d appreciate some warning next time.” The voice didn’t come from beside her as she expected, but from all sides and from within, like it usually did whenever they were deeply in their bond.

“Huh?” The blonde frowned and looked away from her hand, lifting her head to meet Regina’s eyes, surprised to see her right beside her, leaning against the desk in her Sheriff office, bewilderment clearly pictured on her face.

“The meld, darling,” Regina said patiently. “You pulled me in.”

Emma shook her head slowly. “No, I didn’t.”

“Yes, you did, Emma, for it wasn’t me,” the brunette said gently, as she leaned toward the Sheriff and brought the rolling chair closer to the desk she was leaning on. Then, she motioned with her hand around the Sheriff’s office, her gesture drawing Emma’s eyes to take in the quite recognizable place. “Feeling a bit homesick?” the older woman asked, her voice lilting in amusement.

The Savior rose from the chair slowly, her head swiveling as she saw the truth in Regina’s words. Indeed, she had brought them into a meld, and into this approximation of her office. Sighing softly, she walked to her window, pressing her hands at the wooden frame, looking outside at the Main Street of the town she had come to consider her home, her place in the world. At least, her thoughts idly suggested, she had proof that her magic was not gone… However, there was a reason she had brought them here, where she had felt in control and safe, and that need made itself clear when the memory bridge commenced, the random images of their past flashing on the surfaces around the two women.

Regina gasped as she felt her own mind filled with new information, most of it known through the diaries, but she learned that not even the most skilled wordsmiths could put to words every nuance one lived through, and even though Emma had tried earnestly to document everything, the mere words on the paper of the notebooks had been truly lacking to describe the events that had transpired. Even though the pictures rushed before her eyes with almost confusing speed, the emotional components of the events becoming known to her just as quickly, the brunette didn’t lose sight of the Sheriff in front of her, noticing instantly the appropriate reactions to the past in Storybrooke and the two days in the Enchanted Forest after the battle. And, meeting startled green eyes, she nodded grimly, because she knew what Emma had learned seconds before. It is one thing to witness the explosion of the funnel of the portal, where your mind would insist that no one could survive such a thing, while your heart or at least one part of it would still believe that there was a chance of survival, a sliver of hope insisting that it wasn’t quite over just yet. But, seeing and hearing one’s heart stop – with no room for hope, because there is body shaped evidence of death in front of you – it’s another thing altogether. And, Regina could sense, that even though Emma had just been bombarded by everything that had happened in Storybrooke, only the most important details had remained at the front of her mind – the other things would come to her in time, when the blonde gets her bearing…

“You…” Emma gasped as her eyes garnered a glazy sheen that was gone with a single blink, tears sliding down the pale cheeks. “You… restarted…” She could no longer stand, her knees giving out under her and she collapsed onto the couch beside her, gripping the armrest with her hand, her bone-white fingers sinking into the black faux leather, in effort to ground herself against the barrage of new knowledge and deeper understanding of Regina’s pain. She had seen the tiredness and shadows on her beloved’s face, but only now she could see the true depth of the wounds and bruises Regina’s psyche had suffered.

“You kept mine beating,” the Mayor murmured softly as she quietly sat beside her True Love, referencing Emma’s valiant fight to keep the brunette alive against the manticore poison, patting Emma’s knee lightly before leaning back, sighing as she glanced around and gathered strength to continue. Then, she grasped Emma’s right hand, bringing it into her lap, holding it gently in her left, while the fingers of the right one traced the pale and still cold digits in her grasp. “And, you brought death to Midas with your hand,” she whispered gently, clenching the limb in her hold against Emma’s instinctive need to move it away. “Just because you brought his judgement to him, doesn’t mean that you are something evil.”

“If Rumple didn’t stop me, I would’ve killed your sister,” the blonde replied softly, her gaze pinned upon her hand, the shadows of her nightmare still present in her eyes, accompanied with the guilt, evident in the heavy sigh leaving her lungs.

“Zelena almost killed you, and only with your intervention did I survive her attempt to end my life. She killed innumerable soldiers in her own employ, as well as others in her way. She turned people into monkey slaves, sending them out to do her bidding blindly. In two months, she has managed to do more damage to this world that I had in all the years of my rule, and that is including the Dark Curse. And, to be honest, the Evil Queen did deserve to die for her crimes, many times over.”

“It’s not the same,” the Savior murmured as she looked into the patient eyes of her beloved. “You changed.”

Emma’s words were followed by tense silence, while the two women held each other’s gaze, unblinking. Regina then chuckled and looked away in wordless retreat, as she tried something else. “Why do you always jump so quickly to my defense with reasons and justifications, and won’t allow me to do the same for you?” the former villain spoke with slight exasperation in her voice as she smiled sadly at the blonde. Shaking her head, she leaned into Emma’s space, kissing her cheek affectionately before she answered her own question. “Perhaps, because it is easier to forgive someone else, rather than oneself.”

Emma only nodded in agreement, sinking against the warmth Regina’s body provided, letting her emotions transfer through their bond rather than speak them aloud. Her mind could accept the Mayor’s reasoning, and the justification she had for executing Midas, but her heart was troubled by it. Not only the guilt was strong within her, she could still feel the terror her own dreams had inspired in her. And blood – she still could not shake off the ghostly feel of it over her hands, the invisible crimson searing her skin.

“You’ve seen my memories. You’ve seen the aftermath of your battle. You know it was the necessary thing to do.” Regina brought the hand in her own to her lips, pressing a small kiss against the still cool skin.

Emma swallowed as she thought about the instances where Guardian and others had agreed with the death of the king. “It still doesn’t make it easy…”

“You, of all people, know that right is never easy, Emma,” Regina said sagely. “That is one of the reasons I am not going to object to you going into training with the knight this soon, even though you have just gotten back on your feet.” She spoke suddenly, changing the topic of their conversation, deciding to depart from the heavy subject of morality of their wars. “I would like for you to rest for a while longer, get your bearing and start when you are ready and recovered completely, but we do not have that much time…” Looking into the still haunted eyes of her True Love, Regina smiled sadly. “I am not delighted nor eager to let you put on the burden of your calling just yet, but I know that this world needs you, now more than ever. I know you are meant for greatness. Who am I to deny the bright star to this world covered in darkness, part of it my own creation?” The brunette pushed a lock of her dark hair off her cheek, tucking it behind her ear as she watched the green eyes she loved so much cloud over in desperation.

“My True Love.” The soft broken whisper of the Savior hurt the Mayor more than she anticipated; the white hot wound slashing over her heart, bringing tears to her eyes, as she was unable to take away the pain and burden Emma was carrying. She could help and soothe, but only the blonde could be and assume the duties of the Keeper of the Balance and the Savior.

“I can do that,” Regina murmured as she gathered the weary woman in front of her in her arms. “I can take you out of these lands, gather our family and take the first bean out to Storybrooke, and even farther, if necessary,” she spoke against Emma’s temple, as her arms held her firmly. “Just say the word, and I’ll do it immediately.” She spoke the words the Emma had recorded of thinking in the cave with Guardian, gritting her teeth against the instinct to protect her beloved from the weights of her mantles. “One word, and I will let this world burn.” Closing her eyes, Regina bit her lip when she heard a whimper leave the blonde in her arms, her nostrils widening in effort to stop herself from breaking down.

Suddenly, Emma pushed away from her arms, standing up. Her back was rigid and straight as she stood, several steps in front of Regina, her hands clenching and unclenching, her head held high despite the grinding teeth. The Mayor felt her lips pulled slightly to the side, in a grim half smile, as she watched the blonde assume the defiant stand, one that the brunette was intimately familiar with, for it was the posture that preceded every confrontation between them. She knew that Emma’s chin had the daring tilt, while the green eyes were flashing in anger and stubbornness.

“No,” fell harshly out of the blonde’s mouth, tearing through the silence enveloping them. “No,” Emma repeated as she turned around, her flashing eyes pinning Regina down in her seat. “No word is needed.”

Regina only nodded, seeing the strong and commanding Savior in front of her, power radiating off her. It wasn’t magic, but something innate, something that the Evil Queen had seen only with the true leaders – the core strength that drew people in and kept them away at the same time, inspiring awe and loyalty. She could finally see with her own eyes the Sheriff that commanded the admiration of the Empire and reverence of the Safe Haven. However, due to their meld, Regina was allowed to see that it was only a mask – not unlike the war paint warriors would put on their faces before battle, her Emma still there underneath it. Still connected to her True Love.

“I know what you are doing,” the Sheriff added softly, her countenance changing as she let her mask drop. Slowly, she returned to the couch, taking her previous seat, but this time she brought Regina to herself, placing her beloved’s head onto her chest, right above the beating organ, her fingers idly playing with the dark tresses with affection filled with acceptance of Regina’s words. The brunette knew that the gesture was much more meaningful than either of them wanted to admit out loud – for her, it was a new hope, a symbol of her love’s survival and strength, but for Emma, it was solace and acknowledgement of the wounds her duties inflicted on her. “Preying on my instinct to help them… Sneaky.” As Regina only nodded, her movements making the jacket creak underneath, Emma lowered her head, leaning her lips against the forehead, humming in response. “We are going to finish this,” the Savior spoke after a while, her words an oath. And, with it, she gently broke the link between them, returning them to their separate entities, still in their bed, in the darkness of the predawn.

Thoroughly awake after the meld, even though her skin was still buzzing from the receding terror of her nightmare and her own dormant magic instinctively awakened in her need of comfort, Emma glanced behind her, her eyes connecting with the brown ones, barely visible in the darkness of the room. Reaching behind her, she leaned into the soft hold of her beloved, pressing her lips onto the curve of Regina’s jaw, breathing in her scent deeply, before she moved away, getting out of bed. It was time to face the day.


	22. Chapter 22

Even though it was still early, only minutes after dawn, the small village deep in Brocéliande was alive with people who hurried along to finish their morning chores so they could get out of the harsh cold wind. And, although the warmth of their hearths was obviously calling to them, the remnant of the Camelot and Tintagel spared a few moments to speak to their queen as she would pass by them, on her way to the training grounds, a few hundred yards away from the village. And, Morgan, she would not deny her people her time, graciously greeting anyone who would come to her, patiently conversing on a wide variety of topics, often drawing Regina into the conversation by asking her opinion on the matter, ignoring the awkwardness surrounding the younger queen, who had found herself teetering the line of suppressing her own royal persona in deference to her host and keeping her temper from flaring, characteristically her defense in uncomfortable and unfamiliar situations.

Having the forethought to send Emma, who would most likely hover overprotectively over her True Love, with Aileen and small group of soldiers on their own to the training grounds, Morgan had held Regina back, introducing her to the villagers and heaping many praises onto her guest, making sure that her people were very well acquainted with the younger woman, successfully completing the first steps in Regina’s preparation for the title of the Heir already underway.

Half an hour earlier, when Morgan had left the Marble Hall with Aileen, in the weak light of lanterns and dawn, she had been surprised to find both Regina and Emma awake, waiting for her at the top of the stairs of the Marble House, and ready to tackle whatever she and the Wolf had planned for them that day. Although she had no doubt that the women would take her on her offer, Morgan had honestly believed that the True Love couple would meet them much later in the day, as they both had been in need of comfort only each other could provide. Greeting them with gentle affection, her welcoming smile slightly wider for Henry’s child, the queen had summoned Percival and his men, and slowly they had set out to the training grounds, a small clearing not too far from the village, where all the soldiers kept themselves in shape, when they were off duty.

“So,” Regina started softly as Morgan linked their arms as they went after the warriors. “What does all of this entail?” Making a vague gesture between them, the brunette looked into the amber eyes gleaming with quiet amusement as the older royal quirked her lips at the floundering attempt of encompassing their agreement.

“Well, ordinarily, I would take you on as an apprentice, needing years, if not decades to pass on all of the knowledge I have garnered from the people before me,” Morgan said as she led them down the path. She continued quickly, forestalling Regina’s question. “However, as we do not have that kind of time, I must resort to using a very old and dangerous enchantment that would enable me to teach you in the insignificant portion of the usual time.”

Regina considered Morgan’s words, keeping her silence as she looked in front of her. On one hand, Emma had been right, and she needed every advantage she could garner against her half-sister, and the magic of the Tintagel would bring balance of power to her relationship with the Savior; but, on the other hand, was the risk of the enchantment really worth taking, even for this? “I need to know exactly what the dangers are before I accept,” she spoke softly as they arrived to a clear space in the forest, a perfect circle of cleared ground bordered with small fist-size rocks, about a hundred feet in diameter. She received a short nod of acceptance from the older woman before Morgan gestured toward a small shelter near the line of the circle, where a single wooden bench stood underneath the cover, protected from the snow and the wind. There, as she sat with elegance of her position, joined by Morgan and Aileen, she looked at the blonde standing in the center of the makeshift arena, waiting to see what kind of test Percival had in mind. 

* * *

Walking behind the last knight of the Round Table, taking the narrow walk path of cleared snow, Emma glanced back at her beloved lagging behind with the ruler of Brocéliande, slowing down her steps, but her intention to wait for the queens was interrupted by the strong grip of her shoulder forcing her forward as the Wolf healer came behind her.

“Don’t mind them, they’ll join us soon enough,” Aileen spoke in a grumbling whisper, removing her hand as Emma continued on. “How are you feeling?” the healer asked after several moments, her light steps bringing her side to side with the blonde, her curious eyes roving over Emma’s frame, searching for any sign of unease or injury. A careless shrug of cloak covered shoulders and muttered ‘Fine’ brought a soft sigh as the woman rolled her eyes at the Savior, forgoing any further questions as they came upon the training grounds.

As soon as they reached the field, the men skipped toward the sheltered seats, only, Emma noticed, they did not duck under the cover of the wooden planks, but used their feet to push away the small layer of snow that the night wind had brought to the ground, uncovering something that looked as a metal trapdoor with a sturdy padlock keeping it closed. One of the soldiers knelt down and unlocked it and soon, the hatch was opened and Emma snorted as she realized what it was used for. There, on the inner side of the metal rectangle, various blades hang from multiple hoops keeping them secured. Quickly, the soldiers uncovered another panel, this one longer, and it held other kinds of sparing weaponry including staves and batons.

“I assume a sword is your primary weapon?” came from right beside her, the unexpected voice making her turn sharply toward the man that had intruded upon her, and she saw the Knight standing beside her with his arms crossed, his eyes scrutinizing her posture as he waited for her answer. She wasn’t blind to the sharp eyes taking in the way her gloved hand clenched around the hilt of the sword at her hip and the startled flinch his voice had brought out of her, but she chose not to comment on it, answering his question instead.

“Yeah,” she confirmed, making a move to pull her sword out of the scabbard hanging of her side, but Percival’s sharp hand gesture stopped her.

“You won’t need that,” he spoke quickly and dismissively, before he raised his voice, turning his head to the rest of his men. “Dai, find her a similar blade,” he ordered, and Emma saw one of the soldiers turn to look at her before going to the rack with swords, picking one out, twirling it lightly as he stepped into the circle, walking to them and giving the blade to Percival with a slight bow to the Savior. “You should take that off, along with your weapon,” the Knight suggested, pointing to her black cape, and as soon as he spoke, Aileen offered to carry her things onto the bench. Obeying the knight, Emma quickly removed her cloak, placing it over the Wolf’s extended arms, along with her belt and sword, trusting the woman to bring her things to her love.

Standing in the middle of the clearing, clad in leather tunic she had purposefully chosen for this occasion, Emma took hold of the weapon Percival held out to her while she listened to his short instructions to fight off the men he would send at her the best she could, so he would see what level she was at.

With the corner of her eye, the blonde saw Regina walk toward the seats, but other than sparing a glance in her direction, Emma did nothing else to acknowledge her presence, focusing instead on the three men standing several feet away from her, brandishing their swords menacingly, though with certifiable skill. At Percival’s short command, the middle one stepped forward, wasting no time to lounge at her, attacking. The Sheriff, anticipating such a tactic, was prepared and easily parried, using her knowledge to quickly disarm the soldier. However, before she could glance toward the Knight with a gloating look, the other two men rushed her, both at once, their blades already moving fast and only her keen reflexes prevented her from being injured, sharpened by the adrenaline coursing through her blood. Nevertheless, regardless of her momentary stumble, she eventually managed to gain advantage over them and emerge victorious out of the match, using some of the underhanded moves Regina had shown her all those weeks before on the deck of the Jolly Roger. But, not without becoming tremendously winded in the process, and as the others yielded to her, lifting their empty hands in air in surrender, she glanced around to make sure no more surprises were coming her way, and then, she leaned over, pressing her hands onto her knees and gasping sharply, her blade hanging limply in her grip.

“You alright?” Percival asked with mild concern, crouching in front of the Savior in order to see her face, waving Aileen over the second he noticed her flushed skin, glossy with sweat, the harsh breaths too audible in the silence that followed his words. He wasn’t at all surprised that both his queen and the guest rushed along with the shifter, the brunette almost pushing him out of the way, as she lowered herself to look at Emma.

Slowly reaching out to the blonde, her hand squeezing Emma’s upper arm, Regina peered into the green eyes that focused onto hers with ease, having spared the Knight beside her a cutting look. “You think you can stand up now?” the former Evil Queen asked in a hushed whisper, pitching her tone too low for others to hear, searching her beloved’s face for an answer, ready to help any way she could. But, when she received a barely seen nod in return, Regina couldn’t help but sigh in relief, the elation doubling when the Savior straightened by herself.

“Are you in any pain?” Aileen quickly asked as she scrutinized the blonde, her hand going upwards to touch the Sheriff’s still sweaty forehead, chuckling when the answer came to her in a form of sharp head shake that also dislodged her palm of the heated skin. “You’ll be just fine, Geilgeis,” the shifter responded, gently tapping Emma’s cheek. Then, she turned to Regina, including Morgan in her report. “She just needs to build up her energy reserves. Other than that, she is all right.”

“Well, if your Majesties allow, I would like to continue,” Percival spoke after several moments, after he had realized that no one knew what to do next, just standing there in the middle of the circle. Receiving permission from his queen, he turned toward the Savior, glancing over her appreciatively, noticing that even though the sword was being held loosely in the Sheriff’s gloved hand, the grip was secure and Emma ready to jump into the sparring stance at the moment’s notice, despite the still slightly deeper breaths she was taking. “You didn’t have just one teacher, did you?” he asked the Savior shrewdly, as he slowly stepped around the blonde, remembering Emma’s peculiar fighting style that was an amalgam of various forms of swordsmanship. “Correct me if I am wrong, but at least one of your teachers hails from the Empire,” he spoke after a moment, pausing his scrutiny. “But, others, I cannot distinguish.”

“Is it important?” the Sheriff asked gruffly, irritated by the self-satisfied tone that had crept into the voice of the knight.

“No, but I am curious.”

“Is your curiosity relevant for my training?” The sharp green eyes pinned the Knight, as the brusque manner the words were spoken was warning enough to drop the subject. She didn’t mind him, but she wasn’t about to share things about herself that were not necessary no matter how some were curious. Especially not just minutes after she had barely managed to keep the soldiers’ blades of her neck, the surprise of their attack almost costing her life.

“He means well, Savior,” Morgan said, placing her hand onto her Knight’s shoulder placating the guest, stopping her loyal subject from responding. “Do not take his eagerness against him.” Then, she turned to leave, her arm once more intertwined with Regina’s, her look sweeping over the Wolf healer, her Knight and the blonde. “I leave you in the capable hands of my friends, so you could talk further on what is to be done to aid your recovery, Sheriff, as we go on our way.”

* * *

After another half hour of slow walk over the undisturbed snow, Morgan stopped and turned around, her eyes searching for something, before she murmured a soft litany of words, too low for Regina to understand and suddenly, the fallen white substance rose in the air, swirling around them, clearing the path the two of them had made and uncovering a large flat rock block, about one foot thick, its borders covered with elvish script. However, before the former Evil Queen could focus on the symbols, they started glowing and under Morgan’s direction, the slab of stone split in half and separated, uncovering a staircase, not unlike the one leading to Regina’s lair, under the mausoleum in Storybrooke.

“Follow me,” the Queen of Brocéliande spoke as she stepped into the secret entrance, and Regina quickly hurried after, wincing when the stone gate closed shut above her with a deep and ominous thud. “This is the Temple of Knowledge, and one part of it is named the Chamber of Records - where the rulers of the line kept the archives the individuals Merlin called the Authors would compile. Here, within the safety of the Brocéliande borders, lies all the knowledge of my people and all their riches.” The amber eyes met the dark one in the soft light of the tunnel, where magical crystals provided elimination under Morgan’s silent direction. “Here is where you will become the Heir of the line.”

“I haven’t accepted yet,” Regina reminded the older woman respectfully, as she followed her deeper into the temple, entering into a large room with walls mostly hidden in darkness. “You still have to show me the enchantment.”

“And so I shall.” The regal woman smirked gently at her future pupil, her eyes glinting in the light. “But, before I do so, allow me to point out another important task of you becoming part of the Tintagel.” Showing Regina to a seat, the dark skinned woman sat across from her and steepled her fingers in front of her face, keeping her keen eyes onto the former Evil Queen. “Last night, I warned you that both you and Emma must accept this honor.” As her guest offered no interjection, Morgan continued. “Your bond, your ability to see into each other's minds, is, in fact complicating matters largely and the only way to offset an intricate and rather difficult procedure of initiating Emma into the fold is to perform special bonding rites before you endure the oath-swearing.”

“What do you mean, bonding rites?”

“A marriage, if you will,” the Queen of Camelot spoke gently, as she leaned toward the younger woman, taking her hand. “I understand your experience with such matters leaves a lot to be desired, but it is the only way to proceed without exposing your True Love to truly exhausting trials.”

Snatching her hand out of the gentle grip, Regina sprung to her feet. “Marriage?” she shouted, her voice sharply reverberating in the large spaces of the temple. Stepping away from the other woman, she brought her hands to her face, rubbing her eyes as she paced the length of the room she was in. “I am not…” she started before her voice broke under the uncertainty that grasped her. Marriage? She just had gotten Emma back, and they had not yet started living together – leaving it for the still hazy future of Storybrooke. It seemed that both members of the True Love couple followed an unspoken agreement not to discuss the bounds of their relationship, not until all the dangers of the Enchanted Forest belonged in the past and they had peace to fully realize what their connection truly meant. Yes, Regina had remodeled her mansion in order to make it homier for the blonde, but it did not mean she was ready to walk down the aisle. She didn’t know if she ever would be, the memories of her last wedding overshadowing much of her thoughts on the subject.

And Emma had never mentioned anything on the topic of this, ardently avoiding talking about the distant future, accepting their bond on intuitive level and just going with it, in typical manner of her brash Sheriff. Would she even accept it?

But, before she could even ask herself that question, her mind – her memories – the amazing connection she had with the Savior provided the answer to her and it was a resounding  _ Yes _ . And, before her thoughts could consolidate in a firm argument that would indeed prove Emma’s willingness in this, Morgan spoke.

“You are already bound by the highest authority this, or any other, world can offer. You are True Loves and that is final – everything else is just ceremony…”

“Then, why is it necessary for us to go through the rites?” Regina drew attention to the point of confusion.

Morgan inclined her head and smiled. “I did say special bonding rites. They are created to afford the uninitiated their equality and suitability under our laws, which you already know that are governed by magic.” As her eyes fell onto the creased forehead of the brunette still standing in the far corner of the room, the elegant royal spoke again. “It has nothing to do with the legality of your bond, but with the integrity of the defenses of the Tintagel line.”

Regina sighed, before chuckling with dark amusement. “Snow is going to be very insulted by this.”

“What, you marrying her daughter in secrecy, in a place she doesn’t even know that exists?”

The reminder that Brocéliande was off limits to outsiders stopped Regina’s amusement. “Oh, right. That.”

“Do not despair, little afal,” Morgan smiled as she lifted her hand to summon the younger woman to her side. “Only Brocéliande must remain secret, as well as the secrets of my heritage. All else, you may share with your compatriots.” Her slightly raised eyebrow and piercing gaze brought a slight tinge to Regina’s cheeks as she felt the slight reprimand in the tone of the elder queen – her intention of using her newly garnered knowledge to upstage the pure image of Snow White firmly dashed.

Considering the brunette suitably chastised - the royal rose elegantly from her seat and walked deeper into the temple, gesturing to Regina to follow as she guided them through a long corridor into another room, this one much larger, filled with books and scrolls. Shelves upon shelves, covering each surface of the room but the floor and ceiling, were full of documented histories, spells, grimoires and many other things. The crystals that provided light were strewn across the floor and the shelves, creating eerie shadows as they walked on. But, it was bright enough for Regina to see clearly each title of every book she glanced at. So this must be the Chamber of Records, Regina thought to herself as her head swiveled around to grasp the grandiosity and extensiveness of the place. And, in one corner there was a small table with several chairs, an additional lantern situated on the flat surface of the wooden desk. As soon as the women drew near to it, with a sudden flick of her fingers, the hostess summoned one of the large tomes of magic, the heavy metal encrusted book landing loudly upon the table. Using her hands, Morgan found the page she was interested in and using her finger to turn the book to face the brunette, she pointed it to Regina. “All there is to know about the ritual is written here,” she spoke, as she moved to light the wick in the lantern beside her to provide more luminosity around them.

Taking the simple gesture as the invitation to study the enchantment, the brunette leaned over the old pages, drawing a chair to sit in it so she could completely focus on the lines of elvish inscribed in the ancient tome. She needed a moment to understand the language, and while her eyes passed over the still unreadable text, Regina noted the apparent age of the tome and the muskiness of the magic-treated paper. Even with the protections and anti-age spells on the book, the brunette could see that the tome was ancient. The ritual itself wasn’t a much complicated one, she saw after the elvish lines started making sense to her, but the preparation for it was and the execution demanded precision and endurance from both sides. And, if she was reading it rightly, it would take over four full days to complete it, without any interruption, quite possibly more. “I assume this is why it is so dangerous?” the brunette asked as she pointed to the manner of performing the ritual. “The magical and ordinary exhaustion?”

“Yes, among other things.” Morgan lowered herself into another chair, considering her companion. “But, I firmly believe that both you and I can endure it without much trouble. From what I have seen you do while saving Emma from that infernal mist – I do think you have more than what it takes to complete the ritual safely.” She then cocked her head, her eyes gazing pointedly at the other woman as she spoke again, her tone one of warning. “Do not take this lightly. The knowledge and teachings of my people, garnered through generations and generations of sorcerers of Tintagel learning and discovering things not only about magic will be imparted to you in mere days. There is a reason why no one was willing to undergo the trials of the enchantment before. It will test you; it'll push you to the very last edge of your endurance, in order to prepare you for the might of the craft. It will be extremely harrowing, Regina, on both your mind and your body, and you will not be able to stop. Nor would anyone but you and I be there, as the ritual is quite sacred and secret.”

The brunette nodded. “Emma is not going to like this,” she murmured softly into her chin before she closed the book, her fingers pausing lightly over the inlaid surface of the cover.

“I assume it would be very disquieting for her that you would be undergoing this dangerous and untried thing alone,” Morgan agreed.

“Oh, not that,” Regina shook her head as she focused on the elder Queen. “She knows that I am not about to do something reckless or stupid, least of all for the sake of having more power.” As her mind traveled back to the evening before and their conversation at the foot of their bed, Regina smiled, for she knew that Emma had unwavering faith in her. “It is the length of time this ritual will take that she will not like. Honestly, I am not keen on it, either.” When the amber eyes widened in understanding, the brunette added. “It has only been two days…”

“We do not have to do this right away, Regina.”

The Mayor raised her eyebrow at the concession the other royal was offering her, even though she had heard the servant girl’s news about the borderline failing. “But, you would prefer it done immediately, before the magic of the stones completely evaporates,” she said pointedly, noticing a slight wince in the eyes of the elder woman.

“That is true,” Morgan confirmed softly.

“Then, we will not wait,” Regina decided. “The longer we dally, the harder it will be for us to start.” Her voice rang with certainty as she rose from her seat, directing herself to the exit, not waiting for the other woman. She wanted to go to the blonde immediately, and inform her about everything before secluding herself for the purpose of the ceremony.

* * *

Emma raised her hand with her palm outward, the sharp motion stopping her opponent in place, his sword only inches away from her blade, frozen in the attack position. “Give me a moment,” the blonde murmured as she lowered her weapon, easing the strain on her arm muscles that were shivering from the exertion.

“Perhaps, you should try switching hands,” the Knight of the Round Table suggested as he drew himself closer to the Savior, sheathing his blade. “As it is light enough to be handled with one arm, it can only give you additional advantage to be able to use it left-handed,” he added, pleased to note that the woman considered his proposition with seriousness before she transferred her weapon to the other arm, easily adjusting her stance accordingly. “So, shall we try?”

After receiving a confirming nod, he returned into position and gripped the hilt of his sword, the clear sound of the metal leaving the scabbard spreading through the air of the clearing. Without delay, he started his approach, although he did it in slower rate in concession to the blonde, but when the Sheriff attacked him with deft and clearly practiced moves, forcing him to step back and hold firmer on to his blade, he realized that the woman in front of him was quite aware of the advantages of being dual-wielding swordsperson. Also, the attack was quicker and with more strength as the blonde had been favoring her left side. However, the Savior, despite her skilled moves, had to stop too soon, her energy dwindling too fast, unable to support her continuous sparring.

As soon as he noticed her getting flushed again, he fell back, motioning for a break. “Your bouts are getting longer,” he commented, as he witnessed Emma’s irritated downswing that left the blade sticking in the ground. “And, you need less time to get your breath.” He had to chuckle when the Savior growled at him in frustration, shaking her arms to loosen up her muscles.

“It has been less than two hours,” the shifter spoke from behind them, making them both start at her silent approach. She gave Emma her cloak to keep herself warm during the break, patting the blonde’s shoulders gently. “The progress you have shown in this short time is remarkable. You need only give it time before you are returned to your previous levels, or become even better. Time and patience.”

The last words caused Emma to scowl at the other woman, but the grimace left her face as soon as the new voice pierced the quiet of the training ground. “I am afraid that patience is a virtue our esteemed Sheriff does not possess,” Regina spoke clearly, arriving at her beloved’s side, having caught the last of Aileen’s encouragement. Offering a smile to the shifter in greeting and a nod to the Knight, the brunette placed her hand on Emma’s forearm, her smile widening as the blonde pulled her closer, keeping their bodies barely touching. “We need to talk,” she whispered softly to Emma, letting the other two turn toward the Mistress of the Marble Hall.

“Come find me after lunch, Regina,” Morgan spoke up, noticing a look of consternation passing over Emma’s expressive face, the green eyes firmly locked with the brown. “Both of you, if you want,” she offered graciously, recognizing the fact that the Sheriff might have questions of her own regarding the procedure – her bond with Regina making any kind of excuse that such things could not be discussed with outsiders moot.

Glancing up to the Sun to judge how much time they had, Regina nodded in acquiescence, before she grabbed Emma’s hand. “If you would excuse us,” she murmured as she pulled the Sheriff away, guiding them not to the Marble Hall and subsequently their room, but to the viewpoint on the cliff, choosing one of the benches to sit on. She did not speak, even though both of them were on the bench, the quiet of their surroundings only intercepted by the soft sounds of the lively village reaching them.

The blonde watched closely at the face of the woman she loved, frowning at the uncertainty that haunted the chocolate eyes she adored, but she waited – Regina’s earlier words about her patience belied in the simple gesture. Throwing her elbows back onto the wall safeguarding the cliff behind her, the hard edge of the rock softened by her cloak, she raised her head and closed her eyes, enjoying the warm rays of sunlight caressing her face, giving the other woman time to collect her thoughts. Just being in Regina’s presence was rewarding, the blonde noted, as she could feel her body reacting to the closeness, soaking up the warmth and energy the other woman provided unconditionally. But, she could also feel that Regina’s trepidation was easing with each moment spent together. And, if she was not mistaken, her True Love had already garnered her thoughts well enough to start the conversation.

“What are your thoughts on marriage?” Regina asked unexpectedly, the out-of-nowhere topic forcing Emma to open her eyes and focus on her beloved.

“Marriage?” Emma tried to stall, but the pleading look the brunette directed at her stopped her from doing so.

“Answer me,” Regina urged softly.

She didn’t answer immediately, for her first reply would have been something sarcastic or deflecting, but as she took in the white teeth nibbling worriedly on the lower lip, she considered her response carefully. “I assume you are not interested in my thoughts on it in general?” Emma inquired gently, receiving a nod for an answer. “As far as I am concerned, our lives are so intertwined, bound in ways that the marriage as a formality is completely unnecessary. Would I like to get married, officially? I don’t know.” She noticed Regina’s frown and immediately sought to remove it, reaching for the brunette’s hands, bringing them to her chest. “Not because I don’t want it, but because I am afraid of what circus it will turn into under the direction of my mother.” Visibly shuddering at the monstrosity of a dress her mind conjured for her, she shook her head before continuing, disregarding Regina’s haughty smirk at the mention of Snow’s production. “If it were up to me, and only me, I would like it, but only if you are fully alright with it.”

Regina felt herself melting with affection at Emma’s care for her feelings on the topic, and deciding to show it, she leaned in and laid a chaste kiss upon the blonde’s lips, keeping their hands between them. “The reason I ask is…” she started slowly, but then she stopped, realizing that it sounded shallow. Getting married so she could attain the title of the Heir? Hadn’t her mother done the same by marrying her off to Leopold?

But, before she could spiral into the recriminations of her mind, a firm squeeze of fingers holding her own brought her attention to Emma. The blonde’s eyes were peering into her, as if she was capable of seeing into her brain, and judging how the Sheriff had known her every facet, she had no doubt that it was at least partially true. “Before you tell me the reason for this conversation, tell me this – could you see yourself married to me, before this day?” Emma asked gently, as she slowly released Regina’s hands and brought her own to the other woman’s shoulders.

“Yes,” Regina breathed out in relief as she realized that she had, indeed, thought about being married to Emma before. The whole change of power structure in the township of Storybrooke had been inspired by her unvoiced thoughts and silent desires to marry the blonde Sheriff one day in the future. “Absolutely,” she added as she saw Emma’s knowing smirk.

“Then, there is no need to worry about what has brought this on, is there?” Emma whispered, her smirk getting wider.

Chuckling breathlessly at the impish look Emma directed at her, Regina lifted her head and brought her hands to the blonde's cheeks, holding them gently as her fingers glided tenderly over the pale skin. "I love you," she murmured in half whisper, delighting in the pleased crinkle of Emma's eyes the words caused. 

"I know," Emma replied with another joyous smirk, before she added roguishly. "You want to marry me." Even though Emma was not being entirely serious about it, using the light humor to ease the significant turn their conversation had taken, the brunette could not continue in the same manner as the Sheriff. "I do," left her lips in a gasp. "By all we hold dear, I do." 

The momentous confession of the former Evil Queen had the power to stop the Savior from breathing, her breath catching in her throat before she gasped in wonder, her eyes tearing up at the love she could see shining out of the most beautiful brown eyes. "Me too," she said.

Shifting her hold on Emma's cheeks, her fingers sliding down toward the blonde's neck, gently twining into the loose tendrils of the slightly damp hair, the former Evil Queen pulled her beloved closer, lowering her lips onto the Savior's. It wasn't a passionate lip lock, but it was deeply heartfelt and soul moving, confirming their absolute devotion to each other and their agreement on the subject. Enjoying their soft lips moving together, Regina sighed in amazement, moaning quietly in appreciation when Emma's arms slid over her shoulders, pressing their fronts against each other. Having lost her breath, the brunette let her head fall onto the strong, fur covered shoulder, nuzzling her nose into the warmth of Emma's neck, her arms wrapping around the other woman's middle. 

"Now that we've settled this," Emma started after a while, having grown uncomfortable in the position she was in, her muscles protesting the lack of movement. "May I ask what prompted it?" 

Not moving away from the soft embrace, Regina relayed everything she had learned that morning, her voice not louder than a whisper. Even as the muscles beneath her touch tensed in reaction, the brunette did not stop until she shared all facts in her knowledge. However, the short-tempered response she had been expecting never came up; the Sheriff was sitting there in uneasy silence for a long instance of time, before a deep rooted sigh left her, and with it some of the tension in her body. “If that is what needs to be done…” the blonde murmured in acquiescence, suddenly sounding weary. 

"You don't mind?" Regina couldn't stop herself from uttering in surprise, the blonde's lack of displeasure befuddling her. Immediately after, she was faced with Emma's pointed look, her green eyes flashing with barely restrained anger, the muscles under the brunette’s touch vibrating with it. 

"I mind, Regina," the Sheriff groused in exasperation, frustration rolling of her tense frame in waves. "I do mind, but it isn't like I have any say in this. It's not something you and I can afford to say no to." Taking a moment to gather her thoughts, she lifted her hand to her forehead, rubbing it, her sigh brimming with resignation. "At least, you're not in a different world..." Offering her beloved a crooked smile, weighted down with responsibilities of their roles in this world and war, Emma sighed again. "I'll deal."

The former Evil Queen hesitantly nodded, not knowing how to respond, for Emma had said all there was to say. And, even though the blonde's odd calmness had thrown her, Regina quickly came to understand that her True Love was tired and that forced lack of reaction was due to Emma's desire to avoid pointless waste of her energy, rather than her willing acceptance of the situation. However, Emma’s dissatisfaction was obvious, despite the Savior’s earnest tries to tamp it down. And, knowing her beloved, the instinct to bottle up everything would be rampant, especially now when she is fragile and not a hundred percent. Which begged a deep and painful conversation regarding their feelings and vulnerabilities – two topics they were incredibly fond of discussing, Regina remarked to herself sarcastically.

“Emma, I don’t think…“ she started speaking, but the blonde abruptly jumped to her feet, interrupting her and shrugging off the hold Regina had on her.

“I believe we have lunch to go to,” the Savior spoke sharply, starting to walk away from the viewpoint in the direction of the Marble Hall, her tense posture enough of the warning for Regina to stop trying to instigate any more conversations. Scowling at being readily dismissed by the blonde, the former Evil Queen rose to her feet and slowly followed her beloved, firmly promising to herself that their talk was far from over, intending to continue it at the first opportunity. 

* * *

Later that evening, the Savior found herself sitting at the small table in a small room on the ground level of the House of Healing, the only other person in it beside the young apprentice who had helped with her recovery. Wincing at the sharp sting the lotion caused the second it came in touch with the deep cut running along her left forearm resting against the wooden surface of the table, Emma closed her eyes, not looking at her still bleeding injury – trusting Gwen enough to deal with it by herself. The young healer had promised that with the help of special lotions and binding methods, there would not be even a scar in several days, let alone any other evidence of her accident. And, they could avoid stitching the wound altogether. Surrendering herself to the girl and her gentle ministrations, the blonde focused instead on the soft voices of the two people arguing in front of the room, their hushed conversation heard clearly in the small quarters.

“She should not be allowed back in the field, She-Wolf,” Emma heard the knight hiss angrily. “I don’t care who she is, I will not let someone who is clearly a danger to herself and others wield swords.”

“Come now, Percival, it was only a moment of distraction,” Aileen’s cajoling whisper reached them undistorted. “Given the fact that it has been a busy day, it is understandable.”

“It was more than that, and you know it! She checked out, in the middle of the fight.” A brief pause followed, where Emma imagined that the knight did something to show his vexation, which was followed by a deep sigh, probably from the shifter. “I’ve seen it before, and always with the warriors who had lost their spirit… They would be either killed off shortly afterwards due to losing their head at precisely the wrong time, or they would never pick a weapon again. But, they would always be very different from the people they had been before.”

As soon as the knight stopped speaking, Emma felt eyes on her face, and turning to look at the healer, she noticed the sad scrutiny the girl had subjected her to. But, instead of commenting, the healer lowered her eyes and returned to the wound, careful not to cause the Savior undue pain, her nibble fingers applying the healing ointment. Spared the need to justify herself, the blonde only sighed, remembering the exact moment the knight had spoken of.

With her urging, both Percival and Aileen had met her at the training grounds right after the meal. There, under the shifter’s cautious eyes, she worked on her endurance, each bout lasting longer and longer, suggesting an immediate improvement. However, later in the afternoon, under the last rays of the Sun, she had faltered, her slight loss of control over the situation, earning her the cut on her arm, as she had not been fast enough to escape Percival’s blade. And, then, something had happened. 

_ It was the scent of blood, noticeable under other smells around her, followed by the sharp pain of the cut, which did something to her. She was flung back in time, her mind returning to the day on the cliff, and suddenly, she wasn’t facing Percival but Zelena and Midas. She could feel the burn of her magically overused body, she could smell the blood and sweat lifting off her skin… She could see her enemies right in front of her, and even though they were fuzzy around the edges and not really recognizable, as if she had been looking through the thick veil of smoke, she knew it was them. And she needed to stop them. She paid no heed to the shouts of her name, oddly distant and distorted, her eyes looking forward, pinned at her goal.  _

_ Despite the sluggishness that had settled in her body, Emma stepped onward, letting the sword slip out of her hand, as she brought it in front of her, her memory already supplying her with the solution of how to put an end to the tyrannical king. So, she reached for the man in front of her, her fingers digging into his throat as she tried to channel what was left of her magic, but for some reason nothing was happening. Then, she felt something hit her hand, and suddenly she found herself on the ground, her face pressed into the snow, her arms twisted behind her while someone’s knee was digging into the small of her back. _

The coldness of snow melting against her face had been what had cleared her mind, returning her to the present, where she had realized that the restraining pressure on her back had been Percival holding her down, for both his and her own safety.

“I’ll talk to her,” Emma heard the Wolf say, rolling her eyes at the forcefully reasonable tone of the shifter, obviously intended for the knight, to get him to calm down and let her deal with the Savior.

However, before Aileen entered the room, Emma’s attention was drawn back to the healer at her side, the uncomfortable throbbing of her wound making her look at the other woman – who had used the moments of Emma’s distraction to bind it with bandages, putting down finishing touches on the strips of cloth around the Savior’s arm. “It needs to stay dry, and I’ll change it in the morning,” Gwen noted softly as she gathered her supplies along with bloody rags the Savior had used to stem the flow of the precious liquid and rose from the stool she had been sitting on.

“Thank you,” the blonde offered gratefully, lightly touching the bandages that were covering her entire forearm. The young apprentice smiled in response and ducked out of the room, her exit letting Aileen know that it was safe to enter.

“So,” the shifter started, taking the seat Gwen had used earlier, intentionally sitting that close to the blonde who hadn’t moved from her place. “What happened?”

“What do you mean?” the Sheriff replied coolly as she looked over the ruined sleeve of her shirt, already crusted over and dark brown.

“You know exactly what I mean, Geilgeis!” Aileen spread her palms over the wooden surface of the table, calming herself down, before she continued. “You disappeared back there and almost killed Percy. This is not something I am going to ignore or let aside.” She watched as the Savior clenched her jaw, making the muscles bulge out visibly under the lamp light in the room. “This needs to be dealt with.”

“I am,” Emma spoke sharply as she directed her cold gaze toward the healer, bearing her teeth in a snarl, “fine.” 

“You are not,” Aileen replied unperturbed. “And, the longer you keep ignoring it, the worse it will get. Are you really willing to risk your loved ones in such a way?” She leaned toward the blonde. “Do you really want to be in the position to strangle your children if something sets you off?” The knowing look of the Wolf pinned Emma, but the Sheriff wasn’t cowered, her icy green eyes glinting with ire as she leaned toward the shifter.

“Leave them out of this,” she threatened before she sprang out of her seat.

“Geilgeis, you have been in my custody for mere five hours and you are already injured and have tried to kill somebody,” Aileen replied with suffering patience, reaching for the Savior’s uninjured arm to hold her back, not surprised that the blonde swirled around at the contact.

“In your custody?” Emma hissed with outrage as she stepped closer to the shifter, making the other woman step back. “In your custody?!” the blonde repeated louder, making the healer cringe and move another step back. “You are not my keeper, Wolf, nor my wet-nurse,” she sneered at the older woman, enjoying the flash of unease and fear in the strange eyes.

“I didn’t mean it like that,” the healer tried to placate the blonde, but Emma scoffed and turned away, ready to leave the room. However, when Aileen spoke next, her words froze her in place. “Sheriff, the woman my grandmother told me about was calm, respectful and kind. Capable of inspiring people with the strength of her spirit and ability to gain loyalty of the crowds. The woman she told me about was worthy of being called the Savior and the Sheriff.” The shifter sighed as she watched the Savior listen to her in silence, her fists clenched beside her tense body. “You are not that person,” she added in a gentle tone, afraid of setting the blonde off, taking a small step deeper in the room, away from the danger. “I don’t think that even you recognize yourself anymore… Angry, explosive, violent… You are not yourself, Geilgeis, and you know that.”

“And, what if you are right?” Emma suddenly spoke, turning her head just to glance at Aileen over her shoulder.

The shifter moved slowly toward the tense woman, ignoring her own flaring instincts, hoping she would be able to capitalize on Emma’s momentary willingness to listen. “You must see the danger you pose like this. You must know the value in dealing with whatever that is troubling you head on. The fate of this world depends on it.”

The Savior sighed, shaking her head at the older woman’s dramatic statement, before she turned around and raised her hand in invitation. “How do you plan to help me?” she asked, her anger evaporating, leaving her drained and in pain, the abuse she had willfully done to her body earlier in the training circle making itself known, made worse by the blood loss she had suffered. 

“I need to know what happened,” Aileen insisted gently as she reached for the Sheriff, noticing her paleness for the first time since she had entered the room. With care, she guided the blonde to her seat, considering calling Gwen back in, but she wasn’t going to risk missing the opportunity to talk to Emma without shouting or fearing for her life. “I need to know what triggered it, and where you went.”

“He cut me,” Emma murmured tiredly as she leaned back and closed her eyes, wincing when the back of her head connected with the hard surface of the wall behind her, the slight hit bringing the low grade headache she had been fighting for the past hour to the fore. “He cut me and I was taken to the moment when I killed Midas,” she added.

Aileen frowned. “Because of the pain?”

“No,” Emma replied as she looked at the Wolf. “Because of the blood,” she explained, before she closed her eyes again. “I could smell it, along with other things,” the Savior spoke, her nostrils widening in offence as her mind offered her the memory of the scent, the odor of the dry blood whiffing off her shirt only adding to it. “Let’s just say nothing good is happening whenever I smell it,” Emma said, glancing at the shifter, her words carrying the weight of her memories and dreams.  _ It’s not like I haven’t spilled enough of it by myself _ , the blonde thought with a mirthless chuckle. Peter’s thugs in Neverland, the trolls, the Ogres, Midas’ soldiers, the Empire soldiers, the simians… And that is since she had found herself out of Storybrooke. Needless to say, her past had blood in it, as well. “I guess it brought some things back,” the blonde concluded wearily.

“Is there a particular reason for you to be brought into that time?” the shifter asked slowly, considering Emma’s words.

The Sheriff only shrugged her shoulders before she brought her hand to her eyes, rubbing them with her fingers. Then, she rose to her feet, staggering slightly as she worked her stiffened leg muscles, ignoring the way the walls tilted in her vision. When the firm hold of the other woman’s hand brought her stability, the strong palm wrapped around her upper arm, she only glanced to her left in gratitude, forgoing her stubborn insistence that she was quite capable of walking to her room alone, for she knew that she couldn’t.

“Will you be able to sleep?” Aileen asked softly as she deposited the Savior on the bed, quickly lighting the lantern hanging of the sconce beside her. “I could mix up something for you,” she offered after the blonde shook her head glumly. “You need the rest.”

“No,” the Savior grumbled, pulling off her boots, and as she noticed the shifter’s expression, she continued quickly. “Sleeping aids would not make me rest, Wolf. They would only offer me a place to hide, and right now, the temptation is too great to resist.” It was her reasoning that stopped the healer from insisting, leaving the blonde to her rest, murmuring that she would organize for food to be sent down a bit later. 

Sighing against the steady drumming of the headache in her temples, Emma lifted her legs onto the bed, sinking into the comfortable mattress, her long suffering sigh turning into a painful whimper as the tense frame of her body relaxed. However, despite the fact that she was exhausted, her mind refused to settle down, the events of that afternoon plaguing her. So, in an effort to distance herself from it, Emma used one of the meditation techniques she knew to focus her thoughts on what she had learned from Regina, calling forth the memories of her children, seeing them through her beloved’s eyes.

When the young man who had shown her and Regina the room, Keith, brought down a platter of food an hour later, along with the cloak and her sword she had left in the field, the blonde murmured her thanks, not moving. She didn’t feel hungry and twinges in her limbs dissuaded her from unnecessary motion, so she remained on the bed, keeping her mind occupied, while her body rested, consciously managing her breathing. Emma noted to herself in the inner recesses of her mind that the Empire Hero deserved a worthy prize for the favor she had done to the Savior, teaching her how to meditate herself into tranquility and think.

The Wolf had been right, the Sheriff considered as she thought back on that day. She had been explosive, even in Regina’s presence, earning her quite a few cautioning looks and frowns from the brunette, and other people. At first, she had thought she was unsettled, first because of the illness she had suffered and then, the dream that had shook her more that she had anticipated. But, as she considered what had happened during the lunch with Morgan, and later with Percy, she couldn’t write off her irritation and jumpiness on her health.

Emma had been downright hostile to the Queen of Camelot, her barbed questions bordering on rude as she had asked further elaborations on the spell she had been about to perform on Regina. And, even though the dark skinned sorceress had been patient with her, Emma’s True Love, on the other hand, hadn’t been.

_ “What’s gotten into you?” Regina hissed at her, gripping her upper arm tightly enough to leave the imprint of her hand. The blonde had just postulated that the two of them ended up in Brocéliande solely to provide Morgan with an opportunity to recruit a new Heir for the Tintagel Line. So, Regina had excused themselves politely from the table, pulling the blonde out of the room, seething at the Sheriff’s behavior. “I get that you are frustrated, Emma,” the Mayor started but Emma interrupted her. _

_ “Don’t you think that all of this is just too convenient?” Emma returned in an urgent whisper. “That supposedly, the Mistress of the House of Healing could not figure out how to heal me, but she knew enough to keep me in the magically powered room, managing to do so within seconds of my arrival here, so I wouldn’t die? That she needed you, who had never dealt with this before, to tell her what to do?” Swiftly ripping her arm out of the brunette’s hold, she raised her hands in the air as she allowed her sarcasm to surface with a vengeance. “And, oh, by the way, you know – you could return the favor by becoming the next Heir.” _

_ “What happened to you trusting me?” The softly murmured words filled with hurt were enough to put a stop to Emma’s tantrum, freezing her on the spot. _

_ Looking into the dark eyes swirling with barely hidden pain and disappointment, Emma opened her mouth, but no words could come out. She had nothing to say that would justify her thoughtless behavior, especially since they had come to an agreement less than an hour before, where she had promised to deal with the ramifications of their another separation without much complaint. “I,” she managed to force through her tight throat, “am sorry,” as she reached for her beloved, her knuckles gently passing over Regina’s cheek. “Just,” she sighed deeply when Regina did not move to accept her apology. “Things keep happening, and…” She had reacted with deep seeded suspicion and anger, the way she would have reacted several years before, whenever she would have found herself floundering, unsure of whom to trust. Apparently, she had been unsettled enough to pull one of her defense mechanisms she hadn’t needed to use in two years, ever since she had found her family in Storybrooke. But, the problem with this method was that it didn’t take the feelings of those closest to her into account, doing more harm than good in this situation. Like just then, insulting Regina’s ability to take care of herself instead garnering her support. “I am sorry,” she repeated softly as her hand lowered, and swallowing hard, she turned to leave, knowing that if she stayed she might make things even worse. _

_ However, before she could even make a step, she felt a light press of fingers gliding down her shoulder blade. Before she could even question it, Regina brought her front to Emma’s tense back, circling her arms around her middle, keeping her in place. “I know things are so far away from okay right now, but I need you to keep your calm, Emma,” the brunette whispered gently into Emma’s ear. “Use the time apart to get better and then we’ll get to the bottom of this.” And, with a softly murmured ‘I love you’ Regina hugged her strongly before she kissed her. “I’ll see you in five days,” the former Evil Queen said in lieu of goodbye. _

_ “See that you do,” the Savior remarked firmly, thoroughly enjoying the self-satisfied smirk Regina directed at her in response. _

Regina was right, the blonde concluded to herself in the silence of her room as she sat up in bed. Her first priority had to be her health before she started exploring the facts and theories of her arrival to Brocéliande. And, for finding out what the real reason for it was, she would have to go to Guardian and ask, but remembering how the dragon had been overprotective with the eggs in the cave, she was loath to approach the sky beast without an invitation, despite having earned the right to call the Last of her Kind a friend.

And, so, the first order of the day was building her endurance. To do so, she would have to eat more than she had been since she had awakened from her ailment, therefore she rose from the bed and grabbing the plate Keith had brought she settled herself by the fireplace, quickly setting the fresh logs in it ablaze. Under the light of the fire, she ate in silence as she contemplated the ways she could achieve her goal. Emma doubted that Percival would let her near the training grounds, especially considering what she had overheard scant hours before. So, as she nibbled on the food, she planned. The exercises Mulan and Ruby had taught her were excellent for what she had in mind, and for them she only needed a little bit of space and determination. Also, she hoped that with the meditative parts of the exercises, she would be able to at least glean at what had been the cause of her sudden flashback, trusting that knowing the reason might help her with the control.

A light knock sounded from the door, and at Emma’s equally soft acknowledgement, the door opened and the young healer, in charge of the Savior’s cut, entered, the curious eyes finding Emma instantly by the fire. “I thought you would like an early start,” Gwen murmured lightly as she knelt beside the Sheriff, a small woven basket in her hands holding all the supplies she needed for the bandage change.

Emma smiled at the unassuming manner the girl had about her, not speaking as she offered her the bandaged arm, letting the healer work in silence.

“You heal quickly,” the young woman noted with surprise when she removed the last of the gauze off the wound, inspecting it under the light of the fire, quite astonished by the state of the injury that already looked several days, if not a week old. Prodding the healing cut gently, she looked up into the watchful green eyes. “If you want, you can wash before I redo the binding,” she spoke softly, her keen look taking in yesterday's clothes on the blonde, her hand swiftly passing over the torn and bloody sleeve.

With a nod, Emma rose to her feet and gathering a clean change of clothes, she sequestered herself in the bathroom, dealing quickly with her ablutions. Only minutes afterwards, she returned into the room, barefooted, in her leather pants and loose shirt, her hair spilling over her shoulders in freshly combed waves. Using her uninjured arm to throw her used clothes onto the bed, Emma took in the pillows the girl had laid out beside the fireplace in her absence, and following the inviting gesture from the young apprentice, she lowered herself down, providing the healer with enough space to work on her arm.

After several minutes, Gwen finished her work in silence; having made sure that the new bandage was wound tightly enough for it not to be undone during the day. “I think you won’t need it past nightfall,” she spoke softly as she brought the sleeve of Emma’s shirt down and did the cuff. At the Savior’s grateful nod, she smiled and lightly touched the injured forearm, before she rose to her feet. “Investing in a pair of bracers might be a good thing,” she remarked, causing the blonde to chuckle softly. “If you need anything else, you know where to find me,” Gwen added as she walked out of the room, leaving the blonde by the fireplace, closing the door behind her.

As soon as the young healer left, Emma gathered her hair in her hands, deftly plaiting it into a braid, using a simple leather twine to tie its end. Then, she tightened the laces of her shirt, before she tucked it into her pants, and throwing a simple brown hemp knee-length tabard she had unearthed out of the closet in the room over her clothes, she slipped into her boots and reaching for her sword, she threw on the black cloak, letting its hood hang low over her face. Using the early hours of the morning to her advantage, Emma passed the empty hallways and stairwell without anyone seeing her, leaving the Marble Hall in the dark vestiges of the dawn. 

She swiftly walked away from the village, following the line of the cliff, her eyes searching for a place where she could have enough space for the forms she planned to do. Paying attention to the path she was taking, the blonde ducked deeper into the forest and not long after, she came across a shallow creek in a small clearing, its surface frozen over and glinting in the Sun of the early morning. The stream cut through the woods, and in this particular place it widened slightly, providing a watering hole for the local game, if Emma was to judge by the tracks left in the damp grounds by the water. Deciding it was a suitable place for her designs, the Sheriff removed her cape, tossing it over one of low hanging branches. She lowered her blade, leaning it against the trunk of the same tree, and swinging her arms she prepared herself to start the first form of the routine she had learned from Mulan. Rolling her neck, she sank into the position and centering her mind, she began.

As she moved through the forms, Emma allowed her focus to split in two ways – one to maintain the awareness of her surroundings and the following steps of the exercises, and the other part of her attention was to sift through the memories she had received from Regina, concentrating on the most recent and relevant ones, determined to learn what had happened in her absence from the Enchanted Forest.

With her arms in front of her, she stepped forward, keeping her knees slightly bent.

_ Almost unheard in the roar of the wind and the power of the portal, the ship was creaking under the strain of both the funnel and Regina’s magic, the opposite forces threatening to tear the vessel apart. _

Her hands switched their positions as she elegantly glided back.

_ The swirls of purple mist clearing, unveiling the aftermath of the scrimmage the Wolves and the others had wrought on the cliff, the bodies of simians and soldiers strewn across the dirty snow. And blood. A trail of bloody footprints led deeper inland, to the place where a group of people she knew was kneeling, their faces mournful, while honoring the pile of black clothes. _

Lifting her leg in the air, Emma turned in place with her arms crossed at the wrists in front of her.

_ Conversations with the Council of the Safe Haven and their allies, and the stories they told Regina about the Savior. _

With her arms high in the air, the blonde lounged forward, keeping her spine straight.

_ Regina climbed onto the table in the War Room, her eyes pinned to the map of the lands as she ordered people around, performing chant after chant in order to find the missing Sheriff. After the first try was too general, she attempted a slightly different method, garnering unexpected results, where the whole map of the Enchanted Forest glowed with gold tinge to the light. As she chuckled at the revelation the map provided, the former Evil Queen attempted another spell, after consulting with Rumplestiltskin. _

Emma stumbled as she recalled the memory, the words of the second chant drawing her attention. She shared her life essence with the entire world? Was that the reason she was the Sheriff of the Enchanted Forest?

Deciding to focus on that tidbit later, the blonde returned into position, quickly continuing her forms as she delved further into the memories.

_ Late night talk with Mulan. Ride toward the White Castle. Meeting Guardian and hearing her message. Liam’s excursion to the inner gardens. The hard and fast ride to the Brocéliande. Seeing Emma for the first time after two months. The meld. Saving Emma. Morgan’s story. Fighting the overcharge. Lying beside Emma and just listening to her sleep. The rest of the story. Emma’s awakening.  _

When the Savior stopped, she was fully drenched and the Sun was high in the sky, telling her that she had been going through her forms for hours without a pause. Now, she was trembling with exhaustion, a small layer of steam rising off her overheated skin and a steady stream of white vapor surrounded her face each time she breathed out, as she shakily walked to the tree where she had left her things. Wrapping the cloak around her shivering body, she sat down on a thick root sticking out of the frozen earth, enjoying the warm rays of the Sun beating down on the black cape, adding more warmth to the velvet and fur cover. Settling more comfortably on the peeking limb, Emma leaned back into the trunk of the tree, placing her sword between her knees, her hands resting on the hilt of her weapon while she closed her eyes and breathed deeply, counting down the seconds until her heart eased its thunderous rhythm. The words Gwen had uttered that early morning came to the blonde.

_ You heal quickly _ , the healer had said, and the Savior had to acknowledge the words for something more than a simple quirk of her body. Although she had always found herself healing somewhat faster from her injuries, ever since she had been a child, the rate she was going at now was nothing but supernatural - or, rather, magical. Her injury had been deep and serious, but in a matter of a single day, it would be healed enough not to need bandages anymore. And, there was her almost miraculous recovery from the overcharge and the poison. By all accountings, she had been motionless for more than three weeks, earnestly hanging on by a thread while her body had been ravaged by both the poisonous ancient curse and the supply of magic that had helped keep her alive, not to mention her moment of death due to the strain the overcharge had caused to her heart – and, yet, she had been walking only hours after she had woken. Additionally, her endurance was improving by the hour, and if Emma was honest with herself, by the time Regina was done with her Heritance thing, she would be back to her old strength, if not better.

It had to be her magic, the Savior thought. That was the only thing that made sense to the Sheriff, even though the blonde could not feel its steady thrum throughout her body anymore, the heady feeling of the power that had been present in her very blood for her every waking moment since she had stopped the storm in Neverland.

She might not feel it, but she definitely still had it, Emma concluded, shaking her head at the conflicting emotions bubbling in her at the realization. On one hand, she had been terrified that her magic had been gone for good and with it, her sense of purpose and identity. On the other, she had been relieved for her particular brand of power carried a whole world of responsibility with it, a heavy burden indeed. She might not feel her magic, but her senses still remained much sharper than in ordinary humans, augmented by her powers, and she could see and hear much more than others would anticipate. Sighing as she remembered how that particular trait had used to keep Liam and the Wolves unsettled around her, the blonde moved leisurely, rising from the root she had used to rest on, deciding to quench her thirst in the brook rather than going back to the village, before continuing with her physical betterment. Crouching by the glistening surface of the stream, the woman grimaced against the glare reflecting off the frozen layer blinding her for a second before she grabbed her sword by the scabbard, using the pommel to break the ice. Placing the weapon in her right hand, holding it by the hilt, Emma reached for the water with her left, bringing the cold liquid to her mouth in her cupped palm.

Remaining in her crouched position, the blonde slaked her thirst, exhaling sharply after each swallow of the freezing water, ignoring the slight shudder that would pass through her frame at the cold liquid sliding down her throat. As soon she was finished, she shook her hand before stuffing it under her right armpit to warm up her fingers, rising slowly to her feet, using the sword to push herself up, Emma turned to look toward the shadows moving deeper into the woods, her mouth quirking in an amused smirk.

“You know you can join me, right?” the Sheriff spoke loudly, her clear voice projecting deeply into the forest. “But, you can continue skulking about, if that is what you prefer,” she added, her voice tinged with humor, as she could almost feel the surprise emanating from the person that had been watching her for the past half hour. Finally, her shadow moved into the light, walking slowly toward the brook and the Savior, shaking her head at the blonde’s indulgent tones.

“You knew I was there the whole time, didn’t you?” the shifter spoke when she came within four feet from the other woman.

“Honestly, I expected you to find me much earlier,” Emma said with a slight nod, as she gestured toward the tree that had served as her resting point, having seen that the Wolf healer had a leather satchel thrown over her shoulder, and the blonde had no doubt in her mind that the contents of it were of the food variety.

“I wasn’t looking for you, until you didn’t show for lunch,” the shifter commented as she sat down, placing the satchel in front of her. Then, she looked up into the Savior’s eyes and seeing wariness in them, she sighed. “Despite what you might think, I am not your minder, Geilgeis, and I do not seek to curtail your movements.” Opening her bag, she reached in and got a small bread roll, tossing it gently to the Savior, urging her to sit beside her. “I am, however, entreated to watch over you and offer a helping hand, if needed.”

Tearing a bit of the roll off, the younger woman sat right next to the shifter, chewing on the piece she had placed in her mouth. She frowned at the unspoken indication the Wolf had in her words, crossing her legs in a relaxed Indian seat. “Regina put you up to this? Why?”

“Your beloved is worried.”

“But, I am alright,” the blonde responded, rolling her eyes at the contradicting look she had gotten from the Wolf. “Mostly,” she amended after a moment, acknowledging the other woman’s point.

The shifter murmured noncommittally as she offered the blonde a small container with cut meat and cheese along with two hard boiled eggs, already peeled. “She also thought you would accept my presence with more ease due to your relationship with my son.”

“As opposed to Percy, most definitely,” Emma agreed as she munched on the food, the first taste of the bread making her realize that she was indeed starving. “So, how did you find me?” she asked, popping a morsel into her mouth, slanting a curious look at the shifter.

The Wolf chuckled, showing her teeth as she shook her head at the Savior. “Why? So, you’d know not to do it next time?” Although her voice was on the teasing side, the other woman knew that the shifter was quite serious. But, when Emma refused to react at the implied claim, only blinking lazily while she tossed a piece of cheese in her mouth, the older woman sighed, leaning back against the tree. “The ointment Gwen covered your arm with,” she spoke in capitulation after several minutes of uninterrupted but suddenly tense silence, the shifter inexplicably being under the impression that she had lost a match against a much stronger Alpha. The feeling she couldn’t explain, but she had heard her son speak of it – however, at the time, she had believed that Liam had exaggerated, his remarks heavily influenced by his regard and awe for the White Knight. Only now, she could see that her son had been right, that there was something about the blonde that forced the inner wolves of her kind to yield to Emma’s wishes, almost unconsciously. And, the way the blonde had known where she was, even there had been no way the Sheriff had heard her or seen her – Aileen was proud of the fact that she was one of the best hunters of her people, only her son, his second, and her late mate having been able to best her. It couldn’t be just the magic, for Aileen had known Morgan for a lot of years now, and the Witch Queen had never even suggested being that much aware of the Wolf’s movements.

“Well, then I am in luck, for I won’t be wearing it past nightfall,” Emma commented with ease, her sharp eyes noticing the consternation in the furrowed brows of the other woman. However, she did not pry but focused on the sack. “What else have you got there?” she asked, pointing at the bag.

Shaking off her thoughts, the shifter pulled out a small leather water-bag, offering it to the Savior. “This season’s melomel.” As the green eyes looked up in confusion at her, the Wolf explained. “It’s mead with berry fruits.” Watching the Savior uncork the bag, daring to take a sip, she continued. “It’s young and still mild, so I thought you would like it, rather than pure mead or ale.”

Emma smacked her lips at the sweet taste, nodding lightly at the flavor before she drank some more of the mead. “It tastes like blueberry juice,” she commented.

“It basically still is, the mead hasn’t been fermenting for long.”

“It’s good, nonetheless,” Emma spoke, before finishing the drink.

The shifter smiled at the blonde’s soft admission. “So, what is it that you’ve been doing here?” she asked after a while, realizing that the Sheriff wasn’t going to bother filling the silence falling over them.

“Getting my strength back,” the Savior spoke shortly, her eyes darting toward the woman beside her.

“If that is so, I have a proposition for you,” the shifter offered, slightly unnerved by the light eyebrow arching at her.

“Hmm,” the blonde murmured, leaning her head against her fist, resting her elbow on her knee. “And, what is it?”

“Seeing how Percival is not inclined to let you anywhere near his playground,” Aileen said, smirking as Emma snorted. “I would like to offer myself as a sparring partner.” Once more, Emma raised her eyebrow at her, waiting for more. “I mean, with my abilities, I am probably the best suited for it, anyways.”

“And, you would do that? Even though you also believe I am not quite right?”

“Well, short of fixing your problems by the end of the day, I do think this is the next best thing,” Aileen answered Emma’s pointed question, meeting the sharp eyes directed at her. “At least, it might tire you out enough for you to be able to sleep…” the shifter added softly, hoping to persuade Emma.

“Good luck with that,” the Savior spoke wistfully as she brought herself up, leaving the sword in its place. Removing her cloak and tossing it over a branch, she looked at the still seated Wolf. “Come on,” she urged.

“What, now?”

“Not a lot of time left,” the blonde remarked as she rolled her shoulders and neck, hopping lightly in place, watching the older woman rise to her feet. “Lot of things to do,” she added, gesturing at the Wolf to attack.

“You should not rush, Geilgeis, you might stumble,” the Wolf warned, shrugging off her fur lined jacket. Throwing her hand in a fast move, she smirked when the Savior easily deflected the blow. Slowly building up her moves into a complex series of punches and lounges, the shifter put the blonde through her paces, backing off when Emma would falter and need a break. The healer watched carefully, her mind cataloguing the fact that the blonde’s temper, although present and simmering under the surface, brought on by frustration and exhaustion, never turned belligerent. It seemed to the shifter that the Savior was slowly getting her feet under her, her anger and irritation drained by the physical effort.

Hours after they started, the blonde raised her hand and gasped, “No more,” before she stumbled toward the tree holding her cloak, quickly wrapping herself into the warm protection, as her sweat drenched shirt stuck to her overheated skin uncomfortably.

“Don’t sit down,” the healer spoke softly, quickly preventing Emma from collapsing onto her previous place of rest. “Come, let’s walk it off,” she murmured as she gathered their things, throwing on her jacket. With Emma’s arm over her shoulders, the shifter directed them toward the House of Healing, quite aware that the blonde’s quivering muscles have been pushed enough for the day. “I have an idea for tomorrow,” she spoke as they walked toward the village. “We could go on a perimeter watch and return in two days. It’s about a hundred and fifty mile hike that would prove as a suitable challenge for you.”

“Hike?” The blonde considered the proposal. It had merit, especially if Aileen planned to finish it in only two days. The pace of it would be almost brutal and it might prove a distraction enough for Emma to stop her from feeling out of sorts in her quarters in the Marble Palace while waiting for Regina to return from her Inheritance business. 

* * *

The soft sound of the fire crackling in the fireplace was interrupted only by the slight screech of a whetting stone passing over metal, the well-established rhythm of the sharpening soothing to the ears of the blonde seated by the hearth, as she enjoyed the warmth seeping into her sore muscles. In her hands was the sword she had been given in the White Palace’s armory, its blade shining under the light of the dancing flames. Only under the hard surface of the whetting stone the blade showed imperfections, small nicks and grooves earned in many fights Emma had fought with her trusty sword.

She had taken it out of its scabbard to check the blade, as the next day she would take it with herself into the wilderness of Brocéliande. However, when her sharp gaze had fallen onto the line of the weapon, she had noticed the scratches it had collected over the days spent in her possession.

She knew enough to realize that her sword had not been made to bear the brunt of hundreds and hundreds of enemies she had fought off with it, and soon, she would have to visit a blacksmith or get another sword. But, for now, she decided to smooth out the grooves in the blade, sharpening it in the process, loath to part from her weapon.

A short rap of knocks sounded from the closed door of her room before the hard wood moved, swinging inwards, as two Emma’s visitors entered, Keith carrying a platter of food in his hand, while over his shoulder was a leather bag the blonde was supposed to use for her things the next day, and following him was Gwen, her arms also laden with things the Savior would need for her excursion. While Keith lowered the plater beside the quiet blonde, leaving the bag on the bed, and quickly excused himself, the young healer apprentice remained, deftly settling herself beside the Savior without spilling anything out of her arms.

Emma peered over to her, putting her sword on the floor beside her leg, noticing a simple clay mug in the healer’s hand with scented steam rising out of it. On the other hand, the young woman held a small satchel and two canteens were hanging by their straps from her forearm. Acknowledging the scrutiny with a small twitch of her lips, the young healer offered the mug to the blonde. “It should help with the strain and sleep,” Gwen murmured in explanation at the inquisitive look directed at the cup, now safely cradled in pale elegant fingers. When the blonde took a sip of the hot drink, the healer gestured toward the pouch in her hand. “This is a simple healer’s kit, for your impending adventure.” Her mouth quirked into a soft teasing smirk at her last words, before a more serious expression set on her face. “These two canteens hold brews intended for your use, should you need them. This one, with the green pattern on the strap is similar to the one you are drinking right now; it eases the muscle pain and soreness, and with a bit of a rest it can rejuvenate you quite a bit. The other one is to help you relax and sleep, but be warned, it is quite strong, in order to prevent dreams. It will knock you out.”

Emma lowered the empty cup beside her, her brows narrowing at Gwen’s words. “Do I need to be careful with them?” the Sheriff asked slowly, as she accepted the gifts from the young healer beside her.

The girl tilted her head to a side, her eyes gliding over Emma’s face before she blinked slowly, apparently getting an answer to her silent inquiry. “These, in these amounts… They are safe.” The healer spoke softly, with understanding and kindness flooding her features as she placed her palm onto the Sheriff’s forearm, squeezing it lightly. “However, prolonged use is out of the question,” she added quietly, her tone firm as she tightened her hold on the other woman’s arm.

At Emma’s comprehending nod, the younger woman elegantly rose to her feet, pressing down in her simple dress, bidding goodnight to the Savior as she left the room, closing the door behind her, not at all offended by the blonde’s contemplative silence, the tired green eyes staring at the gifts the healer had imparted onto the Savior.

Finishing the last of the curiously tasting drink, the Sheriff leaned forward, slowly clambering up to her feet in order to move to bed, knowing that whatever rest she managed to scrounge that night, would go a long way the next day.

A light touch over her sheet covered shoulder snapped Emma awake, as she jumped away from the contact, her hands searching blindly for something to use as a weapon against the intruder. “It’s only me, Geilgeis,” the soft grumbling tones of the werewolf healer reached the Savior, quickly followed by the light crack of the flint, and in the resulting flame of the candle, the blonde could see the shifter moving away from the bed. Aileen grabbed the edge of the door as she looked behind, at the still hazy Savior peering at her. “We’ll be waiting outside.”

As soon as the door closed, Emma collapsed back into the warmth of the covers, blowing the air out of her mouth. Groaning lightly as she stretched, the blonde noted with surprised relief that her body was quite limber and relaxed, any traces of lingering soreness and stiffness gone. Forcing herself to leave the safety of her bed, the blonde quickly dealt with her ablutions, preparing for the journey. As she donned the clothes that seemed most appropriate for the endeavor, the Sheriff spared a moment to lament the loss of her black garbs pilfered from Regina’s court, their elegance and simple lines not diminished by their practicality. With a light headshake, the blonde flexed her shoulders and regarded her reflection in the polished silver plate affixed to the inner side of the wardrobe’s door, nodding at the choice she had made, deeming it acceptable for spending long hours on what promised to be an arduous trek within the borders of the mythical forest. Reaching for her sword, she tied it to her middle with practiced ease, and then gathered her things and ready for her excursion, she left her quarters.

After a short jog up the stone stairs, Emma found herself in front of the large entrance door of the Marble Palace, the wooden door ajar just enough for her to squeeze through. Not wasting more time, the blonde pushed herself through the space, shuddering as the strong and cold wind met her the second she cleared the comfortably heated air of the building.

“Oh, good, you are here,” Emma heard from the bottom of the steps, her eyes narrowing as they met the hard and judging ones of the last Knight of Camelot. She didn’t respond to his biting tone, only raising her eyebrow in his way. Shouldering her pack over the thick cloak Regina had brought to her, she walked down the steps, using the time to look at the people gathered at the bottom. Beside Aileen and Percival, there were two other men, dressed in the same outfits as the people Regina had met after she had entered Brocéliande, both of them armed with crossbows and knives. All three men had their eyes pinned at the blonde, watching her carefully on her descent toward them, Percival’s eyes brimming with disagreement and suspicion, while the others only regarded her with cautious interest.

“You look better,” the voice of the werewolf greeted her as soon as Emma’s foot reached the ground, her pleased tone breaking off the locked staring contest between the last Knight of the Round Table and the Savior, drawing Emma’s attention away from the bunched eyebrows clearly showing displeasure of the dark skinned man. “Good,” the wolf added in a low voice, almost to herself, casting a sharp look toward the Knight in warning.

Rebuked by the silent glare from the shifter, Percival motioned to one of the men beside him as he turned to address the Savior. “Despite my objections, Aileen considers that the border walk would do you good,” he spoke with a light sneer, raising his hand to accept the weapons his man had brought, closing his fist around the two daggers he had gotten. “Even though I do not believe you are quite ready for this, I cannot let you leave our little hamlet without protection.” Taking the first dagger, he offered it to the blonde, holding on to it for a while longer, even after Emma had grabbed its hilt. “Boot,” he murmured, directing his eyes at her left leg. Only when the blonde nodded in understanding, he released his hold, watching the woman crouch in order to set it in place. “Waist,” he only said as he gave the other one, smirking slightly when the newcomer rolled her eyes at his patronizing help, offering no verbal reply, thus earning some respect from the Knight. Then, he pointed toward her sword, tied at the hip. “You are, of course, aware that swords are not weapons people take in the woods, where no one is expecting attacks from other humans,” he noted snidely, but when the blonde’s ungloved hand clenched into a fist around the grip of the elegant weapon, he dropped the subject, realizing that, for Emma, the sword was not only the tool of war, but something to ground her as well – and in her condition, she needed it, perhaps more than anyone could guess.

With another short gesture, Percival watched as the other man beside him brought forth a quiver filled with arrows and a longbow. “I heard you are… adequate with these,” he added, motioning to his man to present them to the blonde.

“For someone who surely hates the idea of her having weapons, you certainly ply her with them,” the shifter noted with amusement, her comment making the dark colored man shake his head.

"What's with the escort?" the Savior asked, glancing at the two men while she placed the quiver across her back, keeping the bow in her left hand, realizing that it was long enough to serve as a walking stick of sorts.

"The border patrol always consists of four people. Now, I understand that you are not members of the Guard, and have no obligation to fulfill its duties, but I will not send out a full team if you are already going along the same path as the Guardsmen usually do." The knight nodded at the two men. “They were about to leave, as well, so I just reassigned two of them on another matter, while these two will accompany you on your trail.” Placing his arms behind his back, he let his eyes pass over the gathered people in front of him and sighed. “Off you go,” he said before he turned around and briskly climbed the stairs, ducking into the Marble Palace out of the cold.

“Well, that was…” Emma started speaking, as she followed the shifter and the other two out of the village, adjusting the strap of the quiver on her shoulder. “Inspiring,” she mumbled, lifting her hood up, ignoring the soft chuckle coming from the Wolf in front of her. “So, what did you tell him? You’d go and sweep the trail if he let me tag along?” The blonde murmured as she drew to Aileen’s side, matching her long gait. “Do something more, if he gave me weapons?”

“Not everything is about you, Sheriff,” the shifter whispered before she sped up, taking up the leading point of their small group, setting up a hard pace for the rest of them. And, even though they were moving fast on the path leading away from the village, veering upwards into the mountains, directly opposite from that little route Regina had taken with Percival on her way to the Dragon’s Bluff, Emma knew enough of the Wolves’ behavior to know that Aileen had her eyes and ears peeled, her keen senses trained to spot trouble and danger.

Emma followed in silence, allowing the two Guardsmen to guard their rear, slightly uncomfortable by the punishing tempo uphill their leader had set, her skin already damp and hot. However, she dared not complain as she had known this would be a hard journey, pushing her very limits of her still recovering body. 

* * *

The door creaked as it opened, and the sound of the rain grew stronger, almost deafening, before the door closed once more, the person who entered leaning against the hard wood with a tired sigh. Taking off her cloak, the shifter glanced at the person lying in the cot by the closest wall, the roaring fire in the hearth across from it casting a strong glow over the features of the person. “You really should sleep,” Aileen murmured as she took off her soaked clothes, stretching them over the stone floor beside the fireplace to dry.

The rain had caught them only several hours away from the first guard post, where the patrolling soldiers would rest for the night, protected from the elements. The icy cold water had beaten upon them mercilessly, making the already treacherous path through the mountain vegetation all the much worse. Slowed by the resulting deluge that brought along loose mud down the slopes of the mountain, the four forged on, finally reaching the first resting point of their journey late in the evening, shivering, drenched, and tired.

Aileen walked slowly toward the empty cot beside Emma’s and sat, wrapping the coarse wool blanket around her body to keep warm, her eyes not moving from her silent companion. “You held up pretty well today,” she added, but the only answer she got was a noncommittal grunt. “We have a little more than two leagues of the incline before the path starts leading into the valley. And, only a league away from here is the first obelisk on our track. We hadn’t encountered them on the first part of our trek because they were deeper in the forest, where the ground is too unstable to cross. But, from now on, they would be a regular occurrence.” Another low grunt met the Wolf’s ears, as Emma burrowed deeper into the cot, her shoulder almost covering her chin. “Are you alright?”

“I’m fine,” Emma murmured in a sleepy voice, her eyelids remaining half mast, even though she looked into the other woman’s direction. “Just, it has been a while since I had to cross such a distance on foot.” Shifting in her cot, the blonde placed her elbow beneath her head as she turned to the shifter, her full attention onto the older woman. “I have forgotten how it forces you to think, especially about the things that have been crowding your mind lately…” 

Aileen hummed in agreement before she leaned forward. “Any breakthroughs?” 

“Nothing in particular,” the Savior replied softly, fiddling with the edge of the blanket covering her. “But, I do feel like something is waiting to happen - something catastrophic.” 

“That could be your inner restlessness speaking,” the Wolf spoke slowly, uncertain how to respond to the blonde’s fear. The Savior seemed like someone with good instincts, quite able to anticipate the events in the future. But, on the other hand, the younger woman had been through so much, still recovering from the cursed effects of the magical mist and expenditure of magic, both situations highly damaging to one’s psyche in their own right. The sense of impending disaster could be a manifestation of Emma’s burden turning out to be too much for her to handle. 

“Perhaps,” the Savior spoke softly after a while, breaking the silence that had lapsed between them, shifting onto her back, her arms right beside the edges of the cot.

“But, you don’t think so.”

Emma did not reply, her breathing changing with the slumber she succumbed to, the slowing heart beats loud just enough for the other woman to know for sure that the blonde had fallen asleep and not avoiding continuing their already meager conversation.

The Wolf sighed wearily, lying down on her own bed, her mind sifting through the memories of that day, paying more attention to the ones pertaining to the blonde beside her. They hadn’t encountered anything worrisome on their way to the first guard outpost, but the Sheriff had seemed tense and jumpy, her sharp eyes darting over winter green foliage, focusing onto every shadow falling across the grounds and every sound heard in the woods. If she were honest, Aileen supposed that the Sheriff had done the same thing she had been doing the entire time, but the blonde had seemed more obvious about it, an air of grim expectancy and anticipation around her, like she had been waiting on enemies to emerge from the shadowy covers of the forest. The manner she had kept squeezing the hilt of her sword was also telling of her unease. Even now, the shifter noticed, the Savior was sleeping with her weapons beside her bed, well within her reach.

Aileen’s train of thought was broken by the door opening once again, one of the men accompanying the women rushing inside, quickly closing the door against the outpour outside, leaving his comrade to stand watch right in front of the small structure serving as their resting point. Noticing the woman’s eyes on him the man nodded in greeting.

“Still not letting up?” the shifter asked in a low voice as she watched the guardsman step toward the fire, taking off his soaked cloak and jerkin.

“It will last well into the morning,” he whispered gruffly, his darting eyes checking upon the sleeping Savior. As he saw no movement from her, he continued. “It may prove impossible to go to the marker stone until the rain stops. The pathway is turning too slick to tread upon, and walking off it is certain death.”

The shifter hummed in acknowledgement of the soldier’s dire predictions, frowning as she tried to calculate how much of delay it would cost, for she didn’t believe that Emma would allow them to be somewhere deep in the woods when the assumed deadline Morgan had set for Regina came along. “We’ll see in the morning.”

He nodded in agreement, settling himself down by the hearth with a jaw snapping yawn, using a spare blanket to make his place on the ground more comfortable. As he found a position he could easily rest in, his eyes fell on the least familiar member of the group, watching the dancing shadows from the fire fall over the creased forehead and firmly pressed lips of the sleeping woman. “A jumpy one, isn’t she?”

“She’s been through a lot,” Aileen replied softly, glancing toward her charge with worried affection. “It is bound to leave a mark on her in some way.” Then, the shifter reconsidered her words, remembering the way Emma had known she had been watched, the previous day at the small creek in the forest. “But, Geilgeis still has amazing instincts about her. If there is something in the woods, she will sense it, perhaps even faster than I would.” When the soldier’s eyes met her own, widened in surprise, she hummed lightly in confirmation. “It is one of the many reasons the Wolves hold her in high esteem. That, and her inexplicable ability to be almost always right about events and people.” The shifter stopped for a moment, her lips stretching into an impish smile. “And, not to forget her ability to best most of my kind in hand to hand fights without the aid of magic.”

The guardsman chuckled softly at the amused tone of the shifter. He was familiar with the abilities of her kind, as well as with the pride they took in their prowess. For the blonde woman to be able to best them on their terms – it had to rankle the hell out of the furry devils. “I can see how that can irk some people.” He shared a look with Aileen, both of them immediately thinking about a certain knight who seemed to be annoyed by the very thought of the Savior being anywhere near him. The man understood his leader’s position, as he, too, had seen the effects of wars on those of kind heart. He had seen the dangers those inflicted posed to others and themselves, tortured by the mental scars. But, he also knew that some people were quite capable of pushing through their problems and becoming even better warriors. And, by the looks of it, Aileen sincerely believed that Geilgeis was one of those people.

Letting their conversation end there, he closed his eyes, sinking off to sleep instantly, his body trained to rest when it could.

With one last look at the Sheriff, the Wolf turned to her side and willed herself into slumber, leaving their problems and worries for the next day.

* * *

The sharp crispy air bathed the Savior’s freshly scrubbed face the second the woman left the warmth of the small guard post, the sudden change in temperature forcing her into a visible shudder. With an absent motion, the blonde draped her cloak around her, her eyes passing over the heavy and dark rolling clouds covering the sky, their thickness preventing the Sun to reach the ground, enveloping them in dusk-like darkness. But, the rain had stopped a while back, the wet earth solidifying into frozen grounds, the cold settling over the forest quite quickly.

Drawn by the soft murmurs, Emma looked toward the older man conversing with the shifter as they were glancing up to the skies and the path leading up to the first marker on their way. Interested in their discussion, the blonde pushed away from the building’s wall and softly walked over to them, her sharp ears catching bits of their conversation already after several steps.

“I take it by your expression,” Emma heard Aileen speak grimly, “it’s not good news.”

The older guardsman, the one the Savior heard others call Alistair shook his head. “It’ll start sleeting quite soon. And, with nightfall, even snowing.” Motioning to the path, the soldier sighed. “We cannot allow ourselves to get caught in a blizzard while out in the open.”

“There are some caves that we can use for the night,” the Wolf said after a moment. “They are only a hundred feet away from the obelisk, large enough to serve as a quite comfortable shelter.”

“I remember,” the soldier answered contemplatively, nodding as he considered the possible shelter. “But, we must move while we still have the light. With ice and high slope, it may take us hours to get there.”

Aileen turned to look at the Savior, having noticed her approach earlier, the piercing grey eyes considering the blonde beside her. “It’s up to you, Geilgeis. We either stay here or in the caves.”

The Savior glanced back at the small one room stone cottage, her brows furrowing. If she had to wait for the weather to clear up, she would rather do it in a place where she could at least occasionally stretch her legs without stepping on anyone’s bunk. “The caves,” she said firmly.

And, so, the decision was made, and minutes later, the small group moved onward with their trek, occasionally glancing up into the churning dark skies. However, the short distance to their next stop was not crossed as quickly as Emma had anticipated, the frozen grounds and uphill path forcing the four to thread carefully, using whatever sharp weapons they had at hand to help them on their climb, and even so, it wouldn’t pass more than several minutes before one of them would slip and lose their balance, scrambling to grab onto a random root or a stone sticking out of rock solid earth, or digging in their blades, lest they slide down the slope; each misstep robbing the person of their breath. Not even the shifter was immune to the slippery path, catching herself with gloved hands and cursing into her chin each time her feet would get away from her on their way up the steep incline.

Finally, after three hours of arduous climb, when the way into the mountain leveled off, Aileen sighed in relief as her eyes caught the sight of the first marker stone in their path, the dark stone of the obelisk glinting in the low light. Stretching her stiffened back muscles, she looked back at her companions, pleased to see that everyone had managed to reach safety of the small plateau, the steepest part of the journey behind them. “Alistair, we’ll need wood,” she spoke as the older soldier came to her, his chest heaving as he panted from the exertion of the climb. When the man went about gathering the firewood for their camp, his sharp bark summoning the younger soldier to his side to help, the shifter glanced to her side, her gaze drawn to the slightly limping blonde stepping slowly in her direction, Aileen using the moment to look over the Savior, pleased to see that the woman was only slightly worse for wear. The blonde passed her side and continued on, toward the marker, her attention excluding everything else but the ancient etches grooved deeply into the weathered stone.

The shifter watched as the Savior took off her glove, a soft crease in the blonde woman’s brows portraying her concentration on the strange obelisk, as she stepped closer to examine it, obviously drawn by the artifact of a time long past. 

The granite block was wet under Emma’s bare hand, the fingers passing over lichen covered grooves etched deeply into the stone. The lines were forming a familiar rune in old elvish, the meaning coming to the blonde almost the same moment as her skin connected with it – protection and sanctuary. However, there was something besides curiosity that had drawn the aching and tired Savior to the stone. It was a low grade pulsing emanating from the obelisk, barely there, and yet, Emma could feel it quite clearly, as it resonated with her power deep within her, the power she had not felt since the day she had woken up in the House of Healing. It was both unfamiliar and recognizable at the same time, its signature making her muscles quiver with unease. The magic was not unpleasant nor did it feel dangerous to Emma, however it did inspire a tingle of longing in her, as if the energy stored in the obelisk recognized her on some level. No, not her, the blonde gathered. It felt her magic, her True Love Born magic, and it, for the lack of better simile, rejoiced for its appearance.

The Tintagel founder must have had his magic fed into the stones, Emma realized, the True Love Born magic, and now the markers, for some reason had enough awareness of the world around them to identify the Sheriff as one quite similar to their creator, similar enough to react to her presence. “I thought the boundary failed,” she spoke aloud, having just thought of something.

The Wolf frowned at the question. “It is reported so, yes,” she said as she walked closer to the Savior. “Why do you ask?”

“There is still magic in these stones,” the blonde murmured, her hushed tone loud just enough for the shifter to hear her. “They still serve their purpose.” Pressing her palm against the surface of the stone more firmly, Emma felt the volume of the magic in the obelisk change, an almost negligible amount of it disappearing during the Sheriff’s inspection of the artifact, the power of the enchantment weakening by the seconds. “Barely,” she added under her breath, her fingers twitching almost imperceptibly over the runes.

“I don’t feel anything,” the older woman spoke softly, glancing toward the pale hand still resting against the dark gray surface with unease. As a Wolf who had spent a lot of time around Morgan, she had a pretty firm grasp on the effect of the ambient or captured magics on her sharp senses and instincts, but to hear that the border stones still held their power and that she couldn’t feel it, it was strange for her. “Maybe the watchers couldn’t, either.” She looked at the blonde’s face just in time to see a slow nod, as the Savior hummed thoughtfully. Giving the Savior a few moments to comment, the shifter looked away from rock, the silence that followed making her uncomfortable. And, as she moved, the Wolf noticed heavy white flakes slowly floating down, not melting away whence on the ground. “Come along, snow is starting,” Aileen said after a moment, patting Emma’s shoulder, her loud gesture breaking the odd mood the blonde had. 

* * *

Emma was sitting on the hard floor of the cave, her back pressed against uneven wall, as she let sounds of soft and rapid conversation wash over her, the cadence of the two soldiers’ speak having a mildly soporific effect on her mind, her mind that had been churning for hours with the newly garnered knowledge of the magic present in the stones. It hadn’t been the magic itself that had set her thoughts into a swirling mess, but the fact that the obelisk somehow reacted, or better said, communicated with her. Even now, hours after the fact, the Savior could feel the soft questing tendrils of foreign power meeting her own, originating from the border stone only yards away – stone that she could no longer see due to the blizzard that had enveloped their world in a curtain of white flurries.

Throwing a glance to her left, she took in the men sitting in front of the fire, huddled close and chuckling about something or the other, while the shifter sat across from them, smiling indulgently at their no doubt ribald tales.

She had excused herself from the blistering heat of the fire, the stilted words of her companions trying to enjoy their forced rest without insulting her in some way giving her a headache. Emma had understood that no matter who she really was, in the eyes of the Camelot men she was a noblewoman of the highest order, Queen Regina’s mate, Queen Snow’s daughter, and Queen Morgan’s most honored guest. That meant that the men would be uncomfortable around her for most of the time. Especially in their free time.

She thought back to the moment she had entered the cave, her mind on the conversation that had followed. Emma had walked into the dark space, only a step behind the shifter, her eyes passing over the well sheltered inner chamber, noticing a number of soot covered rocks placed in a circle, with several logs surrounding it at a small distance, and yet a bit farther, there were neatly arranged logs of dry wood, ready to be put into the fire. It had been a scene that she would have expected to see in one of the camping idyll movies, the shelter obviously outfitted for comfort, what little there was of it in the wilderness of the forest.

The sight of the prepared fireplace had caused Emma to think on the previous step of their trip, turning to look at the older warrior and the shifter, a question ready on her lips.

_ “You travel this path every time, Master Alistair?” she asked in confusion, her eyes still pinned to the prepared hearth in the cave. Turning to look at the old soldier, she frowned. “And you climb that steep each time?” _

_ The old man chuckled lightly as he shared a look with his partner. “Aye, each time,” he replied as he watched the boy deal with the fire. But, before Emma could demand further explanation out of him, he sat down at one of the logs, motioning to Emma to sit as well. “Milady, may I assume you were wondering why there aren’t steps, or at least ropes, that would make that part of our route easier to cross?” _

_ Emma nodded expectantly, spreading her legs in front of her and slowly taking off her cloak, all the while she watched the old man. _

_ “Our Queen forbade us to change the nature around us, Milady. We may hunt, but only for food and only if the need is dire. We may use the fallen branches and magically grown trees for our fires, and use the posts and caves for our men. But, we cannot stray much from our path, nor can we permanently mark the forest with our presence. These woods do not belong to Men, our Queen said, Milady. These are the sacred grounds of kinds much worthier than ours.” _

_ “Magically grown trees?” the Savior asked in confusion. _

_ “Queen Morgan and her best apprentices walk with the soldiers from time to time,” Aileen spoke. “Then, whenever the guard would make camp, they would grow several trees and mark them, so if soldiers were ever in need of firewood, they could use the fast grown ones.” _

_ “To keep the forest more or less untouched…” Emma murmured in understanding. _

Not long after that, they had eaten a meager meal of dried meat and travel bread, doing their best to ignore the howls of the wind and white curtain of falling snow.

“You are quite away from the fire, Geilgeis,” a soft murmur interrupted Emma’s thoughts as the shifter sat down beside her. “Does the company bother you?”

The blonde glanced back at the two soldiers, quite surprised to see them already making their beddings for the night. “No, I think it’s the other way around.”

“Ah,” Aileen murmured with understanding. “They don’t know how to treat you. Morgan has informed the villagers of your royal status and your relationship with Regina, who is a queen in her own right, and yet, you behave as if you are one of the more cultured commoners.” The shifter looked at the simple forest garbs the Savior was wearing with a pointed glare. “And, there is Percival’s reticence to let you go with us. He is the last remaining Knight, and the highest authority around here regarding military matters.”

When the Wolf saw the blonde rolling her eyes at the mention of the knight, she sighed and reached for the Sheriff’s boot, quickly taking out one of the daggers the woman had been presented with the morning before. “You may believe that Percival doesn’t respect you, but you’d be wrong.” Offering the dagger to the blonde, she continued. “Look at the weapons he gave you. These aren’t ordinary tools, Geilgeis, for the soldiers and villagers to use. The daggers are the finest Camelot steel, given only to the worthy. And, the bow is made of the perfect wood and finest silk, the arrows tipped with the best arrowheads… These are not just weapons, Geilgeis. These are the weapons you’d find on a conquering hero.”

“Then, why is he…?” Emma floundered; unable to continue her question, but her companion already surmised the rest.

“He might believe you should not be armed at the moment because of your blood haze, but that doesn’t mean he doesn’t respect you,” shifter said, her hand landing gently on Emma’s, her low voice insistent.

“But, he treated me weirdly even before that evening.”

“Getting from your deathbed into the practice field in a matter of days wasn’t enough, but you proceeded with disarming his best two fighters in a matter of minutes. You surprised him.”

“I seem to be doing that to a lot of people these days.” With it, Emma made herself comfortable, using her thick cloak to soften her sleeping area, her things placed beside her. The shifter rose and moved away a bit, finding herself a protected alcove, not far from the mouth of the cave, but not too far from the heat of the fire, determined to use it as her watch post. 

Taking a sip out of one of the flasks Gwen had given her, then out of the other one, the blonde closed her eyes, willing her thoughts to slow and taper off, so she would at least manage some rest uninterrupted by her busy mind. And under the effect of the tonics, she slipped quickly into a restful sleep only moments after she had put away the canteens.

Unconsciousness claimed the Savior so fast that she didn’t notice a worried frown thrown her way. The wolf had noticed the medicines the blonde was carrying with her, but only this evening she had seen the Sheriff actually partake in them. Aileen knew quite well what the potions were, and for Emma to take both of them, the day’s adventure must have been much harder on the blonde than she had assumed. Yes, the climb had been hard, even for the experienced patrolmen, but the Savior had not lagged behind, nor had she shown that the effort of the ascent had been too big for her in any way.

Aileen sighed softly, her eyes moving away from the sleeping blonde onto the falling snow. Their two day hike was turning out to last much longer than expected, especially with the snow storm that threatened to have them stranded. And, in addition to that, the Sheriff had seemed concerned about something, particularly after exploring the first marker stone in their path. Or, perhaps the shifter had been worrying for no reason, but she could not shake the feeling that whatever the Sheriff had been troubled with would emerge soon enough. 

* * *

_ She stepped across the snow, her naked feet not bothered by the cold, her steps guiding her across the large plain with nothing in sight, but the distant mountains – dark and looming, their slopes devoid of vegetation. She looked upwards, her eyes meeting clear skies, with nary a bird or a cloud in sight. Then, her eyes lowered to see herself, and Emma saw what she was wearing for the first time since she had found herself in this strange place. _

_ A white gown, made from quality linen, flowed down her body, its skirts tapering off in a short train that trailed behind her. Its sleeves were long and tight, and then widening past the elbows, ending in a trumpet shape at the wrists. The style of the dress, the bliaut – her mind filled with Regina’s knowledge of styles and types of clothing supplied, was something Emma imagined had been appropriate for young maidens in the medieval courts or in the courts of the Enchanted Forest, but it wasn’t something the woman herself would willingly wear, not even for the special occasions. With a frown, she traced the intricate stitching over her torso with her fingers, as she recognized the talent and effort that had gone into making this particular dress. Carefully examining the pattern, the blonde realized that the stitching wasn’t depicting a random design, but among the beautifully crafted vines, two familiar shapes were hidden, one overlaid over another, creating a crest of sort. A bird with a long neck with spread wings, in flight, with an elvish symbol for the protector, or savior, stitched expertly over the bird’s chest. A swan, the woman understood, as she realized the crest was supposed to be her own.  _

_ After she was finished with inspecting her gown, Emma threw a glance behind her, searching for a clue, for something that would give an idea where she was, or where she was going, but the only thing she could see were her tracks made in snow, somehow unobscured by her dress, the imprints too vivid against the whiteness of the untouched snow. Her steps were marked by crimson footprints, the color of them making Emma grimace, as it was the same as the color of blood on the fresh snow. _

_ As soon as she rushed to lift her skirt to see her feet, a strong wind came, swirling around her. Her long golden hair was whipping about her face while the loose ends of her dress fluttered, the only sound filling the silence apart from the howl of the gale was the flapping of the fabric. However, the wind did not last for long; as quickly as it had come it was gone, leaving behind a vast, empty plain, the floor consisting only of dry earth and rocks, not a blade of grass to be seen for as far as Emma’s eyes could reach. _

_ She stepped forward, walking toward the mountains, seemingly crossing the immense flatland in the shortest time imaginable, all the while her footprints remained marked onto the landscapes she was crossing, the bloody indentations in the soft earth black as tar in the harsh Sun glaring atop her. _

_ *For a second, all she could feel was panic. Her heart was pounding sharply against her ribs as she tried to kick.  _

_ The stark light of the desert turned into an arctic night, with cold permeating everything.* _

_ When she reached the slopes of the first mountain in her way, Emma felt her brows gather in vague recognition of the place she was in. She was sure she had been here before, but she couldn’t quite remember. Turning around, she tried to find something to jog her memory, something that would prove to her that the familiarity she felt with the place was not in her mind. But, it was only when she felt something different from the soil beneath her feet, crouching down to inspect the sharp object that had drawn her attention, she realized where she was. For the object she had uncovered from the ground was a small skull glittering in the Sun. Holding the skull in her hand, purposefully letting it refract the rays of light falling on it, she morbidly noted that it was a pretty sight, despite the loss it signified, for she knew what race it had belonged to. The dwarves of the Enchanted Forest, as their very bones had been doused by the magic dust that had given them life. _

_ *Every movement caused her pain. But, she couldn’t stop moving, she couldn’t stop fighting.* _

_ With the realization that she found a skeleton of a dwarf, she knew why the mountain had seemed so familiar. She had been in the Enchanted Forest the whole time, and the place she was in now was where once had been the last operational mine of the magic dust, where she had had friends. _

_ Falling to her knees, she cradled the skull in her hands, not surprised to see a large tear land on the bleached forehead in front of her. What happened to you? She silently asked. As it gave her no answers, she returned it to its previous spot. _

_ Having placed the skull back in its place, she continued onward, pushed by the deep feelings of loss, guided by some innate sense she didn’t think to question. With every new stride, she could feel something inside her die and disappear, bit by bit, leaving behind a widening hollow of emptiness and despair. As she walked, she sensed parts of herself being stripped away, making her less… _

_ Her steps would make the soil beneath her bare feet shift and crunch, the low and sharp tones of grounding sands the only sounds heard in the desolate area of a place she once knew, the place her mother and her lover had once called home. Vast was the desert with nothing but dust and cracked earth for miles and miles. _

_ Only when she reached a large winged skeleton, half buried in the red earth with dust playfully swirling among the humongous bones and jaws, she realized what the thing that she was missing was. What the feeling of emptiness and dread meant. It was a part of her that she hadn’t even known she had before she had broken the curse in Storybrooke. The part she hadn’t recognized in herself until the undoing diamond had been activated. Also, the part that had become an integral portion of both her identity and body. _

_ Staring at the remains of one of the Lords of the Skies, the Sun bleached bones accusingly glaring at her, she finally understood. There was no magic in this world. And, without magic, the Enchanted Forest could not survive. Without magic, there was only death. _

_ *She cried into the gale, desperate to get free, not for herself but for another. Regardless of her  _

_ own torn flesh, she would not stop struggling against her bonds that cut deeply into her body.* _

_ Suddenly, a thunder rolled over the clear skies, its loud explosion shaking the very earth around the blonde. She looked up, and suddenly, the heavens above her were not clear but covered in dark and ominous clouds, heavy with rain. It was dark all around her, as if night had already fallen, but without the benefits of the stars and moon to provide at least some light. Another thunder rolled and with it, the first drops of rain came, their heavy bodies splattering across the dry earth, with each splash loud in the silence following the thunders. And, with each new drop, the next one came faster, and faster, until the rain started in earnest, turning the loose and dry grounds into rivulets of mud, the mire covering Emma’s still bleeding feet. _

_ However, as the rain continued, Emma saw something change in the path she had made through the deserted plain. Something was standing out from the sludge that the earth was rapidly turning into, and it seemed that the difference was only showing in places where her feet had been previously. But, Emma could not be certain, for she could not see in the darkness of the outpour. _

_ *Snow was falling over her rapidly weakening body, the cold permeating her and stealing what little of her will she had left. But, she could not stop.  _

_ Not while there was still a danger to her and her own. She had to fight. She had to get free.  _

_ With a new surge of energy brought on by desperation, she renewed her struggle.* _

_ The darkness was pierced by lightning, its lines tearing up the skies, and for one part of the second, it was bright, like in the daylight under the merciless Sun. The flash of it provided enough illumination for Emma to finally see what it was that stood out. She blinked in surprise, not minding the blackness that followed the lightning, for the picture she had seen was seared into her mind. _

_ On the wet ground, where her footprints previously laid, erased by the rain, several blades of grass stood, proudly defying the mire swirling around them, exulting in the falling drops of water that would provide them with life and home in the previously lifeless earth. And, so, in every step Emma had made, grass arose, breathing life into the desert. _

_ Another lightning streaked across the dark, and as it hit the ground near the Sheriff, the blonde jerked, stunned by the force of it, feeling the heat and electricity it had spread through the air. _

With a surprised gasp, she sat up, her move dislodging the cloak she had been using as blanket, the sudden coldness bringing her to wakeful state quite quickly.

“You alright?” she heard the shifter ask her softly, the quiet words followed by barely heard footsteps nearing her.

Shaking her head, the blonde looked at the Wolf. “Yeah, fine,” she murmured, frowning, her mind turning with the imagery of her dream, the strangeness of it making her uneasy.

“You slept only for a short while,” the shifter added as she saw Emma turning to get up. “It’s not even time for a change of shift. Why don’t you try meditating yourself back to sleep?”

Emma considered it, but for some reason she felt the need to be awake, and the strangeness of her dream, both the desert scene and the weird dark, snowy one, had steered up her thoughts too much for her to sleep again so soon. No, it would be better for her to at least busy herself with the next watch, or do something else, like practice the forms in order to limber up her limbs and muscles, for sleeping on the hard floor of the cave and previous climbing had done her still recuperating body no favors. Crouching over her things she had taken off before dropping off to sleep, she picked up and placed the boot dagger in its place, forgoing the belt and the leather tabard she had been wearing over her clothes. Aware that Aileen was still standing above her, waiting for an answer, she turned to the shifter, her response ready as she slowly rose to her feet, but then a strange feeling passed over her, and for a moment, she could have sworn she had been caught outside, in the cold winter blizzard, trapped for some reason. She paused, tilting her head toward the entrance of the cave, as the feeling passed. She had heard something, something that reminded her of some portions of her dream for some reason.

“Do you hear that?” she asked her companion, as the sound came again.

“It’s just a wind, Geilgeis. Wind and snow.”

“No,” the Savior shook her head, rising to her feet, her gloveless hand clenching around the hilt of her sword, pulling it out of its scabbard. “It’s not just a wind, Aileen. There is something out there.” She couldn’t explain it, not even to herself, but she had to get out, to find the source of that sound, to find whatever poor creature that was making it for she felt that it was of importance. The Savior was called, and she couldn’t not answer.

“Even if there was, you don’t mean to go out there in this blizzard, Geilgeis?!” the Wolf harshly whispered, reaching for the blonde in dismay, hoping to stop the woman from leaving. “You’ll freeze, Emma.”

“Have faith in me, Wolf,” Emma replied shortly, evading the Wolf’s touch, and stepping toward the mouth of the cave in measured and determined steps, her sword at the ready.

“Damnit,” the shifter cursed as she rushed toward the sleeping men, kicking the younger one awake. “Keep the watch,” she said to him, before she quickly picked her cloak and weapons. If the Sheriff was determined to stupidly risk her life in the middle of the worst blizzard Brocéliande had faced in decades, her duty was to stand by her and protect her as much as she could. Growling with annoyance, she ran outside, quickly catching up with the blonde.

The wind was terrifying, the shifter had to admit, and even she, blessed with hot blood of her kind, shivered with its pounding and freezing force. And, the snow was falling so hard that she could not see anything two feet in front of her. Making sure to walk right behind the determined blonde, she swore loudly when her cloak was almost torn away from her shoulders by the gale.

“Where are you going?” Aileen yelled over the loud winds as she wrestled with the cape, following the Savior, vaguely aware of the fact that the direction they were going in was not in line with the paths the soldiers had established. When no answer followed, the shifter looked over to the woman beside her, and was surprised to see a look of pure determination and purpose on her face as she searched for the source of the sound. The Wolf was still not convinced that Emma had not mistaken the yowls of the blizzard for a creature in need, but she refused to leave the blonde to the dangerous weather.

Suddenly, a frightened shriek was heard above the storm, and the shifter startled at the panic and pain filled sound. Following the Savior in step as they ran toward the animal, the shifter was surprised by the speed the blonde was having, almost unbothered by the blizzard. In mere moments of their fast movements, the sound was getting clearer and stronger, guiding them toward the creature in need. Then, as Emma stepped over a large silt of snow, she disappeared from Aileen’s view, her startled yelp heard over the howls of wind and shouts of the creature. The Wolf hurried and saw a slope leading into a small plain at the bottom and a fresh track Emma had made sliding down the slippery surface.

“Emma,” the shifter shouted, cupping her hands over her mouth. “Emma!”

“Down here,” she heard in the wind and peering into the darkness covered plain, she could see something move, and as she forced her eyes to cooperate, she could recognize the familiar outline of the Savior shifting over something, before swinging her arms in cutting motions. However, as she was about to join the blonde, she once more heard her speak over the wind. “Be careful, the bushes are thorny ones!”

In fact, Emma had learned that tidbit by landing onto one of those bushes after a sudden slide in the wet snow covered slope, having unsuccessfully used her sword to slow her descent, trying to stick it in the ground, breaking her blade in half as it had slammed into a stone during her slide. She winced. It appeared that the thorns had pierced through her ineffective clothes, feeling each prick on her skin, too glad that the cold would stop her bleeding for now. Forcefully extracting herself from the bramble, she had suffered numerous scrapes and cuts, but she didn’t care, as she could finally see the creature that had screamed in the night.

Not five feet away from her was a dark coated Unicorn with its golden horn shimmering weakly in the night, and it was trapped in the bramble bush, the thorny branches wrapped around its still struggling prone body, covering most of its torso and legs, the red snow surrounding it. It was still fighting the vines around its body, trying to get free and reach something beyond it, hidden with snow and bushes. 

Rising to her feet and holding on to her broken sword, Emma responded to the shifter’s frantic call, and made her way to the ensnared creature, trying to cut through the thorn covered branches with what was left over of her blade, her arm swinging widely in order to bring more power to her cuts, as the branches were thick, wiry and tough, not caring at all at the thorns digging into her arms and hands at each pass of her sword. “Stop, girl,” she spoke soothingly as she hacked the formed bonds away. “You are only making it worse,” she added as she grimaced at the volume of blood coloring the snow around them, instinctively knowing that she was already too late. But the magical mare would not stop struggling, her wide and frightened eyes pinned to a spot a yard away, covered with snow and low growing bramble. “Aileen,” she spoke loudly as soon as the shifter joined her. “There,” she demanded pointing with her head, as she still tried to liberate the mare, caring not for her own injuries she had amassed fighting with thorny vines.

Leaving the other woman to deal with it, Emma managed remove the bonds holding the mare in place, but as soon as the Unicorn was free, she could see that the wounds it had garnered were too severe for it to live through, even though the magical creature was still trying to rise up and reach the place in front of her, where the shifter was, weak and dying as she was.

“Emma,” came the surprised call from behind her, calling her. The Savior jumped to her feet and found the reason of the mare’s intense yearning to get to the small mound of snow. There, in the low bushes was a pure white foal, its coat gleaming in the darkness around them, too bright to even blend with the snow falling atop of it.

Emma did not waste a second, using her bloody hands to lift the youngling out of the thorny bush, noticing that the foal had been lucky, snagging only one of its front hooves in the bramble. With Aileen’s help, the foal was quickly freed and brought to its mother. The blonde knelt beside them, using her knees to lift up the mare’s head, mindful of its horn, her hands passing over its neck and forehead, providing comfort for she could do nothing more. Caring not for the blood that soaked her clothes, she held the mare as its soft neighs barely were heard over the calming blizzard, the soft cries issued toward the young foal, resting beside its mother, its horn rising only an inch over the bone of its forehead, unable to heal just yet.

And, sitting there, knee deep in cold snow, with the precious creature dying in front of her, Emma cursed her own inability to heal others, not able to summon even an ounce of her magic, not even with the help of abundance of unicorn’s blood. So, she sat on her heels, her head bent low and her hair falling over her face, as she mourned for the loss of the magnificent animal, a fellow member of the True Kinds…

Not knowing what to do, but loath to interrupt, the shifter crouched at the arm’s length, breathing deeply through the feeling of sorrow that had suddenly overtaken her, as she watched the last moments of the mare. Several minutes passed, and the soft neighing stopped, turning into struggling and rattling gasps, before silence enveloping them. 

If the stilled cold form of the mare was not proof enough for the Wolf, the piteous neighs, sounding as heartbreaking cries from the youngling, was a sure sign of the mare’s passing. The brilliant white foal rose to its shaky legs and tried to rouse its mother, pushing its already stiffening body with its nose, with each futile attempt crying louder, and trying ever harder. Finally, refusing to watch the youngling suffer so, Emma lowered the mare’s head onto the ground, and moving slowly, she gathered the foal into her arms, pulling it away from the corpse, her hands leaving bloody marks all over the foal’s coat. But, even as she moved away, she could not bear the thought of leaving the mare alone, in the dark, at the mercy of the snow and wind, so she remained close, with the foal in her arms, holding it closer to share what was left of her warmth.

“We cannot stay here, Geilgeis,” the Wolf murmured, throwing her cloak over the shivering blonde, covering both the woman and the foal in its warmth. “It’s too cold,” she cautioned, throwing a piteous look to the already freezing corpse beside them.

Emma sighed in understanding. They would need to bring the youngling with them and see to find it home after the weather cleared up. And, how did one go about setting a Unicorn colt for adoption? The creatures could not be tamed, not unless a powerful dark magic was involved. More, the youngling needed to be with its kind, for the Unicorns were already too few in this world – each new foal was more than precious. She sighed again. This time it was because she could not move her legs when she tried to rise to her feet. The heat she had garnered by physical exertion of swinging her sword and cutting through the sturdy plants had quickly evaporated moments after she had stopped chopping, and her already suffering body was not supposed to function in such temperatures, especially not poorly dressed, as she had been. Sitting in the snow had not helped matters at all.

Then, she felt it. The foal stilled in her arms for a bare second, before renewing its efforts to get out of Emma’s hold, but this time, it was pulling in a different direction. And, there was also a light trembling, barely there, spreading through the frozen grounds and stones, vibrating just enough for her to sense it. “Just a minute more,” the Savior whispered, her posture not as stiff as it had been moments before, tightening the cloak around her and the youngling, shushing it gently to stop it from struggling. “Just a little more,” she added under her breath, almost too low for the Wolf to hear.

And, not even a minute later, the shifter saw why the blonde had insisted on waiting. Thunderous hoof-beats shook the ground as a herd of horses was approaching, too fast to be composed of ordinary steeds. Unicorns – the shifter realized all too soon, moving closer to Emma, not liking the way the animals encircled them with their horns pointing toward the center of the circle. She did not move. There was no way she would risk getting impaled on the pointy ends of the magnificent creatures around her, not even for the Savior.

The leader of the herd, a glorious stallion, its silver coat gleaming in the night, stepped forward, its horn directed at the blonde, who still held the foal in her arms, with her head bowed down. As the stallion approached, Emma lifted her head slowly and seeing the Unicorn in front of her, she smiled. The shifter noted it was a friendly and welcoming smile Emma had directed at the dangerous creature, creature that she seemed to know personally.

“It’s good to see you again,” the blonde spoke softly, lowering her arms and, thus, releasing the young one into care of its kind. “I’m sorry I didn’t come sooner.”

At the heartfelt words of sorrow, the stallion lifted its head, neighing softly into the cold night air, looking at the kneeling woman before him. A young mare by his side gently urged the foal to get into the middle of the herd, where it would be most protected from both the strangers and the cold, leaving the two women to be dealt with by the males guarding the herd.

The stallion slowly approached the woman, lowering its head until his horn rested atop of Emma’s forehead, sending a small pulse of magic into her.

_ Twice now, you have come to our aid _ , a soft, melodious whisper passed through Emma’s mind.  _ Twice now, you have bled for our kind _ , the voice continued, its soothing cadence filling the blonde’s thoughts, apart from spreading physical warmth throughout her body, it was offering her forgiveness and pardon for what she seemed to believe to be her fault – not being on time to save the mare, as well.  _ You already have our blessing, so receive our gift, for we have no more to offer you to assist with the campaign ahead of you. _

“Your friendship and your kindness is more than enough,” Emma spoke out loud, placing her palm onto the stallion’s cheek, lifting her head slightly to look at the creature’s eyes without dislodging the horn from her forehead. “I need nothing else.”

_ You have it, and more _ , the stallion added, as another pulse of magic came from the horn into Emma’s body, passing through every inch of her flesh, the healing power electrifying her every nerve. As she gasped, falling forward onto her hands, the stallion nuzzled her hair for a moment, before stepping around her to reach the corpse of the mare. He touched her horn with his own, neighing sharply as his coat started gleaming white with the power he possessed. And in the next second, the body of the mare was gone, the only remainder of it the blood soaked snow where it had once laid.

The sudden disappearance of the carcass of the mare signaled the end of the Unicorns' gathering, as the herd slowly went on its way to the place they have chosen to remain at during the snowstorm. Only the leader remained behind, standing beside the still downed Savior, waiting for her to rise to her feet. He paid no mind to the shifter standing a little ways behind the blonde, who watched them both with wariness and surprise. After several minutes, as the Sheriff remained on her knees and hands, still shuddering from the effects of the magic pulsing through her, he gently shook his mane, tapping his hooves with impatience, forcing Emma to lift her head and peer into the intelligent eyes of the powerful creature, and catching her eyes, the stallion lowered his neck, his gesture clear to the blonde.

Reaching with her hand for the stallion's neck, Emma allowed her cold fingers to sink between the strands of his glorious mane, holding fast as the beast helped her to her feet, waiting for a moment or two for her legs to start working properly before she released her hold. Only then, she saw that her hand was still bleeding from small cuts and nicks the thorns had caused, the drops of blood smeared across the silver coat of the creature. And, with great surprise, moments after, she saw her blood disappear, sinking into the skin of the powerful beast. The stallion neighed in surprise, staggering for a moment before turning his head toward the Savior, his intelligent eyes glinting in the darkness with power, as he gazed upon her with newly acquired fondness. Then, with another neigh, he propped up and twisting into an oddly graceful side jump, he galloped away, no doubt in a hurry to join his herd.

“When my grandmother said I should expect great things from you, somehow, this wasn’t what I pictured,” Aileen broke the silence, her voice startling the blonde from her daze, stepping toward the other woman, apparently just in time to hold her steady as Emma stumbled. “Come on,” she offered the other woman her shoulder, pulling her toward the hillside they had slid off before, her sharp eyes spying an easier path for them to climb.

Slowly, and with much effort, Aileen got them both up the hill. There, as she straightened up and glanced around, she froze. It was still too dark to see more than several meters in front of them, even for her Wolf eyes, and the weakening blizzard did not make things easier, making the shifter’s orientation even more precarious. She could guess the direction they had come from, but, she was afraid that her lack of attention during the first part of their excursion would only cost them, because it was more likely that she would get them lost in the snow than bring them to the cave. And, Emma could not wait, Aileen was sorely aware, for the Savior was shivering, and the clattering of her teeth the Wolf could hear even over the wind. Glancing at the blonde hanging of her shoulder, Aileen sighed, not knowing where to go.

But, before she could get worked up even more, the blonde raised her head and chuckled softly, before she slightly turned the shifter to the other side, her arm still around the other woman. “That way,” she pointed weakly, leaning more of her weight on the shifter.

“How do you know?”

“The stone. I can still feel its magic.”

And, with that guiding beacon, the two women oriented themselves and started their trek back to the welcoming warmth of the cave. Soon, Aileen sighed in relief as she could see two small pinpricks of light, barely visible in the distance. The two soldiers must have lit the torches, the shifter considered, in order to show them the entrance to the caves. Or they were preparing to look for them. Either way, she now knew where the cave was.

Minutes after, the two women reached the border stone, and the shifter gently removed Emma’s arm from her shoulders, letting her lean against the boulder, keeping the Savior’s broken sword. “I’ll be right back,” she murmured gently at the blonde, before rushing out toward the cave to elicit the help of others, for both her and the Savior lacked the necessary strength to clumber up the mouth of their shelter.

Emma, glad that she wasn’t moving anymore, as the trek back took what little of her power she had gathered after meeting with the Unicorns, placed her shoulder to the stone, holding herself up. With her forehead against the cold surface of the marker, she could not help but see the carved Elvish symbol, the mark that signified protection, and with what had happened mere hours before, the way she had been urged to assist the Unicorns brought out a light chuckle out of the Savior, her tired mind finding the irony in those events, and in impish need to commemorate the action, she cleaned the etched symbol using her fingers to remove snow from the crevices. As she finished, she absentmindedly spoke the word in the ancient language of magic, placing her palm against the mark and closed her eyes, wondering what was keeping the shifter.

But, as her hand lay fully pressed against the symbol, it started to glow, the luminescence strong enough to draw her attention, despite her eyes covered. In wonder, she gazed upon the shining mark, too surprised to even move. She could feel something happening with the magic of the stone, but she was too tired to figure out what, and the magic the Unicorn stallion had bestowed upon her was still circulating throughout her body for her to make sense of anything magical happening in her with the connection to the stone.

But, after several moments, whatever was happening, it stopped. And, so sudden was the end of the magical convergence, Emma was left reeling, both mentally and magically, and her knees gave out and she slumped down the stone, her hand falling down and leaving a dark handprint, made of blood, covering the ancient symbol. 

Blood magic, Emma realized. Somehow, she had used blood magic on the stone, her utterance of the phrase, along with her blood, mixed in with the Unicorn blood, doing something to the border stone, something that had forced it to react so obviously. While she was reaching her conclusion, her body had yielded under the exhaustion, and Emma slid sideways into the snow, losing consciousness, the last hazy image floating in front of her before enveloping darkness that of the extremely worried shifter jumping to her side to hold her up.

* * *

“Oh, damn it,” the woman swore as her arms lifted the blonde’s head out of the snow. She motioned to the soldier that accompanied her to kneel beside her. “Take her, and get her inside. She needs heat.” The man quickly gathered the Savior into his arms and heaved, his face scrunching in surprise as he looked down at his burden. Who could have thought that the woman so much depended on, looked so small, now lying in his arms? Wasting no time, he hurried into the cave, lowering his precious cargo beside a roaring fire, while his superior was kneeling by, ready to help.

“What did you find out there?” Alistair yelled out in dismay when he saw the amount of blood covering Emma’s clothes, his eyes briefly catching those of the shifter, as she staggered to their side. However, he did not wait for her answer, immediately setting to remove the ruined garments, to check for wounds. With deft movements, he cut through the cold stiffened fabric, noticing that even underclothes had been soaked in the dark liquid. Sending his younger compatriot away to get snow for the water, he urged the shifter to help him, as she was the healer, and much more capable of taking care of the Savior. But, as he shuffled slightly away, to make more room for the other woman, one of the soiled garbs in his hand caught on fire, the fabric quickly flaming away to ash, the red orange hues of the flame turning into the blue and purple ones, catching the man’s attention.

“Unicorn blood,” he murmured, as he rubbed his hand with the other, his reflexes quick enough to drop the rag before burning him. “What in the Queen’s name was she doing with Unicorn blood?” he growled at the Wolf, scowling at the woman lying beside him, his voice loud enough to bring the other soldier to them.

“It’s not what you think,” Aileen spoke in a rush, as her hands flew over Emma’s body to rid it off the rest of the clothes. “She saved one of them, and tried to save another. They had fallen into the thorn bushes, blinded by the storm. One of them got caught up in it, hence the blood.” The Wolf leaned over Emma’s face, for the first time noticing a cut right above her temple that with the heat of the fire had started bleeding again along with many other small cuts all over Emma’s back and arms, and she looked up at the old soldier, her hands quickly using one of the leftover rags to press on the most dire wound on Emma’s head. “She is their friend, Alistair. The leader of the herd even allowed her to use him to get up to her feet.” The words she spoke created a stunned silence in the two men. “Not even your Queen has curried enough good will with the herd to do so in a lifetime she has spent here, and yet, Geilgeis has done so in two months.”

“Aye, sir, even one of the Gallants is her loyal friend,” the younger soldier spoke, bringing a small cauldron full of snow beside the fire. “You know no fiend would be allowed near them, sir.”

“Forgot ‘bout that,” the older man murmured as he shook his head. Then, he glanced at the clothes that had been shredded off Emma’s body. “She’ll need fresh garments,” he spoke softly, and with a low grumble about sorcerers, dragons and unicorns, he moved away, letting Aileen work on the Savior, giving the two women privacy. Taking his companion to the corner of the cavern they were in, where their bags were leaned against the wall, he instructed the boy to find a pair of leggings and a shirt for the unconscious hero, while he sat down with a heavy sigh, keeping the Wolf and the blonde in his peripheral vision, just in case the shifter would need another hand to help.

He had been woken by the boy by his side, just in time to see the shifter run out into the blizzard, yelling after the Savior, and quickly disappearing into the darkness, her shouts immediately drowned by the wind. Grumpy for being awakened long before his shift, he had groused in bad humor, cursing both the storm and the hapless blonde who had rushed into it. And, while they had waited for the two women to return, he had worried. Under the light the fire had provided, he had seen the Savior’s cloak spread across the hard floor of the cave, with most of the woman’s things lying beside it, with the sword’s sheath dropped atop of the elegant and expensive fur and velvet, the scabbard’s silver details gleaming in the dim of the cave. And, with hours passing, he had to think about the exposure the blonde had been risking, rushing out into the worst storm he had seen in Brocéliande, during the coldest winter ever to grip the Infinite Forest, dressed so poorly for the weather.

When the shifter had finally reached the cave and asked them to help to get the Savior inside, he had thought grimly that the girl had deserved to suffer the effect of cold for her silliness. Now, he didn’t know what to think. Rushing out into the worst weather, risking her life, to rescue a bleeding Unicorn… Perhaps, her title had been very well earned… But, her actions did pose another problem.

“Finn,” he whispered softly, drawing the attention of the boy beside him. “Check the supplies. Do we have enough for two more days?”

“Barely,” the other soldier replied grimly, as he had been keeping firm stock over their food. “We did pack more just in case, but the path is unusually hard this time, and we needed to eat more.” Finn knelt beside his superior. “I doubt the next patrol will set out before the storm clears out fully.”

“I doubt that, too, boy.” The man sighed. “We’ll have to see how the Savior fares before we decide anything.” He looked over and saw the shifter wrapping the other woman’s arms with hastily fashioned strips of cloth, the Wolf healer too focused on her task to mind the two of them and their talk. “If it comes to it, you can rush back to the village and bring horses to us. It’s not that far, the rain and snow have kept us from making distance…”

“And, take the inner road, if need be,” the young man added softly, fiddling with the garbs he had gathered for the Savior.

The old soldier considered him for a moment before nodding sharply. “Only, if haste is paramount.” 

* * *

Surrounded by sweltering heat, Emma awoke slowly, her consciousness gradually becoming aware of the soft voices conversing, as she recognized the people that talked not three feet away from her. With her eyes closed, she first tried to use her senses to gather where she was and what had happened to her, as she listened to the conversation flowing so close to her. She felt different from before, lighter in a way. But, heavier in others. Something had changed in her, something important, something to do with the magic that had been given to her.

“She should have woken by now,” the quiet but harsh whisper of a man reached her through the pleasant crackles of the fire, interrupting her train of thought.

“We don’t know what the Unicorn did to her, Alistair,” came the reply of the Wolf, the voice coming from above her. “Between freezing, the cuts and bruises, and that, there is no way to know what should or will happen.” Then, a gentle hand passed over Emma’s forehead, pausing for just a moment, before it was gone again. “I feared she was in the cold for too long, but it appears I was wrong. And, the wounds seem to be healing properly as well.” The hand was back, followed by another, as they tenderly unwrapped the bandages from Emma’s arms, careful fingers gliding over freshly healed skin. When it was finished, Emma felt something warm fall over her, and she recognized it, only because the scent it carried. Her cloak, the specially treated fur and velvet, were doused in her own scent, but along with it, a small trace of another’s magic remained. A trace she would recognize anywhere. But, as Emma thought of Regina, the shifter spoke again. “Perhaps, she just needs a little more time.”

“The Sun has already set, She-Wolf,” the soldier bit through his teeth. “We have food for one day more, and we are at least a full day away from the village. We need to send out the message.”

“Fine,” the shifter said after a moment of tense and expectant silence. “If she doesn’t wake by the end of the watch, I’ll go. I am the fastest, and not much bothered by the weather and night.” With a sigh, the shifter fiddled with the edge of the cape she had used to cover Emma. “Not like I can do much here,” she added in a resigned whisper.

Instead of speaking, the blonde moved her hand and reached for the Wolf’s, grasping it gently as she opened her eyes. There, right beside her, was the healer, watching over her, the keen eyes sparkling in the firelight. “Welcome back,” Aileen said, returning the squeeze of the hand. Then, as she offered a bowl filled with fresh water to Emma, she added, “Had us worried for a minute.”

“It sounds like it was longer,” having emptied the bowl, Emma murmured slowly, as she lifted her upper part of the body, greeting the old soldier with a simple nod. “What happened?”

The shifter and the soldier shared a look before Aileen helped Emma sit up. “I found you unconscious by the boulder, your hand trailing blood over it.”

And, she remembered. She had used her own blood in a subconscious act of magic to interact with the stone, and she still didn’t know what the thing she had done had meant. But, having used the time since she had woken to assess her own body and power, she knew what the Unicorn had done for her. Or, rather, to her. She would never be able to repay the noble creature for it, for it had been a tremendous show of trust and gratitude that the stallion had given her.

“What did he do to you, Geilgeis?” as if she could see into Emma’s mind and where it had gone the Wolf asked with concern, holding her up and peering into her eyes, the firelight dancing in the depths of green, making it seem amber and gold, unfamiliar and distant, but at the same time overly present. To the shifter, whatever happened with the Savior, it appeared to change her, in a way she couldn’t describe or even determine.

Emma smiled. Her lips curved upwards, at first slowly, hesitantly, but before long, the smile was big enough to show some teeth, while reaching the eyes, perhaps for the first time in Aileen’s presence. Reaching for the Wolf's hand, she took it into her own. "He helped," she said. "He helped with my magic."

However, she knew that it hadn't been all he had done. Along with jumpstarting her magic, the gift she had received had also cleansed her from the small tendrils of the red mist that had remained in her body, making it weak and fragile. It also soothed some part of her that had been causing her to respond harsher and more unpredictably than she would have ordinarily done. Now that she could focus on how different she was from the night before, she could easily see how the healing magic of the forest dwelling creatures took life in her, bettering her own body, mind and soul along. No longer was she on the edge, tense and expecting danger around every corner. However, it didn’t mean that the feeling she had had since the moment she had woken in this strange part of the Infinite Forest was gone, the sense of foreboding that followed her like an inescapable shadow tied to her body, the aura of dread and doom that bloomed with each new day. It was still there, but it didn’t drive her to distraction as before.

“In fact,” Emma added, as she motioned to Aileen to help her up, glancing down at the clothes she was wearing and frowning as she didn’t see the shirt and leggings she had worn before, but fresh ones. However, she didn’t ask about it, as it didn’t really matter, and she had things that are more pertinent to her mind. “It seems that now, as I can feel it properly, I can solve your little problem.” Locking her eyes with the old soldier, she spoke with certainty. “I can take you to Dragon’s Bluff in a blink of an eye.”

“But, the patrol,” Alistair protested. “We have our duty.”

The Savior nodded, her smile turning indulgent. “I understand, good sir,” she spoke gently, skirting around the hearth to walk up to him and place her hand onto his shoulder. “And, I don’t want to stand in the way of your duty. However, I can offer you this – there is nothing along the borders of Brocéliande that has no right to be there.” Squeezing his shoulder in camaraderie, she peered into the old man’s face. “If you decide to stay, I’ll make sure someone finds you with additional supplies.” Then, with a short nod, she left the man to make his choice, while she stepped toward the nook she had chosen for her corner of the cave, where still most of her things remained.

“Are you sure you should be doing that?” the Wolf whispered to her, making sure no one heard her but Emma. Her only answer was a piercing glare directed her way. She didn’t let it deter her and she crouched beside the Savior, watching her gathering her belongings. “I was there, Geilgeis, when you barely survived the overcharge just a week ago. If not for your True Love’s ingenious intervention, you wouldn’t be here. So, I ask again, out of utmost concern; should you be doing magic?”

The blonde stopped her movements, her eyes falling onto the remaining piece of her trusted sword, and she took it in her hands, using the time to choose her words. Her fingers caressed the elegant hilt of the one weapon that for the last several weeks of her war had never left her side, it was so familiar and comforting as she held it in front of her. It was lighter in her hands, out of balance she had been used to, and a large chunk of the blade was missing, leaving only several inches of jagged, sharpened edge. With a sigh, she reached for the scabbard and sheathed what was left of her sword, using a special twine that was part of the casing to lock the weapon in. Done with it, she lowered it down, beside her pack and looked at the woman beside her, her eyebrows scrunching in consideration.

“I am not simply doing magic, Aileen,” she started, her voice nothing but a quiet whisper, meant only for the ears of the shifter. “I  _ am _ magic. It is part of me, as the wolf is part of you. For me, unlike your friend, it is not a tool I can discard when I no longer need it. It’s in my blood, my flesh, in the very tenets of my being.” As she spoke, Emma allowed a small tendril of the power she had been keeping contained in her body escape through her skin and eyes, and for a brief moment of time, her frame had an aura of magic, making her glow otherworldly, white-blue circles of power appearing in her eyes; and in that moment, Aileen felt the incredible need to lower herself even further and bare her neck in supplication, her eyes wide and breath unsteady. But, as the moment passed, the aura was gone, suppressed tightly in Emma’s core, and the shifter no longer had to obey, her tense muscles loosening. “I can survive without it, but I would not be much unlike this sword – looking pretty, but broken and with a large part of it missing.” With an understanding and sad smile, she looked at the still shaken shifter. “The feeling, I assume, would be much the same to the feeling of suppression enchantment on you.” Then, she flicked her fingers, almost lazily, and suddenly, all her things were orderly packed; she was wearing the outer layer she had forgone in her rush to find the creature in trouble, including her gloves, her satchel lying by her feet, and all the weapons and other trinkets in their place on her person, all the while she was still crouching down, her hand subconsciously moving to rest on the hilt of her sword. “You may not be in the shape of the wolf all the time, but the creature and its magic are in you, always. It’s the same with me, I may not use magic for trivial things, but even now, it is doing its best to heal me and make me stronger.” Rising to her full height, the Sheriff summoned her cloak, letting it rest on her shoulders, and offered a hand to the stunned woman, still sitting on her haunches. When the shifter accepted the hand, Emma helped the other woman to her feet and held her close, not yet finished with her speech. “So, your question should not be: should I use magic, but rather, can I afford to use that much of it. And, the answer is yes, I can. Thanks to the help of my friend.” Patting the Wolf on her upper arm, she added, “So, I suggest you pack.” Leaving Aileen to get ready, the Savior greeted Finn by the entrance into the cave and walked out, picking up one of the torches and lighting it up with the flame of the one stuck into the snow beside the young soldier, and carrying it so that the fiery end would be above her head, she followed the burrow in the deep snow leading to the border stone. 

There, under the light of the torch, a black mark in the shape of her hand was visible against the dark gray surface of the boulder, right smack in the center of the carved symbols. A memento of the blood magic she had unwittingly used, the magic she still didn’t know what was supposed to do. Coming closer to the marker, she allowed her shields to drop, extending her power and keeping the torch above her and the stone, she examined it. It took her only a few seconds to realize that the border stone was sending out a stronger magical signature, much more powerful than earlier, and now it had distinctly her signature instead that of the First of the Tintagel, Gorlois himself. To make matters worse, Emma could feel that every single marker boulder throughout the whole of Brocéliande had been affected the same way.

“Oh, shit,” she murmured to herself, the full implication of her act slamming into her psyche, leaving her without breath. “Regina’s gonna kill me,” she moaned quietly, wincing.  _ And, who knows what Morgan would do? _

Deciding to keep quiet about it for the moment, Emma willed the blood mark to disappear before walking back to the cave, ignoring the shifter’s questioning gaze. “Are you ready?”

“We are.” It wasn’t the woman that answered but the grim faced soldier beside her. “If I am not wrong, we will arrive just at the end of dinner.” Emma smirked at the man and moved her hands, gesturing the others to gather around her, and with one thought, they were gone.

A second later, the four of them appeared right in front of the steps of the Marble Palace, a white mist disappearing as soon as they touched the ground. However, their arrival was not noticed by anyone. In fact, the small passages and roads of the village seemed empty of people, who, no doubt, were entrenched around fires on this cold night, in their homes or, as Alistair believed, in the communal dining house. “Go,” she said gently to the two soldiers. “I am sure your superiors would be there, as well.”

But, Aileen remained by her side, following her into the House of Healing, keeping the silence as they crossed the stairs and halls to where the room Emma and Regina had been sharing. “I am alright, you know,” Emma spoke pointedly as she opened the door of the room, letting the shifter first. “No need to stay by my side just because of that.”

“I can’t just enjoy your company?”

“Not when you are hovering.” Throwing her satchel at the foot of the bed, Emma removed her cloak and slowly untied the belt with her sword hanging off it, placing her weapon at the mantle, her gloved fingers arranging the straps beside it. Quickly glancing over the room, she noticed that apart from someone changing the sheets and clearing the table, nothing had been disturbed, and what was more important to the blonde, nothing was there to suggest Regina returning while she had been away. Then, she crouched down and prepared the cold hearth for fire, stacking the logs with her hands, needing to fill the silence that followed her words. Emma could feel the Wolf’s eyes on her back, watching her carefully for a sign that would explain what was different about her now. The Savior did know she was behaving slightly altered to her conduct she had exhibited since waking up in Brocéliande, and she knew why – the meeting with the Unicorn had brought up something she had forgotten in all of the commotion over her sickness, almost dying and Regina’s induction. A sense of purpose, something she had lost in the battle against the red mist.

“You know, if you are going to stick with me for the night, why don’t you get us something to eat?” Emma said as she lit the fire, not turning away to look at the other woman.

Aileen cocked her head to the side, considering the blonde woman in front of her, before she sighed and walked out of the door in a brisk, determined stride that ringed off in the empty corridor of the cliff side healing place.

When the fire kindled into a large blaze, filling up the hearth with its flames and room with its warmth, Emma moved away, discarding her weapons and started taking off her clothes, starting with her boots, and leaving only her newly acquired shirt on, her mind on the incredibly hot water pool she planned on indulging in. She didn’t care that the Wolf would be coming shortly, or that she hadn’t eaten for more than a day – she wanted a bath, a long, hot soak that would do wonders for her slightly stiff body that hadn’t moved for hours on a hard cave floor. Opening the door to the bathroom and using her magic to light the candles inside, she noticed that someone had been in there, restocking the towels and heating oils, making it ready for immediate use. So, wasting no time, the blonde threw inside the pool several kinds of salts and worked the levers to start the water going, smiling when the high pressure hot water started filling up the pool.

“Er, do you want to eat in there,” she heard a voice from behind her, and she rose to her feet, smirking at the shifter, who stood uncomfortably by the door, the sharp eyes darting over her naked legs before fixing themselves somewhere above Emma’s shoulder, “or, um, here?”

The blonde swallowed a chuckle that was climbing her throat, not wanting to embarrass her ‘minder’ even further. If she was reading the shifter in front of her right, Aileen hadn’t expected her to be in that kind of undress, not so soon after sending her out for dinner, and the suddenness of Emma’s state had startled the older woman.

“Do you want to join me, Aileen?” Emma murmured just loud enough to be heard over the hiss of the water, her voice lilting as she smirked. “After two days of rain, sweat and snow, and blood, I would imagine that a good, hot bath sounds perfect.”

“I, I am alright,” the shifter said and ducked outside, frowning at the low chuckle that followed her out. “Damn Savior,” she grumbled, sitting at the table where she had put the food she had brought, reaching for water.

Emma heard the soft mumble and chuckled again, taking off the shirt of her body and slipping into divinely hot water, allowing herself to sink to the bottom before standing up, her hands pressing down the waterlogged tresses, as she sighed, feeling most of the tension of her muscles melt away in the steamy heat of the water. After spending several minutes only threading water, she quickly washed herself and her hair, the pleasure of bathing in a pool somewhat empty without her lover to share it with. So, wrapping her pale body in a towel, she noted that the bruises from the fall and small cuts on her hands from the thorns had been all but healed.

She walked out into her room and sat near the still roaring fire, letting the blaze dry her locks and keep her warm. “Aileen,” she whispered seriously, “you really don’t have to stay.” Looking at the Wolf, she reached for food, finally letting herself feel the hunger she had been denying since she had woken up. However, the shifter only shrugged and sipped her water, her posture relaxed but watchful.

Not minding the woman’s presence, the Savior ate slowly and in silence, letting her thoughts wander. And so, time passed, measured only by the creaks of chairs and the crackles of the fire.

Silently monitoring the Sheriff while she was eating, the other woman considered the blonde in front of her. The surge of power Emma had demonstrated in the cave had left her wary, not mentioning the different way the blonde had been carrying herself since she had woken up. And, even before that, the Sheriff hadn’t the same explosive reaction to her own blood as she had the time before. Or, at least, it hadn’t seemed so at the time. Now, as Aileen thought about it, she could see how the almost blind and frantic hacking and slashing of the thorny branches around the mare could have been the result of the blood haze, among other things. However, she believed that it had been the danger of the situation, for both the women and the mare, that had helped Emma keep her head. And, quite possibly, the presence of the magical blood of the Unicorn covering Emma’s fresh cuts could have been another of the reasons.

But there was still something bothering her about the whole thing. Something she didn’t quite figure out just yet.

Aileen looked over to Emma’s face, noticing that the blonde had finished eating some time before, and now, she was leaning back in her chair, her gaze lost in distance. “What are you thinking about?” she wandered, quite surprised to realize that she had spoken out loud.

Emma blinked, startled from her thoughts. “My children,” she murmured before she cleared her throat. “The second evening from now,” she spoke, considering as it was already early morning, “it would be a day since Regina has left them in search of me.” Still not understanding how the particular time phenomenon worked and what had caused it, she shook her head. With a sigh, she continued, “I wonder what they are doing. Is Henry giving trouble to his grandparents and father, or is he having the time of his life, wandering the halls of his mother’s domain? How is Kyle dealing with the separation and the travel?” 

“It must be so hard having them involved in all this, so young,” Aileen spoke with sympathy. “Mine is a full grown adult, the leader of his men, and I still worry.”

Emma chuckled softly at the idea of babying Liam. “I don’t remember who it was, my mom or Regina, who told me that a mother's job is to worry about her children.

“Wise woman, either way,” the shifter agreed. But, before another silence could fall over them, she spoke again. “How did you know?”

“Mmm?” Emma glanced toward the other woman, pouring what she had determined to be another batch of melomel into a cup. “Know what?”

“That the unicorns were trapped in the storm? You couldn’t have just heard them, not over that blizzard.”

Sipping her drink, Emma nodded slowly, thinking back to the moment Aileen was talking about. “It’s going to sound strange, but I think I somehow saw from her perspective in my dream. There were these flashes of something, images of snow and darkness, filled with panic and pain…” Shaking her head before she drained her cup, she sighed, reaching for the pitcher for another portion of melomel. “I don’t know. I just felt I had to be there. I had to help.”

“And, you did,” Aileen added unnecessarily. Following her words Emma only hummed in a non-committal way before rising from her seat and walked to the bed. Tossing away her towel and slipping beneath the covers, the Savior closed her eyes.

“Feed the fire,” were her only words before her breathing evened out, leaving the Wolf to sit quietly at the table, puzzling out the woman in bed.

* * *

“I heard you had some adventure,” Percival spoke as he arrived at the practicing circle, having found the blonde already going through warming up motions. The Sheriff was half crouched, her knees wide apart, her booted feet firmly planted into the cleared ground of the circle, and her arms high in the air, dressed only in deerskin breeches, thick shirt and deerskin vest, with her wavy hair lifted up in a messy bun.

Only slightly changing position, Emma glanced over at the Knight. “Tame one, compared to others I’ve been through.”

Percival chuckled at her serious and truthfully modest tone. He had no doubt that the Savior had been through a lot, and seen a lot more. When he had heard Aileen’s soft voice, filled with awe and respect, while she had been telling him of their night out in the blizzard, he had felt his own respect for the woman grow. “She-Wolf tells me you’ve healed. Care to test it?” As he asked, he walked toward the trap door with training weapons, picking up two pairs of heavy single hand short swords with unsharpened edges. Receiving the blonde’s confirming grunt, he came up to her. “These are specifically made for sparring.” Showing the woman the blunt edges of the unusually thick blade, he explained further. “They are heavier than most single hand and hand-and-a-half swords, for the sole purpose of making the arms stronger and more durable during the fight.” Explaining further intricacies of the weapons, he gave Emma a pair, showing her several moves to allow her to get used to the weight and range of the blades. Satisfied with what she had learned up to the point, he started drilling her through movements and steps, slowly guiding her to the level where he could just outright attack her and be quite confident she would be able to defend herself, and even return the attack. And, she was a superb student, picking up things fast and making few mistakes that after several softly worded corrections disappeared. However, he didn’t miss her occasional look down the path Queen Morgan and Queen Regina had taken several days before on their way to the Temple of Knowledge, the secret of Tintagel only few people knew about, and only Morgan knew the location of. As time passed, the looks grew in frequency, and the blonde would get sharper in her movements, using more force than necessary.

When she used brute force to slam the sword out of his hand, rather than the disarming move he had taught her that morning, one that she had mastered with ease, he put a stop to their dueling. “Alright, that’s enough,” he spoke, ordering Emma to stop. Taking the weapons out of her limp hands, he looked into her sweat-covered face.

“Five days have passed,” were the only words she spoke before she turned away, walking briskly, almost running toward the House of Healing, every once in a while she would throw a look backward, down the path, disappointed each time.

He couldn’t blame her, for he too was worried about his queen. She had placed him in charge of the village in her absence, quietly explaining to him that he wasn’t to look for them, no matter what happened, and that they would both return after the ritual was finished, one way or another. Percival shared the blonde’s frustration, but he knew that there was nothing he could do about it but wait. Something he had a feeling the Savior was not good at. Then, and there, in the middle of the practice circle, he swore to himself, that, for the sake of both him and the Sheriff, and the rest of the village, he would distract the blonde to the best of his ability. And, one of the ways to do it was to train her, to work her from Sunup till Sundown, tiring her out and possibly sparing others of her prickly temper.

He sighed heavily, his shoulders dropping. His instincts told him that the blonde wasn’t going to be easily mollified, and that with her stubbornness, he had his hands full. 

* * *

No one knew the location of the damned place Morgan had taken Regina to. No one even knew if such a place existed, leading the Savior to believe that the Temple itself was something not many people were aware of. Even Aileen didn’t know, and her being one of Queen Morgan’s closest friends, gave Emma no hope that she would find someone who knew about it, much less guide her to it. She was sure that she wasn’t being lied to, having tested her lie detector thingy on many of the subjects of her questioning. She wasn’t pushing too hard, still aware that they had afforded her the courtesy of answering her questions because she was a guest of their beloved queen, but if she insisted on it, her demanding attitude could make things worse for both her and Regina, who was supposed to be the next ruler of these people.

For the first time since she had come to Brocéliande and Dragon’s Bluff, she walked in the communal diner, her unannounced appearance causing the people of the village, already seated and eating, enjoying the evening among friends and family, to fall silent, all eyes directed at the newcomer. Emma hesitated at the entrance, uncomfortable by the scrutiny she was under, but then she squared her shoulders and walked over to where Percival and a few of the healers from the Marble Palace were sitting. Mercifully, the Knight motioned to a man by his side to free some space for the Savior to sit, waving to the closest person serving as a kitchen staff for the evening to bring out the dinner for the woman.

As she waited for the food, Emma realized that the young woman on her other side was Gwen, and with the healer’s kind help, she was introduced to everyone at the table, Percival adding a word or two for each person during introductions, making the atmosphere around the table, and the room, easier and quicker, the normal conversations resumed, jokes and anecdotes were told, and Emma spoke only when directly spoken to, still unsure about her presence in the dining hall, but loath to return to her rooms just yet. If Shadow wasn’t away, she would have been in stables, spending time with her equine friend, but the magical steed had gone off, probably hanging around Unicorns and other Gallants, if what Percy had told her was true.

Slowly, and with many cups of crude beer, she started enjoying the loud and merry mood of the people, her worries about her True Love and her absence quieted for the evening. And, with the amount of alcohol she had ingested that night, she stumbled into her room way past midnight, one of the healers walking by her just in case if she tripped over a step, and dropped onto her bed, haphazardly toeing off her boots and taking off her belt, tossing it on the floor, not caring for the loud clang it had made meeting the stone tiles, wishing the poor boy a good night before passing out.

* * *

The next day, Emma woke up not too late, and the first thing she noticed was the scent of a strong tea, a cup of it standing right beside the bed, closest to her face. For a second, she smiled, and rose, hoping to see the regal woman by the windows, waiting for her to rise, with a smart remark and teasing smirk ready at a moment’s notice, but when she looked over, no one was there. Shaking her head, and ignoring the dull pain behind her ribs, she drank the tea and hastily freshened up, leaving her room, ready for another day of exhausting dueling and waiting.

Meeting Percival at the circle, she saw several other men wielding the same type of swords she had used the day before. Giving her no time to wonder, the dark skinned leader tossed the weapons to her, ordering others to form up around her, ready to jump in at his word.

“I know it’s bothering you,” the Knight spoke softly to her as he pretended to correct her stance, “but you need to lock it down.” Pointedly peering into her eyes, he grabbed her shoulders. “You cannot be distracted. Your life depends on it. They are not going to pull their punches or back off without you giving them the word. If you slip, you get hurt.” His harsh whisper turned lighter as he leaned in. “She will be here when she is done, and if there is something wrong, I believe you are connected to her deeply enough to feel it. So, consider this an exercise of your patience.”

Emma snorted at his small jibe, clenching her hands around the grips of the heavy swords. “You are the one with Virtuous in your name, not me.”

“True. Well then, instead of just waiting, let’s get you ready for the world.” As his lips lifted in a smirk, he raised his hand and gave out the signal for the attack, stepping back as he watched the blonde Sheriff parry with his men.


	23. Chapter 23

He was awake. Wide awake in fact, and despite being the middle of the night that had followed a truly distressing day, he could not sleep. Or, at least, he could not sleep any longer, for he had managed to scrounge two or three hours of rest. Apart from slight twinges of overstrained muscles in his legs, unused to horseback riding, his constantly running mind was preventing him from sinking into restful sleep. The day before the night, he had seen a dragon land not a stone throw away and converse civilly with his half-sister. He had heard the news the beast had shared with them, but he had also seen Regina’s calm acceptance of words unspoken that had been shared in secret between the creature of the skies and the former Evil Queen, something that had given his kin a new direction, a new light, a new drive that the others seemed blind to.

Neal had to smile as he thought back to the brunette sequestering herself with the children in the Royal Chambers, leaving the rest of the traveling party to figure out their accommodations and entertainment for the evening. Her move was both expected and unexpected and it confused him greatly, for Regina wasn’t one to retreat in mourning before everything possible had been done. And, yet, the Charming couple believed she had done just so, leaving her alone to seek comfort in the company of Henry and Kyle, while they themselves had retreated in one of the guest chambers, grieving for the lost Savior. However, he had also seen the hushed whispers between the two women, the shifter and the warrior, and the Commander, as they kept their conversations private, despite remaining in the main hall of the castle for most of the afternoon and evening, before the Empire man had taken off to his men’s camp. He had not bothered them, keeping to himself most of the time, wandering the halls of the castle in an effort to distract himself from the need to check upon his son and nephew, along with his half-sibling.

But, in the dead of night, when the only sounds around him were the quiet steps of a random guard patrolling the hallway in front of his room and the flickers of a lone torch resting in the elaborate steel sconce beside the entrance into his quarters, he was all out of distractions. So, instead of rolling restlessly in his bed for the rest of the night, he rose and quickly dressed, leaving his room to visit with his kin, ignoring the fact that it was long past midnight. Avoiding attracting attention, he walked the halls of the castle in search of the Royal quarters, at home in the shadows as the thief he had once been. And, only minutes later he found himself in front of one of the guards, watching him curiously from his post at the entrance into the Royal Chambers.

Before Neal could even speak, the man moved, his hand gently pulling the heavy door open just enough for the Queen’s brother to slip inside the room, his watchful eyes surveying the shadows of the hallway. “The Queen has granted you entrance at your wish, my Lord,” came the answer to Neal’s unasked question, and hearing the hushed tones of the guard, he quickly entered, quite surprised to hear of Regina’s carte blanche to her rooms.

However, it wasn’t his sister that met him as the door behind him closed. No, in the glaring light of several lanterns and candles, sitting in a lounge chair with a small desk beside it was his son, his alert eyes taking in his entrance with tension-muted interest, his expressive eyes shadowed. The boy lowered down his pen and rose from the lounge, silently crossing the room and engulfing the man’s middle in his arms, his pubescent mannerisms all but forgotten.

“What are you doing up at this time of night?” Neal murmured against the boy’s forehead as he held him close, the rib-breaking hug worrying him a bit. When the boy refused to reply, Neal glanced around the room, his eyes falling onto a huge bed in the far end of the quarters, a blond mop of hair peering out of the rumpled sheets and pillows. “Where is your mother?”

Henry sighed, his shoulders slumping as he withdrew out of the hug, careful not to look into his father’s face. “She is not here,” he murmured timidly, stepping out of his father’s reach and closer to his adoptive brother.

“I can see that,” Neal answered calmly, his narrowed and flashing eyes belying his demeanor. Careful not to snap at the boy, he repeated his previous question. “Where is she?”

Henry hesitated, not sure how to answer. His mother had never said where the place she had been in such a hurry to go was, nor had she mentioned why she had left. Only that she had to go, and that she would try to come back soon, instructing him to listen to his grandparents and father, and to watch over his little brother. However, deep inside, he had known the true purpose of her rushed escape, and restlessness that colored her every move ever since the dragon had left them in that clearing. He knew his mother and he knew her well. All that time spent staring at her face; looking for the proof of the Evil Queen lurking beneath the façade of his mother had left him with the ability to know her mood and most of her feelings with only a look.

He thought back to the time when he had been watching his mother prepare for her journey, his eyes following her every move. To ease the tension in the quarters, he had been chattering on the dragon they had seen, asking his mother questions about them, quite surprised to learn that Guardian, as his mother had called the beast, was a friend of Emma’s, which in turn had made him ask more questions, firing them at the woman in an effort to take her mind off the worry. But, even his awe of his parent couldn’t dispel the concern and dread his mother had been exuding. So, he had watched her get ready to leave, and only moments before she would walk out of the room, having already hugged him and Kyle goodbye, he rose from his seat and pointed toward the bundle resting on a small desk beside the door.

“You should take it with you,” he had said as her eyes had followed his gesture. “You might need it.” He had seen the glimmer of pride and resignation in her dark eyes as she reached for the dark cloak tightly wrapped around the Savior’s sword.

“You really should go to sleep, Henry,” she had murmured as she had brought him into a hug, her lips leaning against his forehead, and in that simple act, she had confirmed his suspicion. “It’s very late.”

Brought out of his thoughts by the impatient intonation of his name, Henry turned to his father. “I don’t know,” he spoke clearly, his chin raised as he met Neal’s gaze without blinking. “But, she took Emma’s sword.”

Neal frowned. His teenaged son had spoken the last sentence with a meaningful look in his eyes, but he couldn’t see the importance of a simple weapon on Regina’s whereabouts. Even, if it was Emma’s weapon. It’s not as if she would need it any time soon.

_ Wait a minute _ … His eyes widened as his mind made the connection. Emma’s sword. The weapon he had heard from many people that the blonde almost never parted from, carrying with her even during her walks along the castle corridors. The weapon he was sure had become a source of great comfort to the Sheriff, as it had been a gift from Regina, and an indispensable part of Emma’s image as the Black Knight of Regina’s court.

He smiled and nodded at his son, before he sat down on one of the chairs in the room, unconsciously choosing the very same one Emma had been in all those months before. “Did she say when to expect them back?”

A shrug was his only answer, but he didn’t mind it. It wouldn’t be too long, for there was no universe where Regina would leave her children for a long while, not even for Emma. He was sure that Regina had her reasons for secrecy, and he was respecting them, but her sudden disappearance did explain the strange permission to enter the Royal Chambers at his will.

“No one know?”

“Just us,” Henry replied, seated at the lounge with his pen in his fingers. “And Damian.”

Of course that the chief person in charge of security and safety would be informed about it, Neal mused absently, as he watched the boy carefully write something in one of notebooks Regina had insisted to bring over for him. It made sense, actually, for Regina to tell her highest ranking soldier about her absence, so there would be at least someone competent watching over the children, someone that wasn’t too distracted by the news the dragon had delivered. And, why not the lieutenant - in whom the Queen had absolute trust?

As he sat, thinking about his sister, his thoughts unconsciously soothed by the soft, barely audible scratches of metal parts of the pen over the paper and light snoring coming from the bed, he noticed the fire was slowly going out, and that the candles were almost completely melted, the wicks flickering weakly.

“Kid,” he murmured so he would not startle the boy still focused on whatever he was writing. “Come on, it’s almost dawn. You should, at least, get a few hours of sleep.” Standing beside Henry, he gently nudged the boy toward the bed, expecting him to refuse, but to his surprise, his son only nodded, closing his notebook and shuffled over, his stride broken by a large yawn.

But, before he slipped beneath the large duvet, the boy turned and caught the man’s eyes. “Will you stay?” he asked hesitantly, his cheeks tingeing lightly in embarrassment as his green eyes shifted away, no longer looking at his father.

“Do you want me to?” Neal spoke gently, careful not to react to the boy’s unusual vulnerability.

When Henry only nodded, the man just walked up to the bed and sat at the foot of it, patting it softly with a smile. “Then, I’ll just curl up here, if you don’t mind. Don’t kick me.”

Henry glanced at the length of the bed and pointedly at his father, making Neal chuckle with his raised eyebrow. The bed was, in fact, enormous, and there was no danger at all from Henry’s feet. So, after motioning the boy to get under the covers, he brought himself to the middle of his section of the bed, and placing his head onto his bent elbow, he faced the children.

“Dad?” he heard several seconds later, opening his eyes to look at his son who was peering at him from his pillow. Waiting for the boy to speak, he noticed Henry’s hesitation, but soon the words followed. “Love you,” Henry murmured.

“I love you too, kid,” he replied gently, and with it, he once again closed his eyes, suddenly quite ready to grab a few more hours of sleep. 

* * *

The door to a small study off the throne room opened slowly, to avoid the squeak in still unoiled hinges, and as soon enough space was cleared, a soldier dressed only in his uniform pushed through, closing the door behind him, mindful to keep it quiet. Then, he turned toward the man in the room and approached him.

“You wanted to see me?” he asked, his voice no louder than a whisper as he looked into his friend’s tired face. Only when the other man leaned into the light from the oil lamp at the desk, leaning his elbows onto the desk he was sitting at, the guest could see new markings on the man’s tunic that most soldiers wore when not wearing armor. “Sir,” he added quickly, raising his eyebrows in surprise. He had seen his friend the night before, and he had still been a lieutenant then.

“It’s a new development, Nathan,” the seated man murmured with a heavy sigh. “The Queen had only told me last night, before she left.”

Nathan looked at the man, once more surprised in such a short time. “What do you mean, left?”

“Mine was not to ask, Nathan, but I would guess that she had gone to fetch the Savior,” Damian spoke, as he rose from his seat. “But, that brings us to why I called you here. We need to close the castle, and maintain the perimeter. Without the aid of magic, we are vulnerable outside the walls. And, we also need to keep watch over the Royal children.”

“Anything, Captain.” The soldier, Nathan, briskly saluted before relaxing his posture. “What do you have in mind? The whole Black guard is here, what is left of it, and I do not think that the Charmings would look at our maneuvers in favorable light. And, with the Queen gone…”

“Let me deal with them,” Damian said, leaning onto the surface of the desk with his fists. “You will go to the Commander of the Imperial Guard and ask him if he could supplement what we need in manpower. And, I do mean, ask him, Nathan. We will not undermine all the goodwill the Savior’s actions had accrued us, especially with the Queen’s return.” He gave his man a letter bearing the mark of the Royal Guard of Queen Regina and watched him place it in the breast pocket with utmost care not to wrinkle the paper.

“Yes, sir,” Nathan saluted sharply, before throwing a teasing smile in his friend’s direction leaving the room to fulfill the task he had been given. First, he rushed to the soldiers’ wing, to gather his armor and outer wear he had not donned so early in the morning, and while he was stepping away from his friend’s study, he heard the captain summon another soldier, no doubt with another set of orders. Having put on the titular black garbs and protective covering, he exited his quarters, briskly walking down the corridors that would lead him into the courtyard and stables. Putting rush into his steps, the man dashed to the stables adjunct to armory, where the horses for the soldiers were housed. With a short conversation with one of the people serving as a stable hand, he quickly found himself atop a mount, and in front of the opening gate. And, moments later, he was riding toward the camp the Imperial Guard had set, half a mile down the main road.

“Halt!” he heard as he approached the camp, and luckily, he pulled the reins just in time. Right in front of him, hidden in the predawn darkness, were three Imperial soldiers with glaives in their hands, ready to stop him by force, if need be, each one holding the long weapon with ease.

“Message for the Commander!” he shouted, trying to calm down the surprised horse underneath him, and as soon as he spoke, the guards moved out of the way, letting him through, one of them pointing him to the Commander’s tent.

Reaching his destination seconds later, Nathan dismounted, throwing the reins to one of the soldiers stationed at the tent and, at the inviting motion of another soldier by the flaps of the tent, he ducked inside into the warmth of the heated shelter, ready to meet the famous leader of the Empire that had aided the Savior with her quest of saving Safe Haven. And, there, in the middle of the tent was a small table, and at it, two men were sitting and eating, not yet wearing their armor or even uniforms, the cuffs of their shirts rolled up. Not knowing at whom to direct his words, having never met the man before, and not willing to unwittingly insult the Commander, Nathan kept quiet, waiting for someone to address him.

“What business brings you to my tent before Sunrise, soldier?” one of the men spoke, looking at the newcomer, his keen eyes passing over him, continuing to sit leisurely and nibble at the food in front of him, seeing no reason for alarm on the guest’s face.

Nathan did not speak but only offered the letter, the clanking of his armor too loud in the relative quiet of the tent, bending slightly at the waist in deference to the leader of the Imperial forces. He saw the man frown at the wax sigil on the message and waited for the inevitable question of the Queen’s absence. But, the question did not come, or at least, not in the way Nathan expected.

“I assume Regina had her reasons for going after the Savior alone,” the man of the Empire spoke, having read the missive from the captain, smirking as he saw the black soldier’s eyes flash at the familiar way he had spoken the Queen’s name. “I will order my men to move within the castle walls as soon as the Sun shows its face. But, in two days’ time, the Imperial Guard will leave the bounds of the Charmings’ Palace, marching to meet me here. I must be able to coordinate with them, when they arrive.”

“Of course, Commander,” Nathan replied with a respectful bow of his head.

“Then, Lieutenant, I believe your Captain is waiting for you,” the commander said softly, dismissing the soldier, looking after him as he left the tent with stiffness in his posture. 

* * *

It was quiet and dark in the room, with thick, heavy curtains covering the windows, to allow the inhabitants of the quarters to sleep in, unbothered by the daylight. However, even though it was still too early in the morning, before dawn, no one was slumbering.

In the large bed, lying on her back was Mulan, her silky dark hair spread over the finest feather pillow she had ever laid her head on, staring off into nothing, her breathing deep and relaxed, as her left hand moved lazily under warm and comfortable duvet, tracing random patterns on naked back of the woman snuggling into her side.

When warm air from a long, suffering sigh passed over her still slightly damp breasts, the warrior stopped the movement of her fingers, splaying her palm over the shifting shoulder blade. “What weighs on your mind, my heart?” she asked in a gentle whisper, lifting her head just a bit to reach the forehead in front of her with her lips.

“Snow,” came a soft murmur.

Mulan felt her face twist into an impish smile at the reply, despite the heavy air surrounding the topic of the Royal who had been inconsolable the whole evening before, who, along with her husband grieved at the news brought by the incredible creature of the skies. “Not everyone would welcome their lover thinking of another while in bed.” She rather felt than heard Ruby’s snort, and when the shifter looked up at her, she added, “How lucky you must feel to have an amazing and understanding lover by your side.”

“Very lucky,” Ruby agreed with a chuckle, settling back into her previous position, with her head on Mulan’s shoulder, hugging the woman close. “When Regina took Henry and Kyle, and retreated in the Royal chambers, I tried to talk to her and David, but they...” Ruby sighed heavily. “They just held to each other and ignored me.”

“They weren’t ready to listen, love. And, it’s understandable; they just heard the dragon speak of the Black Knight’s end. Grief has a way of ruling reason.”

“I know, but if they just thought about it, they’d realize their mistake and all of this could’ve been avoided.”

The warrior hummed in agreement. “How long do you think it would take them to catch the creature’s meaning?” she asked after a while, resuming the languid movement of her digits over Red’s back.

“Don’t know.” But, she had already decided to set the record straight that morning, as soon as she found the Charming couple and made them listen to her. “But, why didn’t Regina say something?” she wondered aloud.

“I don’t think she did it on purpose,” the Empire woman said gently. “Whatever the creature told her, it made her somber and pensive, and worried.”

“What do you mean, told  _ her _ ? We all heard the words the dragon spoke.”

“Oh, heart, don’t you know? Dragons can Mind speak, and I believe the beast had a message for Regina’s ears, or rather, mind, only.”

“Well, that would explain how she knew it was coming,” Ruby considered. “And, the other Wolves, they must have known too, as they were the ones to keep the horses steady.” She thought back to the day before and smiled in wonder. “I know she said she was gathering allies, but this... I never...”

“Emma?”

“Yeah. I mean, I thought that Wolves, mermaids and Shadow were a coincidence and luck, but then she met with Yaoguai, Ogres listened to her, and now – a dragon!” Ruby brought herself up on her elbow, looking down at the woman holding her. “I knew she was special, but I never even dreamed of this!”

The warrior gently tucked the black strands of hair behind Ruby’s ear and caressed the shifter’s cheek with her thumb. Despite the awe in her words, Mulan could feel uneasiness in the posture of the woman hovering above her. “What?” she inquired softly, her quiet voice unassuming and patient.

Ruby shrugged and pulled away, as her eyes flashed in the darkness of the room. Sitting up beside Mulan, she leaned against the headboard and crossed her arms, not concerned that she was naked or that it was cold outside the warm covers. “I just can’t stop thinking about the words the dragon spoke. The ‘Let her rest in peace’ bit.” When she felt her lover move and envelope her in a warm hug, throwing the duvet over their shoulders, she allowed herself to sink into the comforting arms of the warrior, appreciating the silence Mulan was keeping. “She’d been away for more than she’d been around us, and with each time, she would return more distant and more haunted. And, every time she would provide a miraculous solution to our problems.” Red leaned her forehead against Mulan’s chin, her sharp ears picking up the steady beat of the warrior’s heart, the even thumps of the muscle providing unexpected reassurance to the Wolf. “But, then I would catch her staring off in the distance, her eyes filled with lifetime’s worth of pain and anguish – and I could not help but wonder, what torments had she gone through to help us? You saw how she was before she disappeared. You saw what she did.” Ruby shuddered as she remembered that day, the blood covered blonde fixed upon destroying Midas. But, as the warrior’s arms around her tightened their hold, the shifter nuzzled into the warmth Mulan was providing, able to continue. “To have that power and to do that… She didn’t grow up as we did.”

“What do you mean?” Mulan asked, slightly affronted for her friend. She still didn’t know what her lover was trying to say, but she listened, knowing that Red needed this, needed to talk about Emma.

“She grew up in a world where magic exists only in stories, and where killing is forbidden and not as common an occurrence as here. She has the morals of that world, and the magic and duties of this one.”

The warrior nodded, prompting Ruby further.

“These few months, I always thought Emma looked like she had the weight of the world on her shoulders, but, what if she truly does? What if she was destined to be here to do something else, and not fight Zelena?”

“Well, she did stay to make that portal to Storybrooke,” the Empire woman pointed out softly.

“I know, but that’s not what I meant. All these creatures and alliances, and worry… I think there is something else going on. Something much bigger than the war with the Wicked Witch.”

Suddenly, the warrior stiffened, as words the blonde woman herself had spoken came to her, and she realized that her lover was right. “This fight is about so much more, and most of you do not even realize it, too much wrapped up in the obvious enemies,” she whispered in awe, her voice distant as she kept the memory in her mind. At the questioning look from the eyes that glowed in the dark, Mulan blinked and returned to present. “That is what Emma said to me on the wall, right after she had persuaded Ogres to leave,” Mulan explained to the woman in her arms, and continued to recite, word for word, what Emma had told her in that moment, a mere two days before.

“So, I was right,” Ruby said in triumph, before her face fell. “And, she didn’t tell us,” she added sadly.

“About fighting a different fight?” Mulan inquired gently as she peered into her lover’s eyes. “Did she really need to? Ruby, she had been telling us from the start that there was something wrong here. And, every time we would think that answers lied in the next confrontation, the next enemy.” Taking a deep breath, the Empire woman spilled what had been in the back of her mind since Emma’s declaration. “But, we all know realms were in bad shape, even since before the Dark Curse. Liam’s Wolves call the dragon the Last of Her Kind, Fairies are all turned human and in World Without Magic, no one knows about the remaining Dwarves that are here, if they are here; Yaoguais are all but extinct and when was the last time you’ve seen a Unicorn? Pegasi are history, Camelot-bred horses are few. Wolves are saved only by Regina’s mercy and her Laws of Protection. Magical kinds of Enchanted Forest are dying out, Ruby. Trolls and Ogres are breeding too fast, and humans are dying from wars, starvation or raids.” Sighing heavily, she concluded. “We’ve always known she is the Savior, and we all know that breaking a single curse doesn’t make you one, Ruby.”

“Oh,” the shifter gasped, ducking the insistent look from her lover, feeling her cheeks burn as sheepishness for not really seeing it earlier overcoming her. However, before she could even think about what to say next, someone pounded on their door, before a male voice reached them, telling them that the Captain of the Black Guard would like to see them as soon as possible.

“Captain of the Guard?” Mulan questioned as she quickly dressed, throwing her armor on.

“Must be Damian. He is either under Regina’s orders, or something is very wrong.” The Wolf moved even faster than the warrior, reaching the door first. Opening it, she saw that the soldier who had summoned them was still in front of the room, waiting for them. With a short nod of greeting, he took them to the Captain’s study, letting them in and closing the door after, standing guard in the hallway.

“What’s wrong?” Ruby asks immediately as she enters the room, seeing that it was Damian indeed, who was the Captain of the Black Guard, the new markings of his station noticeable in the weak light of the room.

“Nothing is wrong,” the man said as he motioned the women to sit on the chairs he had placed in anticipation of their arrival. “But, there are some things I believe you should be aware of.” He leaned against his desk, his eyes alternating between the women, the piercing gaze of the warrior unnerving him slightly.

“Usually, it’s Regina who shares things with us,” the Empire woman spoke slowly, as she watched carefully the man’s face, having a niggling already what this could be about.

Crossing his arms, Damian sharply nodded once, confirming the warrior’s unsaid suspicion. “Her Majesty is not here.”

“Leaving the castle and its security in your hands,” Ruby added, quickly understanding why they were there.

“That is correct. Now, I have already had the Commander convinced to join us within the walls of the castle, and as soon as the Imperial soldiers and the Wolves are inside, we will close the gates and initiate a full lock down.”

“Do you really think that is necessary?” the shifter asked him, as she sat up uncomfortably, the prospect of another confinement not welcome for the Wolf.

“It is prudent.”

Ruby turned to look at Mulan, frowning at the woman’s words, and as she cocked her head slightly, the other woman leaned back in her seat, adjusting her sword at her hip, but using her other hand to offer a silent reassurance to the other woman, placing it gently over Ruby’s closer one.

“Consider the battle we’ve just dealt with and who it was against. And, consider whom we have with us. Even with all the Imperial soldiers and Wolves at the disposal, the safety of the Royal children and Snow and David is not quite as assured. Leaving the castle open only provides unnecessary risk, and the captain is right to want to eliminate it.”

The words the experienced warrior had spoken convinced Ruby that the safety of their friends and the children was not guaranteed, especially with the absence of the Queen and her magical prowess, however, she still felt conflicted about the security measures needed to protect the current inhabitants of the Castle. She sat quietly, as she listened to her lover and the captain exchange ideas about utilizing the soldiers in the most efficient ways, and expanding on them, agreeing on implementing one or two plan actions Emma had instituted in the Charmings’ Palace. Occasionally, the two of them would consult with her, incorporating some of her ideas and thoughts she had to offer them – but mostly she was there, thinking how this planning session was much different from the last one she had attended. And, those thoughts brought her to a startling realization how she really did miss her friend, and the implied safety Emma could offer with just her presence, being the powerful sorceress that she was and a stoic pillar of strength. 

* * *

In the quiet of the corridor, a door opened, its unoiled hinges creaking loudly in the early morning stillness, making the woman that had pulled it open wince. Throwing a look behind her in wary expectancy, she waited a moment to see if her companion would wake from his tired slumber, and when nothing about him changed, his breathing slow and rhythmic, she exited the room, making sure to avoid the whine of the hinges. Her stride sure and yet light, memories of her childhood guiding her steps as she walked down the maze of hallways she had once known by heart, intending to get to the Royal quarters and insist on a meet with the former Evil Queen, without the presence of her currently overbearing husband.

But, first, she had decided to take a short stroll in the garden, using the time to formulate the points she had intended to raise with Regina. For that reason she had thrown her thick and warm coat on, even though the soldiers had made sure during the night that the castle itself was pleasantly warm, especially around the rooms that the Royal family was using, lighting many sconces along the corridors and many fireplaces in open halls.

It did her body good to move around, the pregnancy doing quite a number on her, not helped at all by the horseback ride to the castle and the excitement and worry of the day before. Of course, the meeting with the terrifying beast of the skies could have been done without, as far as her unborn child went. The fear it had caused, along with the sorrow and shock of the news it had brought had not been an easy thing for her to endure, especially with her rampant hormone-fueled emotions.

However, she couldn't deny it had been an eye-opening experience for her. And, long hours after the fact, after she had gone through every bit of her memory of the meet, she could say that had she not been so involved with her own emotions, she would have seen the quiet moment the beast and her friend had exchanged, as well as Regina’s surprisingly low-key reaction to the news. This only meant, in Snow’s mind, that the words the dragon had spoken had another meaning, another interpretation, one that she hadn’t considered in her grief-filled mind. Nor had the dear husband of hers, who had been off-kilter since the evening they had appeared in the Enchanted Forest, his realization that Emma was just another human being, despite all the titles heaped on her, devastating his elevated image of her. He had taken the realization that their daughter was not the bastion of Light they all had imagined her to be pretty hard, and it had pushed him into an angry and belligerent mood.

However, her disquiet wasn’t about David, and his shattered perceptions. No, Mary Margaret had another on her mind. And, she needed Regina to clear some things up for her. But, first, she needed a moment to clear her thoughts, because if she stormed the Royal chambers in a fit of self-righteous indignation, the older brunette would only send her out to calm down, not having any qualms on using magic to do so.

After a brisk walk, Snow found herself at the highest tier of the gardens, the sharp coldness in morning air the first indicator that she had left the heated walls of the castle, but it was the soft crunch of snow that actually drew her attention from her thoughts to her surroundings. As she looked up, she gasped, the warmth of her breath hanging around her face for just a second before dispelling into the frigid air. Amidst the whiteness of the fresh snow layering the surfaces of the garden, an unexpected and miraculous sight stood, its magnificence simply astounding the daughter of the long deceased King. In front of her was an apple tree, in full bloom, its luscious green leaves and vivid red fruit belying the winter snow and cold that laid across the lands, having grown out of the stone circle Leopold long before had arranged to house Regina’s favorite tree. 

“How can this be?” she murmured in astonishment as she came closer, her hand reaching for the branches looming over her. It wasn’t an illusion, for her fingers passed over the soft and warm leaves, glimmering slightly in the light of a barely risen Sun. It was real, Snow realized, and it was there, in the stone circle of the garden, as if it had never been gone out of it. However, she had seen the original tree, still standing in front of the Town Hall in Storybrooke only days before, so it couldn’t be the very same tree.

“It’s a gift,” a deep voice spoke from behind her, startling Snow out of her examination. She pivoted on her heel, her arms poised for an attack regretting leaving the weapons beside her bed, but instead of meeting an unknown danger, she saw the leader of the shifters, Liam, leaning on one of the pillars marking the edge of the garden. As he had seen her motion to defend herself, he placed his hands in front of him, offering the woman his placating smile. “From your daughter,” he added as he pushed away from his position and walked over to Snow, his arm reaching for a low hanging branch, bringing it closer to the woman, and far easier to explore.

“A wondrous gift for Regina,” the woman whispered softly as a gentle smile appeared on her face. Her daughter was a romantic and humorous soul. Everyone in Storybrooke had heard about the episode with the tree, mere days after Emma had appeared in the town. Gossip about the fierce and dangerous blonde newcomer had spread like wildfire, making sure that the name Emma Swan would never be forgotten in the history of Storybrooke. Afterwards, the Savior had done many things to insure this, but with this single act of defiance against the imperious and omnipotent mayor, her daughter had announced herself to the people of the town, winning their hearts. And, now, her simple act of thoughtfulness and compassion would insure that her beloved had a personal but firm reminder of Emma’s presence in this world.

“She knew Regina would come here,” Snow concluded, glancing over at the powerful Wolf by her side, intrigued by the tone of respect her daughter’s mention had caused in him. “Did you know her well?”

Liam blinked slowly, before he released the branch out of his hand, his blue eyes regarding her in silence. “I know her only a bit, but enough to realize that she **is** worthy of my loyalty and my trust. There aren’t many to whom the Wolves would submit willfully, and your daughter is one of the few who can truly appreciate such a gesture.” He straightened, his hands resting against the small of his back as his eyes looked away, somewhere in the distance, giving him a pensive expression. “White Swan is truly a remarkable woman,” the shifter added softly, slowly turning his head to see the hallway leading from the Royal Chambers, a soft greeting from the stationed guard drawing his attention.

“The dragon spoke as if she were dead,” Snow had to remark, the Wolf’s pointed use of present tense in his words noted. Also, she had to smile at his name for Emma. It suited her, and yet it didn’t speak of her many titles, as other names Emma had accumulated in her short presence in the Enchanted Forest. The Savior, the Sheriff, the Black or Dark Knight, the White Knight… One late evening, Regina had given her another title her daughter had earned just by birth – Keeper of the Balance, and judging by the bitterness the former Evil Queen spat the name with, it had only been another way to saddle Emma with more responsibility.

“Guardian said nothing of the sort, your Majesty,” Liam said with a contented smirk as he turned to leave, inclining his head to the man and children approaching them by the tree. “If nothing else, she confirmed that the Savior is safe,” he added before he departed, offering a rare gentle smile to the young masters enjoying the snow. 

As the broad shouldered shifter disappeared in the lower reaches of the Royal Gardens, Snow was left bewildered by his offhand comment. Emma – safe? Was that really the message the dragon had for the older brunette? But, why hadn’t Regina said anything? Why the silence and seclusion?

“Grandma,” a delighted shout from her eldest grandson broke her rumination. “Wow, it looks just like Mom’s tree,” the boy spoke as he stopped in front of her, his gloved hands carrying a lump of snow he was shaping into a ball.

Snow looked at her grandson, noting his fresh eyes and healthy glow of his skin. This wasn’t the boy that was overcome with worry for his absent mother. In fact, he seemed somewhat surer of himself since the day before, if only in small instances. But, instead of asking him any questions, she decided to wait for the other brunette to emerge from the Royal quarters. “I believe that is what Emma wanted to do,” she remarked conversationally, eyeing the hard packed snowball in his hands.

“Oh,” he uttered as he saw her pointed glance and swiftly turned, his quick throw launching the white projectile straight into his father’s chest, erupting into a sweet innocent giggle when he saw the startled face of the man who, having lost his balance, ended up sitting in the snow with the waddling boy beside him chirruping in laughter and clapping his mitten clad hands. But, as soon as he saw the man gathering snow, his eyes widened and he ducked behind his grandmother.

“Henry,” the gentle rebuke came from Snow, all the while she watched Neal carefully, ready to duck the second he threw the snowball. The man himself was still on the ground, Kyle beside him, as they patted the white powder into globes, the boy’s much lumpier than the man’s, and suddenly, Neal was on his knee, sending his first volley with experienced ease, watching the white sphere curve to his son, hitting him in the shoulder, but missing the woman entirely.

“That’ll teach ya to start something ya can’t finish,” Neal spoke with glee as he sent out another ball, this one too finding its target. Snow made it easier for him by jumping out of the way, leaving the boy to his mercy, and he had none. Only when Henry managed to slide away behind the wall encircling the apple tree did he stop pelting the boy with missiles, each hit followed by Henry’s shouts of dismay and Kyle’s joyous giggling.

“Dad!” Henry called out from his shelter, only his waving hand visible. “I surrender.”

“Be glad I am not your mother, kid,” the man said as he heaved himself to his feet, grabbing Kyle into his arms. “She’d dunk ya completely into the snow,” his words traveled the air before the man walked over to Snow, offering her a half hug in greeting, at the same time transferring the boy in his arms into hers. “I didn’t expect to see you this early, Mary Margaret,” he remarked quietly in lieu of question.

“I wanted to speak with Regina. Is she still sleeping?”

The dark eyes glanced toward the young Prince beside the tree as Neal considered his words carefully. He didn’t know what his dear sister had in mind and how long she would be absent. At least, judging by the guardsman’s reaction at seeing him, he could assume that Damian had been informed of her travel plans, and nothing slipped by Liam’s watchful eyes. But, no one had told him how to deal with dropping this bomb onto the other members of their company. Should he lie, and stall for time? Or tell them and let them make of it what they wanted?

It was Henry’s slight nod in his direction that made his choice for him.

“No,” he answered, waiting for her next question, not quite ready for the fallout of sharing the information, or rather lack of information, he had.

Snow saw his eyes glancing toward the boy behind the tree and the slight squaring of his shoulders, almost unnoticeable under his winter clothes, and suddenly she felt a weight settle in her gut. “Where is she, then?” she asked slowly, not sure that she wanted to know the answer, especially if Neal was so unsettled by it.

The man pursed his lips, making a light clucking sound with his tongue before he shrugged. “That seems to be the question.” His dark eyes met the green ones, as he looked at Snow over his newly adopted nephew.

“What do you mean?”

“She is not in the castle, Mary Margaret,” he finally said it. “Apparently, she left a little after midnight, taking nothing but the clothes on her and Emma’s sword, and what Henry tells me, she was following instructions from Guardian, and in a hurry to do so.”

Snow turned to look at her elder grandson, seeking confirmation in his tired eyes. When the boy only nodded before he ducked behind the tree again, more interested in the fruit than the conversation of the elders, the woman turned back to Neal. “That dragon again,” she murmured in dismay, only then realizing that her and David’s reaction in the field the day before might had something to do with finding out this only that moment. “What do you know about the Guardian?” she asked Neal, but she spoke loudly, hoping that Henry would participate also, for he had had most luck in wheedling out details out of his mother.

Neal shook his head, not really knowing much about it, the few bits he had he had learned from his son.

“Guardian is Ma’s friend,” Henry supplied, suddenly appearing above them, seated in the tree, his jacket abandoned on the ground, as the tree was magically kept in warm air to prevent it from freezing, not aware of the slight jump he had caused in the adults. “She is the last of dragons, and she taught Emma their brand of magic. Mom thinks that is how she was able to keep the portal open long enough, using the knowledge Guardian had given her.” He looked down at his grandmother and smiled. “How cool is that? To be friends with a dragon? And, did you know that they could speak to you telepathically? Dragons call it Mind Speak, and Emma wrote that only the strongest of the True Kinds could use it, even on others. Mom said Guardian is old and very powerful. If she took Ma, it’s only to help her.” Henry rattled on, speaking fast, his excited voice rising with each question he spoke.

“True Kinds?”

It was the son of the former Dark One that answered Snow’s confused utterance. “One name for the dragons, unicorns, Yaoguai and fairies, and the stories my father shared with me told that they were the first creatures to ever appear in the Enchanted Forest, bringing magic with them. Humans and others came later, as the myth goes. Universally, True Kinds are four, but my father had found a mention of a fifth one, the rarest of them all. He never told me what it was, though.” Neal was frowning, searching his memory for a glimpse into his father’s reasoning and conclusions about the mysterious fifth magical species, but after a fruitless several minutes he shrugged it off, deeming it not important for the moment. “Nevertheless, Guardian came to Regina for a reason, exposing herself to the number of armed men, to deliver a message of sorts.” He rubbed his unshaven beard with his cold reddened hand. “It stands to reason that the message has been delivered, despite our lack of hearing it, especially if we take into account that Regina was beside the dragon, away from us, for a while. If Henry is right about the Mind Speak, who knows what knowledge did the beast impart?”

“And, instead telling us about it, she quietly prepared the castle for her absence, said goodbyes to the kids and disappeared in the night,” Snow concluded heavily, bowing her head as she, almost unconsciously, rocked Kyle in her arms, paying no attention to his roaming hands and his soft babble. “You know, I would expect this from my daughter, not Regina,” she ventured a bit later.

The man glanced at her and quietly chuckled. “What, she is not the type to disappear quietly into the night?”

Mary Margaret nodded at his slightly teasing tone and sighed. “Well, she always did kind of have a penchant for bombastic statements.” Motioning for Henry to join them, she walked toward the entrance into the hallway. “Dramatic exits and entrances are her thing. It goes with her fiery temper.”

“She’s changed,” Neal spoke gently. “During our time in Storybrooke, she was oftentimes pensive and restrained in a way. Despite the stories I’ve heard, I could not believe she was the terrifying villain you all had feared. That is, until I saw her in the beanstalk field.” He turned slightly toward his companion and added, “I can still remember the feeling of magic crackling in the air around us.” Snow hummed in shared fear, remembering some of the instances when Regina had scared the life out of her with magic.

Entering the Royal chambers, Snow hustled the children toward the hearth while Neal decided to find the kitchens in order to scrounge up some breakfast, asking directions from the guard standing at the door, paying no heed to the man’s strange look directed at him. Shrugging it off, he followed the instructions, eager to provide breakfast for the kids.

But, before he could find his way down to the scullery, he came upon the shifter and the famous warrior, the two women carrying trays loaded with food. “Oh, hey, I was just going,” he started speaking before Ruby chuckled, interrupting him.

“Don’t worry about it. Figured you didn’t know your way around.” At his insistence, she gave him her tray as they slowly went back to the Royal chambers. “Say, was Snow with you? David burst upon us, looking for her.”

“She is,” the man confirmed softly, minding his step with the overflowing platter in his arms. “Wanted to speak with Regina before she learned my sister was gone,” he added absently as he glanced over the offerings, surprised to see fresh bread and boiled eggs. However, when he realized what came out of his mouth, he was surprised by the lack of reaction from the women. Looking at them in askance, he didn’t miss the pointed gaze the women shared beside him. “So, you know?”

“Damian informed us at first light,” Mulan volunteered quietly. “He is in charge of the castle's defense, and wanted our input on some of the security measures.”

“I thought we were safe here,” Neal implored, his steps hastening.

“The castle is secure,” Mulan reiterated, her calm voice echoing slightly in the corridor, as she refused to chase after him with her arms occupied. “But, that doesn’t mean we should not be prepared.”

As the man considered the warrior’s words, the women caught up with him. “So,” Ruby started, hesitating slightly. “Did Snow…”

However, she did not continue her line of thought because the guard standing beside the open door of the Royal Chambers stopped her from speaking out, the idea of asking something about her friend in the presence of strangers making her uncomfortable. Offering a small and tense smile to the man, she ducked into the room, her smile widening as soon as her eyes fell onto the boys and her dear friend.

“And, what are you up to, you little rascal?” she spoke, dropping down beside the boys, giving each a light head pat, before she turned to look at the woman sitting beside them. She didn’t need her enhanced senses to figure out that Snow had realized that Emma was alive and Regina had gone, most likely to get her back. She did not miss the darkened skin under the familiar green eyes and the tired sigh that escaped the pregnant woman either.

“Did you know?” came a soft whisper, and only because Ruby was watching Mary Margaret at the same time, she realized who was asking. As the shadowed eyes met with her own dark blue ones, the meaning behind the quiet reproach became clear. Did she know about Emma being alive and sequestered by the dragon, was the inquiry. But, Ruby didn’t know how to answer it without explaining how and why she knew – how she had come to correct conclusions with just a bit of thought of the situation, something that both Snow and David had failed to do.

“We both did,” Mulan answered for her, bringing the platter closer to them, before lowering herself down beside her lover, smiling at the children in greetings.

“Snow, I-I tried to tell you,” Ruby tried to placate her friend, but a sharp shake of the pregnant woman’s head interrupted her.

“No, I get it, I was too wrapped up to see it,” Snow murmured, her arms lifting Kyle into her lap, keeping him secured, her shoulders slumping dejectedly as she shook her head again. “It doesn’t matter now,” she added and suddenly, there was a bright grin on her face as she engaged her younger grandson with food, but Ruby could still see the hurt and dejection in the tear-glazed eyes. However, with several rapid blinks, even that small trace of Mary Margaret’s true emotional state disappeared and the shifter was left pondering if Emma’s blank and emotionless mask was not inherited from the White princess…

“David will join us shortly,” Mulan spoke, only to break the odd, tense silence that appeared between the two friends. “He would’ve come with us, but he needed to dress properly,” she added in explanation at the questioning look his wife directed at the warrior. 

* * *

The day passed slowly. After the breakfast, Henry had cajoled his grandmother into a tour of the castle where she had spent most of her early life, and she had spoken of some anecdotes of her life, speaking of her mother, Johanna and her father, sometimes hesitating over some details, her new perspective painting them in harsher light that before. In those moments, David would gently squeeze her shoulder or her upper arm in quiet support, his shadowed blue eyes softened in empathy for her troubles. But, after eating a well prepared hot meal in the serving hall, along with many of the soldiers and people who had come along to the castle, the family was left with nothing to do. Nothing that hadn’t included watching the Imperial soldiers fill the courtyard, the integration of forces supervised by Mulan and Red. The five of them, the core family, spent most of the day together, the idea of separating unappealing to most of the adults, despite the anxiety they seemed to share, the disquiet seemingly growing among them with each passing hour.

For brief moments, Liam and the imperial commander would join them, but they would leave them soon, unable to stand the feeling of intrusion upon the somewhat cohesive family as they waited for the news. After several times the newcomers failed to engage the adults in engaging conversation, Liam would settle beside the children and soon enough he would be telling them stories of his people, his deep and grumbling voice soothing despite the mounting tension, his endless patience with Henry’s innumerable questions gaining respect of most of the adults half-listening to their chatter.

Later in the evening, Ruby walked in, her slow and tired gait bringing her to her dear friend, offering the worried woman a reassuring smile as she sat right next to her. In that very moment, in a rare instance since the Charmings’ arrival, the Savior’s father was away from his wife and sitting on the floor with Kyle in his lap, listening to the shifter’s stories about his daughter, his attention captured just as much as Henry’s was while hearing about Wolves visiting Regina’s castle under Emma’s directions. Red leaned back beside Snow, not at all surprised at the pregnant woman’s soft sigh and comfort-seeking embrace, having experienced both during the queen’s first pregnancy.

At first, with the aftermath of the battle at the Palace and Emma’s disappearance, Ruby had missed the signs to her friend’s state, especially since the pixie-haired woman had been sitting for most of the time they had spent together. However, as soon as the shock of the events had passed, the shifter had recognized the symptoms and witnessing David’s overprotective hovering, she had confronted the woman in the morning of their journey to Regina's Castle, receiving confirmation.

“Will you tell me about her?” came Snow’s soft whisper as soon as Liam’s story ended. “The woman Liam talks about I barely recognize,” she added, looking at the woman holding her pleadingly. “I need to learn more of her,” she whispered as she lowered her head on the slim shoulder of her friend, meeting David’s saddened eyes over Kyle’s head.

Ruby sighed heavy, sensing that all eyes in the room were suddenly peering at her, waiting for her to start talking. She didn’t know if it was really her place to speak of Emma’s behavior, especially since she had already surmised that the Savior had been involved in something that none of them knew about. Also, talking about Emma’s nightmares and growing detachment wasn’t appealing. But, she couldn’t decline Snow’s plea, either; the shadowed green eyes reminded her so much of the deep-settled anguish of the Sheriff’s eyes.

So, she talked about teaching Emma before slowly easing into the stories of time during the wait for the siege, and despite her omitting much of the terrible details, by the apprehensive looks in the faces watching her she saw that she had fooled no one.

“Regina did say that Emma’s writings seemed much colder emotionally, but I had no idea it was that bad,” Neal spoke after a brief moment of tense silence her last story had left in its wake.

“Things seemed to be happening in a very quick succession for her Grace, and I believe that had she not sequestered her emotions she would not be able to complete many of the tasks set before her,” the Imperial Commander added his opinion from his position by the door. “Things we have experienced together were often almost too much for me to deal with, and I was with her for only a small part of her time here.”

“In truth, White Swan could have ended the war even before it had started,” Liam said, his sharp eyes connecting with Ruby’s slightly bewildered ones. “She had the means to do it,” he added pointedly and quickly, she understood.

“Marbh Teine!” Ruby exclaimed with horror, her words causing the other adults in the room to gasp in dismay.

“Even the General of the Imperial Army had mentioned it as a solution, in awe of the Savior’s unwillingness to sacrifice the lives of innocents to win this war.” Liam turned to Li, knowing that the Savior had shared the subjects of that particular conversation with him. “Even after commenting that he hated people with magic because they so often abuse it, he continued to praise White Swan for her just and merciful disposition.”

“She didn’t need Marbh Teine to end this war. She could have done it with her magic alone.” Li said with conviction, the incident at the keep too vivid in his mind. “But, she chose not to. She chose to give the enemy a chance to end things peacefully, and only reacted in defense during the siege. It was only when the lives of her family were threatened that she attacked and fought the Witch and Midas directly, and even then she showed restraint. It was the destruction of the portal that pushed her over the edge.”

“Belle often said that Emma kept sacrificing too much in order to save us,” Ruby joined in. “She was the only one who could sneak past Emma’s walls and coax her out of her stony moods,” she explained to Snow. “We did try to help her as much she allowed us, but your absence devastated her.” At the anguish of the four people before her, she added quickly. “I don’t say this to make you feel bad, but to understand the pressures she has been under – without having you to comfort her.” She focused on Henry, her eyes glancing toward Kyle. “At first she talked about you and your mom, despite the pain that not having you near caused her; but, as time passed, she stopped. She even stopped saying Regina’s name and every time we would say it, she would flinch.”

“Mom and Archie talked about that,” Henry had to share. As his grandmother turned to him, he continued. “I found mom’s research in the study.”

“You weren’t supposed to snoop, Henry,” Snow said with gentle rebuke, but she couldn’t muster much effort to scold him for it. “Research about what?”

“Wounded Warrior Syndrome.”

“Isn’t that about PTSD in combat situations?” Neal spoke, shifting closer to his son, placing his arm around his shoulders. “I mean Wounded Warrior is a project for veterans in the US.”

“Yeah,” Henry nodded, sinking into the man’s hold. “I think that’s why she was talking to Archie about it, to help her understand better and what to do about it.”

“What is this Pee Tee thing you mentioned?” Li asked quietly as others contemplated the implications of Henry’s reveal.

It was David’s emotion-laden voice that supplied the answer. “Combat shock. Or battle-weakened nerves. But, it can happen with many kinds of traumas that threaten life…” He brought his hand to wipe his welling eyes, still holding the infant in his lap, before he turned to Ruby. “Are you saying that Emma is broken? That everything we did only damaged her further?” He spoke in distress, his voice trembling. “That my… Our daughter had to pay for our mistakes with her own spirit and heart?”

“David,” Snow murmured in pain, lowering herself on her knees to be closer to him. His gut-wrenching questions tore at her, but she had asked them herself within her mind, too afraid to speak them aloud. Were they right?

“We did this to her,” he replied. “Because we chose the Savior.”

“David…”

“No.” The sharply spoken word echoed, drawing everyone’s attention to the door, and there, standing under the frame stood Mulan, radiating authority and bristling at the things she had heard as she had entered. “How dare you?” she stepped forward into the room, her face twisting into a scowl as she faced the Charmings. “How dare you diminish everything Emma has done by making all she had done and suffered for about you?” The warrior stood above the startled parents, her dark eyes glaring at the man daring him to answer.

Ruby rose from her seat, drawing near to her lover, ready to interfere if Mulan’s lecture turned harsher than it needed to be, but she would not stop the woman from speaking her mind. In fact, she had been about to do the same, David’s self-pitying words angering her. From this side, witnessing such behavior, she finally understood Emma’s bitter resentment for her parents.

“Do you think that after those centuries Rumplestiltskin spent perfecting his curse, taking care of every detail, that he would have left something as Emma’s fate to chance? The choice was never yours! Regardless, his curse was just a small obstacle in the Sheriff’s life, because she is meant for greater things! And she will triumph over this, just like she has triumphed over every other challenge before her. I have no doubt that with Regina by her side, your brave and selfless daughter will be alright.” Mulan leaned slightly toward the two shocked heroes of the Enchanted Forest, menacingly clenching the hilt of her sword, not done with them quite yet. “Instead of bemoaning Emma’s less than perfect state, like old crones huddling around winter fires whining about their codgers, why don’t you appreciate the fact that your daughter is alive and celebrate what she has worked for and achieved so far?” Then, with a scoff and a shake of her head in their direction, Mulan dismissed the Charmings, turning to her lover. “Damian has asked for us, beloved.”

“I’ll join you in a minute, honey,” Red spoke softly, squeezing the warrior’s hand before sending her out. As the proud woman turned to leave, both the chief shifter and the commander chose to go with her, abandoning the tension fraught room, deciding to join their compatriots for the rest of the evening. “Henry,” she spoke gently as she looked at the boy.

“I know, I know, go to mom’s room and take Kyle with me,” the boy said with a heavy sigh as he heaved himself to his feet.

“Would you? Please.” Ruby offered him an indulging smile before she fixed her glare onto her friends and Henry’s dad, waiting for the boy to leave the room and close the door behind him. At the click of the closing door, she allowed her displeasure to be shown. “Judging by what I know of Regina I believe she has slapped you verbally, or even perhaps physically, whenever you would behave in such a way, in Storybrooke.” Noting Snow’s abashed lowering of her head and furtive eyes as confirmation to her supposition, she continued. “Why would you think anyone else would react any differently?” She didn’t expect them to answer in any coherent way, so she simply disregarded David’s poor attempts. “Emma is not only our friend. She is our leader and the person who has saved each one of us many times. And the sacrifices she has suffered for our sake are sacred to us. So, hearing you discarding them so easily is an insult – to your daughter, to what she has done, and to everyone she has saved.” Giving them a moment to absorb her words, she kept them under her piercing gaze. “Most of these people do not care who you are and it is only your connection to their hero and savior that affords you respect. The Imperial soldiers carry a swan of silver on their armors in honor of the Savior. The Wolves consider her the ultimate Alpha. And the Black Guard would do anything for the True Love of their Queen. Be careful what you say about Emma around them, for such insults would only garner you trouble.”

“What are you saying?” Snow asked tremulously.

“Isn’t it obvious?” Neal spoke before Ruby could answer. “Any speech that would seem disparaging to the Savior is strongly discouraged. Which makes complete sense.” He had kept quiet, not willing to get involved in David’s mess caused by his fears and feelings of inadequacy, which seemed to be further fueled by the stressful situations the couple had already been through with both pregnancies. But, in light of Ruby’s warning he had to speak. “If you don’t deal with your hang-ups before she arrives, David, you may lose her completely, and then, all the favor you have with her people will vanish. That includes Regina and me.” With a nod to the Wolf, he left the room to join his son and nephew. 

“You can’t expect us not to talk about our own daughter,” David bit through his clenched teeth, unnerved at Neal’s words. Was the man right? Was he making things worse? “We love her.”

“Do you?” Ruby snapped back, her eyes pinning her longtime friend down. “Is it her that you love, or an idea about what your daughter is supposed to be?”

“Red-“ Snow started but couldn’t continue. Regina had warned her, many times, about not coming to terms about who Emma really was, and it seemed that David had much trouble with it as she had. “We love her, Red. Every bit of her.” Speaking slowly, she lumbered to her feet, grateful that despite the anger that her friend was obviously feeling towards her, she still cared enough to help her up. “This isn’t what we wanted for her, that’s true, but we do love the woman she is, Red. The brave, impetuous, loving woman. How can we not?”

Ruby saw honesty in Snow’s love filled eyes, and glancing at still sitting David, she saw the expression mirrored in his light blues, and she felt her anger evaporate, leaving her slightly chagrined at her own temper. “Just,” she shook her head lightly and took in a cleansing breath, bringing her hand to her forehead, scratching it in hesitation. “After all this, she doesn’t need you making it worse,” her words carried a mark of caution she hoped they would listen to.

“I know,” Snow agreed heavily.

“I need to go,” the shifter used the break in conversation to escape, glad that she already had a handy excuse.

“I still don’t get what was wrong about what I said,” David spoke after a while, having risen off the floor and now seated close to his wife. “Yes, Rumple controlled everything but what has set Mulan off?”

“We didn’t make her, David.” Snow sat beside him, taking his hands. “She isn’t the Savior because of us. We didn’t teach her or shape her into this Hero that inspires devotion from almost everyone she meets. We had nothing to do with her ability to see what needs to be done, and her courage to see it done.” Each heartfelt word fell from her lips, heavy as a hammer battering against his chest. “She is our daughter in blood, but we didn’t raise her, David. She grew up alone, becoming this incredible woman on her own, and that… That is why our friends are snapping at us.” Wiping tears from her wet cheeks, she pushed on. “To claim anything but biology in her upbringing is taking away from her magnificence.”

She wasn’t surprised to see his face crumple in pain as he sobbed her name. It was hard to accept it. She still hadn’t been able to do it, fully, even after all the talks with Regina. Snow brought his head to her chest and held him as he cried, letting her own tears flow unchecked. 

* * *

As the hidden entrance to the Temple of Knowledge appeared under the subtle and yet graceful move of Morgan’s hand, Regina faltered to a stop, her feet only reaching the first step of the stairs leading down into the bowels of the secret underground building. Throwing a glance back, looking at the path she had taken from the House of Healing where she had left her beloved, Regina rubbed her fingers with her thumb, hesitating.

She had walked down here following the former Queen of Camelot without a question, her powerful stride seemingly in tune with the decision she had made to undergo the ritual, but now that she was there, at the entrance that signified a new chapter in her life, she could not but not look back and think of her love, and the way she had left her, the Savior’s snippy attitude and barely concealed tension causing much concern for the regal brunette.

At first, she had believed it to be the result of the news she had given to the blonde – about the ritual and the marriage, but the fresh and still strong memory of Emma’s nightmare from that very morning offered another reason why the still recovering woman had been short-tempered and inordinately prickly. Even she, the former villain of the story, had needed a minute, or several, to shake off the blood-chilling effects the dream had created in her consciousness.  _ However, that is not true either _ , Regina thought to herself, remembering seeing the proud shoulders of her Knight slumped and head slightly bowed.  _ Even beforehand, she was suspicious and jumpy _ , the Queen realized, and in that short second, she turned to leave, despite the fact that the hosting royal was waiting on her only several steps below her, having doubts about what she was about to do. Not the ritual itself, but the absence she had intended to impose on her love, so soon after finally meeting again.

She hesitated, as her mind warred with itself. Everything in her was telling her that enduring whatever Morgan had in mind would only help her and Emma in the long run, but also she couldn’t leave her beloved when the blonde was still out of sorts. She couldn’t abandon her, not even for her own good. Not again.

“You can still turn back,” the gentle voice of the older woman penetrated her swirling thoughts. “We don’t have to do this now.”

The brunette sighed as she looked into the dark eyes filled with understanding. She could go back, return to Emma and help her out with whatever was making her gruff and edgy, but that would only serve as a point of contention between the two of them, because, just like Regina, Emma was a proud and self-sufficient woman, and going back would implicate that the regal woman didn’t quite believe the Savior could deal with the separation for five days, despite the quite adamant insistence of the Sheriff to the contrary. Also, the time apart could help Emma to sort out the new information she had gained during the meld that morning, who, unlike Regina, hadn’t had a written version of events to get used to them before the ‘download’. After all, it was the blonde herself who had insisted on not passing up this opportunity to learn and fulfill the promise her father, Henry, had exacted out of the infamous sorceress of Camelot.

And, there the words Morgan had shared, ending the debate Regina had started when she had returned from her goodbye with the Savior – deliberating over the intricacies and moralities of power and duty.

The words that, for some reason resonated deeply within her.

_ The magic of the line is not a tool to be used, carelessly and selfishly. It is a living thing, a powerful entity that can be warm, gentle and kind one second, and wildly raging and world-ending the next. It is the force of Nature itself, lending us more power than we, as puny humans, deserve. It must always be treated with reverence and respect. Not unlike the might your bondmate is capable of wielding as the Keeper of the Balance. _

None of the magically inclined people she had known treated the magic this way, none apart from Emma, and the Savior had only gained such an attitude after being tutored by the Guardian. And, she hoped that with the new teachings, she would be able to behave toward the power in the same manner, with respect and not use it for selfish goals.

“No,” Regina replied softly, as she steeled herself to go forward with the plan, notwithstanding the doubt in her heart. “It’s time,” she said firmly.

“Once you enter, you cannot change your mind,” Morgan cautioned as she gestured to the dark passage into the Temple with her hand, holding the edge of her cloak with the other one.

“I’ve made my decision,” Regina spoke, gathering her skirt and stepping down into the Temple. When she drew even with the other queen, she turned to address her before she ducked inside. “I stand by it.”

The dark skinned enchantress inclined her head as she spun to follow her future Heir, closing the entrance behind her with a careless afterthought. “As you wish,” she whispered into the dry air of the Temple, following the sharp raps of Regina’s boot heels with a smile, pleased that the younger woman had paid attention to where she was supposed to go, even though she had been in this place only once before.

As they reached the small desk where the ancient tome that held the ritual still lied, waiting for their return, Morgan’s lips quirked with satisfied pride at the expecting woman and she gestured to follow her, using her other arm to send away the book, returning it to its place with a soft whoosh of magic. Several moments later, she brought them to a corner of the room, reaching a clear part of the wall, devoid of shelves and light stones, but before Regina could question the other sorceress, a deep rumble was heard from the stone, and the wall opened, uncovering a small passage into another chamber hidden in darkness. “After you,” Morgan spoke softly.

Pursing her lips, Regina breathed in deeply and stepped into the passage, feeling the other woman follow her closely. But, as soon as she cleared the narrow and short tunnel, she gasped at the room that awaited them. It was a light filled chamber, shaped in a half sphere, the domed ceiling twenty feet tall at the highest point, right above the center of the room, and gently sloping down to meet the floor. However, the ceiling had been made in such a way that small rectangles of empty space riddled its surface, providing fresh air to the room. And, there, at the center of the floor made of hand wide rocks stood an oblong block of stone, two hands long and one hand tall and wide, its black surface gleaming in the light of crystals littering the walls that had lit by the women’s entrance. As her eyes fell on the strange stone, Regina recognized it by the shiny surface, her curiosity making her examine it more closely, paying no attention to the hard click of the wall sliding back in place, sealing the room away from the rest of the Temple.

“Onyx,” she murmured with surprise as she walked closer to it and lowered herself with elegance, her hand touching its smooth surface. “I know that superstitious people believe it bestows luck, but I know nothing of its use in magical rituals,” she spoke to Morgan, searching the other woman’s face for answers.

The older woman smiled at the clever inquiry but chose not to answer immediately, crossing the length of the room to the other side. “You are a smart woman, Regina,” she said as she used her fingers to twist one of the light stones in the wall, her actions making the building block of rock next to it to move inside. When it slid away, opening a secret cubbyhole, she took out several pouches of treated velvet and a small beautiful box made of intricately carved wood and bone, and she glanced at the confused royal. “Onyx has nothing to do with magic, at least not in these circumstances. It only serves as a focus for this room, its dark and shiny surface reflecting the pale light of the crystals.” Bringing the beautiful container to where Regina was standing, Morgan offered it to the other woman. “It’s a decoration, a holder for the true centerpiece of this room,” she added, opening the case in Regina’s hand and showing her the insides.

“What?” the younger queen whispered as her eyes fell onto the treasure of the chest. In there, resting against the black velvet were three gem-like stones, different in sizes and shapes, and a small dagger, fashioned out of masterfully sculpted bone, with elvish script running along its length. “What’s this? There was no mention of the stones on the page of that book.”

The queen of Camelot raised her eyebrow without bothering to speak, her expectant gaze telling Regina that she was missing something, something of value. Then, with a smirk, she turned away, stepping to the wall and lowering herself on the floor, daintily arranging her dress around her knees with one hand while the other dropped the velvet bags beside her in order to reach for a small ceramic bowl hidden in the shadows, letting the other woman come to her own conclusions. So, Regina considered the stones again, focusing more on them and their looks. The one on the left was the smallest, brilliant shaped diamond-like clear stone about an inch in diameter, and under the weak light of the crystals, the brunette could not see a trace of color in it. Next to it was a fist-sized milky white quartz and beside that, was an oddly shaped stone, glimmering crimson under the light, its surprising brilliance reminding Regina sharply of spilt blood, and if she hadn’t known it was a stone she would have thought she was looking at a small heart, torn out of the chest of a small game. She had heard of this stone, but she had not seen one, until now. Dragons’ Blood, some people called it, and it was extremely rare, valued beyond measure for its use in spell-casting and protection. The ancient book had outlined the steps of the ceremony, and there had only been a mention of ‘invoking the power of teachings’, a vague and odd instruction Regina had only glanced over, more attentive to the ingredients and time needed for the ritual. “You use the stones,” she muttered in realization, looking over at the other woman just in time to see a pleased smile spread over the woman’s face.

“These stones are the most guarded secret of my family, and no written account of them exists,” Morgan explained as she removed a small wineskin off her shoulder, stepping around the onyx stone. Having already finished with mixing the ingredients into the provided bowl, she added the last one, emptying the wineskin. “It was my father who shared the existence of them with me, as his father had done with him. And, now, it is up to me to pass the knowledge onto you. But, there is something I couldn’t tell you before you entered this chamber, before you have fully committed yourself to this course. Ordinarily, the ritual consists of the Head of Tintagel transferring their knowledge into the stones, along with the memories of their time in the world. And, the first part of our time here would be me, doing just that.” Under the lights of the crystals, Regina could see a frown forming on the beautiful and kind face of her host, and suddenly, a bad feeling gripped her, a feeling that she wouldn’t like the next words out of Morgan’s mouth. “However, what you need done is taking out the information stored in the quartz into your own body, and that is something that is, I was told, infinitely harder.”

“You were told?” Regina caught that tidbit, and it made her wonder. “Don’t you know?”

“Well, as I said before, no written accounts are allowed to exist about the specifics,” Morgan maintained calmly, however, the frown on her forehead persisted. “Outside of this chamber, that is,” she mumbled into her chin, but the acoustics of the room brought the whispered words to Regina, making her bristle at the implication. “The point is, as far as the memory of my people goes, no one has done the second part of the ceremony in centuries.”

“But, it has been done, though?” Regina insisted, concern and suspicion making her voice sharp and loud in the chamber. “Right?” Only to find deafening silence following the echo of her words as the answer.

She slammed the box shut, lowering it quickly to the center stone, glaring at the other woman. “You knew about this, and you lied!” she accused the powerful sorceress. And, as soon as she spoke those words, she gained insight in the erratic behavior of her beloved. “You gave your word that this was reasonably safe, and you lied,” venomous words dripped out of Regina’s angrily twisted lips. “And she could sense it, the untruth in your speech. She could see through your obfuscations.” An odd flash of glee appeared in the blazing dark eyes of the former Evil Queen, her sharp posture and brimming magic so reminiscent of the villain she had used to be. “I cannot wait for the end of this damned ritual. Because I will complete it successfully, if only to be there and witness you explain this to Emma.”

Morgan blanched at the mention of the Savior. “She is a sooth-diviner?” She had completely disregarded the myths that her ancestor had been able to garner the truth out of everyone around him, and now, it would seem that the ornery Sheriff had the same talent, and the woman was rumored to be the most powerful creature of magic that graced the Enchanted Forest in centuries. The wise queen of Camelot had aroused the suspicions of the woman who was fiercely protective of her True Love, ready to destroy anything and everything posing a threat.

“She cannot be lied to without her sensing it,” Regina clarified, enjoying the trace of fear in the amber eyes looking at her from across the chamber. “At least, that was before Guardian had become her tutor in all things True Kind. Who knows what she is capable of doing now?” The threat in Regina’s words didn’t need to be implied, the sole mention of the last dragon was terrifying enough.

“Nevertheless,” Morgan spoke after a moment spent calming her heart rate. “We should continue.”

Now, it was Regina who smirked at the other royal, waving her hand in permission. “By all means.”

Not willing to admit how much the younger woman’s casual attitude affected her, Morgan simply reached for the chest, taking two of the stones out, placing the quartz on the onyx slab, while keeping the clear rock in her hand. “As per instructions in the book, we need to drink the concoction I have prepared.” When the brunette didn’t move, Morgan drank out of the bowl first before offering it again to the other queen. “After I start with my part, you are to wait for the quartz to glow, and then take the bloodstone and the blade. You will make a deep incision in the center of your left palm, and after the blood wells, you will place the stone in your hand, pressing it against your wound. The stone will activate when you read the inscription on the dagger in elvish. I am certain that your connection with the Savior will provide you with what you need.”

“I wasn’t aware I would be doing blood magic for this ritual,” Regina said looking at the chest, her hand tucking an errant wisp of her hair behind her ear as her brows furrowed in apprehension. The emptied bowl was lying beside her feet while she stared at the ominously glimmering stone in the box.

“It’s not blood magic per se,” Morgan rushed to explain. “Yes, we use blood, but only as a conduit for the magic, not as an ingredient of the casting.” At Regina’s raised eyebrows, the older woman nodded. “And, as with anything magical, blood magic is not always dark magic – it depends on the intent. The only reason it is considered dark on the whole is that it requires sacrifice to work, and most often than not – that sacrifice is life, as you well know. This, essentially, means that sorcerers engaging in such arts eventually become murderers.” The woman further explained, not able to pass the teachable moment. “However, this is not what we have here. There is no sacrifice involved, at least, not requiring blood or life. Your blood, in this particular case, is only used as a connecting channel between you and Dragons’ Blood, which in turn, connects you to the well of knowledge that is the quartz.”

Appeased with the clarification, Regina took out the dagger and the stone, waiting for Morgan to begin her part. She watched as the older woman focused on the clear stone in her hand, speaking the incantation needed, and suddenly, the air in the room crackled with magic as an unstable and moving shaft of light and power connected the diamond shaped rock in Morgan’s hand with the quartz beside the chest, its milky white color turning brighter by the seconds, before Regina had to look away, the light too strong for her eyes to bear. Taking it as a signal to begin, having no other means to confirm it, as Morgan seemed oblivious at the moment, she made a short but deep slice in her palm as directed, wincing at the sharp pain that it caused. It took only mere seconds for blood to spill out of her cupped palm onto the floor, so Regina, gritting her teeth, pressed the bloodstone into the wound, ignoring the eye-watering sting the move had caused. Looking at the bone blade marked by her blood, she read the glyphs aloud, encountering no problems with understanding them.  _ In need, I humbly seek thy knowledge _ , the Elvish script said, and the former Evil Queen would have chuckled at the simple sentence needed to activate the stone, but as soon as she had spoken the words, the stone glowed so strongly that for a moment the entire chamber seemed covered in blood. And, a moment later, Regina’s rose into the air, hovering two feet above the floor, caught in the strange magicks of the ritual, Dragons’ Blood firmly held in her hand, and a small ray of pale red light reached the still shining quartz on the onyx slab. None of it was seen by the brunette, for she had her eyes closed, as the ritual seemed to work.

* * *

“Regina?” a soft voice intruded upon her as a gentle hand squeezed her upper arm, pulling her out of her odd daze. She turned to the person demanding her attention and recognized her former stepdaughter immediately. “Hey, do you need a break?” the pixie haired woman asked quietly, peering into her eyes, searching for the cause of her sudden bewilderment.

“What?” Regina murmured before she took a look around. The two of them were in the forest. And, judging by the familiar path almost obscured by the wet leaves and patches of snow, they were in a large grove close to her castle, the unused path leading further into the woods. Also, they weren’t alone. At a respectful distance, she could see four members of her guard forming a protective circle around the two of them, turned outward and alert.

“Do you need to sit down?” Snow asked, her hand still on the older woman’s arm. Not waiting for Regina’s response, she moved slightly away, having found a suitable place to take a seat. With a smirk directed at her friend, she rubbed gently her belly. “Even if you don’t, I certainly do.”

“Snow?” Regina finally managed to pull herself together and quickly appeared by the other woman’s side, concern visible in her features.

“I’m fine, just a little tired.” She smiled as she looked at her former stepparent, quite touched to see worry shining out of the soft brown eyes. “Thank you for agreeing to come with me.”

Offering just a short nod in response, Regina lowered herself beside the woman she had been hunting for years, throwing her cloak over the new mother’s shoulders for added warmth. It appeared that the daze that had suddenly gripped her had evaporated, and Regina remembered why they had come here. Past several days had been filled with mounting tension between the members of the Charming family and that morning, it had all come to a head, when a large argument erupted between the three adults. Henry had skipped out to find her, having seen that his other mother was brimming with anger, and David, whose usual cool head could be counted on defusing the fiery clashes between the mother and the daughter, hadn’t been any help as he, himself, had instigated this argument with his cranky nips directed at his daughter. She had arrived just in time to stop it from getting out of hand, and with a wordless plea from her beloved, she had pulled the Charmings away, letting David stomp away in his fury, while she had decided to take up on Snow’s invitation for a walk.

“Don’t judge him too harshly,” the woman beside her whispered, her green eyes taking in the frown on the queen’s face. When Regina looked at her, her eyebrow rising in question, she continued. “He hasn’t been sleeping. I think he’s afraid that something will happen to me, or the baby, but he won’t speak to me. This situation with Emma isn’t helping things, either.”

“Why is he so angry with her?” Regina asked after a moment spent in reflective silence, her eyes demanding an answer out of the younger woman.

Snow hesitated for a moment before she sighed, leaning her elbows onto her knees. “I don’t think he is angry with Emma specifically, but… He wasn’t thrilled when he saw the uniform Emma had chosen for herself, nor was he pleased to listen to the tales of her victories.”

“More to the point, the death she wrought,” Regina added with a scoff, shaking her head.

“It threw me too, Regina. To learn that my daughter, the Savior, had killed so many people… But, I am glad she is alive and well – as much as she can be.” Snow frowned. “It’s just… Hard.”

The former Evil Queen scowled at her. “She is not a hero, Snow,” Regina spoke sharply, the sudden vitriol in her words surprising the woman beside her, freezing her in place. “She is not some mythical character in a story where Good always prevails over Evil. She is a real woman who had to make real choices with real consequences.” She rose to her feet, leaving her cloak on Snow’s back, and straightened to her full height, her eyes flashing as she pinned Snow under her insistent gaze. “Her actions weren’t guided by some noble sense of Justice or such. She did what she had to do – to survive and to keep her friends alive. And, to do that – to be the person that could survive this world, and this war, something had to give.” Breathing deeply with a conscious effort to calm down, Regina gentled her voice. “She is not the same woman we knew in Storybrooke, just like we are not the same people before the curse. And, you have to learn who she is all over again. Learn how to talk to her, how to be with her, how to love her. You have to do it by yourself, because you cannot keep dragging me into this, Snow. Not anymore. She is your daughter, Snow – learn how to deal with her! Or you won’t have much of a relationship with her.”

Letting her words sink in, she glanced away, her eyes sweeping over the surroundings. “But know this,” she murmured, her voice just loud enough for Snow to hear her. “She has suffered enough under the weight of all the titles she holds. I won’t let you hurt her further by your judgments, both your and David’s.”

Snow swallowed hard at the implied threat in Regina’s voice, a soft tear gliding down her chilled cheek as she considered the brunette’s words. She opened her mouth, ready to promise her cooperation, but before she could speak a loud shriek pierced the quiet of the forest, bringing the women to alertness. From the direction of the shrill noises a sole member of the Black Guard stumbled toward them, his uniform ripped to shreds and covered in blood, his sword firmly clenched in his hand.

“Go,” he urged them, pointing away from the danger. “Quickly,” he said before he staggered to his queen, his insistent imploring setting the women in motion. As the former Evil Queen gathered her cloak, pushing Snow in front of her, she threw a glance at her man. “A pair of Manticores,” he replied to her silent question as he urged them to move faster.

Regina gasped, her previous encounter with the vicious beasts still fresh in her mind, and she tried to summon her magic to take them away, but what power she did manage to scrounge was not enough to teleport them to safety. She wasn’t even sure if it was enough to defend them against the persistent hunters. Quickening her gait, she grabbed Snow’s arm to aid her as she guided them toward the castle.

Suddenly, a loud shout of triumph was heard from behind her, followed by a sharp whistle of a screaming arrow. Glancing at the guard with her, Regina saw a small measure of relief on the young man’s face. “One down,” he murmured as he noticed her scrutiny. However, the relief lasted too short as a roaring shriek tore through the forest, followed by the sound of a blood chilling scream before it cut off, no doubt by the death of the one screaming. Another roar sounded, closer this time, and hearing it, the man flinched and pushed the women to go faster, throwing a look behind him.

Only seconds after, they reached a small slope from where the castle was visible through the branches. “Go,” the guard spoke softly, winded from the chase, his eyes connecting briefly with his monarch’s before he stopped and planted his feet, lifting his weapon.

Seeing the man stay behind, Snow instinctively slowed down, turning to help him, but Regina grabbed her arm, pulling her forward. “You cannot help him, Snow. We need to get to the castle.” Despite the hard grip on her friend’s arm and callous words, her voice was soft and pleading. They couldn’t afford to argue – not when the beast was almost on top of them, and Regina could not access her magic properly for some reason. Additionally, the grounds were too treacherous to not pay full attention to them in their mad dash toward the tall parapets of the White Castle and the small regiment of archers stationed there.

At the sound of growling coming too close from behind them, Regina sped up, thankful that she hadn’t donned on one of her elaborate dresses, but simple tight leather leggings. However, Snow had not been as sensible, her dress inconveniencing her mightily as they ran through the underbrush, and with each pass by an undergrowth, a piece of it would be torn off, strips of fabric hanging on the thorny branches.

Suddenly, as they stumbled down the slope, the women came upon a wet patch of forest floor, hidden under the rotting leaves and as their footing had already been precarious due to running, the ground slipped under them. Snow yelped in surprise as she started rolling down, her leg getting caught up in something before she came to a sudden stop, the twisting pain of forced deceleration robbing her of what had been left of her breath, as tears sprang to her eyes.

“Snow?”

In her descent, Regina had been marginally luckier, but still, she had caught several sharp edges with her arms and face, jagged cuts on her cheek and temple bleeding profusely. She brought herself up in a crouch, wiping her face as she looked for her companion.

“Here,” a soft, trembling voice directed the brunette toward the pregnant woman lying several feet above her up the slope. Snow was on her side, her face pinched in pain as she held her left knee in both hands. The older woman rushed to her and kneeled, her hands immediately reaching for the hurting limb. “I felt it break,” the pixie haired woman said, her dulled and teary green eyes meeting the brown.

Not speaking, Regina used her palms to determine the full scope of the injury, hissing in dismay when Snow’s words were proven correct as she felt the bones shifting under her touch. “You need a splint,” she murmured absently as she listened for the hunting beast after them.

“Forget that, just get me up,” Snow hissed as she grabbed onto Regina’s shoulders, already placing her right leg underneath her, but the other woman held her down.

“You can’t just hobble down to the castle, you idiot. Not on that leg, and definitely not pregnant and with a manticore behind us.”

The younger woman peered into the dark eyes and after a moment of grim silence she nodded sharply. “Then, you must go.”

“What?” Incredulously looking at the younger woman, she scowled. “Did you hit your head as well?”

As another roar sounded, closer this time, followed by a sharp yell of a man, Snow gripped Regina’s hand. “I’m serious. At least, you’ll live. For Emma. For Henry.” Just as she spoke, something flew through the air, landing only several feet below them, slamming hard into the ground. It took Regina a moment to recognize the dark clothes of her knight, and the pale skin of the man who had stayed behind to give them more time. Time they were out of.

Swallowing hard against the sickness rising in her throat, the former Queen noticed his sword still clutched firmly in his hand, and quickly she stepped away from Snow to reach for it. Hearing the woman’s tired but pleased sigh behind her she tore the weapon out of the dead man’s unfeeling limb and turned to face Snow, and the top of the slope, where now their doom stood – watching them with sharp yellow eyes, the oddly beautiful human face twisted in ravenous sneer.

“Damn Charmings, must be in your DNA to sacrifice for others,” she murmured as she lifted the weapon, crossing over to her friend and standing slightly above her, ready. “I’m not leaving, Snow. And, if you were to die today, it would be after me.” With a sword held high, she hadn’t looked away from the monster as she prepared to fight with everything she had.

The manticore snarled as the Sunlight hit the blade waiting for it and jumped, its strong wings spreading to keep it airborne.

Regina firmed her grip and sneered at the beast, her eyes cold and sharp, ready to fight for her life. The sword already moving in a fast swing, she met the creature with a hard slash over its neck and belly, adding her wound to many shallow ones that covered the tawny hide of the monster, dark blood spilling out, the hot liquid spraying her face. As she moved for a second thrust, the world disappeared from her and she fell unconscious, the growls and shouts of her friend following her to wherever she was going. 

* * *

It was the small country road Regina had seen as soon as the colored smoke of her transportation spell cleared, its hard-pounded soil turned to mud and mire after the heavy fall rains that had graced this area. Shaking her head as she tried to clear the haziness that suddenly enveloped her mind, the queen brought a hand to her forehead, her fingers digging deeply into temples, the unconscious movement meant to capture the escaping thoughts. There had been something about a secret library and a crystal, but for the life of her, she could not remember more, the details she already knew slipping into the murkiness of forgotten dreams.  _ Why did she appear on this unremarkable road? _

She turned in place, searching for a clue or a reason that would explain what had happened, but there was nothing around her but a small copse of trees, the dirt road and sounds of a bustling village brought on a cold breeze that played with loose waves of her hair. Looking down at herself, she noticed she was wearing one of the simpler dresses she had, without many frills and modest, especially by her standards. The dress was in soft purple, almost lilac, light and long, with corseted waist and covered bust. It spoke of riches and stature but it wasn’t ostentatious. And, it was completely wrong for the excursion she had found herself on.

Lacking any obvious direction, she walked on toward the village, hoping there she would find some answers, like where was she and why was she there?

Finally, she approached the first house of the village with a small measure of relief, her trek over the muddy road fraying her already taut nerves. Using only a small blip of her magic, she cleaned herself up, taking care not to be seen using witchcraft; not willing to inspire panic in this quaint place.

“M’lady?” A voice called out from behind her. “M’lady, you alright?” A young woman spoke as she neared Regina, her arms full with a covered basket, watching the newcomer with wary kindness, her bound brown hair matching her inquisitive eyes. “Dugan!” She yelled after a moment of indecisiveness, still not taking her eyes from the finely dressed lady before her. Summoned by her shout, a small boy of similar coloring to the woman ran out of the two-story house across the road, rushing toward them, his eyes sparkling in glee as he reached the woman. “Take this to your nana, Dug,” the young woman instructed the boy, giving him the basket, before she came closer to Regina. “Come this way, M’lady. You can rest at the Inn.” And, receiving an acquiescing nod, she led the royal to the same building the boy had run into.

“Oh, poor dear,” a large, older woman, bustled toward them, wiping her hands on a towel while her apron was dusty from flour. “Sit, sit,” she urged Regina, her time-ravaged face showing a gentle smile. “Bring out the blackberry wine, Sena, and some of that fresh bannock,” the old woman ordered, shooing the younger one away.

“There is no need for the trouble,” Regina tried, but the woman shushed her.

“Nonsense, dear, it’s no trouble.” And as soon as the younger woman, Sena, came back with the bread and wine, the old woman sat across Regina. “Now, how can Addie help?”

“Where am I?” Regina asked, having taken a bite of very tasty bread, still warm from the oven.

“Ah, M’lady,” the old woman smiled with pride. “You be in Oak’s Shade.”

At the name of the village Regina barely kept herself from visibly blanching, using the cup with wine to hide the thinly pursed lips. As soon as the innkeeper spoke the name, the Queen remembered it, remembered the state of it after she had been done with it. The massacre of the Snow’s shelter-givers was nothing compared to the slaughter she had rained on the poor hamlet of Oak’s Shade. At least, the Princess’s co-conspirators had been killed by the Heartless on her orders, not that it had lessened the darkness of her actions. But, the annihilation of this particular village had been wrought by herself and only herself while the battalion of Heartless had prevented anyone from escaping her wrath.

While the massacre and the adventure with Snow that followed it marked her truly becoming the Evil Queen, under the manipulative tutelage of her biological father, the gleeful and malicious obliteration of this poor village had become eponymous with the terribleness and vileness of her reign. The massacre had sparked anger in people under her rule, feeding into the momentum the rebellion already had, spearheaded by Snow; but it was the Oak’s Shade that had driven all-encompassing fear into their hearts, making them tremble at even the mention of her moniker.

How could she be here, after so many years?

How could she be in the place she had razed to the ground in a fit of pique?

“Impossible,” she murmured into the cup, still trying to understand how she had ended up in the past, or wherever she was, her eyes losing focus as she peered into the unseen distance.

“She doesn’t look hurt,” she heard Sena whisper to the innkeeper. “But, she’s not equipped for the journey either, not on foot at least.”

“Unaccompanied, too,” the innkeeper agreed, looking at Regina with narrowed eyes. “Better call Rob, dear, strange things are upon us.”

“I mean you no harm,” the lost woman spoke, interrupting their quiet conversation. “I’ll leave.”

“Curious words for a Lady,” Addie spoke, waving Sena to go on her way, waiting for her to leave them alone. “You be one of them, ain’t you? The witches?”

Regina calmly kept her gaze at the innkeeper, not flinching as the older woman guessed her magical nature. “As I said, I mean you no harm.”

“That may be,” Addie spoke, her voice sharp with mistrust as she rose away from the table. “But, I’d be a fool to trust a witch.” She planned to say more, but Sena burst in startling both women, and finding the innkeeper, she grabbed her arms, gasping in terror.

“Heartless!” She managed to utter, pulling the old woman away, presumably to safety. But, the innkeeper turned to their guest, her creased face pale with grim acceptance.

“You be her, then.”

It was said in resignation, in tearful acceptance of death that was to come. “No,” Regina answered, her voice earnest and soft as she watched the old woman’s face twist in frown. “I am not  _ her _ ,” she said, this time her voice firmer, her lips curling in disdain at the end. However, before she could say anymore, the door to the inn busted open, and two black-clad soldiers entered with their swords drawn, forcing the women out on the street and into the center of the village, one of the Heartless grabbing her by her arm and pushing her roughly in front of him, his harsh shoves bringing her to the fore of the crowd gathered in the square before he left her to join his comrades, completing the cordon of armed men surrounding the villagers on the three sides of the space between buildings, leaving the fourth side relatively empty.

And, there, just as Regina remembered, was the carriage with the Queen’s crest painted on its side, proud black horses held in place by one of the men, and right beside the carriage stood the man she had not seen for more than a year. “Graham,” she uttered soundlessly, her heart squeezing at the sight of her former Sheriff. The Huntsman stood rigidly as his gaze swept over the occupied village, looking for dangers to his mistress, and Regina was close enough to see his gray eyes passing over her with no recognition. In fact, his eyes were empty, as were the eyes of every other soldier surrounding them, for he, too, was without his heart.

As soon as the Huntsman was assured that there were no threats, he turned to the carriage, and with a stiff bow, he opened the door, holding it for the Queen inside.

Regina watched in odd fascination as a foot appeared from the shadows of the coach, followed by a leg, until the whole body of the Evil Queen, clad in one of starker outfits, exited the carriage, paying no mind to the man beside her. The Queen righted herself up and looked imperiously over the captured people, stepping closer to the crowd, and with every step the air around her crackled with magic, while her dark eyes glinted with unhidden malice.

The brunette watched as the Queen drew closer to the villagers, knowing what would happen next as her memory of the event was still quite vivid despite the haze of magical blood lust that had fueled her actions. However, her memory couldn’t have shown her how terrifying she looked in her elaborate black dress and artificially pale skin, with purplish wisps swirling in her hard black eyes. The disdaining sneer combined with sensual, almost seductive motions of her body inspiring confusing horror in people in front of her.

The Evil Queen didn’t speak. She wouldn’t, not yet. Not until…

Two of the Heartless brought forth a man, pushing him down on his knees before the Queen, keeping him in place by his arms. The man was watching the Queen approach him, frozen in fear, not able even to blink. She stepped toward him and sneered as her eyes passed over him, sniffing in disdain.

“How brave you must be,” the Queen spoke softly, but her voice carried and everyone in the square heard her. “Or should I ask how little you value your life that would defy your Queen?” The man didn’t speak, his mouth gaping but no words came out. “Was I not clear with my orders?” she asked, her voice dipping in register. “Were you not to send four wagons of crops to my castle?”

The thing had been, the villagers had sent, as a part of their taxes, only three wagons, with the third not quite full. It had been a hard year, and the crops had not yielded as much as it had been expected, so less food had been available to send away to the castle. Such matters had been usually in her father’s purview as Henry had often dealt with the day-to-day running of the kingdom. She wouldn’t have even noticed the discrepancy if not for her unstopping search for Snow and the need to feed the soldiers that had been spending weeks trying to unearth the renegade princess, and their offhanded note that they hadn’t received enough provisions. It had taken only a short walk to the court records and reading a few ledgers before the Evil Queen had found out the truth. The valet had been thoroughly reprimanded and punished with the loss of some privileges, as well as with the knowledge that whatever punishment his daughter would lay on the village, he carried a part of responsibility for it.

“We sent all we could spare, your Majesty!” the village elder finally found his voice. “We ourselves almost starved!”

“Oh, I see,” the sorceress spoke in a faux understanding voice, turning her back on him. However, just as the man sighed in relief, the Queen turned back, snarling at him. “Then, you should have starved!” Her hand was poised for attack and it would take only a second for the Evil Queen to immolate the man in punishment. However, before she had even summoned the fire, one of the captured people moved, quicker than expected and stood before her, in front of the man who had been sentenced to die.

It was Regina, who couldn’t just stand by and let the history repeat itself, so she made the decision to intervene, her body already in motion, positioning herself between her alter ego and her prey. This time, she’d try to do better.

“I can’t let you do that,” Regina spoke firmly, gathering her own magic and watching herself from the past sneer at the interruption, wondering how it was that the Evil Queen didn’t notice that they shared a face.

“Let me?” the Queen asked in incredulity, her eyes widening as she felt magical currents swirling in the air around them, coming from the woman in front of her. “Did dear Snow send a sorceress to fight me?” she asked, her eyes flashing in hate.

“I came on my own,” Regina replied calmly, waiting for the inevitable clash.

The only sign that showed that the Evil Queen was about to attack was the feral grin that appeared on the pale face, so Regina responded in kind, letting her own magic envelop her and do her bidding, and knowing herself, the first salvo would be the signature balls of fire, so she prepared accordingly, her training and memory sharing with Emma doing miracles for her fighting style. But, as soon as the fireballs touched her magic, the world dissolved around her before she fell into the darkness.

* * *

Stepping out of her car, she picked up her briefcase and a grocery bag she had stashed onto the passenger’s seat only minutes before. With a bit of juggling and expertise she had garnered from all those years of multitasking while she had been Henry’s primary caregiver, she managed to lock up the car and open the gate leading to her mansion. She was finally home, after a very long day.

In truth, it had been a very long month. And it showed.

First, Emma, and most of the town, really, had been involved in search and rescue of two unruly teenagers who had managed to get lost in the woods, having looked for a place to have more privacy for their ‘meetings’ than each of their homes and public places of the small town. For three endless days, the Sheriff and volunteers had combed through the waterlogged forest, moving in a search grid her wife had devised the moment she had learned about the couple’s stupid idea from a pair of their friends.

_ “What happened to a good old fashioned car sex?” the blonde groused after releasing the missing boy’s best friend to his parents. “Isn’t that what parking is for?” she asked Regina as she threw her case notebook on her desk. _

_ Regina looked at the Sheriff with a raised eyebrow, stopping her lips from turning into a devious smirk. “Apparently, I missed that part of this world’s education. Care to demonstrate?” _

_ “Funny,” Emma noted with a deadpan expression before she pushed away from the desk. “It sure beats the woods. It’s warm, and cushioned, and definitely dryer, especially with this cold drizzle we’ve been having for the past week.” _

The cold and wet weather Emma had mentioned that day at the station had persisted, which was expected at that part of November, but it only had made the search harder and life expectancy of the children lower. But, Emma had pushed, and after the twenty-four hour mark had passed she had started pushing even harder, instituting night shifts for the volunteers, spending every minute of her time in the forest, and if not for David and Regina forcing her to eat and rest for a bit at regular intervals, she wouldn’t have seen her wife in days. However, the Sheriff’s dogged persistence paid off when the blonde had stumbled on the severely hypothermic couple on the morning of the third day.

Having organized their transport to the hospital, the heroic Sheriff had come home, and after a long boiling shower, she had collapsed in their bed, dead to the world for a bigger part of a day. Nevertheless, three days of relentless search through the hazards of winter in Maine had its consequences, and the blonde had suffered them for almost a week afterwards; fever, chills and terrible cold had taken a lot out of the sturdy Sheriff.

Just as her wife had managed to recover from her illness, Regina had been swamped with work. And, then, to add to it, their youngest, Kyle, had his turn at being sick, his bout of cold derailing what little rest and recuperation the women had managed to grab between their obligations and their family time.

Now, Regina was returning home after being summoned for an emergency meeting at the Town Hall, having stopped by the grocer’s, and she sincerely hoped that neither she nor her wife would be called out, not for another thirty six hours at least – for she seriously needed a break, and she was sure Emma needed one just as badly.

Unlocking her front door, she lowered her burden onto the small side table by the coat closet, slipping out of her high heels and dealing away with her coat and briefcase before she walked towards the kitchen, needing to put away the groceries right away, feeling the tension slowly slide away from her shoulders – the soothing ambient of her home and soft trickling of voices coming from the living room doing their part to relax her.

Walking in from the kitchen, Regina stopped right before she was about to enter the living room and leaned against the wall to her side, an unbidden soft smile appearing on her face as soon as her eyes fell on the people currently sitting on the floor, leaning against the couch. Her blonde partner was sitting in the middle, her jean covered legs sprawled under the coffee table as she held both Henry and Kyle to her sides, the golden wavy tresses flowing over her shoulders, covering one side of her face, as she tilted her head slightly toward her eldest, listening attentively to his rumbling whisper. To her left, Henry sat, his gangly limbs in an uncoordinated heap, leaning against his mother’s shoulder, while Kyle, to Emma’s right, had lowered his head onto the woman’s lap, lying on his side while facing Emma and the couch, his blonde locks strewn over his parent’s thighs, and the Sheriff’s protective arm slung over his middle. 

It was a picture of serenity and contentment, one that filled Regina with happiness and that still had enough punch to stop her heart for a brief moment, overwhelming it with awe and love. This was her family, her home, her life. This was her happily ever after and it was beyond perfect.

Suddenly, air behind thickened and coalesced into a person, one she had not seen for years. One she had once feared and loved to the extremes in equal measure. But, one she no longer considered a threat, and as she glanced over to confirm the identity of the person intruding in her moment, Regina blinked in greeting before returning her gaze to her family.

“How many times do I have to tell you, dear?” the life-like shade of her mother spoke, walking over to Regina’s side, peering into the room with a scoff escaping her lips at the tranquil scene. “Love is weakness, Regina,” Cora spoke her trademark words with anticipated sharpness, her dark eyes blazing at her daughter. “And, it will be love that will kill you in the end.”

Hearing those familiar words, Regina expected a small lingering trail of pain to follow them, but instead she felt nothing but pity for her long lost parent. “Perhaps,” she spoke softly, her eyes not moving away from the blonde, the very presence of the Savior filling her with comfort and giving her the support. “But, I will die knowing the joy of adoring family, the grace of boundless love and utter amazement of being a hero to my cherished children.” Slinging a look toward the cold sorceress, she smiled. “And that, Mother, makes it all worth it.”

The older woman sneered at her daughter’s words. “I didn’t raise you to be such a sentimental fool.”

The brunette humorlessly chuckled, turning slightly to keep both her mother and her family in sight. “Well, as it turned out, you didn’t raise me, Mother,” Regina spat in a harsh whisper. “You groomed me – to be a pawn, to be used and cast off when no longer needed.” Shaking her head, she let her resentment spew as she bombarded the woman beside her with questions. “All the while you pretended to be a mother only concerned for her child’s success, twisting me up into a tool for your purposes. Did you laugh, Mother, when your manipulations bore fruit? When you sold me to Leopold, did you even care if I would survive the wedding night? But, wait, I have already become a queen, so I guess everything after that didn’t really matter, did it, Mother?” Looking away, she breathed deeply to keep her temper in check.

“I want the best for you, Regina,” Cora spoke calmly, trying to placate her, but Regina had shared magic with Emma too many times not to learn how to see lies people would tell her. And, the harsh tingle of untruth of her mother’s words hurt. It hurt deeply, because, even after all this time, after everything she had learned, a small place in her, a hidden corner of her heart still hoped to earn her mother’s love, it foolishly yearned for the acceptance and care a parent had for their child. But, apparently not her mother. Closing her eyes against the sharp prick of pain, she swallowed hard and focused on her real family, the calming influence of the Sheriff managing to center her, even from a room away. It wasn’t important, anymore, she said to herself. It shouldn’t matter, she had her love, her acceptance, the encompassing sense of belonging she had wanted her whole life, and yes, she hadn’t garnered it from her mother. But Emma, her brave Emma, had healed the ravaged wounds of her heart, pouring soothing balm over the dark corners filled with hate and pain, easing the grief that had weighed heavily on her, and saved her, showing her what a true love really felt like. Her children had helped her learn even better, and she would do nothing to change the lessons they had taught her. And, one of those lessons, one she could judge the most important one – was forgiveness. She had learned to forgive, and perhaps, it was time to apply those lessons here.

“You wanted me to be the best monster I could be – so you could save the poor people from their Evil Queen,” she spoke, her voice soft and even. “You bred me for the sole purpose of furthering your ambitions. And, despite all that, I still love you.”

“Really, Regina, of all things,” Cora started speaking but the brunette cut her off.

“So, maybe I am a fool.”

She saw Cora’s victorious smirk, and though it did still sting, she forged onward. “I have learned a lot about your past, Mother. And, with every new tidbit I came to uncover, I could understand you a bit more. I understood your cold heart, filled with hate and greed. I understood the pain you have suffered in your past. I understood that letting go of your child creates a wound that can turn you to stone. Emma helped a great deal.” Ignoring the dismissive sniff Cora directed at her beloved, she smiled at the blonde, letting the adoration for her True Love fill her to the brim. “With her insights, I could begin to fathom the ever dubious motivations that seemed to guide you at the time. I started to realize that once, despite having all your ambition and greed for a better life, you had a heart capable of care – but life had taken it away from you. And, though it hurts to never have your love,” Regina disregarded Cora’s pointed scoff, as she spoke on. “Though it hurts to know that I will never know it, I realized that I do not need it. I do not need your acceptance, or your affection, Mother.” Her eyes were blazing with conviction as she pushed herself off the wall and fully faced the shade of her mother. “And, with that need to earn your love gone, I have finally been able to let go of the burden it was creating for me. I was able to let go of the pain your machinations had caused me.”

“What are you talking about?”

“Isn’t it obvious, Mother?” the Mayor spoke with a tinge of indulgent smile in her voice. “I forgive you.”

“Don’t be ridiculous, Regina,” Cora started, but a gentle hand passing through her stopped her from snapping at the woman.

“I don’t hate you, Mother. Not anymore. And, I do forgive you for all your sins against me.”

The ghost of her mother stood frozen as the words seemed to seep into her very presence, filling her with light from within, as she stared at her daughter. Regina’s lips curled into a kind smile as she watched the shade slowly dissipate into the air it had come from, and suddenly she felt immeasurably lighter, her heart beating easier without the weight of her resentment and hate toward her parent. I hope you find peace, Mother, Regina earnestly though within the confines of her mind.

Suddenly, gentle arms enveloped and warm lips landed on a sensitive skin just below her ear. “Hi,” the Savior spoke softly when the brunette sank into the loving hold. “You’ve been out here for a long time,” Emma said as concerned eyes peered into Regina’s face.

“Just thinking about families,” the Mayor replied absently before she pressed her lips against the blonde’s, hoping her delayed greeting translated how much she loved her wife. “Hello,” she murmured in a daze after she was forced to move slightly away to take in a deep breath.

Content holding Regina in her arms, the Sheriff smiled, pleased to see the light return to her True Love’s eyes, it having been dimmed with exhaustion and stress of the previous months. “You seem happier,” she noted.

“I am,” Regina confirmed softly. And, she truly was. So, she leaned into Emma’s arms, letting her head rest onto the blonde’s strong shoulder as she closed her eyes and hummed in relaxed contentment that comes with true peace.

* * *

It was dark all around her. Well, almost. A lone torch was in a sconce on a pale wall not too far from her, but just enough for the ring of light not to reach where she was standing. And beyond the lit space, the shadows seemed darker, deeper, more dangerous with their secrets and perils. The illumination of the torch was just strong enough to show Regina that the wall hadn’t been built but rather fashioned out of the stone already there, painstakingly carved and chiseled out of the material by the superb masons until it reached the smooth finish it now possessed. The sconce, on the other hand, was an ordinary one – one that every blacksmith apprentice could make in his sleep, its craftsmanship belying the beauty of the wall. It was a strange supposition, Regina remarked absently as she stood in place, not sure if she should move.

Overcome by the unease she was feeling, she shifted on the spot and froze as her feet sank into the floor. Not able to judge the motion, she frowned, focusing on the bit of the ground shown in the light of the torch, but she could not see anything but the flat surface with the color of clay and ground dust.

_ It’s ridiculous _ , she thought as she peered into the darkness around her, her boots digging into the soft grounds beneath her.  _ The Evil Queen, afraid of the dark. Ridiculous. It’s just a few steps. A few small steps, nothing you haven’t done before. _

With her shoulders straight and her head up, she stepped forward, letting her bravado bolster her enough to stride tenaciously into the light, only then realizing that the soft, shifting floor was actually finely ground sand. Undisturbed sand in the color of varnished bronze, glimmering softly under the blaze of the torch, its top layer flattened into an impossibly even surface who knew how long before.

When her black boot reached the circle of light, suddenly several more torches alit, the whooshing sound of the blaze consuming its fuel echoing slightly in the space around her. As they now provided more illumination to the place Regina was in, she could see now under the stronger light, that was a cavern, a manmade chamber, circular in shape, with roughly hewn roof, similar in size to her quarters in her castle. And, as far as she could see under the flickering flames of the torches, there was no way out. There were no dark, shaded corners, nor passages leading somewhere else. Nowhere she could see a break in the wall, seam line or a block that could be removed. Not even a sign that there was a door or a hatch or any kind of exit. She didn’t even know how she had found herself in this place.

She turned around, no longer caring about the pristine sand floor and searched. She needed to get out and there had to be a way. She had gotten in somehow, hasn’t she? Before she allowed the edge of panic fueled by the sudden entrapment flood her thoughts, she reached out to her magic, feeling its soothing buzz in her body, the ever present thrum of the power she possessed providing a way out.

With a clear picture of her quarters and Emma in her head, she initiated the teleportation spell, waiting for the telling swirl of color to envelop her and take her away, away from that strange cave. It never came. As seconds passed, and Regina poured more and more power into the simple displacement, she remained in place, not moving and not a wisp of her purple mist appeared. Her skin was covered in beads of sweat, the effort she was putting in cajoling her magic to obey her becoming visible, aided by the stifling heat created by the torches.

Something was blocking her! And she was trapped.

Her heart was beating fast and hard, the exertion of magic not helping the thrill of terror dancing in her blood. Turning in a circle, she looked at the wall, her vision already turning hazy with the speed of motion and panic. However, there was something that drew her eye. Something standing out on the uniform wall. A lingering shadow. She stopped her motion and looked hard. There, several feet away from her, smack between two sconces with lit torches, there was a shallow etched relief in the stone, its grooves slightly darker under the dancing light. The curvy lines covered a large patch of the rock, from a foot of the bottom to the six feet up, and wide about six feet as well. Shifting her stance and coming closer, she looked upon the etches, scrutinizing the beautiful arabesque and realized that the shapes running along the surface of the artificially weathered stone were carved with a purpose, a meaning. And, she could feel it, in her blood – her way out depended on her figuring out what those engravings meant.

She took one of the torches and brought it closer to the carvings, her eyes following the lines as they swirled and connected in odd shapes and forms, dancing over the surface. Almost like letters, she thought several minutes later, her hand passing over the grooves, feeling them out with fingers, surprised to feel the smooth and lukewarm surface under her skin. Like glyphs, she realized after a moment.

“Exactly like glyphs,” she spoke to herself, her voice loud in the silence of the cavern. In fact, the elaborate relief was made of Elvish runes and flourish around them, obscuring the magical letters from being noticed right away. But, now, as she knew what she was looking for, she focused on the forms, trying to read the ancient script on the wall. However, she noticed, the more time she spent on trying to figure out what each of the symbols meant, the easier she could read the language, until it became easily readable to her, the letters standing out in the light of the torches. It was the language of magic, of power, and it did need at least the rudimentary knowledge of the craft to be read. And, this form on the wall – it strongly resembled the mark Emma had drawn to spell the diaries – the looping lines far more elegant than the simple diagrams of the half-Elvish she had been used to. In her mind, there was no doubt that she was looking at the archaic form of the language, the one used by the sorcerers and mages of old – wizards of untold powers and abilities. 

“Four Queens in four different corners stand,” she read aloud, her brows sinking into a confused frown as the words simply appeared in her mind, the glyphs instantly forming the original elvish words, filled with lilting melody of arcane power, and quickly being translated into what she now called English. 

“The Future of this world rests in their hands;

One, over air and fire domain demands;

The other’s rule summer winds and rain brands;

Another scorches the earth where she stands;

While the last gently laps the wounds of lands;

The Fate of Magic is bound by their life sand.”

“A riddle? A fucking riddle?” Regina whispered in dismay, peering at the words not moving from her spot. Then, as the frustration boiled over, helped along by her dislike of imprisonment, she screamed at the wall, throwing the torch she was previously holding in her hand, not caring one bit that it was put out by its roll in the bronze sand. Feeling better after the release of her temper, she took in a deep breath and started pacing in front of the carvings, her mind already dissecting the words, reading out the riddle several more times, until she was sure she knew it by heart.

“Fate of Magic?” she mumbled as she turned again to look at the script. “Why does that sound familiar?” The words created a small tingle somewhere deep in her mind, their echo ringing out in the memories of her youth. But, she couldn’t remember why. Or what. So she focused on other parts of the riddle, kneeling down to conserve energy and patted the sand in front of her, smoothing over the deep footprints she had left during her less than calm pacing. Can’t be a coincidence, the chamber filled with sand and it being mentioned in the riddle, she thought as she read the first line again.

“Four Queens in four corners stand. Why not kings, or rulers or whatever else?” Shaking her head, she looked down onto the sand in front of her and considering it for a moment, she drew a square in it using her forefinger. “Four corners,” she said and placed an X at every corner to denote the queens from the riddle. “One rules over air and fire, that’s simple enough.” Biting the inside of her lip, she looked up at the glyphs. “Winds and rain, scorching the earth and lapping the wounds of lands… Hmmm.”

Right at the upper left corner she drew symbols for air and fire, slightly to the left of the first X, her finger gliding through the sand with ease, as she watched the square she had drawn for more clues. “Wait a minute.” She wiped the symbols and drew them again, only this time the symbols went one on the right side of the X and the other below it, instead of above it, side by side. “I’ve seen this before,” she murmured in surprise. Quickly she peered at the text once more and focused onto her sketch in the sand. “The other rules over summer winds and rains. It must be air and water.” She quickly added the symbol for water below the upper right X. “Scorching the earth – fire and earth, and the last is water and earth.” Adding the last remaining symbol, the one for the earth at the bottom, Regina could feel the excitement quickening her pulse. She has seen this picture before, she was sure of it. But, she was still missing pieces of it. However, she was close. She knew it.

Pursing her lips she moved slightly away and used the fresh patch of sand to draw a cross this time and at each point she wrote a symbol for each element, as every student of magic knew how to do. At the North point of the cross stood the mark for Air, across it, at the bottom was the symbol for Earth. On the left was the one marking Fire and on the right Water. The Four Elements of nature. But, this wasn’t about them, she frowned, even though she would claim for certain that they were part of a puzzle. Each queen supposedly had two of the elements in their domain, so it couldn’t be just about the elements.

“Scorching the earth where she stands… A queen… A queen of air and fire… Four Elements, Four Queens, Four... Fate of Magic…” She blinked as she went back to her last thought. Magic. Four Queens of Magic. Suddenly, she knew the answer to her riddle. She knew who the Queens were and now, as the answer had come to her, the riddle seemed simple. And, along with the knowledge of the answer, she remembered why the symbols and their placement seemed so familiar. She had seen it before – hanging on another wall, in another hall, where she had spent hours and hours reading and practicing her newly acquired craft, depicted on a dusty tapestry with colors dulled with time. At the four corners she quickly filled in the symbols for the True Kinds, placing each in its corresponding place, starting with a glyph for a dragon in the upper left place. “Four True Kinds of Magic,” she spoke aloud to the empty chamber, knowing that it was the right answer. 

As the lights went out and the floor opened underneath her, she had her moment of doubt.

* * *

She woke to darkness. And emptiness. Lifting herself from what she had assumed was a warm glass or marble floor, she looked around and she saw nothing. Not because of the dark, although it was a factor, but because there was nothing there. It was a strange place she had found herself in, because she could clearly sense that she wasn’t in the domed chamber of the Temple anymore. In fact, if she were to believe her senses, helped by the magic pulsing in the air, she was nowhere. The vast emptiness around her, and the soft buzz of the power swirling around her body, did remind her a bit of the melds she had had with Emma, only it lacked the warmth and acceptance the blonde’s mind always had for her. If she was to follow the assumption that she was in some kind of mind construct invoked by the stones, it would seem that her consciousness had entered a communion with the stones. As all efforts to control the mindscape around her had failed, she resigned herself to waiting – guessing that either the ritual had gone seriously wrong, or she was to be tested before granting the knowledge of the Tintagel sorcerers.

Suddenly, she froze. And before she could even comprehend what had happened to make her immobile in spot, she felt a lancing pain in her head, and with it she could feel a presence; intruding probe rifling through her memories, each second spent in its grip more painful than the one before. She was held petrified for an immeasurable amount of time, for her it seemed ages to pass, engulfed in pain and seeing her life through the intruder’s eyes, from the earliest moments to her latest, skipping over nothing. When they came to portray her life as the Evil Queen, beside the ever-growing pain, Regina could also feel anger of the presence invading her mind, followed closely by disgust. By the time the intruder could learn about the curse, Regina wished for the reprieve of unconsciousness and death, for the torture of forceful memory watching was beyond anything she had ever experienced. However, as soon as a recollection of a certain blonde bail bond’s person passed in front of her eyes, Regina sighed in relief, the very image of her beloved helping her to deal with the agony that threatened to drive her mad. She focused on her Knight, not caring about the pain anymore, the soothing quality of her memories providing her with enough incentive to endure whatever this ritual demanded of her. So focused she was on her True Love and the last memories she had of her, that she hadn’t even noticed that the pain had abated, and with it the anger and disappointment of the intruder. The tight grip over her loosened and she crumpled belly down onto the unknown surface masquerading as the floor, gasping for breath. Around her was a circle of diffused light coming from somewhere from above.

In the darkness, a sound of a soft tap spread, joined by another and another until Regina recognized the pattern - footsteps of someone approaching her. Weakly lifting her head she saw a boot appearing in front of her, followed by the other. They were knee high, made of hard black leather shined to gleam, with a copper trim on sides. As Regina looked upwards, her eyes fell upon tight black leather breaches wrapped around very muscular legs, and a swath of red cloth hanging around them, down to the knees. Turning over onto her back, she saw more of the person standing over her.

He was tall. And while his face was hidden in the shadow, she could see that his skin was as black as the darkness he had come from. His well-developed upper arms had a band of what seemed to be copper on each, the smooth surface of the metal gleaming red. He was dressed in a vest-like garment made of red velvet, hems and edges trimmed with copper, and the only two buttons made of the same metal were in line of the breastbone, leaving legs unencumbered with fabrics.

The man moved, shaking his head at the woman beneath his feet as he placed his arms behind his back, his hands holding the elbows as he circled the still heaving guest, his steps echoing in the emptiness of the space they were in.

“Get up,” he ordered sharply in his deep baritone after completing the first circle around Regina, continuing with another as he watched her slowly rise, her limbs trembling after what he had put her through.

“Who are you?” Regina asked barely suppressing the tremor in her voice when she managed to stand straight, careful to keep him in sight as he walked around her.

“You are the one who activated the stone, shouldn’t you know?”

“Morgan never said…” She started to speak but his loud scoff stopped her from continuing.

“Morgan,” he repeated after her mockingly, rolling his eyes, his biting tone portraying the disrespect he had for the Queen of Camelot. “She doesn’t know, either. The things she does know about her own family are woefully lacking for the position she is in.” He clucked his tongue and shook his head, lowering it slightly, before he stopped his circuit and faced Regina.

“I am Gorlois of Tintagel, son of Thador, the Witch King of Ademar and Elana, the Grand Mage of Goludog Plains,” the man spoke in stately manner, with his hand lightly pressed over his heart, while his other remained behind his back, and waited for Regina to respond.

“Kingdom of Ademar…” Regina said softly as she tried to remember why that name seemed familiar. “I’ve heard that before, a long time ago.” She looked up at the man and seeing his eyebrow rise in expectancy, she frowned. “It’s not of this world, is it?” she asked as she finally recognized from whom she had heard that name. Jefferson. The man in front of her smirked at her. “You were a Traveler,” she realized. “But, how are you here?”

“I am a construct of my creator. A template, if you will, of his personality and knowledge, encased into a memory of his physical existence.” He gestured to himself, as his voice lost the animosity. “By his decree to his descendants, with each generation, my knowledge grows, as each of the leaders of his line feed it to me.” The creation smiled at the flabbergasted Regina and continued. “I serve as a living memory of Tintagel and as a safeguard, protecting the Knowledge, but in all things that matter now, after so many centuries, I  _ am _ Gorlois.” Again, he placed both of his hands behind his back and started circling Regina, who stood in place unmoving, too shocked to react outwardly. However, that was where Emma’s understanding of technology and familiarity with many sci-fi movies in her world came in handy, and Regina could liken the construct of magic to the one of computer science in ‘The Real World’ – the artificial intelligence.

“The crystal…”

“Yes, that is its purpose.” The man, Gorlois, spoke in response to Regina’s soft utterance. Making another circle around the woman, he spoke again. “The more pertinent question is – Who are you?”

“I am-“

“I know who you are! I do not need you to tell me that, Regina, daughter of the Dark One. I can see your memories, your past. I see everything you have ever experienced. What I do not understand is what is the Evil Queen doing with my crystal, and with the full approval and endorsement of Morgana?”

“I-” Regina started to speak but stopped when the dark man snarled at her.

“What right does she have sharing this ultimate secret of her line, when she has broken the very covenant she was in charge of protecting?” He said sharply, the angry scowl deeply etched into his beardless face. “And you!” he thundered. “The villain who wrought such destruction upon this earth- what makes you even consider the risks of the ritual?”

Regina didn’t speak but the face of her beloved filled her mind, filling her with confidence. Emma believed in her. Her love, her light, had such faith in her that she simply could not fail.

“Ah, yes,” his voice suddenly lost the sharp edge of his anger. “Quite the quandary. The True Love of the True Love Born. And, a former villain, the most terrifying one in the recent memories of the Enchanted Forest.”

“Those days are behind me,” she stated, her voice strong and defiant as she stared in front of her, refusing to show that his words had an effect on her.

“Are they? When the darkness in you still yearns to win over your newly regained morality? I can feel its tempting whispers crawl over your mind, hissing in your ears to surrender to it.”

“But, I won’t!” Regina closed her eyes before she took the metaphorical plunge. “Yes, the darkness is still in me, and I have to fight it every day, every hour, minute and second to keep it down, but I will not let it out. I cannot. I must not!” She paused to take a deep breath, and opened her eyes as she looked at her judge. “To let it win means losing everything I hold dear. Not just my family and my friends, but myself as well. I have finally come to a place where I can look at myself in the mirror and accept who I am – both the terrible past and the promising future. I will not lose that immeasurable gift to this poison covering my heart.”

Gorlois stood there, in front of her, his face devoid of emotion, as he watched her take deep breaths to settle down. Slowly, one side of his closed mouth lifted in restrained satisfaction. “Congratulations,” he spoke, as he nodded once. “You have passed the tests.”

“What?” she asked in confusion, her breathing still hurried due to her impassioned speech.

Paying no heed to her bewildered gasp, he continued to circle. “I am here to provide teachings and guidance to the Heir of the line, in times of cataclysmic peril,” he spoke on, after the woman regained most of her composure. “And, now, I am supposed to teach  _ you _ .” Regina grimaced when she heard the scorn in his words, but before she could try to appease the man, he gave her a single wave with his hand. “You are not worthy of the line,” he said. “But, don’t take it personally. Morgana is not worthy of it, either.”

The Queen of Camelot, the Lady of Tintagel, was not worthy in Gorlois’s opinion? But, how could that be? She had heard his previous outrage for Morgan’s actions, but this?

Ignoring Regina’s turmoil, he went on. “Using the Sanctuary to hide from her fate.” Clucking his tongue again in contempt, he glanced at Regina. “This place is for rest and healing,” he spoke. “The last daughter of my tribe on these shores, in her grief and desperation, and later, duty toward her sister’s child and her friend, has defiled the rules and traditions of her forebears, perverting the purpose of these sacred grounds. And she was not alone in betrayal, for her father did the same, if on a lesser scale.”

Stepping closer to Regina, he grabbed her chin with his fingers, lifting her head up to meet his eyes, holding her in strong grasp, and with such proximity she couldn't help but notice the strange hue of his eyes – the soft amber mixed with reddish browns – as they focused onto hers, she had to equate them to embers of a dying fire. Holding on to his arm to keep her balance, she admired his strange beauty, almost missing his next words. “However, your saving grace is that heart of yours,” he added softly, still holding her under close scrutiny. “And, you passed the tests,” he added, speaking almost to himself.

“What do you mean?” Regina managed to say, despite the firm hold on her chin.

Gorlois released her face, his hand taking her upper arm as he turned slightly to the side. “To enter this mindscape, one must succeed in the tests of character, tests that have been devised to evaluate one’s personality and its suitability for knowledge. Upon reaching the mindscape, there is the final judgment, where one’s every action is considered and weighed before a decision is made.” Offering Regina a barely there smile, he spoke on. “As you have already surmised, you have passed the tests of Loyalty, Courage, Forgiveness and Mind – with ease, I may add.”

“Even though I was the Evil Queen,” Regina mentioned cynically, finally making sense of the strange memories she had gained by entering the mindscape. Memories of conversations she now knew she had never had, and events that had not happened. But, for one of the tests, she now felt lighter, freer than she had before, and she knew it was because of her conversation with her mother. However, it was the memory of her standing up to the Evil Queen that had left her in a strange tumult, not to mention her exchange with Gorlois of the dangers the darkness in her still presented.

The man’s smile grew. “She will always be an indelible part of you. But, going on in spite of her presence, regardless of the pain and suffering you undergo is what makes you remarkable and strong. Your struggle to hold her at bay is the reason why the verdict is in your favor. That and your heart.”

“My heart?”

He gave a single nod. “After all that has happened, it is capable of great love, the ability you utilize with abandon.” Now the smile turned into a pleased smirk, as he peered into the bewildered dark eyes of his supposed Heir. “And, there is the fact that it belongs to the rightful Steward of the line.”

“What?” It seemed that she would never find her footing in this strange place, not if Gorlois continued to bombard her with such facts. However, she resigned herself to it, believing that the worst of it was behind her, and she was interested to hear more from the dark skinned creator of the Tintagel line.

“Emma, the Savior, the Keeper of the Balance, the Blessed by the Kinds…” he spoke, mentioning some of the titles Regina was familiar with. “But, most importantly for the sake of our conversation, the True Love Born. Both I and Cador were True Love Born, and the Tintagel line was created with such specific foundations. Despite the blood relations of my descendants, the magic of the line would rather accept another True Love Born as its governing entity than the last daughter of the line, who only boasts weakened connection to its original power.”

“So Emma is the Heir?” Regina asked after a while, having used the silence to digest the revelation, and she couldn’t help but feel a slight disappointment at the fact that she had passed the tests for nothing.

Gorlois chuckled and shook his head. “No. Your beloved will be accepted as the Steward of the line, taking over from Morgana, and with it all the secrets of Brocéliande will be at her reach. This means that you will be the Heir either way, as you are her True Love, and the intended successor of Queen Morgana.”

“Oh,” she uttered, making him chuckle again.

“Then, we should begin,” he said and with a wave of his hand he changed the mindscape to represent a grass covered field in a summer day, and as he squatted to sit down, he gestured to her to take a seat across from him. “First, I will share some of the history before I start transferring the knowledge directly. You will have to pace yourself, because there are millennia of memories and absorbing them all at once could at the very least irrevocably damage your mind, or kill you.” Seeing his pupil nod, he added, “As soon as your head starts to hurt tell me to stop, and we will make a break.”

“Alright.”

And, so Regina’s education began. Gorlois spoke first of his first home, how his mother and father had belonged to two acrimoniously warring factions and how their love had been not only frowned upon but outright forbidden. He spoke of the trials they had had to face in order to be with each other and finally unite the war-torn world and start its healing. Then, he spoke of his early childhood and how one of his teachers had stumbled upon a form of magic he had called Traveling, as it dealt with the world-jumping and portals. Then he spoke of his adventures across many worlds until he had arrived at this one, where he had found the four Kinds and a woman who would later turn out to be his True Love. He explained how the creatures of magic had accepted him and taught him in their ways, finding out that the True Love, the fifth and most elusive of the True Kinds, spanned universes and time. In return for their teachings, he had sworn to protect them and to serve as their envoy to the humans, who like Gorlois, had found the Enchanted Forest by Travel and decided to remain. At first, there had been only several hundreds, and such numbers posed no threat to the magical elders and all other creatures of the Forest, but quickly, the numbers had multiplied and in short centuries, the former newcomers had started considering the Enchanted Forest as their own property, claiming the lands for their fast breeding tribes.

“As people started to infringe on the forbidden lands in their insatiable gluttony,” Gorlois spoke as he gently began the transfer of memories, taking care not to overwhelm his attentive pupil. “A gathering of sorts was summoned by the elder members of True Kinds, where it was agreed upon that I, as the one who had been familiar to humans, should go and meet with the tribal leaders and impress upon them the consequences of their actions.” As he saw Regina’s mouth twist with a knowing smirk, providing that she as a ruler and sorceress knew what it entailed, he inclined his head and continued. “The rulers of the tribes readily agreed to the terms of conduct set forth by the elders, even imposing some punishments of their own to anyone who would breach them. However, even such ramifications had not dissuaded some individuals, who simply had not cared about the law and continued to pilfer and maraud through the domains protected by the treaty.”

Regina nodded, quite aware of the selfish nature of her kind.

“In order to enforce the agreement, the four Kinds and I, with my son, met in secrecy to decide the further course of action. There we had devised several failsafe solutions in case something would happen to the Kinds, and we put all our effort in creating a place that would offer safety to the magical folk, and after a while, we managed to create a magical field enveloping most of the revered grounds, one that would exist eternally, impossible to nullify, feeding on the magic of the Nature of this world itself.”

“Brocéliande,” the woman concluded, as she nodded to herself.

“No,” Gorlois said, smiling at her for the wrong conclusion. “The Infinite Forest.”

“But I thought…” Regina frowned. “I always thought that the Infinite Forest was a natural occurring phenomenon.”

“That lie had been purposefully spread, in order to protect it further.” He glanced around the glen before he summoned a small blanket and a platter of nibbles on it, along with cups filled with fresh mountain wine of his homeland. A man, or in this case a woman, was not at ease with being utterly idle for a long time, especially not the woman like Regina, whose passion and eagerness often forced her to action. So, he provided small distractions, such as food and drink, and later on he would think on something else. Ultimately, it would not matter, because nothing consumed in the mindscape was real, and the Regina on the outside, at the Temple, would not receive any sustenance from such meals – however, the mere thought of food and comforts would keep the woman in good spirits, despite the fact that she would remain in the mindscape until the full transfer was complete. Pleased to see her reach for the wine, he settled back and joined her at the light meal. “How is your head?”

“Fine,” she spoke after she swallowed her bite. “It feels like someone is pouring warm water over the back of it. It tickles.” At his pleased hum, she took another nibble and before placing it in her mouth, she asked. “Then, what is Brocéliande? You called it Sanctuary?”

“Ah, yes,” Gorlois sighed. “Before we get to that, we must talk a bit about Traveling.”

He told her of various ways of creating portals and Traveling to other Universes and of the Travelers, explaining further the magic behind the enchanted objects like mirrors and the hat, and mentioning the beans, the specifically created and grown plant for the world jumping, enabling the Giants, the creators, to move about safely and hide their riches in their Halls which always existed in small folds of magical space, accessible only via a beanstalk from a magic bean. As he explained away the Giants and beans, he paused and looked at Regina, who waited for him patiently to go on, drinking the wine.

“Apart from purposefully created portals, there are those who occur naturally, and most importantly, randomly. You may have experienced some of those, yourself, or heard of them at least. There is the Endless Sea - a monstrously huge body of water that connects several different worlds, if one knows how to tap into its magic, as merpeople can. The Neverland can be accessed by air from many worlds, if one knows his goal and follows the second star on the right, though it makes it a bit harder to leave. Long time ago, there was a small passageway leading into one of the caves by the Wolf’s Col from where the Wolves came, running away from a doom in their world.” He checked to see if the woman beside him wanted to question him, but she was silent, waiting for more. “And, there are what I termed pockets of other Universes intersecting with the Enchanted Forest. I myself found five of them, and one of them is Brocéliande. You see, these pockets, they are not portals, but an actual part of the Universe in another Universe, and unless you know what you are doing with the magic of the pocket, you cannot use these places to Travel to that other Universe.”

“You say, five?” Regina interrupted with interest as she leaned toward her new teacher, immensely enjoying the talk.

“Hmm, I believe one of them is gone, one of Morgana’s ancestors had mentioned something about its destruction. But, to my knowledge, the other four still exist, and for the two I know beyond any doubt.”

“What are they, these places?” Curiosity tinged Regina’s voice, while she rested her head on her hands, placing her elbows on her knees.

“The four? Well, obviously Brocéliande is one of them, and I think you already know Avalon is another. The third one is what now is called the Forbidden City, the east quarter of the Imperial Capital. It’s a rather curious place, with amazing gardens. And, the fourth is a land of eternal ice and snow sitting just north of the Dark Forest.” Raising himself up to his feet, he offered the woman his hand as the blanket and cups disappeared. He gestured for her to join him in a walk before he placed his arms behind his back. “At first, when the elders brought me to Brocéliande, I believed it was a place of eternal youth.”

“Isn’t it?” Regina asked softly with a frown on her face.

Gorlois shook his head. “Time as we know it, in this particular part of existence, doesn’t exist. At least not in the way we recognize it. With many years spent exploring the phenomenon, I’ve come to realize that Brocéliande has two distinct magical properties that were the source of the confusion. You see, the Sanctuary is a place where time goes at a different, much faster rate, but for those who are accepted by the magic of the place, time has no effect, making it seem to outsiders as a place of eternal youth. These properties were the main reason why this place was called the Sanctuary – it was a place of safety, of healing, of learning for the four Kinds, and the place that would keep them safe from the dangers of the outside world. In fact, I believe that most of what is left of the four species of magic is currently here, for your Mate, to offer her their help.” He raised his hand in front of him as he angled toward Regina, stopping her from asking questions at the time. “The Brocéliande you know now is much different from one in my time, for a very simple reason – the border stones that now encircle it provide several services that have never been known to most of the children of my clan. Among others, one purpose they serve is to equalize the magic of the Sanctuary against the magic of the Enchanted Forest, imposing the seasonal changes and stabilization of time passage onto Brocéliande.”

“You mention time but what do you exactly mean?” the brunette asked after a moment of silence, her frown deepening in confusion as she tried to understand what Gorlois was talking about. “Time passes quicker, I know that, but the rest is what I don’t quite see…”

The man stopped and inclined his head toward the woman, considering his words for a moment. “Before the stones were put in place, if you crossed into the Sanctuary and you weren’t one of the True Kinds, who are in their own sense immortal, you would age and die, and from an outsider’s point of view it would happen in a blink of an eye, while you would spend hundreds of years on the inside. Only those under the heavy protection from the elders would be able to spend time in the Sanctuary without the consequences of aging. Also, before the stones, it was always late spring in Brocéliande, with lush green forests and life teaming meadows, and one day was exactly the same as the one before, and the one before that. Days lasted the same, the Sun never changed its route across the Sky.” He started walking again. “But that all changed when my son brought a very simple fact to light, forcing the elders to act. You see, the thing he had spoken of was that soon the people would have mages of their own and the borders of the Infinite Forest would not stop them from infiltration, thus leaving the Sanctuary vulnerable. In order to forestall the intrusion, an ambitious and much involved plan had been devised to protect Brocéliande from humans who had not belonged to the Tintagel line. From a place where the elements existed together, the mighty dragons had brought the obelisks, having cleaved them with their claws into the rough starting material and flown them into the Forest, imparting some of their magic onto them. Next, the Yaoguai daughters had shaped the stones into their proper shape by using their fire. After that, the noble stallions of unicorns had etched the glyphs, casting their brand of magic along with it. Finally, the Fairies had placed them in their places, imbuing them with dust and making them impervious to time. At the end, I had to enact a blood magic ritual, binding the stones to my bloodline and using my own magic to make all others work as one, weaving the different spells and enchantments casted over the stones into a singular mesh of magic, uniting them in purpose.” He hadn’t delved much in the magic of the process, knowing that his memories would provide enough information on their own. He also decided not to be explicit about what changes the border stones had brought to Brocéliande, as the information about that would also be within his memories.

“As a Warden of the Sanctuary, I was given permission to build a Temple, where members of my family would learn the crafts, and where the histories of my people would reside, to guide the following generations. As my tribe grew, I directed them to inhabit strategic places both outside the Forest and in it, providing a wide buffer and protection against the humans not belonging to the Tintagel clan, deference against them, if you will. And, as the magic became more prominent in my line, the Temple grew, before it spilled out and Cador built the House of Healing and Dragon’s Bluff.” 

“Then, why are you so angry with Morgan?” Regina asked after a while, breaking the silence that had fallen over the strolling pair. She hadn’t used the form of the name Gorlois seemed to insist on, simply because the woman had introduced herself as Morgan, and she remained as such in Regina’s mind.

“The reasons are many, child. But, the two most relevant to your question and the topic are – she has brought strangers onto the sacred grounds and she used the Sanctuary as a shelter from time itself. Not one of her people was in need of healing that the House of Healing stands for, and she hasn’t spent much time teaching her pupils the magic of the line, for which the Temple had been created for. Regina, Brocéliande was never meant to be a long term settlement – the people would only spend as much time as it was needed to heal or to learn something new – not to spend what amounted to centuries within its borders, using the land that is most sacred to the folk of magic for her selfish reasons and hiding in shame.”

“Losing her son changed her,” the brunette commented softly, remembering her own excesses in trying to keep Henry by her side.

“We all suffered heartbreaking loss,” Gorlois replied tightly, “and we all have been changed by the challenges we have faced; that doesn’t excuse our actions.” He then sighed heavily. “Her sister and her husband are in Avalon, waiting for her to join them. And, if she needed to wait for you, she could have done it outside the Brocéliande, helping people along the way.” With another sigh, he shook his head. “No matter. What is done cannot be changed, and we are not here to talk about Morgana. Come now, it’s time for a break.” A soon as he spoke those words, the warm but wet feeling at the back of Regina’s head stopped, making her flex her shoulders in discomfort.

He once more changed the mindscape, turning it into some sort of building. Regina gasped as she saw innumerous stone pillars placed several paces from each other in every direction, going up as her eyes could see, disappearing into the light that was flowing from above them. The ground was made of granite blocks, even and warm but without ending. And, there, in front of them, among several pillars were two pillow seats, one across from the other.

Gesturing at her to sit down, Gorlois lowered himself and crossed his ankles in front of him, placing his palms onto his knees. “Get comfortable,” he said gently and waited for a sign from the woman to continue. When she nodded, he started.

“To wield the magic that I will bestow on you, you must first understand it,” he spoke, his voice commanding Regina’s attention. “Not only the principles and mechanics of it, but the inner workings of magic, the very essence of it. Your lover has the incredible ability to use her intuition and instinct to grasp these amazingly complicated energies, allowing her to use them so easily. Unfortunately, you will have to learn the hard way about it, but take heart – you’ve seen memories of her doing it, so you know what you are supposed to achieve in the end.”

“When she used the mist,” Regina sighed, as she understood that there seemed to be a method to Emma’s wild idea.

“The premise is the same, but you will not be able to do it on the same level – she is, after all, the True Love Born and Blessed by the Kinds. There is no one that can parry her in terms of power, especially not when her training is complete.”

Regina frowned as something that Rumplestiltskin had said passed through her mind. “I thought that True Loves were supposed to be equal.”

“Not equal, child. It is truly impossible to find a person equal to another, in all aspects – for, after all, that means that they are the same, identical, does it not?” Gorlois smiled as he leaned slightly forward, his eyes holding Regina’s. “The Dark One has mistaken the term. The word you are looking for is – compatible. The couple in True Love is harmonious in their unity, creating a much stronger whole than its parts. Equality has nothing to do with it.”

With that explanation, he started speaking of magic and the many types of it. With each new principle he stated he gave many examples, further delving into the complicated matters of magic’s creation and existence. He spoke for hours and hours, enticing his pupil to discuss many things with him, guiding her to the proper understanding and helping her avoid the false steps many students of the craft would commit in their search for power. During his lecture, after an hour and a change, he had started the memory transfer again, pleased with the progress Regina had made up to that point of their shared consciousness.

His deep but calming voice lilted through the air around them as he talked of Dragons and their history, his time spent with the Elders quite evident in his telling as he held a deep affection for the beastly masters of the skies. He taught Regina the basics of their magic, but as it felt unnatural to the woman, she didn’t have much success in wielding it beyond a few simple spells, however even they would leave her incredibly drained and ailing. Nevertheless, for what she did have small affinity for was the Mind Magic of the Dragons, and Gorlois gently and patiently guided her through its principles, stopping as the queen managed to attain a certain level of proficiency in it.

“Your lover will teach you more and better than I for she can show you exactly what is needed for it,” he said at the end of that particular lesson. In his opinion, it was Regina’s connection to the Savior that enabled her to pick the Mind Magic so quickly and easily.

After making another small break, he taught her the tenets of the magics of other Kinds, showing Regina how the Unicorn’s healing and cleansing powers worked, and what magic meant for them as a people; he demonstrated the powers the proud Yaoguai had, their abilities capable of destroying even the strongest elements, but he also showed the woman their kindness and powers of creation. He spoke of the Fairies last, not because they were the least important members of the True Kinds, which was far from the truth, but because Regina held much scorn for them, much of it influenced by the Dark One, but a good portion of it fueled by resentment she felt toward Blue.

“If they are as powerful as you say,” Regina spoke after he had finished telling her of the incredible powers the Fairies had, “why then do they pretend to be so weak, even at the face of extinction?”

Gorlois had to chuckle at the sneer the woman had when she spoke of the Kind. The disdain in it was strong and lasting, and it was no wonder why Regina didn’t want to believe him – not when she had seen the dregs of what was left of once proud and mighty race.

“Bear in mind, child,” he said soothingly, patting her arm lightly. “The Fairies you know are not the ones I have known. They have changed much under the leadership of Reul Ghorm, and her rule over the Fairies has obviously brought them to knees, facing obliteration. I am saddened to see that Rionnag Soilleir’s legacy had not remained with her sisters.”

“Runag Soiler?” Regina mangled the words but her question was clear – Who was Rionnag Soilleir?

After correcting her pronunciation, Gorlois spoke of his friend, The Bright Star, the elder of the Fairies and one of the most enchanting persons he had ever met. He spoke of her desire to see the Kinds cohabitate with humans in peace and prosperity, but he also spoke of her indomitable spirit and fire that made a force of nature if crossed. She had been one of his strictest teachers, demanding of him to develop a staunch moral standpoint from which he was to engage others.

“It was her who taught me that there is no beneficial power without humility and compassion, and there is no partnership without pride and respect. Under her guidance, the Fairies were just as formidable as the other Kinds, if not more.” He smiled as he thought to the days of his time in this world. “There was a saying in the Realm – You anger a dragon, death will find you quickly; you anger a fairy, misfortune will follow yours for centuries.”

With a blink of an eye, the Mindscape around them changed. Again, they were in the meadow, but this time, it was nighttime and the stars were alighting the skies. “When Fairies came to existence, birthed by the magic of this world, they chose to take names from the skies, and so, often their names would have something to do with stars. You see, the creation of new fairies is shrouded in mystery and is one of the most guarded secrets of its people, but it was said that whenever a new fairy was born, or created, something would happen in the night sky to mark its name.” He lifted his hand and pointed to the brightest star in the heavens above them, and as it shone radiantly, his face was lit with a sentimental smile. “It is because of the fairies that wishing upon a star was successful, as you know. Depending to which star you directed your wish at, a fairy would hear you and judge your desires, and if you were worthy of their attention, the wish would be granted, no matter if you were a child, a man, or a sorcerer. If you were judged fair and good, your words would be heard.”

“What was your wish?” Regina asked softly, as she too looked at the sky, remembering all the times she had wished uselessly to escape the grasps of her mother.

“I didn’t wish for anything,” he spoke through his widening smile. “Rionnag could always hear me, and often she would answer me directly, offering me council or lending me an ear when I needed it. Many nights I spent staring at the skies and talking to the dark, laughing at something that none but I could hear.” He chuckled in reminiscence. “It drove my love mad, but she never begrudged me my friendship.”

“Your wife, how did she deal with all the magic and your duties?”

“She was the eldest daughter of one of the chieftains of the human tribes and she understood well the constraints of duty and leadership,” Gorlois spoke of his wife. “Brangwen was a very talented healer, as well, and very strong minded, indeed. If she got an idea in her head, there was no stopping her. She could stand up to any man, her vicious temper cowing them all into obedience, and as much as the legend of my name and my powers grew, hers grew right beside mine. So much so, that when fighting broke out between two neighboring realms, the clashes would stop the second she would appear on the battlefield. Everyone would stop to let her do her healing, watching her with awe, enemies standing side by side and their animosity forgotten for a little while. None dared raise a weapon against her, not because they feared me, but because striking such a gift would be a sacrilege.” His deep voice carried the emotions of his past, but it didn’t tremble or break. “My dear Bran saw magic as a gift, a talent, just like any other, and she respected it like few of the humans did. When most of our children showed their affinity to it, she urged me to teach them to use it the right way, the proper way, so they would not be seduced by the power. But she also taught me how to treat all our children equally, celebrating them for who they were as people, and loving them unconditionally.”

“She sounds like an amazing woman.”

“She truly was,” Gorlois agreed softly before he cleared his throat. “When she finally met Rionnag, I knew that truest friends had not existed. The elder Fairy may have been my friend, my teacher and counselor, but she was like a sister to Brangwen. It was due to my wife’s brilliantly pure heart that Rionnag Soilleir had agreed to be my family’s protector, guiding the members of the Tintagel line until her end. It was when one of Cador’s descendants had shared his memories with the crystal that I learned of my friend’s death and that one of the younglings, Blue Fairy, had taken the leadership over the sisters, changing the doctrines and their engagement in the world around them.”

Silence enveloped them as they were lying on the soft grass, watching the stars twinkling over them. Leaving Gorlois to his brooding quietude, Regina closed her eyes, breathing slowly and measuredly as she tried to meditate in a way her new mentor had taught her only hours before. However, it was hard to sink into the fully relaxed state as the constant presence of wet heat at the back of her neck and head was distracting, making her skin erupt in goose bumps at random intervals. And, in moments when she would succeed to obtain the state she needed, the too fast flashes of memories and understanding would flood her mind, driving her out of it.

She didn’t know how much she had spent fluctuating between the two mental positions when she finally gave up, settling to just enjoy the tranquility of the place. It was odd how much detail Gorlois had put into this place, taking into account that it was basically made up. She could feel each blade of grass bent by her weight upon the ground, the dampness of the earth and the soft whistles of the breeze as it passed through the meadow. Somewhere in the distance, she could hear the crickets chirping, and various other insects buzzing around, as they would on a nice, late spring evening. Even the air smelled of broken grass and wildflowers.

As she lay there, with her eyes closed, under the stars, her thoughts turned to her True Love. She hoped that Emma was dealing well with her absence, not giving much trouble to Aileen, but for some reason, she sincerely doubted that. Perhaps, because she knew the blonde woman pretty well by now and she knew that the Sheriff was quite the magnet for the danger. Regina worried; firstly, because she didn’t know the long term effects of the poisonous mist, and secondly, Emma was already under too much stress, and there was only so much that a mind can handle.

“She is strong,” a deep voice startled her from her thoughts. She snapped her eyes toward Gorlois only to find him lying on his side, watching her. “We are in a mindscape, there is no privacy here,” he reminded her before she asked. “As I said, your Savior is strong and capable.”

A deep sigh escaped Regina and she looked away from the ember-like eyes, before she focused her gaze upwards. “In truth, her strength is what worries me,” she murmured. “She tends to avoid things, and to bottle her feelings up.”

“And, you fear, that with her immense strength, she would not allow herself a relief for the building pressure,” Gorlois caught up rather quickly. “Then, you should break her,” he added gravely.

“What?” She rose up to a seating position, her voice going sharp as she stared at the older sorcerer. “You can’t be serious!”

“I am,” the man spoke calmly, despite the daggers Regina was sending him, as he pulled himself into a seat. “You thought to yourself, the pressure keeps building and if she is not dealing with it properly because of the sturdiness of her mental walls, it would end horribly for her.” He said the words in a slow, measured tone, his logical statement calming Regina’s ire at him. “It follows that if you manage to break the walls, she would be able to release the pressure,” Gorlois continued in the same manner, and so far she could accept his reasoning, as it was physics at its simplest. “The trick, of course, is to break them, but not obliterate them, for she would need them at a later date,” he added with a note of caution. “That, I leave to you to solve.”

Regina had to chuckle at him. “Just the easy part, then.”

“You are the one who knows her best. It is not my place, nor anyone else’s.” He then clasped his hands, and waved them away. “But that is neither here nor there, as you are still in the mindscape, and you still have a lot to learn from me.” Receiving a conciliatory nod from his pupil, he continued. “First, I must apologize for not warning you – you cannot meditate with the way I taught you during memory transfers, it pulls you too strongly to the memory streams, as you have no doubt experienced.” As she rolled her eyes at that, he just pushed on. “Second, you breathe too hard during your attempts. Forcing your breath to be measured is defeating the purpose of being at ease. Don’t control your exhalations. Just breathe naturally, at the rate that your body demands at the time. You can try now, as I’ve stopped the flow.”

So, the time passed, filled with Gorlois’s teachings and meditative breaks, and often the man would change how the mindscape looked. After a while, Regina lost count of how many times she had felt the heat start at the back of her head, signaling the beginning of handover of another batch of memories, but by the time they reached half way through the line, she thought they had been at it for months. Despite the fact that she knew that mindscapes had their own version of time, and that it was likely that only days at the most had passed on the outside, the brunette could not help but feel the separation from her family keenly, and having only Gorlois for company wasn’t doing much for her mood.

However, she persevered, the thoughts of Emma and her children helping her through the tension filled moments of her exile. Was this how Emma had felt during her own solitude – the low burning frustration that permeated everything, its annoying tingle making keeping calm doubly hard?

After a long while later, when innumerable days had passed and the transference ended for the last time, as she gained Morgan’s memories of her own time in the Enchanted Forest and Brocéliande, Gorlois changed the mindscape once more, bringing the two of them to the now familiar riverbank. Regina had seen this particular place for more than a dozen times already, and she could appreciate its tranquility and peace, accompanied by the soothing murmur of a slow, valley river. Joining Gorlois in a walk along the grass covered shore, she felt herself relax. Today, she would leave and finally meet with her love.

“I must admit, our time together has been a lot shorter than I have surmised it would be,” the dark man said after a long undisturbed silence. “It is, no doubt, to your familiarity with mindscapes and your ability to handle large quantities of magic passing through you.” He paused, though he knew Regina would not interrupt, their time together allowing each other to learn how the other one would react. “And, with your diverse experience on the magics of this world, it is no wonder how easily you picked up the principalities of the Tintagel line magic. We have had great deliberations on all sorts of enchantments and many branches of sorcery, including much of what is widely considered Dark magic, and most forms of the Blood magic. You have learned the origins and developments of the Tintagel magic, which as you know, was borne of the True Love Born’s magic.” Bringing his hands out of their customary place at his elbows from behind, he motioned to Regina to stop. “However, we haven’t discussed one of the magics in our talks, and that is something that I intend to do forthwith.”

The brunette turned slightly to her mentor, her brow crinkling lightly as she waited for him to continue. She remembered well all the conversations and teachings on the topic of magics, including the most startling revelation that the True Love Born’s magic was not Light magic.

“True Love Born wield power similar to the other True Kinds, Regina,” Gorlois had told her. “It is neither Dark nor Light, it just is. And, it can be used for both sides of the spectrum. However, because of who is given access to it, most consider it, wrongly, the Light magic.” Shaking off the memory of that conversation, Regina focused on the present, having a sense where the conversation was going.

“True Love’s magic,” Gorlois confirmed her suspicion. “The pure Light magic, created out of the purest love there is. The magic of the Savior.”

“Why?” she asked, crossing her arms in front of her. “It has nothing to do with me, and it is Emma’s domain.”

“You are wrong,” the black man responded kindly, patting the woman’s shoulder gently. “The truth of the matter is that anyone with True Love can use its magic. Which means…” He waited calmly, only raising one of his eyebrows in expectancy of Regina’s following answer.

“Which means I can use it too.”

“Remember that. It will serve you well in the future.” He peered into the dark eyes and seeing acceptance in them, he smiled. “And, thus endeth the lesson,” he spoke lightly, squeezing Regina’s shoulder. “All that is left is for me to disengage the mindscape and your consciousness will return to the Temple.” However, he did not release Regina just yet. “But, I need you to take a message to the daughter of my line,” he said softly, and as Regina slowly nodded, he added “and, you need to give it to her by Mind.” At her slight frown, he elaborated. “It needs to come from me, as the founder of the line, otherwise she might not take it to heart.”

“Alright,” Regina agreed, and as soon she spoke, she received a final memory – one she could not access. She had learned what to do with it, so it didn’t bother her, much, that she wouldn’t know the content of it until she brought it to Morgan’s mind.

As all their business was done, Gorlois brought his hands to Regina’s upper arms and holding her firmly in place, he leaned over and kissed her forehead. “Rule with honor, Heir of Tintagel,” he said resolutely, before he leaned his forehead against hers. “Many blessings, my child.” With those words, he released her and she could feel the barely there pulsating of the mindscape dissolve.


	24. Chapter 24

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> THE WARNING for the story of death of an original character who had been a child.  
> THE WARNING for the story of suicide  
> THE WARNING for the story of cutting
> 
> The scene with these topics is clearly marked, and you can skip it, as there would be only a small mention of it afterwards

With a shuddering gasp, Emma’s eyes opened wide into the darkness of her room, the vivid vistas of her passage through the desolate terrain burned in her mind, and this time her dreams had not been interrupted by the unicorns trapped in the storm. No, this time, she had walked barefoot on the scorching loose soil of the unknown desert, surrounded by nothing but emptiness around her and the blistering heat of the midday Sun, and she had again worn the white dress from her previous dream, only this time it had a dark shade of rust covering the low edges of the pearly fabrics, as wind had mired the dress with sand and dirt.

“Fuck,” she hissed into the night and pulled herself up, pushing away the blanket she was covered with. Tossing her legs over, she hissed again when her bare feet touched the cold stone of the floor. “Jesus,” she shivered, and waved her trembling hand over the oil lamp she knew that was at the bedside table, using magic to light it, rather than attempt to do it manually. With her luck, she would only break it and cut herself on the glass. As soon as the wick of the lamp caught flame, she breathed easier and her loudly beating heart started to slow down. It was when the rapid beat of the muscle tapered off into a soft and calm cadence with the help of her forced deep breathing that she noticed the shirt she had been sleeping in was drenched in sweat, sticking to her skin uncomfortably. “Fuck,” she cursed again.

Emma wasn’t a stranger to nightmares. In fact, in previous months, they had become expected companions for most of her nights, and she had accepted that with pragmatic ease. She had seen things, done stuff and it was natural flow of things to experience bad dreams in such stressful situations. However, the thing was – the desert she kept dreaming of in itself wasn’t scary at all, nor was she scared of hot and barren places – having been in Nevada and Arizona. Even finding skeletons half buried in the dry grounds was not worth upsetting over, in her opinion. And, she had been wearing worse things than a dress caked in grime. The presumed bodies of dragons and dwarves were horrible images, but, again, she had dreamed of seeing her friends dead before. Nevertheless, something about the place was putting her on the edge, giving her the willies – if she was to use an old colleague’s parlance. It fed directly into the dread she had been feeling since entering Brocéliande, making her skin crawl, and for some reason it had something do with her magic…

Pushing herself up from the bed, she stumbled into the bathroom, once more using magic to make light, before she tore the shirt off her back. Having no patience for a proper bath, Emma jumped into the empty pool and summoning a pail she had seen in the corner of the room, she opened the taps, she filled it with water and immediately poured it over herself. With a thought, a bar of soap floated into her hand and quickly, Emma dealt with her ablutions, washing away the sweat and the imaginary muck she could feel on her skin, even awake. Grabbing a towel, she wrapped it around herself and left for the bedroom.

Despite her mood being a little lighter after the wash, she was still unsettled by her dream, and feeling the pressing and stuffy darkness of her room, she pulled away the drapes covering the windows, letting the fresh night air in. Breathing deeply, she felt some of her tension melt away, making it easier for her to just sit for a moment, so she wrapped herself in one of the furs by the window seat and sat down, looking out at the stars, just taking in the air. As her eyes glanced over the night skies, Emma realized it was still in the middle of the night, which meant she had slept only two hours, even less. It hadn’t helped that the night before she had participated in the festivity the villagers had organized, drinking her share of mead and wine. Well, to be truthful, she hadn’t drunk too much, until coming to her room and sharing a late night talk with the Wolf minder, using mead to smooth out the edges of her burning resentment.

She had been sitting right where she was now, staring at the skies and hidden in the dark of her quarters, when Aileen had come to the room to check on her, obviously drawn by Emma’s turning mood and pensive expression she had had on as they had returned from the communal hall, and the Wolf had graciously offered a night cup to ease her troubles for the night. The shifter had been so worried about the blonde that the Savior could quite easily pick on her thoughts, even from several feet away.

_ Passing through the quiet corridors of the House of Healing, Aileen walked to the slightly ajar door of the Savior’s quarters, hesitating. Not sure if she should disturb the reclusive woman, not even for her worry about said woman, the Wolf shifted her weight from one foot to the other, her hand playing with the mead skin she had tossed over her shoulder as a peace offering for the intrusion. In her mind, being the supposed Keeper of the Balance in the world that had none for a long time – it excused Emma for her quirks and bouts of solitude. But, she also had a duty, to both her friend and Regina, to watch over the young woman, and she intended to fulfill it. _

_ “You can come in if you want to,” she heard Emma’s voice come from the room, followed by a soft rustle of furs. “I don’t mind.” _

_ Pushing the door, Aileen entered the room, surprised to see it covered in darkness. However, due to her nature, she could easily see the Savior sitting by the windows, as she looked outside, the drapes bundled on the side. The shifter made the short steps to reach the bed and lowering herself on it, she watched the blonde carefully, her brows creasing in concern. _

_ “There is no need for your alarm, Wolf,” the younger woman spoke softly, her eyes still fixed somewhere in the skies. _

_ “What are you doing?” Aileen asked, letting her intrigue get the best of her as she glanced around the room that for the ordinary human eyes would be in pitch darkness. _

_ “The darkness and the stars…” Emma murmured slowly, still looking outside. “They help me think. Or calm my thoughts. I haven’t yet decided which.” Her soft voice was barely stronger than a whisper, but loud enough for the Wolf to hear it. _

_ Getting to her feet, Aileen crossed the room to reach for two goblets at the table, and pouring a generous portion of mead into them, she glanced at the Savior. “I would have thought that after today, you would be too exhausted to be awake at this hour,” she spoke, offering the other woman one of the goblets. She was referring to Emma’s deviously difficult exercise Percival had devised for her in order to push her physical readiness to the maximum. The blonde warrior had been hampered with ridiculously heavy armor and had only her arms to defend against the full contingent of the guard who would attack her with practice weapons, and it had gone on for hours, again and again, until Emma’s knees had finally given up under the burden. And, to the festivities earlier in the evening. _

_ “That was the plan,” the blonde agreed before she sighed in tiredness and took a sip of the drink, humming at the taste. _

_ “So, what thoughts are keeping you away from your rest this evening?” Aileen asked as she retook her seat at Emma’s bed, making herself more comfortable while paying full attention to the Savior, hoping to be of help to the young hero, at the very least offering a friendly ear. _

_ A deep sigh came from the blonde. “I find myself thinking about children these days. My son, Kyle, other kids I know… I wonder about their lives, if they are happy or safe wherever they are now. But, most of all, I think about the unborn child of Snow White.” _

_ “Your mother?” the shifter spoke in surprise. “She is pregnant?” _

_ “Yes,” came Emma’s confirmation, hanging in the air heavily, as she leaned her head against the wall, sipping once more the fine mead. “And I don’t know how to feel about it.” _

_ “I don’t understand. Aren’t all children precious? How should you feel about it?” Among Wolves every child was celebrated, and she could not quite see the reason Emma was having an issue with it. _

_ The Savior swiveled her head, her eyes finding Aileen’s in darkness with ease. “There were quite a few unresolved issues between us before this; this only compounds them more.” Bringing the goblet to her lips, Emma drank deeply before motioning the shifter to get the refill, continuing to speak as soon the older woman moved. “If we forget everything that has bothered me about my parents, there remains one thing. The child will be my sibling, and I am going to be three decades older from it, older even than their parents. Not to mention the fact that it will be younger than my own children. Will we ever be able to connect on a more personal level, as siblings should?” Taking the goblet back, she took a long sip. “I am sure if there wasn’t the curse, it would have still happened, but then I would have been only a couple of years older, still a child myself.” _

_ “I am sure it won’t matter; to you or to them, Geilgeis,” the Wolf offered kindly. _

_ “Of course it matters, Wolf. They get their miracle child, their do-over, and I am still older than the people who gave birth to me.” _

During the hour Aileen had spent with her, Emma had drunk more than three full goblets of mead, all the while talking about families and the life she had had in the World Without Magic, getting more and more morose with each cup, until the Wolf had cut her off and helped her to bed, placing the drapes in their place before she had left.

Emma rose from her seat, putting the window covering back, as she needed to move in order to dispel the fearful energy that was still thrumming through her body, still feeling unsettled by the nightmare.

Quickly, Emma put on fresh clothes, making sure to dress for the cold she would find outside the Marble Hall of Dragon’s Bluff, glancing toward the fireplace. She wasn’t interested in the dark hearth but rather the mantle over it, where her broken sword was, its hilt and scabbard gleaming under the weak light of the lamp. In the past three days, she had gotten somewhat used to the missing weight of the weapon but it was still uncomfortable for her to be out in the open without it. However, for this excursion into the sleeping village, she took only the gifted daggers with her, putting them in their places, quite confident that should anything happen, her magic and her other abilities would keep her safe. Spending only a moment in search for her gloves, she decided to leave without them, the thick coat enough to keep her suitable warm.

Light on her feet, she prowled the empty and dark hallways of her sanctuary, her black cloak helping her sink into the shadows as she quietly climbed the stairs to the ground level, entranced by the stillness she encountered. With ease, she pushed one side of the great doors on the House of Healing ajar, just enough for her to pass through, and noiselessly, she closed it behind her, her exit unnoticed by anyone.

As she stole down the steps of the Marble Hall, she pulled her cloak tighter around her, the chill of the night much worse than she had expected, and crossed into the village, not surprised to note that everyone was tucked in for the night, even the soldiers that would usually walk the perimeter of the small settlement. Not even a single lantern was lit, the darkness of the pitch black night broken only by the mounds of cleared snow, their pale glow ethereal, and if not for Emma’s improved senses, she would have been stricken blind the minute she had left the softly illuminated entrance to the House of Healing.

The only sound in the quiet hamlet was the soft crunch of ground under Emma’s boots as she passed the largest building in the village, not counting the House of Healing. It was the communal hall, or simply the Hall as the people called it. It was a place of gathering for the villagers, but it also served as a dining and a meeting room, rolled in one. It consisted of one large room, hence the name hall, filled with tables fashioned out of wood with crude benches and chairs surrounding them. On one side was a makeshift dais, created by several wood trunks pinned together with a few boards nailed over them, and on the other was what Emma would easily call a bar. A long but waist high wooden wall separating the room from the wall of the hall, polished to a shine, upon which cups and cups were lying, empty, ready to be filled by drinks stored in barrels and skins stowed behind the bar. On that side, a wide door led to the kitchens.

She felt her mouth lift in a gentle smile as the memory of the evening before appeared in her mind. Both Percival and Gwen had insisted she stayed for the evening in the communal building, where the villagers had been preparing for a party of some sort, stopping her from retreating in her small corner away from people. As others had been busy setting up for an evening of music and dance, Emma’s companions had explained the purpose of such gatherings – as it was one of the ways they entertained themselves, especially in the long winter nights. Agreeing to stay, Emma had received a cup of mulled wine from the knight and the three of them had taken their seats close to a slightly raised dais, which served as a stage – Emma quickly had realized.

As soon as the food had been brought out from the adjoined kitchens by several people rushing among the tables, depositing the platters with practiced ease and speed, a hush had fallen over the crowd, and then, encouraged by his companions at their table, one of the soldiers had risen from his seat and walked upon the dais, taking out a hand made flute Emma had learned since that it was called fife out of his belt. With a few words of greetings, the soldier had sat at the stool that had been brought out earlier and started playing a short but sweet jig.

One by one, the people of the village had climbed upon the stage, playing various instruments, singing songs or sharing anecdotes and stories, their efforts bringing merriment to the crowd. During the evening, Emma had heard some of the most hauntingly beautiful songs performed on flutes, lutes, harps (one man had even brought bagpipes), and by singing. Also, one of the most ribald stories she had ever had the pleasure to hear. The biggest surprise of the evening had been Percival who had reluctantly played a sorrowful but enchanting song on a flute, encouraged by the crowd’s demanding shouts, which had quieted the second the first note thrilled in the room. To Emma, the hush that had fallen over the villagers had seemed reverent, something that she hadn’t thought she would experience that evening. Seeing her confused interest, Aileen, who had joined them at some point, had leaned over and in a barely heard whisper explained what had been happening.

“It’s a song Percy composed when they have first arrived here,” the Wolf had murmured into Emma’s ear. “It is called ‘The fall of the Red Dragon’ and it is about the Knights of the Round Table and their end. He tried to write the words for it, but he couldn’t as the pain was too close to his heart, and honestly no words would ever do it justice.”

With the explanation, Emma had not been surprised to see twin trails glimmering on Percival’s cheeks as he had held his eyes closed while he had played.

As the evening had progressed, mead and wine had done in the brave souls of the village, making the shackles of good behavior loosen up, and in turn, each new song or new story had been rowdier and bawdier - and slowly, the party had broken up as people had gone to their homes, their high spirits spilling out into the short streets of the village before the merry people found their beds. She too had excused herself citing tiredness as she had returned to her quarters, chuckling lightly at the stragglers singing loudly as they had walked home.

But, now, if she hadn’t been there before, Emma would have never guessed that there had been such a party mere hours ago, the quiet village enveloped in the night’s tranquility. But, others slept, leaving her to stroll down the short path through the place on her restless vigil.

When she reached the end of the village, Emma hesitated for a moment, unsure in what direction she should continue next, the short walk far from satisfying her. Was she to turn back and pace her room until the morning or roam the woods? Staying in the village didn’t attract her as she couldn’t just remain in place, it was too cold for that, and strolling along the short alleys between the houses would wake the soldiers well deserving of their rest.

Before she could debate much on the subject with herself, a soft and gentle chortle came from behind her, announcing her trusted friend. “Shadow,” she whispered with a smile as she turned around, her long steps bringing her quickly to the horse. Reaching for the horse’s nose and scratching it in affection, she hummed in pleasure. “You’ve been gone for a while,” the woman commented quietly as she leaned into the steed’s neck, welcoming the warmth that radiated from her friend’s body. However, she had only several moments in the gentle hold before the long snout of the Gallant pushed her shoulder, nudging the woman toward the middle of her body. “What, girl?” Emma asked, glancing at the intelligent eyes peering at her with impatience. Once more, Shadow nudged her, pushing her toward her flank. “Oh.” The Savior turned with understanding and using her hands to hoist herself up, she mounted the mare, trusting the magic-bred to keep her safe. Sinking her naked hand into the loose strands of the mane, she settled on Shadow’s back, patting her neck with her other hand. “I’m ready,” she whispered to the steed, not at all surprised when the horse jumped and started rushing off to parts unknown.

The Gallant didn’t use the high speeds her kind was capable of, but rather the quite enjoyable gallop with Emma participating as much as she could, following the dips and rises with her own body while her blood brimmed with excitement. It had been quite a while since she had simply enjoyed the horse ride, the need of quick transport superseding everything else. However, even though Shadow invariably had a specific intent for this nightly jaunt, it didn’t stop the Savior to fully appreciate and enjoy the journey.

As soon as they cleared the plateau which housed the village, Shadow veered off to the valley below it, traversing through the areas of untouched snow, her hooves making a trail as they passed. The people of the village did not go into the valley, as Morgan’s edict had forbidden it, and despite many veiled and directed questions Emma had asked the people in command, no one had been able to tell her why had the Queen of Camelot denied her people access to a rather large part of Brocéliande, allowing her men only to skirt the edges of it. Not that they needed more space, as Percival had told her of several crop fields and pastures the people used with abandon. And now, Shadow seemed to be taking her to the same forbidden place she had been asking about in the days prior.

In a matter of minutes, the horse and her rider came to a plateau, hidden in the valley beneath the cliffs; a place of mysteries, shrouded from the dwellings on the crag by flowing mist, distance and what Emma knew to be magic. With every new step the air grew warmer and soon, all the snow gave way to soft earth and stone. In the darkness, under the light of stars, Emma could quite easily see where Shadow was taking her. And, even if the stars had been hidden by clouds that night, the Sheriff would have known, because the barely there luminescence of the golden scales, uncovering the presence of Guardian, pierced the dark.

Coming closer to the giant creature, the Savior felt a ward activate, its tingly presence flowing over her skin like static electricity. A time ward, one that Emma was quite familiar with. She was not yet within its effective range, so she gently twined her fingers with Shadow’s mane, tugging it lightly. Her short request was immediately obeyed, and the Gallant stopped. Slowly, Emma tossed her leg over the horse’s head and slid down her side, landing softly on her feet. Her hand glided over the long neck before she reached for Shadow’s chin, gently holding it against her own face. “Thank you, my friend,” she murmured to the black mare and smiled at the short neigh that came as a reply. She stood by a moment more, watching the fast Gallant turn and gallop away, disappearing quickly over the rise of the valley.

Only after she could no longer see the horse, Emma pivoted on her heel and entered the ward, her determined stride bringing her to stand in front of the Lady of the Skies, her eyes passing over the golden scales and relaxed girth of the majestic creature. Even after being in Guardian’s presence several times already, the Sheriff still could feel herself be seized by the breathtaking magnificence of the old dragon. In respect, she flung her cloak behind her as she lowered herself onto her right knee, while her left one was bent at the ninety degree angle with her hands atop of it, the heavy fabric spreading perfectly behind her.

“I owe you my life,” she spoke to the dragon, looking at the raised head of the beast hanging only four feet above the ground, the shimmering yellow eyes blinking lazily at her. “Only by your intervention was I saved,” she added bowing her head slightly and lowering her eyes. “I am grateful.”

“Hmm,” the gentle grumble of the beast reached Emma, as the large head came hovering right in front of the Savior and the dragon sniffed at her. “It is comforting to see you recovered, Knight,” she said, her voice rumbling through the stones on the ground as much as in the air around them, but still it was gentle and reassuring. Then, Guardian clucked her tongue, bringing her head only inches away from the woman’s face, letting her hot breath pass over the supplicant Sheriff. “Have you perished, so would the Enchanted Forest. There was no other option, for the future of this world depends on you.” Despite the sharp quality to the words, the dragon’s meaning was honest and bolstering, the beast looking at the Savior with benevolence twinkling in her eyes. “And, the efforts of your beloved are not to be dismissed. Brocéliande might have kept you from passing into the realm of the dead, but she brought you back to the living.” The tongue slipped through her impressive teeth and touched Emma’s forehead in affection before the dragon swiveled her head away, returning to her previous position. “There is much to discuss and dwelling on your past misadventure delays us needlessly.” With those words, the matter of Emma’s brush with death was closed.

The Savior scoffed with good nature at the offhand remark, before she sat down, bringing her legs in front of her, crossing them at the ankles with her elbows resting on her wide-apart knees, relaxing into the pose, knowing it could be hours before she would get up. Then, something occurred to her, the words Guardian had spoken only moments before repeating in her mind. “You’ve been watching me,” she noted with interest. “And Regina.” For some reason, that made her feel better about her stay in the secret part of the Infinite Forest. She had surmised already that Guardian had brought the eggs into Brocéliande, but being watched over by the most powerful creature of the True Kinds did provide some measure of additional security, despite the fact the most, if not all of Morgan’s men and women seemed to be trustworthy.

The golden creature rumbled in confirmation, not even bothering to use words, her gaze unmoving from the Sheriff.

“Do you know where she is?” Emma asked hopefully, but as soon as she spoke, she could see that she would not get the answer she wanted, judging by the hiss the beast let out at her question.

“She has her own destiny, Knight, and her own duties to carry on. She is where she is needed to be and you cannot interfere,” Guardian spoke firmly, the huge eyes pinning the Savior in place. Only a moment later, the dragon’s posture gentled. “She is safe,” the creature added in consolation. “The location of the Temple will be known to you, in a short time. But, first – the reason you are here.”

The blonde felt her shoulders slump. For one moment she had forgotten that there was a war outside the borders of Brocéliande, and that the Wicked Witch of the West was only delayed in whatever her plans had been. Her worry for Regina and her burning desire to see her family had managed to push Zelena to the back of her mind, to deal with her at a later date. Sighing heavily, Emma shook her head before she chuckled in self-deprecation, the sound of it bitter and harsh. “The Witch,” she spat, making it clear she had another word in mind for the green menace.

“Ah, the Witch,” Guardian murmured softly, her front legs digging into the ground as the creature rose up. “The Witch,” she repeated slowly before she scoffed at the words, her breath forcing smoke through her nostrils. “Do you think you are here because of the Green Sorceress? Do you honestly believe among the most powerful creatures in the Enchanted Forest there isn’t one who could deal with the Witch?”

Emma winced at the low pitched roar that carried the words to her, tucking her head to the side when smoke coming out of Guardian’s mouth started having flicks of flame. “But, the war,” she started to speak; however another roar, this time uncontained, stopped her in place.

“War?!” Guardian bellowed at the seating Savior. “There may have been armies at the Palace and a battle may have been fought, but make no mistake, Sheriff. This isn’t a war.” The dragon’s scorn dripped heavily from her words as she brought her head closer to the blonde, lifting her lips in a snarl. “This is but a feud of two powerful sorceresses with many caught in between.” Then, the beast turned away and hissed into the night’s cold air. After several moments of silence, one that Emma was afraid to break; Guardian huffed and came near the Sheriff. “You have done your part, Savior. You kept the bloodshed from engulfing the Enchanted Forest. Now, it is time for another to deal with the Witch.”

Frown appeared on the blonde’s forehead as she looked at the beast in askance. “I thought… But, I am the Savior.” Emma’s frown deepened in willfulness. “I should be the one-“

“No,” Guardian said firmly, cutting the Sheriff off. “This isn’t your fight.” Gentling her tone, the dragon sent a puff of warm air at the blonde. “It never was.”

“Who…” Emma clenched her jaw before voicing the question out, well aware whose fight it was. She had known it since the moment she had learned Zelena was Cora’s daughter. She had known that Regina would be drawn into this feud, as Guardian had called it, and be forced to deal with her sister, regardless of the pain it may cause her. And Emma felt her insides clench at the hard and very dangerous task that was before her beloved. Zelena had almost managed to kill her, and she was supposed to be the most powerful person in all of the Enchanted Forest. “Why?” she quiveringly asked.

“You know why,” the golden Lady of the Skies said gently. “Because of the blood they share.” The dragon leaned in and licked a tear that had spilled onto the heartbroken Savior’s cheek, providing comfort in such a small gesture.

Several shuddering breaths later, Emma sniffled and brought her hands to her face, wiping the remains of her tears, pulling herself together. After she cleared her throat, she spoke, her voice still bearing traces of her pain, “Why am I here, then?”

“Oh, little one,” the dragon spoke after several moments of quiet, her voice soft and maternal, and heard solely in Emma’s mind, as the beast’s eyes focused on her with an odd troubled gaze.

At hearing the endearment, the blonde felt her stomach plummet, as heavy weight settled beneath her breastbone. She knew only one other instance she had been referred as such by the mighty creature and it had been when Guardian had urged Regina to make haste and come to Brocéliande, to save her life, and she didn’t like the sound of it coming into her mind – not with that gentle and mournful tone Guardian’s words held. She didn’t like it at all. Yet, whatever this trouble was, Emma knew it was the reason for her many titles and duties, and much more serious than Zelena and her efforts.

“Do you not feel it?” the dragon’s voice came again to Emma’s mind. “Do the tendrils of fear not clutch your heart and claws of danger not dig in your spine?”

Emma gasped, her startled exhale loud in the silence outside their bodies. What Guardian had described sounded just like the unexplained feeling the Savior had been having since coming to the Brocéliande. The creeping dread that made her skin crawl. The sense of unnamed danger that spoke of death. The dreams she had been having. The restlessness that had been driving her up the walls.

“I do,” Emma replied in the same way, pushing the images of her dreams and sensations of her feelings through their established link, showing them to Guardian and hoping that the beast would be able to make sense of it. “Do you know what it is?”

“Yes,” came a sorrowful reply. “The Forest is dying.” And, it wasn’t the Infinite Forest that Guardian had meant, but the entire world, the Enchanted Forest itself was the one in mortal peril.

Feeling slightly punch-drunk, Emma thought about it, trying to understand how a world could die. But then, she remembered something she had heard her beloved say, more than a year and a half before. Could Regina’s claim actually be right? “Was it,” she tried to ask before swallowing hard. “Was it the curse? That-that did it?” She had to know. “Did Regina do this?” Had Regina actually managed to destroy the world? Not that it would change anything – Emma had forgiven her beloved a long time ago all her misdeeds and cruelties, and the love she felt for Regina had not blinded her to the evil the Evil Queen had been capable of.

“No, the Dark Curse hastened its demise and made it more obvious, but the decay has begun a long time before that,” Guardian replied compassionately, feeling Emma’s turmoil through the link. “Even if has been the cause, your mate would not be the one to blame – for she had not created the vile thing, and many had fallen under the Dark One’s deviousness,” she offered to the blonde, her words providing a measure of relief. “No, it started long before, and the blame falls onto the race of Men who aspired to destroy the very essence of this world.”

The Savior did not speak. She couldn’t, because voicing her confusion over Guardian’s words filled with such scorn and disdain would spark rage in the majestic beast, and she was in no mood for a roasting. The Lady of the Skies would elaborate in her own time and Emma waited.

“They became so fearful of what was unknown to them and what few could use, so they sought to eradicate it, in the name of protection. They didn’t know, or they didn’t even care, in their envy and hate, that they had been guests in this world, that it belonged to the creatures they wanted to kill first and foremost. Just because they were different from men. Because they were blessed.” 

With every word, the Sheriff better understood Guardian’s point. After all, she had said similar words herself once or twice before. The Enchanted Forest belonged to the creatures of magic, its very name stemmed from that claim. But, the humans were the ones who hunted Unicorns, destroyed Yaoguais, slew dragons and tried to destroy magic, the founding element of this world. And Emma knew why the Enchanted Forest was dying. Because magic – the land’s force of life, its blood in a manner of speaking – was disappearing fast. Very soon, Emma would not be able to use the environmental magic to fuel her power because there would be none, and with no magic, the Enchanted Forest would be gone.

Suddenly, the dreams of the desert and accompanying feelings of dread and sorrow made sense. It was the future if nothing was done to prevent it. And  **_that_ ** was the reason she was there, with Guardian. She was the Savior, the Keeper of the Balance – it fell on her to stop it.

“How do I bring the magic of this world back?” she asked aloud, her voice strong despite the doubt she was feeling. How did one create a permanent source of power for the entire realm?

“Out of the ashes of old, the new must be reborn.”

“I assume there is more to it than that,” Emma noted wearily, having barely stopped herself from asking the dragon what the adage meant. Guardian had her quirks, and most of the time, those peculiar things amused the blonde, but it was the middle of the night, and she was tired despite the nap she had had in the village, if her terror-filled nightmare could count as such. And, as most of those who knew her, patience was never her thing.

The dragon chuckled, her soft laugh indulgent of Emma’s moody thoughts. “Indeed,” the voice replied, and the Savior felt her surroundings shift, suddenly being pulled into a meld. It wasn’t an ordinary one, where one person would sink into the mind of another, but the mind connection between two minds was established without sharing of consciousness, the two entities merely touching, and their autonomy absolute. It was different from the surface melds Guardian often used, and much different from deep melds that existed between Regina and her. The closest analogy the blonde could find was of two astral projections meeting in the same place.

Standing alone in a void, Emma cursed but before she could pull herself out of the link, a form materialized in front of her, making her start. A woman stood in front of her, but this was no ordinary woman – of course, it wouldn’t be, for Guardian was far from a commonplace creature, Emma thought to herself, admiring the humanoid form before her. Towering slightly over the Savior, Guardian stood proudly, her gold hair flowing down her back, gleaming with the same iridescence her scales had about them. As for the scales, the avatar of the dragon didn’t have skin but fine, small and soft scales covering her sharp-angled features and body, finishing with bronze colored talons on her hands and feet that resembled claws more than human appendages. And Guardian’s face boasted two yellow eyes, slit nose and sharp, protruding ridges on her forehead, reminiscent of those the dragon version had on her head. 

“Now we can speak more organically,” the voice of the maternal woman came out of the avatar, as the form came closer to the blonde. “Your mind is in turmoil, and it showed in our joining, your emotions spilling over.” The Guardian’s avatar reached up and placed her hand over Emma’s strongly beating heart. “The pain and concern you feel hurts deeply. And we need the magic of the meld for you to know what to do.”

Emma closed her eyes against the grief still evident in the shining eyes of her mentor, feeling the slight impression of the sharp edges of the claw-like palm, and she remained still, trusting the creature with both her mind and her life. She remembered the first lessons she had received from Guardian, in that snow hidden cave, many weeks before, and she knew why it hurt her friend so to stand witness to Emma’s strong emotions. For someone who had watched her entire race be annihilated, leaving her alone in the world, as a protector of a few stored eggs from centuries before, and for someone who had perfect recall, a trait that the entire race had shared – memories of loss were too potent and too close to the surface, like always bleeding wound on grief-torn heart. For Guardian, because of her no doubt now cursed ability to remember everything flawlessly as it was still happening, lived through the death of her children, loss of her kind, wars and destruction, every second of her life.

When Emma had learned of the ability, she had tried to imagine how awful and devastating it must had been for her mentor to experience such torment for all the years that had passed, but she simply hadn’t been capable of picturing such grief. After the portal had exploded and Emma had thought that the Jolly Roger had been destroyed in the blast along with her family aboard, the short seconds she had been conscious had been soul-renting and she had thought death would come quickly to claim her as well. But, living with such anguish, and still be even remotely sane…

“Do not trouble yourself over it, little one,” Guardian whispered kindly. “There is a world to save,” she added, making the blonde chuckle weakly. With her false levity changing the mood, the dragon sighed, continuing onto the matter at hand. “There is a place on a day’s flight north-east off the coast of the peninsula you know as Maritime kingdom. An island that the ancient elders called the Origin Point. The island is the place where the magic of this world began and spread. A well that had sprung before anyone’s memory.” Guardian focused on the imprinted memories of her bloodline and followed them until she found the one she wanted, letting it play out in the space around them.

Emma gasped when she found herself hundreds of feet in the air, flying above the Endless Sea, the reflection of a large and glorious dragon right beneath her. She could feel the wind pushing around her, and the Sun beating down on her, as seagulls cried, dashing away from the predator who ruled their domain. Soon, a speck appeared on the horizon, enveloped in white mist and with the speeds the dragon of the memory had flown, that small point fast grew in size until it became a tall mountain rising from the depths of the Endless Sea, with smoke and lava spilling from one side of the grotto, hissing as it reached the waters, creating the mist.

“A volcano? The Origin Point is a volcano?!” Emma hissed in surprise as she watched the dragon swoop down and land perfectly on one patch of undisturbed ledge, peering into the crater with interest. There, carved into the inner side of the mountain was a large horizontal cavern, large enough to house several dragons comfortably.

“It is a seamless representation of the Elements, Sheriff. Where Fire, Air, Earth and Water are intricately bound together to create something more. Just as the Fates of the Four Kinds are irrevocably bound to the magic of the Enchanted Forest.”

Of course, the elements. The Savior remembered Guardian’s lesson of the True Kinds and Rumplestiltskin’s half-forgotten legend that had inspired the tapestry that hung in his library. “So, I need to go there. And do what, exactly?”

“You will not be going alone, little one. I will be one of the others that will come with you.” Guardian showed a tightlipped smile at the relief that flooded Emma’s features. “However, there is one important matter to take care of before we were to leave for the Origin Point.”

“What?”

“Rather, who.” The dragon touched Emma’s shoulder lightly in a reassuring gesture. “The Fairies.”

“The Fairies?” Emma shook her head. “But, there are no Fairies in the Enchanted Forest,” she added softly, her words filled with hesitation. “Are there?”

The avatar only smiled, her lizard-like skin glittering with movement, and when the thin lips split, a row of sharpened teeth appeared. “Look to the memories of your mate, and you’ll find one,” she replied slowly, before she looked away, the world around them changing again, this time showing a large desert. “But, even if you could find them here, it would be insufficient, for you need the Fairy of old for the revival – and those are gone, for their choices have diminished them.” Glancing at her apprentice, the dragon tilted her head and spoke. “It wasn’t only Rumplestiltskin who had brought the proud creatures that Fairies once had been to their ruin and doom.” As the desert spread before them, the setting Sun shone at them from the left, its orange tinted rays reflecting in a distance, on something that looked like a city through the miasma of heat. “And, not all fairies were exiled with the curse,” Guardian added absently, before she gestured to something in the sand. Suddenly, that very thing appeared in the dragon’s hand, resting in her palm, and when Emma leaned over to see it she saw a jeweled representation of something that looked like a scarab; or a bug, at least. “Remember this place, little one, for you must find it among the acres of sand. Look at the stars and the Sun, and remember.” The evening turned into a night and the skies filled with stars, their magnificence lighting up the wide expanse over the desert. She thought that the stars above the Charming Palace were breathtaking in their beauty, but now as she looked up, she stood amazed at the brilliant dots that filled the sky.

“Where are we?” the blonde asked, unable to look away from the stars.

“This is the Northern Expanse of the Great Agrabah Desert, and we are ten leagues away from the bounds of Qalb Alsahra’, one of the five city-states of Agrabah,” the dragon motioned to the lights glimmering in the distance.

“I thought Agrabah was the city,” Emma countered, casting a look at the woman beside her.

“No,” the dragon returned gently. “It is a misconception some people have, confusing the region for the town,” she asserted, further explaining, “There are five cities in the Agrabah area, each of them having a Sultan for a sovereign, and in turn they rule over the Sultanate their city is in. Together, they formed the Council of Five and brought forth decrees and laws for the region, reigning in unity. It was so until Jafar’s little quest for power, when he killed his father and overthrew the Council, taking the Sultanates for himself. After he was dealt with, the jinn took matters in their hands, isolating the land until some order was established. What remains of Agrabah is unclear.”

“Oh,” Emma sighed in understanding. “So, North? Across the desert?”

“You cannot cross it in time that we have, and you cannot use magic because it would alert the jinn to your presence and they will not look kindly upon your intrusion. Most of the journey should be by sea, before you slip onto the land, but stay clear of the cities, you won’t find many friends there.” Guardian cautioned, before she again drew attention to the bejeweled object she held in her hand. “In the Temple of Knowledge, there is a hidden chamber, one that Gorlois himself had created for his own work and warded it against intrusion until its secrets were needed.” At Emma’s querying look, Guardian nodded. “There, you will find this…” she started but the blonde interrupted with a disbelieving chortle.

“And, let me guess, the scarab will then open the Cave of Wonders,” she retorted with a slight mocking edge.

However, the dragon ignored the young woman’s sudden outburst of insolence, astounded at the words coming out of her lips. “You surprise me again, Knight. Only few know of the Cave, and only I on this side of the desert. Or so I thought.”

“The Cave is real?” Emma was staggered. “Does it also take the form of the panther?”

“A leopard but yes,” the dragon confirmed, still looking at the Sheriff with unbridled interest. “How do you know of it? It is a secret many have taken great pains to hide.”

Shaking her head, the Savior scowled briefly at the scarab before she turned away, bringing her hand to her face. After a moment, she turned back, her hand rubbing her eyes tiredly, before she sighed, resigned weariness too clear in her motions. “There is a story in my world, about genies and magic lamps,” she answered slowly, not moving her hand. “The panther, leopard, whatever was shown in the story as a resting place for the lamp, before a boy stole it.”

“Remarkable,” Guardian marveled how the story was so close to the truth. “In your world, you say?”

“Yeah, it’s an old story, I guess, but the version I sa…” Clearing her throat, Emma hurriedly corrected herself, “I mean, heard, was only… what, twenty years old.”

“Remarkable,” the dragon repeated softly.

“But, why am I going to Agrabah?” Emma quickly demanded. “What does the Cave have to do with Fairies and the renewal of Magic?”

“All of it is further explained in Gorlois’s secret room in the Temple, but the Cave holds the Key to a ritual you must do, in order to bring the Fairies back to the powerful creatures they once were. Only then, we can continue with the renewal.”

“The Key?”

“Yes, the Key,” Guardian confirmed resolutely. “Gorlois’s friend Rionnag herself had made it, just in case something like this would happen,” she volunteered further. “With it, and with your friend the fairy, you will restore all that remain in the Enchanted Forest.”

“And, because of the separation between the worlds, the ritual won’t work on the Fairies in Storybrooke,” Emma concluded with a smirk. “That’s going to burn Blue something fierce. Especially if Astrid is one of the restored ones,” she added gleefully, her smile turning vicious. During Guardian’s explanation, she had remembered that Nova, or Astrid as the girl preferred, had joined Regina on the Jolly Roger.

“You hold no sympathy for the leader?” the dragon asked, surprised by the woman’s tone.

“I always felt something was off about the Mother Superior. She was too smug for someone espousing goodness and kindness, and fairness to all.” Emma waved the dragon off, “Long story, involves too many people,” after a questioning look was directed in her way.

“There is another thing that must happen before we are to go to the Origin Point,” the dragon remarked, bringing the Savior’s attention back to herself. “You must receive the final blessing,” she stated firmly, her strong voice lending an air of importance to her words.

“Final?”

“You have been blessed by three of the Four Kinds directly,” Guardian patiently reminded. “You need the Fairies to complete the circle and to give you full authority as the Keeper.” But, there was one more important consequence of the blessing, the sole reason Guardian had insisted on it. “And, only blessed by all of the Four you will be able to activate the renewal.”

“I assume it is supposed to give me custody over the magics of the Four Kinds to bind with my own while doing this?” Emma surmised softly, working out the specifics she was aware of. “And, that is why only I can do this?”

“Among other things, yes.” Guardian sighed. “It involves you being capable of using the magics of the Kinds at least in some rudimentary fashion, and you need to leave enough time to learn the fairy magic before the ritual. The others you will be able to assimilate while you are still here.”

“And, the timeline for this thing?” The Sheriff asked, acknowledging the dragon’s request.

“You do have some time to rest and enjoy your family,” the dragon spoke kindly, moving closer to Emma, offering her an indulgent but gentle smile. “However, the new moon should find you on your travels. The Enchanted Forest doesn’t have much longer than two moons.”

“Is that dire?” Emma gasped at the indication. Two months until the end of the world. She didn’t need the avatar to confirm, because the dragon rarely joked and even more rarely made mistakes. She had only two months, perhaps even less, to invoke the renewal, so she agreed with her mentor’s time constraint. She would be setting out the day of the new moon, and by her calculations – it was January 1 st .

“So, that is settled,” Guardian said after a moment.

“Except, I don’t know where the Temple is,” Emma reminded.

“You will, soon,” the avatar spoke as she looked at the Sheriff with amusement, before bringing them out of whatever their mind link was.

Emma found herself on her knees, sitting on her heels while Guardian had laid her head in front of her some time during the meld, the snout only inches away from the blonde. Disoriented from the loss of the connection, the Sheriff placed her forehead onto the dragon’s, her fingers gently scratching the soft scales of Guardian’s cheeks, unconsciously seeking to regain the intimacy and comfort the link had fostered. As she remained leaning against the beast, she felt a light brush over her mind, gentle and soothing touch of another’s. “Fear not, little one,” she heard in her thoughts. “You won’t be alone for long.”

“I’ll have to leave her, again,” she murmured mournfully against the warm scales.

“And, you’ll return to her, again,” the dragon countered aloud, her gentle rumble sending soft vibrations through her body. “And, she will always be with you for nothing will be able to keep you apart,” she added softly in consolation. “You must go now,” she said pushing the Sheriff gently away by lifting her head, her tongue flickering out. “Dawn is not far away.”

“I might even grab a few more hours of sleep,” Emma commented tiredly as she rose to her feet, shaking her legs out to return some feeling in them, her long-held pose cutting off the blood. She tried to execute her teleportation spell, but frowned when nothing happened. She felt her magic building and flowing out of her, but instead of enveloping her and taking her away, she was just surrounded by a crackling barely visible cloud of her magic. “Right,” she mumbled, ignoring the dragon’s chuckle at her blunder. “The valley is protected.” So, she flexed her shoulders and shifted on her feet. “I guess I should call Shadow.”

“She will not answer,” Guardian revealed quickly, before Emma could even bother to look for her friend. “There are others of her herd here,” the dragon added.

“So, how am I supposed to get to the bluff, then?” the blonde asked incredulously. It hadn’t taken her long to reach the valley, but Emma knew it would take her hours, if not a day or more to reach the village on foot.

“The shortest way there is up,” Guardian said helpfully, her claw pointing toward the cliffs above them. Emma followed the claw, looking upward and frowned in irritation.

“I don’t suppose you’ll give me a lift,” the Sheriff noted half-heartedly, receiving the negative answer she was expecting.

“Not today.”

“No, I didn’t think so.” The blonde sighed in resignation before she started twisting, to warm up her muscles, slowly moving toward the towering wall of rocks before them, inwardly cursing the errant Gallants and unhelpful dragons. She scowled at the incredibly high cliff, her eyes noting that there were enough places for her hands and feet to find purchase, at least as far as she could see, but with her bare hands scaling the sharp rocks, she would arrive up top with ravaged palms. It wasn’t the wounds the part that worried her, until she left the protection of the valley, she could use her magic to heal them without many issues. What concerned her was the part of the cliff she was supposed to climb after leaving the ward. Using healing in such a perilous situation could prove fatal or at least detrimental to her assent, so she would have to climb despite the cuts and grazes forming on her hands. And, she wouldn’t be able to teleport, because she didn’t know where she was exactly, and appearing by magic, in broad daylight in the middle of the village would only raise unnecessary questions about her excursion to the valley, a place that was strictly forbidden to the villagers. And, transporting somewhere else might just end up with her overshooting the boundary stones of Brocéliande, which would cause her to lose valuable time. So, the full climb it was.

“Geilgeis,” the dragon called from behind her, startling Emma out of her preparation. Having used the name she had heard the shifter call the Savior in front of her, the name she had never used before, Guardian drew herself closer to the blonde, appreciating the name the Wolf had given her student. “Geilgeis,” she said again, making sure she held the Knight’s attention. “Where are your scales?” the dragon asked tilting her head curiously, sniffing around the still grounded Savior, noting the lack of the magically pungent scent the warrior had had on her the two times they had met before.

“Scales?” The confusion was evident in the furrowed brows and questioning eyes as Emma looked at the dragon.

“Your plating,” Guardian elaborated. “Armor.”

Perplexed by the topic, Emma shrugged. “At the Keep, or at White Castle. I don’t know what Regina has done with it, or if others had any idea about it.”

“You should be the only one to wear it, Savior,” Guardian remarked with steel in her voice. “Only you can honor the unwilling sacrifice made for it to be forged. Only you should benefit from the innocent flesh stripped for its making.” The tone turned sharper as the dragon continued. “No other creature, not even your child or your mate, can comprehend the enormity of sacrilege that had gone into it.” The golden creature brought herself within inches from Emma, her breath streaming into the blonde’s chest. “And, now, it has been inured in your own life blood and magic, binding the grudging gifts of all True Kinds together.”

The Sheriff could see the point the Lady of the Skies had made. And, considering she had read what Rumplestiltskin had done in order to create it, she knew Guardian was right. “I will obey,” was the only thing she whispered, but it was enough for the dragon, who nodded once before licking her cheek in goodbyes. Nothing more needed to be said. It was granted that Guardian would remain at Emma’s disposal until the Savior and the former Evil Queen left Brocéliande, and it was also assumed that anything else regarding the ritual and the renewal would be found in the chamber at the Temple.

With such resolutions to their meeting, the Sheriff started again for the wall, rotating her shoulders and elbows in order to warm them up and push her cloak into a more comfortable position on her back. As soon as she reached the stone barrier, she pulled her hair into a messy knot and reached for the first hand hold.

As she made first steps upright, she chuckled at herself. At least, this time she didn’t have the weight of her things on her back and Brocéliande was blessed with milder weather, this late night in particular without wind and snowfall. With each new grab and pull, she gained height, her prepared muscles not minding the grueling work. In fact, thanks to Percival’s insistence on the murderous training, this exercise was quite enjoyable for the battle-hardened Savior, her strength and agility getting a right workout.

When she reached about two hundred feet, she found a small outcropping in the cliff, just wide enough for her to stand, and she took a moment to rest and check on her hands, her eyes passing over the vale, smirking as she saw Guardian lazily sitting at the spot she had met the dragon earlier that evening, her sharp yellow eyes finding the blonde easily, despite the night. It was comforting to know that even though the Lady of the Skies had full confidence that Emma would reach the summit without help, the kind creature watched over her, just in case something happened. Sending an appreciative wave to the dragon, Emma continued on.

In a way, she absently thought, it was relaxing. She was focused on nothing but her next step, her busy mind sinking into the meditation of repetitive motion and exertion. Not even the nicks and scrapes would break her out of her concentration. Her breath was measured and only slightly labored, and while her heated body was sweating, the cloak billowing around her was enough protection against the winter cold. Occasionally, she would come upon another ledge, large enough to serve as a place of short recuperation, when she would heal her palms, and shake out her muscles.

By the time she left the boundary of the ward, where she judged herself to be about half-way done, the Sun started to rise, coloring the skies in the east. Having already crossed the half of her climb, she took it as a point of pride to continue on without the aid of her powers, quite relishing in her exercise session, even liking the beginnings of burn appearing in her muscles. So, on she went, scaling the rocks, her mind lazily bringing up some scenes from movies she had seen, chuckling out loud when the guitar intro from one of the Limp Bizkit songs started ringing in her head – the intro that had become synonymous with one of famous Tom Cruise movies, where – surprise, surprise, he was climbing the rocks.

Pushing forward, she considered the fact that she missed the things she had taken for granted in the World without Magic. Yes, movies were on that long list, but they weren’t high on it. Music was on it, too. Not that she didn’t like the music of this world; in fact, the evening before she had been left without breath at some songs and melodies she had heard at the celebration, but, the simple availability of music in her world was irreplaceable, and often she would find herself in a mood for a more modern songs. There was a workaround for that, to simply play songs out of her memory with her magic, but that meant she would have to be completely focused on the music in order to reproduce it properly, which kind of defeated the point. Also, coffee. She was sick of the tea, but it was the only source of caffeine in these parts. The ever-present noise of the city. Well, she had already given up on that, having moved to Storybrooke, which was a small, quiet town that was utterly silent at night. However, even it had some noise that she had always associated with civilization – something that the Enchanted Forest had none. Not to say that this world didn’t have some charms of its own, and some of them she actually liked, but still…

Lost in her ruminations while she continued to climb, she almost passed over a strange cleft in the rock she had come upon; however when she reached for her next hand-hold, she saw it and immediately noticed the hewn nature of the rock beside her. Before she moved in to investigate the smooth fissure, she brought her legs higher and pushed slightly off the wall, still holding on by her hands, her small but meaningful distance allowing her to see higher above her position. Seeing what she needed, she remained coiled away from the rocks just a few seconds more, frowning at the snowy outcropping appearing only forty feet above her. Easing the pressure on her arms, she brought her body closer to the stone, and making sure she had a good and secure hold, she released one hand and traced carefully the roughly shaped circle cut into the face of the cliff, ignoring the lines of red that followed her fingers’ path, the depth of the cut only about ten inches. Next, she placed her palm onto the smoothed out surface, noting that the stone had been weathered by time, and quite a lot of it by the looks of it, but it still had kept its original shape and form. Despite being quite intrigued by this mystery, Emma chose to leave it for another time, when she was rested and more prepared to hang by the side of the cliff. And, her arms had gotten very tired by the time she had reached this place, which was probably the most deciding factor.

So, remarking on the position of the curiosity she had come upon, the Savior pushed on, the last leg of her journey presenting her little challenge. She almost flew those short yards up and throwing herself over the edge, she threw herself into the snow, her large cape serving as a protection against the wet sludge she was to make with her heightened body heat. For a long moment, she just lied on the soft velvet of her cloak, breathing deeply and simply resting as she looked up into the sunlit skies, admiring the absence of stormy clouds. For that moment in time, nothing else was important. Not her still climb-damaged hands, not the burn in her muscles, not the conversation she had had with Guardian and not her worry about Regina’s absence. She was aware of them, yes, but for that one brief pause, they didn’t matter.

“There you are!” a familiar voice startled her out of her triumphant mood, making it dissolve completely, so she turned just her head, too tired to move otherwise, to see the person that had already been searching for her. As soon as her eyes fell on the shifter’s concerned expression, Emma scowled in annoyance, turning her eyes back to the sky. It was barely morning and the Wolf was already on her case.

“For someone who claims not to be my minder, you do appear to monitor my comings and goings a lot,” she remarked loudly with a bite in her tone, not moving from her place. However, as she heard the crunch in snow signaling another’s footsteps joining Aileen, she curtailed her displeasure, glancing at the young healer that had followed the Wolf. “What do you want?” she asked the Wolf, nodding politely at the young healer.

But, the target of her question didn’t have a chance to answer as Gwen, the excellent healer that she was, gasped at the wounds she immediately saw on the Savior’s hands, already moving toward her to deal with them, her rush bringing her to her knees onto Emma’s cloak as she reached for the injured limbs in an effort to at least stop their bleeding, ignoring the blonde’s wounded hiss the moment her fingers came in contact with one of the deeper cuts.

“It seems that whenever you are away from me, you get yourself hurt,” Aileen replied tightly, keeping herself at distance and letting Gwen deal with the Sheriff. Judging by the glower that had met her, she wouldn’t be too welcome to come closer anyways. But, there was another thing that kept her from approaching, the sharp eyes of the Wolf passing over the snow and taking in the Savior’s position in it. She had passed down this route less then several minutes before and the blonde had not been there, nor anywhere near to this side of the village, for she, as the shifter and an excellent tracker, would definitely know. It had been a measly fluke that Gwen had been out gathering the wood bark farther down the path, and that escorting the healer back they happened to walk this way again. She frowned, the tracks in the snow not providing an answer for the Sheriff’s sudden appearance, nor did they explain the state of her hands. She looked like she had been in a hand fight with a rabid animal.

Emma had forgotten about her hands, startled by the sudden shout of the shifter, the irritation quickly supplanting the surprise. And when even softly murmuring to Gwen that she was alright and that she could heal herself with magic had not dissuaded the healer from attending to her injuries, Emma simply surrendered to her gentle ministrations, letting Gwen fuss about her. But, she was not going to let the Wolf judge her for her state, not when she had climbed the entire cliff in two short hours. Nor was she going to let the shifter get away with the attitude, for how she chose to spend her nights and days were her problem, not Aileen’s.

“What I do with my time is of no concern of yours,” Emma snapped at the shifter, her words perhaps a bit sharper than warranted, but Gwen had poured an alcoholic cleaner over her cuts the moment she had opened her mouth. Her words were followed by a strangled grunt and an accusing look thrown at the healer by her side who met her eyes with an apologetic blink, before they crinkled in muted satisfaction.

“Geilgeis,” Aileen started with a heavy sigh, not willing to enter into a full blown argument with the Savior, especially not here, out in the open and with Emma half lying in the snow. However, whatever she was going to say next evaporated when the young woman kneeling beside the Savior threw her a warning look, the usually soft features hardening with reproach and disapproval, shutting her up immediately. Surprised to see the shifter so easily stopped, Emma glanced at the unexpectedly mum woman and noting her chagrined look as the Wolf stood there, three yards away, shuffling her feet in the snow, the blonde tossed a look at the healer hovering over her now temporarily bound hands and met sharp and knowing eyes of the young woman who was not to be trifled with.

“These need to be tended to immediately,” the healer spoke calmly, paying no heed to the lumbering Wolf behind her. “Could you?” Gwen wriggled her fingers in a waving motion, as she looked at Emma, and it took the Savior only a second to grasp what the woman wanted, letting her magic surge and envelope both of them, taking them away from the cliff and into the House of Healing and leaving the Wolf to watch at their disappearance with scorn, into the room where Gwen had tended to her previously, the room that held most of the healer’s supplies.

“There is really no need for this, Gwen,” Emma spoke kindly to the healer as soon as they materialized in the room, touching the woman’s palm, already bloodied by attending to the Sheriff’s cuts.

The young woman glanced up into Emma’s face and smiled. “Sometimes, magic is not the answer,” she simply said before she directed the Savior to sit at the table, at the same seat Emma had used the last time she was in the room. Hearing the blonde’s resigned sigh, the healer walked to her supplies and gathered everything she would need, setting the satchel she had been wearing on the cliff-top on the floor beside the shelves, leaving it to be sorted later. Placing everything in her hands onto the table, she walked toward the door where stood a pallet full of fresh water, and lifting it with practiced ease she took it to a small cauldron resting to the side over the lit fire. As she finished with pouring the water into the cauldron, she brought it into the fire to heat.

Emma watched the diligent healer go about the room in preparation, every motion practiced and economic. When the girl straightened up from the fireplace and step toward her, the blonde waited to see what the healer would do next. However, it was with surprise that she found the young woman reaching for her shoulders and gently undoing the clasp of her cloak and letting it fall over the back of Emma’s chair, stepping immediately away as soon as the black cover was off the Savior’s body.

It was odd, sitting in silence and watching the conscientious girl gather everything she would need for something that Emma could have done in seconds, but, for the life of her, Emma could not begrudge the girl her work.

After several minutes, when all the preparations had been completed, Gwen joined Emma at the table, taking one of the bandaged hands into her own, her nimble fingers carefully unwinding the binds she had placed outside in an effort to stop the bleeding and protect the wounds, placing the hand onto the clean surface of the table, palm upwards. She repeated the work with the other hand, before she looked up at the green eyes that followed her every move with undisguised interest. “You have healed them before,” she spoke softly before she reached for a cloth that had been soaking in the hot water, bringing the dripping material over the hands, using it to gently wash the cuts.

“How do you know?” Emma asked, intrigued as she let the other woman clean the wounds, ignoring the uncomfortable sensation of the fabric passing over her deeper abrasions.

“There are marks on the flesh that not even magic can hide,” Gwen responded, her answer not interrupting her in her work, as she diligently washed out every cut before moving on to the next one.

“The only way you could know about the healing is if you have magic of your own,” Emma concluded after a while. She could actually determine that quite easily, but scrying for someone’s abilities was an invasion of privacy Emma wasn’t quite keen on. However, there were a few things the Savior did know even without looking. Since she couldn’t sense it, and Regina couldn’t either, Gwen’s power was either very weak and passive, or Gwen was extremely powerful and quite capable at cloaking her own energies.

“Or I knew how you got these in the first place, and I know that you have a lot less than you should,” the young healer spoke out, not looking away from Emma’s hands. When she felt a muscle flinch in the hand she was holding, the healer glanced up and saw the Savior scrutinize her carefully. “The rocks are really sharp on that side of the divide,” she supplied evenly, before going back to her work.

“You are not going to comment on my disobedience of the Queen’s edict?” the Sheriff queried, grabbing one of Gwen’s fingers gently to stop her for a moment. “If you knew what I was doing, then you know where I’ve been.” She had leaned in as her muscles had tensed, not knowing how the girl would react.

“You are here by the grace of Lady of the Skies, and she is the authority that is greater than Mistress. And, even if it wasn’t so, Queen Morgan has no sway over you, Savior. I hardly think it is my place to forbid you anything.” The young woman then gently plied the blonde’s hand open, before she carefully took hold of it, tenderly pressing her thumb on the wrist of the hand she had in her grasp. “If you didn’t have the permission to enter the vale, you would suffer worse wounds than these, so I see no reason to raise the alarm,” she assured the Savior. “If my discretion is what you need, that is what you shall have, among the more obvious things,” she added firmly, grabbing a clean cloth and repeating the process.

“But, it is the magic that lets you sense it?” Emma continued their previous line of conversation, after a brief lapse of silence, having settled back in relaxation.

“Perhaps,” the girl murmured as she poured fresh water over Emma’s hands, letting the cold water soothe the sting of the still oozing cuts. “Mistress believes it’s a form of empathy, where I feel for the disturbances in one’s body.” The healer glanced up as she shrugged her shoulders. “I don’t see what does it matter what it is, as long as I know how it works.”

“And, how does it work?” Emma was very interested to hear about this talent of Gwen’s, leaning slightly forward.

“I feel shadows,” Gwen said, uncertain about the word she had chosen, but when Emma shook her head lightly in encouragement, she continued. “I feel shadows where the injuries are, or were, and it’s like I can see how it looks on the inside and I know when something is wrong.”

Emma nodded her head again, offering the young woman a comforting smile. “Must be helpful when you are a healer,” she noted, looking down at her thoroughly cleaned palms.

“I became a healer because of it,” the girl spoke absently as she used another cloth to spread some type of cream over the cuts. “My parents brought me to the King’s Court, fearing I was a witch. It was Mistress who took me in, offered me tutelage in the arts and I have been by her side ever since.” The tone Gwen used was a matter of fact one, distant and undisturbed by the abandonment by her parents, but if Emma understood it correctly, for Gwen – that had been several centuries before. And, by the things she had seen in Regina’s memory, such a thing wasn’t a rare occurrence in the Enchanted Forest, especially in the areas where people had been extremely fearful of the  _ talents _ .

“Does me using my magic bother you?” Emma had to ask.

“No,” Gwen was vehement in her denial, the sudden sharp tone startling them both. Cowered by her previous outburst, the girl hesitated for a moment. However, when a still wet hand gently touched hers, she looked into the Savior’s encouraging eyes and spoke again, this time in a lower tone. “Magic doesn’t bother me,” she said earnestly. “It’s just, your body remembers, even after the wounds are healed, even when magic is used to wish them away. It remembers, and sometimes, the only thing that takes the shadows away is when healing is at the slow non-magical rate. Like the body cannot accept it has been healed until it suffers through the healing.” Sighing at how convoluted that sounded, Gwen bit her lip, glancing at the Savior. “I don’t know how to explain it properly.”

Emma hummed at the notion, realizing where the young woman was going with it. After some thought, that actually made a lot of sense. Well, to her, anyways. “No, no, I get it.” Just like ordinary humans didn’t accept miracles but had to see the hard work that went into it to actually believe something had happened.

“Well, in any case,” the young woman finished applying the cream and reached for the rolls of bandages she had set aside for this, several of the smaller ones she intended to use for the fingers and two large ones for the palms. “When you arrived here first, I couldn’t look at you without seeing all the pain you’ve been through. Not just the wounds, but the malnutrition, the exhaustion… I could see it all. Even after Queen Regina healed you, you seemed to have shadows hanging around you.”

“That is why you looked so worried around me all the time,” Emma gasped in realization, finally understanding why the young healer in front of her had been so careful and cautious with her before, her exhalation nothing to do with a strip of bandage tightly pressing over the center of her palm. “You could see I wasn’t… recovered.”

“Then, you went on your jaunt with Aileen, and when you came back you were healed. Completely.”

Emma hummed in agreement. “Unicorn blood,” she tossed out flippantly. “It does wonders for the constitution.”

Gwen chuckled as she tied off the bandage on Emma’s right hand. “I heard,” she murmured, reaching for the left.

“So, all this,” Emma spoke, waving between the two of them with her freshly bandaged hand. “All this production is to heal the shadows?”

The young woman looked at the Savior, suddenly her shoulders slumping as she stopped what she was doing. “If it really bothers you, I can take these off and…” she started saying softly, but even the whisper couldn’t hide the quivering in her voice from Emma. Also, the Sheriff saw a shadow pass over the kind eyes before they withdrew, as the girl cast them down.

“No,” Emma interrupted the girl, placing her bandaged hand over one of Gwen’s, leaning forward. “Look at me,” she ordered firmly but with a kind voice, frowning when the girl didn’t obey. She had not meant to hurt the young healer’s feelings with her question, nor to insult the girl, but it seemed that she had done both somehow. “Gwen,” she insisted, “look at me.”

It took four seconds for the girl to comply, but for Emma those seconds seemed longer as she felt the sharp prick of shame for her thoughtless words. When she finally saw those hazel eyes tentatively meet hers, she squeezed Gwen’s arm in support. “I am sorry,” she spoke earnestly. “I didn’t intend to make light of your explanation or to imply that this wasn’t important or worth my time. I misspoke and I apologize.” Bringing herself even closer to the healer, Emma peered into the still withdrawn eyes, regretting to see them shining with wetness. “Will you forgive me for such egregious misconduct?”

The young healer sniffed as her eyes darted between Emma’s, searching for something in them before the girl nodded, her head moving dislodging one of the tears gathered at her lids. “Oh, Gwen,” Emma sighed heavily, as her eyes followed the trail of the drop. “I truly am sorry.” But, the healer quickly wiped away all the evidence of her tears, and brought her hands back to their work, grasping Emma’s half bandaged one to finish the job.

“These will need changing in the evening,” Gwen spoke after she tied off the bandage on Emma’s left hand, as if nothing had happened. “Until then, you shouldn’t do much with your hands, especially nothing that involves you curling them into fists.” She rose from her seat and started gathering the things that remained on the table to put them away, but as soon as she was on her feet the Savior followed, placing herself in her path.

“You can send someone else if my presence perturbs you,” the Sheriff offered in a whisper as she peered into the girl’s shifting eyes.

As soon as Emma finished speaking, the hazel eyes focused on hers, staring her down with intensity Emma had not seen in the healer before. “I will come to your quarters after the evening meal,” the girl spoke firmly, before she deftly stepped around the Savior, effortlessly dismissing the knight out of her presence. With a soft, barely heard snort, Emma shook her head and smirked, placing her cloak over her hand and leaving the room in silence. 

* * *

In front of her own rooms, Aileen waited, leaning against the wall beside the closed door, her arms crossed as she watched the Savior approach with a stony face. Only when she saw Emma’s bandaged hands she moved, opening the door for the woman and following her in the room, closing the door behind them.

“If you have to say something, be quick about it,” Emma advised, tossing the heavy cloak onto her bed before she turned to the shifter. “I am in no mood for sermons or arguments,” she added, taking a seat at the table, noticing that someone had brought a fresh platter of food and refilled the pitcher with water. She also noticed that her fireplace had been cleaned out, with the new fire logs placed inside, ready to set aflame at a moment’s notice.

The shifter exhaled and took the other seat at the table, slumping in it before she reached for the water and poured it in two cups, setting one of them in front of Emma. “I am not here to lecture you,” she stated, meeting the tired eyes over the water. “Keith saw you were gone when he had brought you food, and mentioned it to me. Even when Percival asked me if you were going to show at the practice ring, I did nothing. It was only when the tailor caught me and told me that you weren’t to be found that I started looking for you.”

“Tailor?” Emma was bewildered at the idea that the old but gregarious man who she had heard sing the evening before would want something with her. As far as she knew, she never spoke to the man, nor did she need to, as the clothes she wore were from the closet in her quarters, and her magic capable of creating anything else she would need.

“Yes, Selwyn needs you to finish his work on the skins,” Aileen said offhandedly before she sipped water. “I looked for you everywhere,” she started but the raised hand cut her off.

“Skins?”

Aileen frowned at Emma’s confusion. “The deerskin Althea sent for you,” she said, but as that had not sparked the Savior’s understanding, she continued. “Before I came to Brocéliande, my grandmother had given me several rolls of white coat deerskin in order for you to shed the uniform of the Black Knight. I have given those skins to Selwin, the tailor, and Rhain, who is the appointed cobbler in these parts, to make something for you. Has Morgan not told you this?”

Emma snorted as she shook her head. “There are many things Morgan hasn’t told me.”

“What do you mean?”

The Savior just shrugged. “It doesn’t matter now.”

After waiting a few seconds for Emma to elaborate if she chose to, Aileen understood that the blonde would not speak on it further, at this time anyway, so she went on with the original topic. “I know that what you do with your time is your affair and that I have no rights to impede you or demand answers. The only reason I have for my behavior earlier was that I was worried and I spoke thoughtlessly.”

“It’s been going around,” Emma commented softly, waving Aileen’s veiled apology off. At the curious look directed at her, the blonde spoke again. “I managed to insult Gwen.” Before the shifter could ask any questions or demand restitution for the kind healer’s honor, Emma continued. “It was just a misfortunate comment I made without thinking. I believe she accepted my apology.”

“That young woman forgives easily, Geilgeis,” Aileen said quietly. “But, she will not let herself be walked over, not even by your Grace.”

“I don’t expect anything other than that from her, or anyone else, Wolf,” Emma replied heavily. “I do not need people to fall over themselves and accept my abuse, whether it was on purpose or not. God knows I am sick of all the worship and expectation that follows me through the Enchanted Forest.” She clumsily brought the cup to her mouth and drank deeply, before she lowered the empty cup and rose from her chair.

“You are the Savior,” Aileen whispered carefully, watching the pacing woman.

“The Savior,” Emma chuckled mirthlessly. One of these days, she would seriously grow to hate that title. “So what? I am still just Emma. No matter what the titles you insist on heaping on me.” She sat tiredly on the bed and grimaced as she accidentally hit her hand on her thigh. “I am still just me.”

The shifter had noticed the wince and slowly came closer to the blonde, lowering herself into a crouch beside her. “It is who you are that inspires awe, Geilgeis. Not the titles, not your powers. What you did and what you continue to do is what spreads the legend of you. And, yes, people know you as the Savior because of the curse, but it doesn’t mean that they wouldn’t be amazed by you with another name.” The Wolf took the freshly injured hand and gently examined the bandages, before offering Emma a soft smile. “Now, you should take it easy with your hands, Gwen doesn’t appreciate when her patients undo her work.”

At Emma’s snide look, the shifter just rose and pulled the other woman up, making sure to grab her above the line of bandages, remembering that some of the cuts on the Savior’s palms had seemed deep. “Come, we’ll get you sorted,” she offered as she slowly reached for the Sheriff’s belt and gently undid the buckle, taking it away along with the dagger on it. With the Savior cooperating, they gradually removed almost all of Emma’s clothes, leaving her in a loose, sweat stiffened shirt. As the blonde covered herself with a blanket, Aileen knelt beside the fireplace to get the fire going, before she went to the bathroom, rummaging around while Emma sat in bed, scowling at her more or less useless hands.

“I am sure, with Gwen’s miraculous balms, they will be fully healed by tomorrow,” the shifter tossed out from the door to the bathroom when she saw the Sheriff’s grimace, in her arms a small basin with steaming hot water and a sponge floating in it, and a towel placed over her shoulder.

“I have no doubt in that, Wolf,” Emma murmured, her eyes still pinned on her hands. “But, this is ridiculous – I can’t do anything with them like this.” Only then she looked up at the shifter and noticed the washbowl. “What’s that for?”

“Obviously, you haven’t passed by any mirrors,” Aileen commented as she placed the dish on the night table, gesturing to Emma to scoot a bit. “Your forehead is caked in dust and blood. The rest of your face isn’t much better.” With an eye roll, the blonde surrendered and while Aileen removed the dirt from the Savior’s face, she mentioned how they should meet with the tailor in the afternoon, the Sheriff agreeing wholeheartedly, quite interested to see what Selwyn had in store for her and with nothing better to do with her impaired hands.

* * *

**TW TW TW TW TW TW TW TW TW TW TW TW TW TW TW TW TW TW TW TW**

* * *

The Savior stood on a wooden box in the middle of the room, her arms crossed on her chest as the small, middle aged man circled around her with his hand on his chin, scrutinizing the clothes on her, while the rest of the people in the small room leaned against the far-sided wall watching them silently.

Emma was dressed in incredibly soft white leather pants that seemed to be glued to her skin, but didn’t restrict her range of motion at all. The pants had additional laces along the outer seam where Emma could adjust the tightness around her legs, the crisscrossing detail adding to the beauty of the garment. Then, over her shirt was a short vest, very similar to the one Regina had worn when they had first come to the White Castle, also made of white leather. The vest didn’t have as large a bust as Regina’s had, but it did accentuate Emma’s femininity, flaring a bit at the hips.

On the table beside them was a white leather tunic that Emma had tried on before putting on the vest, the style of the tunic the same as of the pants, the side seams done in crisscrossed laces, but the tunic also had a small inlaid work on the part that would cover Emma’s chest, the barely visible grooves in the leather filled with silver, the intricate lines creating a swan with a crown on top of its head sitting at the center of a four pointed star. Surprised by the motif on the tunic, Emma had looked at the tailor with intent to demand answers but the man had come forward first, mentioning that the Lady of the Skies had given him some input on the symbol.

Beside the tunic were two pairs of white sheepskin gloves, one pair with the longer above wrist part, meant to be worn beneath the forearm bracers, while the other ones were shorter. And, packed in a small satchel alongside the gloves were three different white belts with silver buckles and several white leather laces. Having seen the tailor’s offerings, Emma had discreetly rolled her eyes at the pervasive whiteness he had shown her. Meeting Aileen’s eyes over the clothes, she stopped herself from chuckling at the Wolf’s smirk directed at her.

“Do you wear armor, my Lady?” the tailor asked after the long silence he had insisted upon while he had inspected his creations.

Nodding shortly, Emma lowered her arms, disentangling them with caution, before she offered the answer to the man. “A lightweight magical chainmail.” Immediately, she followed with an impish “Black.”

Selwyn hummed in acknowledgement as he made another circuit around Emma. “Do you wear it over or under the tunic?”

“As close to the skin as I can, usually over a shirt,” she replied, interested to see what he had in mind.

While he nodded, mumbling something to himself under breath, another man entered the room carrying two oblong pieces of wood, already somewhat shaped. “Oi, Selwyn, mind the break?” he shouted at the tailor, gesturing at the wooden things in his hands. When the tailor nodded at him, still considering something with unintelligible mumble, the newcomer turned to Emma. “Your Ladyship, if you wouldn’t mind,” he spoke with a half bow, looking at her.

The Savior stood unmoving, her brows frowning at the man’s expectant behavior. She opened her mouth to ask, but the Wolf interceded in her stead.

“Don’t you see her hands, Rhain, you fool,” the shifter barked at the man, before she walked up to the Savior, helping her off the makeshift dais. “He is the cobbler, Geilgeis,” she murmured into the Sheriff’s ear as she led Emma to a seat. “He is here to take your measure for the boots,” she added in the same quiet tone as she kneeled to help Emma take off the boots she already had on.

“Apologies, my Lady,” the cobbler quickly gasped, throwing himself onto the floor beside the shifter to help the wolf. “May I?” he asked permission as he showed Emma the wood he had been carrying. Only when he had placed them at her feet after her approving nod, she realized that the oblong pieces served as the templates for the soles of the future boots. As the man used a small knife to etch the outline of Emma’s feet, noting various important details, Emma looked on with interest, never caring before what it took to make a pair of shoes in the Enchanted Forest, where mass production didn’t exist. After a few questions regarding the style and use of the boots, the man excused himself, bowing deeply as he was leaving, letting Aileen to put Emma’s shoes back on.

By the time the cobbler was done, the tailor had found what he had been looking for, motioning respectfully to Emma to resume her position on the dais as he offered her a thickly woven cotton tunic. “I can make a similar one in white or if you’d rather, in grey,” the tailor spoke as he helped the Savior put the tunic on, setting it on the blonde’s shoulders with professional ease. The tunic was actually a turtle neck when the tunic was completely laced up, the open seam coming from one shoulder up the entire length of neck for the ease of putting it on. The tunic the tailor had given Emma was slightly bulky in size, hanging off Emma’s slim frame, but the blonde could still appreciate its form. “The sleeves are short, coming only after elbows, but I guess your chainmail is only up to the elbows,” he showed to the Savior where normally the sleeve would end. “And it would go under the leather, providing more warmth.”

“That would be perfect,” Emma agreed, nodding at the man’s suggestion. “Thank you,” she spoke when he smiled in pleasure.

“You honor me, my Lady,” he offered with a slight bow, before he stepped forward to help her take the tunic off. “It will be done in several days, my Lady,” he added as he made a short notation on a piece of paper, taking the garment away.

“Please,” Emma stopped him before he would disappear in the back room to work. “Please, make it in grey,” she implored as she let Aileen unlace her leggings.

“Of course, my Lady,” he smiled and bowed again, offering greetings to the shifter and the knight who had followed the two women into his showing place, before he gathered his things and retired.

Percival took one look at Emma and quickly walked toward the door. “I’ll wait outside,” he spoke uncomfortably as he ducked out, ignoring the chuckle from the wolf that followed him outside.

“What’s next?” Emma asked while Aileen helped her into her own pair of pants, leaving the white leather ones for Selwyn to finish. She hated that she needed help getting dressed, but the Wolf had convinced her to suffer through the indignity, as spending time in her room with nothing to do would only drive out of her mind. Also, there had been a curious tidbit that the shifter had shared with her. The Lords and Ladies of this world often used their servants to get dressed, and it was something that was widely accepted. By Aileen’s words, no one would bat an eye at her assistance, especially since everyone could see her bandaged hands.

“It is up to you, Geilgeis,” the shifter spoke, her nimble fingers doing a quick work of the laces. She looked up as she brought the boots. “We could stop by the smithy, perhaps find you a new sword, or anything else you might need when you leave…” she offered.

“No,” Emma rejected the suggestion, leaning against Aileen’s shoulder with her forearm. “I need my hands for that.” Shifting her weight on the other foot, she added, “We could go tomorrow, or the day after.”

“Whenever you want.” Aileen straightened out and reached for Emma’s cloak, placing it over the blonde’s shoulders, her fingers gently pulling the golden tresses from underneath it.

“Did Percival tell you why he was looking for me?” Emma asked as they moved toward the door. The shifter shook her head, letting the blonde pass in front of her before she closed the door of the tailor’s place. “Then, I guess, it’s up to him.”

They found the knight talking with one of the soldiers just two houses down the road. Percival sent the other man off the moment he saw them waiting for him, and approached the Savior, offering his arm. “I believe we should talk,” he started quietly as he slowly guided Emma toward the House of Healing, letting the shifter walk by the blonde’s other side. “And, the only place that will provide us the needed privacy is your quarters,” he stated hopefully as he glanced around, making sure that no one but the two women could hear him.

“Alright,” Emma agreed, her expression remaining the same, as she kept her wondering silent and invisible. After all, she would get her answers soon. She, then, turned to Aileen. “Perhaps we should make sure not to be interrupted by helpful people bringing me food and wood for the fires,” she suggested vaguely, but the shifter nodded and rushed off in front of them, leaving the Savior with the knight. “Did you miss me at the field this morning?” Emma spoke with a slight teasing in her voice as she let the man set their pace into a slow stroll.

“My men didn’t,” he smirked. “Not even Gwen’s wondrous ointments can heal all the bruises you give them, let alone the injured pride.” Percival then glanced at her thoughtfully. “What about a shield?” he asked.

Emma was already used to his seemingly random questions, all regarding a type of weapon or a tool, but quickly she had learned that it was his way of proposing another form for Emma to learn. With her incredible speed in picking up the fighting styles, he was running out of offensive weaponry he could tutor her in, as he had already shown her all he knew about one hand and two hand swords, two swords, sword and dagger styles, quarterstaffs and spears. The expansive knowledge Emma now possessed about various forms of fighting had been one of the reasons she had been so tired the evening before as Percival had run her ragged through the paces.

“No, it will only slow me down,” Emma precluded his offer kindly. “I need the other hand mostly free, for magic or other weaponry I use.” There was no need for her to explain the existence of guns to the knight of Camelot, first because she wasn’t sure she would be able to do it properly, so he would understand the devastating power of such weapons, and secondly – she didn’t want to, and it wasn’t necessary for him to know.

He hummed as he considered her words. “Throwing knives might be a useful skill, but I have no one around here that is past the rudimentary levels at it.” Climbing up the steps of the Marble Hall, he rubbed his chin. “Maces, flails and morning stars are too slow for your speed and they will only weigh you down. The same is for axes and hammers. Hmmm.” Pushing the large door, he gestured Emma to go in. “Well, the only thing that is left for us to sharpen your reactions. And, hand to hand.”

They reached Emma’s rooms to find the door already opened and small lamps lit, along with a roaring fire in the hearth. Aileen was fiddling with the window cover, setting it in place, as they came in. “No one will interrupt us for the evening, and Gwen will come by later, as planned.”

Emma turned to look at Percival, expecting him to comment on Gwen’s presence, but the man only nodded at the wolf’s words, closing the door behind them. “Alright,” he murmured as he took a seat at the table Aileen had set. Then he looked between the two women, waiting for one of them to start.

“You are the one that wanted to talk, Percival,” Emma noted, shrugging off the cloak and taking another seat, closest to the fireplace, leaving the last one to the shifter.

The knight nodded and sighed. “It’s about you leaving Brocéliande,” he spoke quietly, even though no one would be able to hear him through the heavy oak door and thick stone walls of Emma’s quarters. “People are getting restless here and they are ready to go out of these magical woods. And, the way to do so is to join you and Queen Regina in your quest. Most villagers have already figured out that Regina will become the next ruler of what’s left of us, and soon they will fill in the rest of them.” 

“I thought their loyalty was to Morgan,” Emma replied softly.

“It still is. But, you must understand, we’ve been here for decades, centuries even, and nothing has changed for us. We are still the same as the day when we entered Brocéliande.” Percival accepted the wine Aileen poured for him and focused back on the blonde across from him. “We are frozen in time, Geilgeis, and it wears on the soul.”

“Is that the reason why there are no children around?” Emma asked curiously, considering the man’s words.

“That and the fact that most of the women here have surpassed the child bearing age,” Aileen answered. “The young ones refused to have children here, for the magic can be persuaded to allow it. The cost was too much, and the Queen agreed.”

“What happened?”

Percival shook his head and gestured to Aileen to go on, unable to speak of the thing. Emma thought about the magic and tried to see what the price of such askance would be, but she couldn’t see, but by the knight’s expression it was something horrible. She was of half mind to ignore the topic, just because of the muted pain she saw in his eyes, but her inquisitiveness was strong too.

However, Aileen chose to speak. “At first, when they arrived here, there was a young woman called Siani, just a year older than our Gwen. She was Keith’s sister and the wife of one of the young soldiers you have no doubt seen around the grounds.”

“Dai,” Percival added in a strangled voice. “The man who brought you each sword you practiced with, he was her husband.”

Emma thought back to the always quiet man with deeply shadowed eyes, almost morose in his behavior, as he had done his job perfectly in finding Emma weapons for the exercises. “Oh,” she uttered softly, already not liking how the story was going and Aileen was at the very beginning.

“She begged the Queen to intervene, so she and Dai would be able to have children, and even after many warnings that Morgan wouldn’t know how it would work out, Siani insisted, and finally after many months, Morgan caved.” Aileen continued on with the story. “It took my friend weeks to find the proper ritual and to find the corresponding effects, but with the persistent girl to help her, she managed. And, the ritual worked – Siani was left pregnant soon after. It was the news that people celebrated, for the wounds and sorrow of Arthur’s departure for Avalon was too fresh for the people and they needed something good to look forward to.” The wolf sipped her wine, wetting her mouth. “I visited often at that time, staying much longer than I now do, and I saw how the new child had brought happiness into the village. I saw the way they cherished the young woman. I even saw how Morgan looked after her, surprised to see the motherly pride she had for the girl, for I had thought her heart had been too broken to feel such emotions so soon.”

“It was a miracle,” Percival spoke softly, his tremulous smile laden with grief. “We were all so happy, but Dai was the happiest of us all. You should have known him then.” He grimaced as he remembered. “It was impossible not to smile and laugh around him. He was always a cheery boy, but this brought out lightness in him.”

“After an ordinary first time pregnancy, a baby boy was born. Carwyn he was named as he indeed was dearly beloved by all of his people. And he was a happy boy, bringing joy to his parents and all around him.” Aileen’s smile turned sad. “The boy grew and soon he became a man, one that the entire village was proud of, but as he grew, the people around him remained unchanged by time. As soon as Morgan realized that he was ageing with the seasons that passed, she closed herself into the Temple, trying to find a solution, to save the young boy from the fate that awaited him. But, there was nothing to do. It was then that it was decided that others would not even attempt at children and the spirit of the village was broken.”

Emma gasped as she understood what had happened to the boy. Without the protection of the magic, the same protection that Morgan had to suspend in order for him to be born, he had aged. The magic was only suspended for the mother, but the child had to be denied it completely in order to develop and grow, and Emma surmised that what the ritual had done, it could not have been undone without killing both the mother and the child.

“He grew old, and one winter, when his body was too frail to go on, his soul passed on,” Aileen confirmed Emma’s thoughts. “His death hit the people hard, but it devastated his parents.” There were truly no words to describe what their son’s death had done to the two people who had seemed to be the most joyous people in Brocéliande, and the shifter didn’t even try, her deep blue eyes portraying enough of the grief for Emma to gleam a bit of it. “Not long after, despite the watchful guard and many friends, Siani snuck out leaving a short message for Keith she wandered off to the eastern side of the gorge and…” She hesitated over the word, glancing at the knight beside her, noticing his clenching fist beside his empty cup.

“She jumped,” he gurgled before he pushed away from the table, needing a moment.

Aileen sighed and let the man pace in front of the fireplace, as she reached for a pitcher, pouring herself a good amount of wine. “It took a very long time for Dai to even function, and only recently people have stopped keeping an eye on him, afraid he would follow in his wife’s footsteps. But, Keith…”

“The boy lost his entire family when his nephew died and it changed him,” Percival spoke as he was leaning against the mantle with his forearm, staring into the flames. “He became angry and violent with no place to exorcise that fury, so it turned on him.”

“Percy found him in a pool of his own blood out in the forest.”

“I was the one who was tasked to bring Siani’s body back,” Percival continued. “I pray I see nothing like that ever again for I still have nightmares of her broken body lying over the rocks with blood and other things spread everywhere. And, to see Keith surrounded by his blood – I was sure we had lost him too.” He looked away from the fire and focused on the Savior, her compassionate eyes gleaming in the light of the candles on the table. “He stole one of the kitchen knives and cut into his skin, making deep lines along his limbs. Later, he told me that he hadn’t tried to kill himself, but he had tried to make himself feel something else than the pressing dark miasma that covered him.” He saw the Savior nod in grim understanding. “He had found that pain helped him and he had just wanted to feel better.”

Emma nodded again, reaching for the man’s arm, patting it lightly with her wrist. “I saw it happen in my world too. It’s a way of dealing with a deep pain of the soul. A harmful way, but a way nonetheless.”

Percival grasped gently her forearm and squeezed it lightly in appreciation for her words, before he released it and walked back to his seat, grabbing the pitcher to top off his cup. After a long swallow, he sighed. “Morgan took him in and in time, she helped him,” he concluded his telling, before he shifted in his seat, and placed his elbows on the table, leaning slightly forward as he focused on the Savior. “I have sworn many oaths to both my King and my Queen, but I am also the last Knight of the Order. My place is out there, helping the helpless, fighting the tyrants and protecting the innocents, not to be here and languish in this hiding spot, away from the world.” He tapped lightly with the bottom of his cup against the surface of the table. “I want to join you, Savior. You and your queen.”

“Will Morgan let you?” Emma asked, careful not to give any indication to her thoughts.

“She has no choice on the matter,” the knight replied. “I am here of my own free will. Officially, the queen has released me of my vows to her, and Arthur leaving these shores took care of the pledges I swore to him.”

“And Morgan?”

Aileen was the one to answer. “She found the Heir. There is nothing for her here.”

“So, she’ll go to Avalon?”

“Most likely,” the Wolf confirmed sadly.

The Sheriff leaned back, her eyes passing over the features of the knight, his clenched jaw and pinched forehead speaking of his firm resolution to go with her. She could use him, she knew. Or, more importantly, Regina could use him, having him by her side would possibly help her a great deal. And, the more experienced soldiers they had, the better odds her family had against the Wicked Witch. Also, having the banners of Camelot and the Order of the Red Dragon along with Regina’s would help with the rehabilitation of Regina’s name. If he, and others, were determined to follow her and her love, she couldn’t forbid them. Not that she could see any reason why she would want to.

However, until Morgan and Regina were finished with the Temple, it was a moot point, anyways, so Emma offered a non-committal answer to Percival’s demand. “I need to speak to Regina about it.” Seeing him slump, she sighed. “It’s up to her, really. The Heir and all that. However, as far as I am concerned, I wouldn’t mind you coming along.”

The knight offered a grateful smile before he leaned back, stirring conversation to more pleasant matters, the two women joining him gladly, and as the relieved tone in his voice suggested, his heart seemed lighter after their talk, despite the fact that Emma had not given him the answer he had wanted.

* * *

**TW TW TW TW TW TW TW TW TW TW TW TW TW TW TW TW TW TW TW TW**

* * *

It was late in the evening when Percival rose from his seat again and walked to the door, having already wished the two ladies a pleasant evening, the sudden pull of the door startling the young woman standing behind it. “Oh, Gwen, sorry,” the knight offered with a joyous smile, before he stepped aside to let the healer in. “Evening,” he greeted and disappeared into the shadowed hallways of the House of Healing.

“He seems to be in a good mood,” the young woman commented as she watched him leave, before she noticed that the women inside the room were still chuckling at something that had been said before she had entered. “You, as well,” she added, rolling her eyes at the relaxed wolf almost slipping out of her chair.

“Don’t mind her,” Emma said with an indulgent smile as she watched Aileen chortle at nothing. “It would seem that the knight and the Wolf can’t hold their liquor.”

“I suppose I should be glad they didn’t manage to pull you into their shenanigans,” the healer noted, setting down her things before she approached the table.

“They tried, but it takes a lot more than a flagon of wine to get me drunk,” the Sheriff responded, rising from her chair. “I grew up on much harder stuff. Not to mention Regina’s cider. That’ll get you sloshed in no time.” She nudged the shifter and helped her stand. “Go home, Wolf,” she murmured as she brought the woman to the door. “I am in good hands,” she broke in before Aileen could complain. “Go on, follow the wall and turn left,” she jested as she took in the wolf’s unsteady gait.

“I can still bite you, pup,” quipped the shifter as she staggered out. “See you in the morning,” she added before leaving the two women alone.

“It’s not like them to drink much so without a reason,” Gwen spoke as she closed the door.

“I guess they needed it,” the blonde commented as she sat at the foot of her bed. At the questioning look directed at her, she added. “They told me about Siani and her child.”

At the mention of the name, Gwen froze in mid-motion, her hands hanging only inches away from her satchel on the floor. “Oh,” she murmured as her eyes suddenly welled up. Blinking the tears away, she nodded. “That explains it,” she whispered, grabbing onto the satchel.

“And, here I go again, upsetting you,” Emma sighed, shaking her head.

“It’s not your fault,” the healer spoke softly before she looked up at the Savior, smiling in gratitude when the blonde kicked over a pillow for her to kneel on while she examined the wounds. “We’re all a bit on the edge, with Mistress away and the restlessness that is spreading among the villagers. A few tears are bound to be spilled.” Carefully, she unwound the bandages, tossing away the soiled cloth. “This looks good,” she murmured as she examined the hands under the light of the fire. “They closed over and they won’t scar.” She then looked up at the Savior, noticing Emma’s matted hair that still held some traces of the dark dust of the rocks and flecks of blood. “You need a bath,” she spoke, her implication of needing help clear.

“Without those infernal things on, I believe I can manage myself, thank you,” Emma argued as she reached for the clasps of her short jacket, but her hands were quickly snatched away by the healer. “Hey,” she complained verbally, letting her hands remain in Gwen’s hold.

“The roughness of the fabrics and the soap will undo all the healing that has happened today,” Gwen cautioned firmly. “If it is about seeing you without clothes, may I remind you that I have seen you when you arrived here?”

“I was unconscious then.”

“That can be arranged,” Gwen replied smartly before she reached for the clasps herself, warning Emma with a look not to help her.

“I am not a prude,” Emma whispered as she let the girl undress her. “Being in prison cured me of that.” The healer let her talk despite the curious look she threw at the blonde when she heard that. “It’s just that…” the blonde sighed.

“You are fiercely independent and you hate showing weakness,” the girl responded insightfully as she unlaced the shirt Emma was wearing. “All you warrior types seem to suffer from the same maladies.”

Emma chuckled at those words, before her face turned wistful. “You know, you sounded a bit like her a minute ago,” she said in a melancholic whisper as she glanced at the healer, offering a sad smile.

“You miss her.”

Emma agreed with a tired hum, leaning back on her bed while Gwen took care of her shoes and pants. “Morgan promised five days,” she spoke. “It’s been ten, if I count the first afternoon.” Following Gwen into the bathroom with a robe to protect her modesty, she leaned against the wall while the girl brought in a copper tub from a pantry of sorts, hidden away beside the door to the toilet. “Everyone is telling me not to worry, that she is fine, but…” she continued speaking, knowing that the girl was listening despite the fact that she was filling the tub with hot water from the taps over the pool.

“With the time that has passed you cannot help but worry,” the healer said as she poured down the steaming hot water out of the pail into the tub, and went back to the tap, filling it again.

“Yeah,” Emma sighed.

“Well, if Guardian is telling you that she is alright,” the young woman countered, looking up at the Savior, “what more assurances do you really need?” Her pointed words reminded Emma that the young woman was an extremely smart person, and she did have a point. “But, I know that the only proof you will ever accept is seeing her in front of you, unharmed,” the healer conceded softly as she approached the Savior, touching her gently on her shoulder. She helped Emma step into the tub and sit down without using her palms, and using one of the finer types of body wash, she rubbed the Sheriff clean.

It was later, when the gentle healer was soaping up Emma’s hair that the blonde spoke again. “Why do you call Morgan Mistress?”

“There are many traditions where women are called so out of respect,” Gwen uttered as she used her fingers to work through the knotted tresses. “When people become experts in their crafts, they are said to have gained mastery in them, hence becoming masters. Of course, for women it would be mistresses. And as masters and mistresses take on apprentices, young students address their teachers with Master such and such, or Mistress such and such.” Following up on her explanation, Gwen added one more example, as she poured water over the locks, making sure that suds didn’t get into Emma’s eyes. “If Percival wasn’t an already titled knight, with his knowledge of the sword, he would be master swordsman, and you, as his student would have to address him as Master Percival. For me, Queen Morgan is Mistress of the healing arts, and I address her as such, unless the situation calls for another title.”

It made sense in Emma’s mind. Even her world had titles that had been awarded as achievements, or with jobs and positions in society. Doctors, Mayors, Sirs and Madams, and such.

In silence that followed Gwen’s explanation, the two women finished with the tub and the young healer brought the towel wrapped Savior back into the room, seating her on the bed. Pulling out a jar with a purple colored paste out of her satchel, along with fresh bandages and something white, she sat beside the blonde, and placing a pillow onto her knees, she took one of Emma’s hands and put it gently on the pillow. Scraping a good amount of the paste out of the jar, she started massaging the Savior’s hand, rubbing in the paste and loosening up the stiffened muscles. “This will help further with healing, but it will also soften the calluses. Seeing you don’t have many of them, they should be gone completely.” At Emma’s understanding nod, she reached for the bandage and started placing it over the palm, tying it around the hand, but leaving the fingers free. “I need you to be patient with me just a little more,” she added softly as she grasped one of the white things and shook it out. Only then Emma could see it was a glove, made of the same material as the bandages. “This way, you’ll have the use of the hand, but please, avoid straining its muscles and tendons.”

“As long as I can function with some normality, I don’t care,” Emma replied kindly, looking at the glove on her hand with a pleased grin, before she peered into Gwen’s eyes with gratitude. “Thank you,” she whispered earnestly.

“You will be done by midday the latest, judging by the rate of your healing,” Gwen spoke on, acknowledging Emma’s gratitude with a smile of her own. Repeating the process on the blonde’s other hand, the healer chuckled at the Sheriff’s continuous wriggling of her fingers.

“You really didn’t have to do all this for me,” Emma remarked seriously when the young woman was done. “I truly appreciate your help.”

“It’s what I do, Geilgeis,” the healer replied with a smirk of her own. “Just as you save people, I heal.”

When Emma shook her head in amusement, the girl gathered her things and wishing the blonde good night and promising to come in the morning, she left, leaving the Sheriff alone but finally capable of dressing herself. 

* * *

The dreams didn’t haunt her that night, but still Emma found herself awake after only an hour of sleep. Instead of trying to settle down, she dressed carefully, minding the cloth gloves Gwen had put on her hands the evening before, and placing her inescapable cloak on, she exited her room. With ease, she crossed the darkened hallways of the House of Healing, and left the confines of the Marble Hall.

Rather than wander around like she had done the night before, she walked down the path, right to the place she had emerged from during her climb. She had intended to explore that point anyways, and the time suited her, as most of the villagers were asleep and none should be coming her way, for a long while.

When she reached the spot where she had landed that very morning, she stopped and instead of coming close to the edge, she remained on the path, her eyes scanning the scenery around her, while she turned in place, clicking her tongue in irritation. The reason she stopped was a tingle she felt resonate in her body, the moment she came within twenty feet of the place she had surfaced; the tingle that was very similar to the energy of the border stones but also different, and somehow muted, which would explain why she hadn’t felt it that morning, with all the excitement of the climb.

Using her magical senses, she turned around to pinpoint the source of the tingle, clucking her tongue again when the signal seemed to lead off the path but in an opposite direction from the cliff – into the woods. Emma breathed in and flexed her shoulders before she stepped into the copse, letting her senses guide her, her boots crunching the untouched snow as she bent low to avoid a heavily burdened branch in her path.

Only three yards later, the blonde reached the place from where the magic was coming, but she could not see much of anything in the darkness of the woods, the shadows of the trees making the night much darker. With only a thought she summoned a small orb of light, letting it float above the point where she could feel the tingle coming from as she used her leg to push away the snow drifts and rotten leaves that covered the ground, finding frozen earth underneath. That and a rock peeking out of grounds. Frowning, she crouched down, bringing the orb of light with her to further examine the stone, when suddenly the light orb sank into the rock, making it glow for a moment before the light extinguished, leaving behind only a previously unseen glyph gleaming weakly in the darkness of the copse. Startled by the unexpected loss of control over her light source Emma had jerked back a step, her eyes warily scrutinizing the stone. But, when nothing else happened for a minute, she drew close and read the symbol.

“Secret,” she murmured. “What secret?” she mumbled as she reached the stone with her covered hand, instinctively trying to uncover more of the stone’s surface, but the very moment she touched the cold rock, the symbol vanished.

“What the hell?” she gasped, because when the glyph disappeared she felt the source of magic shift away from her, one step closer to the path. Again, she used the boot to clear away the snow and found another stone, showing the same symbol. Sighing, she came to it, accidentally kicking the stone in process and as the sole of her foot touched the symbol it disappeared again, and the magic shifted, again.

Following the odd breadcrumbs, she crossed the path and walked toward the cliff, somehow not surprised to see that this weird magical trail led there. And, finally, when she stepped on the last stone she could find, her feet perilously close to the edge, a low rumbling came from the earth beneath her. Throwing a look over the ledge, she chuckled when she saw what waited for her there.

“Of course,” she shook her head, and stepped off the cliff, her feet landing softly on a stone step of the staircase that had just appeared on the side of the cliff, only a foot wide and created out of rectangular blocks sticking out of the rocky surface, leading right to the strange carved space she had noticed the day before.

She came to the depression in the cliff, getting to the last step of the stairs, but nothing happened. Guided by her previous experience with the stones above her, she touched the carved rock with her hand, nodding in triumph as the stone moved away from her fingers, sliding to a side and uncovering a dark tunnel, which Emma assumed led to the mysterious Temple. When the entrance appeared in front of her, the Sheriff drew her cloak tighter around her body before she stepped into the passage, following wherever it led, not even bothering to react at the stone sliding back in its place behind her.

The tunnel wasn’t long, only twenty paces by Emma’s count. However, no torches or any other sources of light had been provided, leaving it in darkness, so the blonde had once again summoned the orb of light as she had gone deeper into the ground, the small ball of magic lighting her way into a large study that was at the end of the tunnel. There, at the entrance, on each side of the tunnel was a sconce holding unused torch, and as soon as the woman stepped into the room, they lit, along with others that lined the walls of the study, the newly achieved brightness making the floating ball superfluous.

Letting the ball disappear, Emma turned around as she looked at the things that decorated the many shelves that lined the walls of the room, the space around her reminding her of Rumplestiltskin’s working room at the Dark Castle. But, where Rumplestiltskin’s space had been utilitarian and devoid of unnecessary items, this room held plenty of objects, many of which Emma had no idea what they were supposed to be. Two tables stood at the opposite sides of the room, one tucked into a corner and filled with tomes and time colored parchments, creating a small but comfortable niche and a writing space, while the other bore scars and marks, suggesting it was a working desk, for building and experimentation. Intrigued, Emma came closer to the ravaged surface and chuckled at the scorches darkening the hardened oak, still visible despite the dust gathering on top of it. She used a small pulse of magic to clear it away, before she undid the clasps of her cloak and tossed it over the table, so it would not impede her in further exploration. 

But, despite the things in the room that seemed very interesting, and if not for the certain feeling she had Emma would be more than delighted to explore the various creations around her, but her attention was drawn to the corner opposite of the tunnel she had come from; the corner that was oddly barren and uncluttered, the difference between it and the rest of the room not only noticeable but stark. The strangeness of it would draw Emma to it by itself, but the Savior could feel active tendrils of magic coming from somewhere behind the wall, and with everything she had learned so far, she knew the corner held a door to the rest of the Temple.

She had been sent here for a reason. Emma had realized it the second she had seen the stairs appear on the side of the cliff, leading to the secret door. Guardian had been somewhat subtle in her machinations, leading the Savior where she needed to be without forcing her hand, knowing that Emma would follow the clues, in order to get the Key she still needed to find. But Emma couldn’t just be in the Temple without finding her lover first, her need to check on Regina too strong now that she was in the same building as her. So, ignoring her task for the moment, the Sheriff came close to the corner, letting her instincts guide her into pressing her hand gently against the wall to her left, and just as expected it moved away from her, rising up into the ceiling, uncovering another dark tunnel.

With a resigned huff she created another orb of light, but this time she held it in her hand turned downward, her palm above the light to protect her eyes from the glare of it and to keep them used to the dimness the small source of light provided. Emma didn’t expect trouble, but it didn’t hurt to be prepared and she didn’t know if she would need to extinguish the light before she left the passage. So, directed by the strong magic that seared the air around her, the blonde went in, the clicks of her boots over the hard stone floor her only companion.

Following the magic to its source, the Sheriff crossed the length of the passage and entered into what seemed to be a book repository of sorts, the crystals along the walls and shelves lighting up as soon as she stepped into the room, showing her the largeness of the space, but since no one was there she kept going, choosing one corridor between the high shelves filled with books and scrolls as a path leading her to the other side of the chamber. As the falls of her boots echoed throughout the cavernous depository for knowledge, she traversed the row, at all times keeping herself aware of the position of the source of the sharp magic at work. Clearing the aisle, she found herself at the end of what she absently termed the library, her eyes faced with shelves covered wall. But, as her eyes passed over the many books she saw another cleared corner, its emptiness clearly suggesting another passage. The Savior approached it, expecting the repeat of her prior success; however, it did not open to her as the previous one had. Even after directing a small amount of her magic to attempt to force it open, the stone remained still, resisting her.

Clicking her tongue in annoyance, Emma turned around and looked for another way out of the library, hoping to find another door, another room that would bring her closer to Regina. 

* * *

Two hours she had spent going through every nook and cranny the Temple had, incidentally discovering the main entrance to the underground chambers, but the Sheriff had no luck in finding a way to her lover. However, instead of giving in to her frustration and tearing the stones apart by the sheer force of her magic, she sat at the table she had noticed on her first pass of the library and focused inward, closing her eyes and breathing deeply, using her magic to get a sense of the space around her. It was one of the things the dragon had taught her, but she had rarely felt the need for such measures before.

The very moment she sank deeply into her mind, she remembered why she hadn’t liked this method of searching. Ordinarily, she was very much attuned to the magic around her, recognizing signatures of different people and creatures effortlessly, especially if she had felt their particular magical scent before. That was how she always knew if Aileen was near, or others that possessed abilities were around her. However, sinking fully into her magic allowed her to feel more, and her senses could reach out much farther than anyone could actually conceive, thanks to all the training she had received from Guardian and Rumplestiltskin. With this method she could feel the magic of the border surrounding Brocéliande, she could sense the herd of Unicorns to the North of the Temple and also she could feel the Yaoguai close to the border south from the village. Of course, knowing where the Wolf and Guardian were at that very second also came with ease in this state, and this method also allowed her to see the enchantments on objects and even charmed things themselves. So, as she was focused in such a way, the sharp scent of the active magic around her grew overbearingly cloying, stinging her eyes as she hissed in effort to ignore it, focusing rather on the underlying and much more familiar scent – one that she had sought for, for the moment discarding a strange mixture of sweet and breezy magic of the fairy kind and one of True Magic Born but noting its origin for later.

With Regina’s magical signature pinpointed, all that was left for her was to find a way to it, and her magic obeyed, guiding her back to the passage to Gorlois’s secret study. This time, she didn’t need light, as she kept her eyes closed, her magic functioning as another, much sharper, sense – providing enough orientation for her to move unencumbered in the darkness.

It was bizarre, Emma remarked silently as she slowly walked, to see, for the lack of a better word, the world around her in the colors of the magic she possessed. Customarily, Guardian had informed her, practitioner of such method would see everything in black and one color, the most dominant color of one’s power, but as she had access to many types of magic in her, even before all the blessings and teachings, she could see the world around her in various shades of blue, shimmering and barely there tendrils of gold, and brilliant clear white that in places reflected as rainbows, much like a precious diamond under sunlight, along with flickering shades of red, silver and bronze. If she didn’t know better she would have thought she had ended up in a bad and weird acid trip, losing her mind. Disregarding the fact that the past two years had been insane…

Despite her musings on the colors of her magic, Emma didn’t miss the hidden door her magic had found, right in the middle of the passage. Pressing lightly against the block of stone clearly marked by her senses, the Sheriff wasn’t surprised when the rock slab moved. It didn’t disappear on its own as others before, but it did shift slightly, allowing the blonde to push the stone aside, discovering a small and steep circular stairwell leading up. Squeezing past the tight entrance, Emma followed the stairs up, finding herself in an empty cavern.

The chamber was bare and large judging by the echoes of Emma’s steps, the strong and overbearing presence of the active magic making it hard for Emma to see the edges of the space, the energy coursing through the air making everything blurry and undefined. Opening her eyes, she was momentarily blinded by the darkness surrounding her, the suddenness of the adjustment forcing her to stop in place. Cursing softly at the startling change, Emma waited for her eyes to adapt, after a while noticing something else in the cavern. The air in the place was fresh and cold, circulating in the chamber and creating a barely there breeze. And, in the seconds that followed Emma also noticed strange shafts of light coming out of the floor deeper in the cavern.

Drawn to the light, the blonde slowly walked toward it, her steps on the roughly hewn floor careful and soft. It took her a minute to realize that the shafts of light in front of her were coming from a half-sphere jutting out of the floor, and as she drew nearer she could see more into the room below, noticing that the light was coming from an active shaft of magic streaming through the room. Only when she came upon the sphere, she saw her beloved surrounded by bright light, her posture tense and frozen with her hands in front of her, one holding a dagger firmly clenched while the other held a red stone covered in blood that was slowly oozing down and dripping on the floor.

“Regina,” she shouted, but the brunette did not give any acknowledgement to Emma’s voice. The Savior then took a deep breath, prepared to shout again but the words of the dragon, uttered only the night before came to her mind.  _ She is where she is needed to be and you cannot interfere. _ Releasing her breath in a disappointed huff, Emma glanced around the hidden chamber and saw Morgan at the other side of the room; she too gripped in magic of whatever ritual the two women had invoked. With a shake of her head, the blonde retreated, taking the stairs down and closing the hidden door behind her. However, she did not go to Gorlois’s study right away.

Quickly, she walked to the corner she had judged to be the entrance to the secret room and casted a low powered ward upon it, set to alert her if someone was to trigger it. Then, she went to the study, ready to continue on with the task of finding the scarab.

It did not take her long to unearth a small iron case containing the scarab, resting in blood red silk. In fact, her previous exploration with the magical radar, for lack of a better word, had made it quite easy for her to find it, as she had noted the location of the peculiar scent of fairy and True Love Born magics. With the primary task of her current quest completed, Emma returned the iron container to its hiding place, deeming it a safe enough place for it to be in until the time came for Emma to take it out of Brocéliande.

With a wistful smile, Emma turned around the room, her eyes scanning the many curiosities around her as she donned her cloak, promising herself that she would return on the following night, to further explore the secrets of Gorlois’s study and the Temple, before she disappeared in the darkness of the tunnel leading out to the cliff and the steps.

It was still dark when she emerged outside, the door opening for her even without her prompting. Her head hanging low as she looked down to the valley below, Emma could almost imagine her mentor craning her long neck in an effort to see the Savior, the vicious teeth uncovered by a pleased grin. That was until the dragon would roll her yellow eyes at the Knight and chuckle, lowering and curving her neck into a sleeping position. Shaking her head at her idle musings, Emma stepped on the first block of stone, hearing the soft grinding of the rock wall behind her. She didn’t need to look over her shoulder to know that the entrance to the Temple had closed, and with measured steps, she climbed up and reached the solid ground, not at all surprised that when she touched the marked stone with her boot, the stairs retreated into the rock surface of the cliff.

Standing there, at the edge, waiting for the Sun to come up reminded Emma of another morning she had stood at the incredible heights, surveying the world under her. However, then she had shared the view with the woman closest to her heart, the gentle warmth of the body beside making it obvious that she had not been alone there, at the top of the world. Now, as the dawn approached, Emma could not help but feel the sharp sting of the coldness that had nothing to do with the winter and everything with the solitude she had found foisted upon her. Releasing a long breath out of her lungs, she waited until the fog of her exhalation dissipated before she placed her hood over her head and pivoted on her heel, heading back to her quarters.

As she entered her room without seeing anyone on her way back, she left the door open, assuming that the young healer would soon follow and laying out her cloak at the foot of the bed, Emma walked over to the table and sat in her usual place at it, her hand reaching for the jug to get some water.

“Out for a midnight stroll?” the Savior heard from the door, shrugging in answer to the young woman standing there, before raising a brow at the question. “Your boots are still wet,” the healer remarked as she gestured toward Emma’s feet with her free hand. Closing the door behind her, the woman came to the table and took the seat closest to the Savior. “Have you at least slept?” she asked quietly as she motioned for one of Emma’s hands.

“I have,” the blonde replied in a weary voice as she brought water to her lips, letting the girl have her other hand.

“If you want, I can get you more of the tonics I’ve given you before,” Gwen offered softly, her eyes darting over the Savior’s face before focusing once more on the hand in front of her, her nimble fingers doing away with the bandages.

Emma hummed in acknowledgement before she shifted in her seat. “There is still some left in the flasks you’ve given me, not that I need it.” Catching one of Gwen’s fingers with her freshly unwound hand, the Savior caught the woman’s eyes. “Thank you for offering, Gwen, but I won’t take them without a really good cause. You see, I was never a sound sleeper.” Straightening her palm, she released the healer’s finger and leaned back. “I am used to short nights and long days.” 

The girl hummed in acknowledgement as she peered at the blonde before she reached for the other palm, deftly unwinding the bandages there too. When Emma’s hands were both free of cloth, the healer looked them over, tracing the skin over the palms and fingers with care, searching for the remaining damage. Not finding it did not take her by surprise as she had known the Savior healed quickly on her own. Nodding to herself, the young woman took out a small vial out of a satchel hanging from her belt. With practiced ease, she pulled the cork stopper and poured a little of the liquid over Emma’s hand, before she started massaging it into the skin, first spreading what turned out to be oil over the palm and the back of the hand before the girl started using her thumbs to press into the hand, making sure to work over every finger and every bit of the palm. “It should start to tingle any moment now,” the girl warned as she continued her massage.

“It does,” Emma remarked softly. “What is that?”

“Mixture of oils to keep the skin hydrated and soft,” Gwen said, glancing at the Savior, before she grasped the other hand and poured more oil. “I press it myself,” she said, pride evident in her voice as she repeated the process.

“I mentioned yesterday that Percival had brought up the young woman and her child that had died,” Emma spoke carefully after a minute of silence passed, spent in watching the healer rub in the regenerative oil into her skin. “Well, the reason for that conversation was the Knight’s desire to leave Brocéliande when Regina and I do, to join us in our struggle. He informed me that most of the men would follow him, and us…” When Gwen lifted her head, her eyes meeting Emma’s with a slight crease forming on her forehead, the blonde paused. “He and Aileen are of the opinion that Morgan, with the new heir found, would retreat to the Lake and Avalon,” she added softly.

“What are you asking?” the young healer spoke as she placed cloth gloves onto the Savior’s hands, her voice only containing mild interest.

“Well, would you like to come along?”

Gwen glanced at Emma’s face before she leaned back and sighed. “I am a Healer, and until my Mistress releases me, I am to serve at the House of Healing,” she replied tightly. “But, let’s say Morgan indeed decides to join the rest of her family and leave these parts of the Enchanted Forest. Then, I suppose, yes, I would come along, offering my services to those in need of them. That is, unless the Heir doesn’t have different orders for me.”

“Like?”

“Placing me in charge of Dragon’s Bluff and the Temple,” the young woman replied with concerned seriousness, crossing her arms over her chest.

“Is that something you would want?” Emma asked, peering at her companion with curiosity. If she were to guess, the Savior would bet on Gwen being afraid of being left behind to protect what would amount to a deserted village.

“I wouldn’t mind coming back here from time to time,” the girl replied wistfully, “but, I don’t want to spend another eternity in this place, not aging – not living.”

Emma rose from her seat and crouched beside the girl, placing her clothed hand over Gwen’s wrists. “As I have some influence with the Heir,” she spoke conspiratorially, offering her a charming wink, and succeeding in drawing a surprised chuckle out of the demoralized woman, “I can make sure that you are not stuck in this place after we leave.”

“I would be much obliged, my Lady,” Gwen spoke solemnly, as she tried to suppress a relieved smile curving her lips. When Emma clacked her tongue at the honorific and rose from her crouch, the girl grabbed her chance to ask about something she had noticed when she had entered the room that morning. “May I ask you something private?” she murmured as she watched Emma walk away from her.

“Sure,” the Savior replied, lowering herself in front of the fireplace, and using soft tendrils of her magic instead of her hands, she built the fire and set it alight, the process that would ordinarily last several minutes reduced to seconds.

“You seem lighter this morning,” the healer noted, not even surprised when the fireplace was filled with flames. “More content.”

Emma chuckled at the narrowed eyes peering at her. “You still haven’t asked a question, Gwen,” she said with an indulgent smile. “But, let’s just say, some of the anxiety I have been feeling before this morning has been assuaged.”

Gwen hummed at the Savior’s vague answer, noting to herself that if the woman’s nightly excursions provided comfort she needed, she wasn’t going to comment further on it. Gathering her things, she nodded absently to herself and rose from the chair, intending to leave the room. But before she reached the door she turned and addressed the woman still sitting on the floor beside the fireplace. “You can remove these gloves when the oil is fully absorbed into the skin, and I would recommend wearing your gloves the entire time you are outside.”

“Of course,” Emma whispered gratefully, smiling at the healer. “Thank you.” Watching the healer go and close the door behind her, the Sheriff sighed slowly as she leaned against the warm stones beside the fireplace. She wasn’t surprised by the fact that many of the people stuck in Brocéliande would like to leave. After all she would be the first one to admit that she was bored with the quiet life, and she had been in the village for only two weeks or so. What did surprise her was Morgan’s non-action regarding the villagers’ morale and her willful choice to condemn what was left of Camelot and Tintagel to this poor existence.

* * *

The Savior hadn’t lounged by the fire for long. After grabbing a light breakfast from the communal kitchens, she had set out to find the wolf and Percival, bumping into them almost immediately at the steps of the House of Healing, as they had tried to stumble down to the morning meal, obviously suffering from a hangover.

Sparing the two most of her teasing, Emma had waited for them to eat and become something resembling human beings again before she had inquired in their plans for her on that day.

The knight had taken her to the smithy where she had met a curious middle aged man, who had obviously perfected his craft during his prolonged stay in Brocéliande, judging by the many of products hanging off the walls of the small hut. The man, Roan, she had recognized as one of the people who had performed at the festivities, remembering the merry tune he had played, accompanied by a steady beat of his foot, the strong thumps of his leg pulsating through the logs into the floor, vibrations reaching the half-filled cups, the surface of drinks constantly moving.

It was the sound of hammer hitting metal that clued Emma in where the three of them were going as they passed most of the buildings of the small village, reaching a large hut on the far outskirts of the hamlet. The building was slightly bigger than most of the buildings in the village, except the Marble Halls and the kitchens, rectangular in shape with a large chimney built from the ground up in the middle of one of the longer sides, while the entrance was on the shorter side facing the village. Percival opened the door and let the women go inside first before he let the heavy oak swing back into place.

Emma had seen many of Regina’s memories as the Queen had toured the forges and armories for her troops, and she had seen plenty of movies that had boasted with ‘authentic’ smithies in them, but all those secondhand visions had not prepared her for the experience of this particular shop.

She didn’t know what was worse, the sweltering heat that was pouring of the large fire or the skull piercing sounds of the hammer, and as she pressed her hands onto her ears trying to muffle the sound somewhat, she noticed a large man leaning over the wide anvil, only able to see his large and bulging arm bringing down an enormous hammer, striking a still orange piece of metal, before he lifted the malleable material and dropped it into a large trough-like bucket filled with liquid, nodding satisfyingly at the resulting hiss of steam rising from the trough. Then he turned and straightened up, showing his huge and muscled body, encased only in hard hide apron and heavy duty leather pants, rolling his shoulders and stretching his back backwards, using a towel hanging off his belt to wipe his face, his expression turning into a pleased smirk as soon as his dark green eyes fell on his visitors.

“Percy,” he spoke in a deep and rumbling baritone that Emma could feel in her own chest before he inclined his head to the women, “Wolf, Geilgeis,” addressing them only with one word each. Then he motioned them over to a trap door leading them into a small but decorated cellar where it was noticeably cooler, and gesturing at the chairs surrounding a small table, he reached for a full skin hanging on the wall beside the table and several tin cups, silently offering his guests the drink.

Accepting the cup from the towering man, Emma paid attention to his looks under the light of several lanterns spread throughout the cellar. His black, sweaty, hair was gathered at the back of his head in hand long ponytail, uncovering his clean shaven face and square jaw. He wasn’t an extremely handsome man, but his blockish features did give him some charm, making his bulking size seem almost unthreatening, even though he was several inches over seven feet tall. But, the Sheriff had seen the power of his hands and she knew that he could snap bones with little effort, should he ever want to. As the man turned his back to the others, untying his apron and rummaging for a shirt to toss over his sweaty torso, Emma saw burn scars covering most of his shoulder blades, noting by the scarring patterns that it had been contact burn. However, Emma’s examination was interrupted by Aileen’s subtle kick to her foot, drawing the blonde’s attention just in time to avoid any embarrassing moments with their host as the man turned, a light shirt hanging off his frame, sticking in places. Then, Roan joined them at the table, waiting for someone to break the expectant silence.

“I know you’ve probably heard,” Percival started after uncomfortably clearing his throat. “Emma is in need of a new sword.” His eyes darting toward the Savior, he added “And, Gwen has recommended for her to get bracers, as well.”

“Aye,” the large man grunted with an exaggerated nod, before he took a sip of the fruit wine. “Bracers I’ll make, the ones here are too big,” he continued after he swallowed, focusing onto the Savior, his eyes taking in her forearms, already calculating the sizes of the plates. “You be Savior,” he added gruffly as he looked into her eyes. “I’ve no sword worthy of you.” However, before his guests could counter his words he waved his hand, his eyes still focused on Emma’s. “But, if you’re to help me, I can make you the best blade you will ever have.”

Percival blanched at his words, lowering down his cup, the tin hitting the table surface a bit harder than he intended, sloshing the wine over his hand. “Roan, you don’t mean…?” he murmured in amazement.

“Why would you need my help with the sword?” Emma asked, glancing at the knight by her side, not understanding his reaction to the blacksmith’s words.

“You found more of the ore, didn’t you?” the dark skinned man whispered but the smith paid him no heed, as he spoke to the Savior.

“To shape this ore, I need the help of magic. I would go to my queen for this, but she has sworn not to use her powers in such ways, as she would not create tools of war and blood anymore.”

But, before Emma could ask more, Percival grabbed her hand, having grown tired of being ignored. “The ore he speaks about is the one that can be found just here, and Roan has managed to purify it only with the use of magic during the smelting process, the metal becoming too brittle otherwise. When Morgan helped him, the dagger’s blade he forged became nigh indestructible.”

“Even though our queen has refused to participate, I have been gathering the ore and I believe I have enough for both the bracers and a new sword,” Roan added to Percival’s explanation.

“How long would it take?”

“Four days, at the most. If we work on it during the whole time, it can be done in two without the quality suffering. But, faster than that would only produce failures.”

Emma drank her wine as she considered his words. “There is no need to rush,” she spoke after a while. “But, I still want to speak to Morgan and Regina first before we start.” Of course, her desire to speak to Morgan had no bearing on her need for a new sword, but she did want to wait for Regina to emerge from that damned Temple before she committed herself to any tasks that might take her focus away. Apart from Regina’s absence, Emma had one more reason for wanting to delay the blacksmith. She had the library of Tintagel at her hands, and along with Guardian and her knowledge, she believed she could indeed use magic to make the most amazing sword that had ever been forged. Her motivation wasn’t guided by vanity or conceit, but by the simple fact that she wanted the sword to represent the Sheriff, the Keeper of the Balance, rather than the Savior – who in time seemed to become a caricature of a Good Hero. And, she was already ordered to wear the chainmail that had inadvertently united the Kinds in its making, so why not do something similar to the sword, only this time, she hoped to gain willing participation from others.

“As you wish, Geilgeis,” the blacksmith replied with a small head bow. “Bring your old sword,” he spoke after several minutes of contemplative silence, startling Emma out of her pensive thoughts. “You’re used to it, right?”

His question sparked the blonde’s understanding of his request. He would need to know the size and the shape of the sword, as well as the kind of grip she used. And, indeed, through many hours of practice and training, she had gotten attached to that particular style of blade, and despite Percival’s commendable effort to get her proficient in other types of blades and styles of combat, she still preferred the sword out Regina’s armory, missing its comforting weight around her hips and the familiar hilt being close to grip it. “I’ll bring it by.”

“So, what is this I hear about leaving?” the giant of the man spoke after he had nodded appreciatively in Emma’s direction, swiveling his head to Percival. “Is it true?”

The knight nodded and launched into explaining how most of his men were feeling, while Aileen inconspicuously motioned to the Savior to go upstairs, leaving the two men to their conversation. “They are going to be a while,” the Wolf said quietly as they left the smithy, leading the other woman down the path to the other side of the village. “Roan is going to be busy these days if Percy has his way.”

“I’ve heard from Percival and Gwen on the subject, but you have not said a word either way,” Emma commented quietly as they strolled about the village, nodding away in greetings as they passed people on their way. “What do you think?” she asked after a brief pause, casting a side glance at the woman walking beside her.

The Wolf’s eyes flickered towards the Savior before she sighed. “These are not my people, Geilgeis, and even though they are my friends, I cannot get involved.”

Emma nodded, having expected a non-committal reply. “Your opinion is what I asked for, Aileen,” she prodded softly, reaching for the shifter’s forearm. “It will not go any further,” she swore.

During their walk they had arrived to the cliffs where Emma had emerged the day before, and the shifter walked toward the edge, stopping only a foot away from the drop, her face turned up, letting the weak winter Sun bathe her skin with its warm rays, not even noticing that the blonde had stopped several steps behind her, to let her think in peace. After several minutes of uninterrupted silence, the wolf sighed and looked down to the inscrutable depths of the gorge. “I always thought of this place as a deadening paste,” she spoke slowly, her words seemingly unrelated to Emma’s question, but the Savior let her speak. “It’s good for you while you’re bleeding or in pain, but if you use it the whole time you just become numb to the outside of yourself.” The woman swiveled on her heel to look at the Savior, a wan smile on her lips and a sad look in her eyes. “Morgan is my friend and a complicated person who has suffered immensely in her life. So, I understand her need to escape the pain. To escape the sharp edges of loss that she has undergone.” The shifter stepped closer to the blonde. “I do not agree with it, but I understand it,” she added, the compassion for the queen of Camelot clear in her voice.

“If I understood correctly, she remains here because of a promise to Regina’s father,” Emma said softly, appreciating Aileen’s candor. “If that is true, with Regina’s ascension, that promise would be fulfilled and she would have no reason to demand from others to stay here any longer,” she offered.

“She’s gotten stubborn in her old age,” the wolf smirked. “More stubborn, I should say, for she was always persistent.” The smirk dropped off, as the woman’s face quickly grew serious. “I don’t know if she would be willing to leave, after so many years of comfortable numbness of this place.” Clucking her tongue, the wolf shook her head. “It’s pointless to discuss this without even knowing what is on her mind, especially now that she has found an heir in Regina. I guess we have to wait for the two of them to emerge out of the Temple before making any further headway on the topic.” Offering a slight shrug, Aileen motioned toward the path and set them on course to the village, engaging the Savior in a lighter conversation regarding the ideas Emma had for the next training session with Percival, managing to draw a sharp laugh from the blonde with a well-placed teasing comment regarding her style.

The blonde allowed her friend to pull her away from the cliff and change the subject, considering the words the shifter had shared with her in the privacy of her mind while she participated in Aileen’s attempt to dispel the somber mood that had enveloped them, promising to herself that she would return to the Temple in a few short hours. But, for the moment she smiled indulgently at the wolf and let herself be entertained.

Later, in the afternoon, Emma came to the main entrance to the Temple, willing to see if she could open the door from the outside. She had made sure that no one would be able to follow her and she had left a note in her quarters if someone was to look for her company. The thing was, the previous night’s exploration of the secret quarters was too short for Emma’s taste, and as the Temple boasted to be the biggest knowledge repository known to her, she was quite intrigued by it. And, also, she wanted to see if some of the puzzling things in her past dealings with the ‘Fairytale Land’ had explanations somewhere within. So, bringing up her magic, the Sheriff focused on the hidden door, almost surprised by the ease it was opened with. In fact, the main door was far less complicated to open than the one leading into Gorlois’s personal study, but still hard enough to crack so not everyone could open it. The blonde had strong suspicions that the door opened so easily for her because of the odd similarity her magic held to the remnants of the founder’s magic, and that if she hadn’t been a True Love Born the main door would remain firmly shut no matter how powerful the Savior might have been.

Stepping into the library, the Sheriff instantly invoked the time-spell she had mastered under Guardian’s tutelage, feeling a bit of a strain as she had enveloped the whole Temple in it, but carefully excluding the secret room where her beloved and her host were, not knowing how the magics would react if mixed. Discarding her cloak and gloves at the now familiar table, she walked deeper among the shelves, reading the titles and figuring out the sections of the library. Roaming the rows, she would collect the books that drew her attention, the topics of the volumes covering a wide range of subjects, from finessing certain types of spells, to empirical studies of Realm Travel. It really helped that her abilities in fast reading and comprehension of magical theory had been further developed by becoming the dragon’s apprentice, allowing her to devour books at incredible speeds. It was one of the benefits of having Guardian teach her the Mind Magics, as the flying beasts were notoriously the masters in such arts.

So, Emma read and she learned, refusing to waste time spending another night sleepless in her room, evading her tortured dreams, often making small breaks to eat, drink and stretch her muscles.

In her quest for knowledge, the Savior stumbled upon a row of old and musty tomes, hidden away in the back of the library. Coming closer, she picked one from the shelf at the height of her eyes, using her fingers to trace the title, feeling the slight concealment charm embedded in the covers.  _ The Recorded Prophecies of Boyle the Incomprehensible _ the title read after she had pushed a small bit of her magic to conquer the concealment, making Emma chuckle at the man’s name. Returning the book in place, she selected another and another, quickly recognizing that the entire section was filled with various premonitions and prophecies, some grouped by the author and some by the Kingdom they came from. With such realization, the blonde lost interest in the section, as prophecies held no relevance in her desire to learn more.

However, as she turned to leave, her eyes fell upon a gray tome, placed at the edge of the shelf. Book in itself was unremarkable, the gray leather creased and dry with age. But what drew Emma’s eyes was a symbol etched into its spine, the symbol that glimmered under the crystal lights of the library. It was an Elvish word, obviously imbued with magic, meaning a collection. Intrigued by the oddity, she took the tome and noticed that there was no title on the leather.

Carefully opening it to the first page, the blonde gasped as she was confronted by more of Elvish script followed by a translation into English. The common tongue stated that the book was called  _ Compendium of Magical Prophecies with Their Translations and Interpretations _ , but as Emma could read the original glyphs with ease, she noticed that the Elvish title stated something different –  _ Original Versions of Magical Prophecies and Common Misinterpretations _ . Amused by the discrepancy, Emma directed herself toward the table, intending to read the book. She had read a magical prophecy or two while she was in the Dark Castle, and she was quite interesting to see what the volume in her hands contained. Also, there was an overwhelming curiosity to see if any of the prophecies were about her, or her beloved. It wasn’t an idle musing, because her arrival was already prophesied by Rumplestiltskin, and her role in this world turned out to be far greater than anyone could have guessed. Plus, Regina had endured so much and she had changed so much, it would not be beyond the realm of possibility for her to end up in one of the premonitions.

Settling herself at the table, the blonde set the book in front of her and started reading, often letting out an amused chuckle at the disparity between the original words and the translations, despite the fact that the gross divergence between the two would almost certainly render the prophecies in question nulled. 

After two hours of reading about the prophecies and fourteen hours in the library, the Savior started reading the last prophecy in the volume, having not garnered any insight in the current events from the previous ones. She was ready to give up on the book but then the title of the particular premonition drew her attention back.  _ The Legend of the True Believer and his Power _ was written in the magical glyphs, and the thing that had captured Emma’s interest on the page was the fact that the word True had been inscribed in the same way as in the True Kinds, when in other cases the word would be depicted by a slightly but noticeably different glyph. Apart from that oddity, this particular legend’s title didn’t have a translation of its own, while every other translation held titles and annotations. Additionally, the translated portion of the page was almost half in size to the Elvish part. As she scanned through the common language text, three words jumped at her.  **_The Realms’ Walker_ ** .

_ Wait _ , she thought in surprise. Wasn’t that the wording Rumplestiltskin had mentioned when he had recounted his conversation with Snow and Elias to Emma one of the afternoons spent in the Dark Castle? Hadn’t that been the name Peter Pan had thought applied to her Henry? Hadn’t that been the reason behind the abduction?

She returned her eyes to the prophecy, reading it from the beginning; focusing first on the Elvish part, guided by her need to see if the prophecy truly was about Henry, and if it was, she needed to see if he was in further danger.

> _ The Son of two mothers, the Bridge between Realms, the Bond between Loves, the Innocence to guide Light, the Valor to redeem Dark, the Force behind Change - born of Light, raised by Dark, coming from the mixed bloods of Truth Seeker and the Deceiver, shaped by Love and Hope’s kind Heart, with courage unbent by fear, through mistrust He’ll guide with Faith, and Will shall be his weapon, for the power of his Belief will fell even the harshest of doubts. The Worlds at his reach, he’ll guide in prosperity, bridging the sides and forming the peace _ .

Emma sighed, as the words on the page could be perfectly used to describe her son. After reading so many manuscripts in there and in the library of the Dark Castle, she was used to the allegorical speech of the prophecies and she could easily decipher each individual clause. She was the Truth Seeker and Rumplestiltskin had been the Deceiver, his blood passed on through Neal to Henry. And hadn’t it been his belief that she was the Savior that had helped her break the curse? He had seen August’s leg, he had easily recognized the fairy tale characters in the people of the town, and he had even conquered some of Regina’s prevailing doubts about her deserving to be loved. And he was indeed brave, to the point of recklessness – the examples of the poisoned turnover and exploration of cordoned-off tunnels easily coming to mind.

Shaking her head, the blonde read the next paragraph, one that would typically give further insight in the prophecy.

> _ The True Believer will hold the power of unimaginable proportions fueled by his ability to force his will upon the boundaries of Magic, Physics and Time. With the capacity to bend the Laws of Reality, the True Believer will be able to manipulate the powers of Nature in times of his greatest need, capable even of opening small portals to other Realms guided by his Faith and Desire. His power of Will shall be comparable to the power of the mightiest of the True Kinds, earning him the title of True Believer. _

Well, he was the blood son of the True Love Born, Emma sighed again, comprehending why there was the particular distinction in the name. However, the Savior believed that Henry’s power didn’t manifest fully quite yet, but her son was still a ways away from physical and emotional maturity. Added to it was the fact that he had to believe in the things he wanted to achieve, and not knowing that it was even in the realm of possibility could seriously put a hamper on things. She would have to discuss this thoroughly with Regina before even daring to mention it to him, for she didn’t want to provide her soon to be teenage son who was quite used to getting his way, sometimes even by underhanded means, with too much power, especially not when the things were still far from okay.

As she looked back at the text, she noticed that all that remained of the glyphic inscription was a single line at the middle of the page, it in itself dividing the page into two segments, the Elvish and the common language parts.

> _ Turn the page to see the prophet’s rendering of the True Believer as a young boy. _

Following the instructions, Emma was met with the depiction that portrayed her son with such vivid artistry, that she didn’t question at all anymore how Peter had known he had the right person in his grasp. 

After spending several minutes gazing upon Henry’s slightly chubby face, longing for his smile and bright eyes, she returned to the previous page, skimming through the short mistranslation of the prophecy. In short, most of it had been lost due to inability to properly read the magical script, and what had been recorded in the common language was a pale shadow of the true text. The only two relevant parts that remained were that the person would be born of Good and raised by Evil and would be able to cross realms creating bridges out of magic, thus having the name of the Realms’ Walker. And such poor translation left a lot of room for a wide range of interpretations, like the one that Peter had indulged in. However, with Regina’s rehabilitation and the loss of other descriptors for the boy, along with Henry physically changing due to his growing up, he should be quite safe from anyone seeking the Walker, and so limiting the danger the prophecy presented to her son.

Having returned the book to its place, Emma slowly ambled back, her mind still in uproar over the discovery. She had hated the fact that she had been embroiled in Fate and Destiny, but to find out that her son possibly had the same thing hanging over his head was heartbreaking. When she reached the desk, she took in the power of the time ward, which enabled her to actually calculate accurately how much time she had spent in it and how much had passed outside of it. Almost sixteen hours had passed since she had erected the ward, which meant that only four hours had passed on the outside. It was still evening! Deciding to push the time fold for eight more hours, she returned back between the stacks and began again choosing the books from which to learn in her special way, rounding up her time in the ward to a day.

* * *

Emma stood at the center of the practicing field, her feet and knees easily encased into the fresh snow that had fallen during the night, and only her tracks were visible in the pristine whiteness. She had come early, wanting to go over the forms and exercises Mulan had taught her, and just as the brave warrior who had instructed her in the martial arts, Emma preferred to do them at dawn, with the rising Sun as her witness. However, when she had arrived at the place, she had been startled to see just how much snow had fallen during the night’s blizzard. Out there in the open, where the field hadn’t been shielded by the houses, it was more than two feet of the white powder, wet and malleable and extremely hard to walk over, as with every step it stuck to boots dragging the feet down. To Emma it had been a form of warm up, but now, as she stood at the center of the circle, she had a choice to make. Should she clear the field with her magic, because clearing it by hand would take precious time, or should she simply go through her forms through the snow, allowing the extra drag on her muscles? But, before she could even make a choice either way, she heard snow crunching under several pairs of boots, the sounds coming closer to her with each step, until finally, a voice pierced the quiet air around them.

“It’s a bit early, even for you, Geilgeis,” she heard Percival yell at her with amusement, still several dozen yards away.

She turned to look at the company, and smiled at the sight. Three men and Percival stood, all four of them looking at her with interest, and all four of them having spades resting over their shoulders. “It’s a rare day I sleep past first light, Knight,” she commented lazily, rolling her eyes at the snorting huff the man had the gall to let out.

After her six hours of absence, as soon as she had reached the House of Healing, just in time to get out of the worst of the weather, she had met the virtuous knight in the main hall of the building, and quickly arranged with him to meet for another practice in the morning, depending on the weather. But, what she had failed to take into consideration was the fact that he would have had to organize for the training circle to be cleared of snow in order for them to meet there and engage in sparring. The man had obviously known that bed wouldn’t keep her for long, so he had risen early enough to possibly beat her there. Only, he hadn’t been quick enough.

She didn’t have the heart to just get rid of the snow with magic, not when the men had gotten out of their warm and comfortable beds for her, at the crack of dawn. “I’ll just get out of your way then,” she said, walking over her old tracks and leaving the circle, her movement bringing her closer to the men. She saw Percival nod to his men and as soon as Emma had left the field, they started shoveling, moving in well-practiced formation, tossing the snow around the edge of the field, creating a low wall of packed white powder.

“Thank you,” the knight murmured softly as soon as she joined him. At her questioning look, he motioned toward the men with his chin. “I know you could have just…” he made a gesture with his hand, the sharp flick of his palm quite indicative of what he was trying to say. “Thank you for not making them feel superfluous.”

“I know how I would feel if someone had dragged me out of bed at the crack of dawn just to watch someone else do my job, faster and better than me,” she whispered, crossing her arms over her chest, angling slightly toward the men.

Percival chuckled lightly at her tone before he took in her appearance. The Savior was standing before him without her recognizable black cloak, dressed in a dark green tunic and fawn colored pants tucked into her black boots. If anyone else had been dressed like that in the snapping cold of the morning, Percy would have thought them mad or burning with fever, for he, even covered in the warmest clothes he had, was still feeling the winter chill seeping into his body. However, the blonde before him seemed unbothered; the only indication that she was feeling the freeze of the air was the rosy tinge on her cheeks and nose.

“They are not here just for the snow,” he spoke. At her quirked brow, he motioned toward where the underground cache of weapons was, using his own shovel to uncover it in four quick swings. “Today, I have something different in mind for you.” While the men cleared away the field, the knight explained his exercise plan to the blonde by his side. So far, the White Swan had been going through his tests of skill and power effortlessly, fighting off his best students with nonchalant ease, even after hours of incredibly fast paced duels and group challenges. In a low murmur he spoke of the terms and rules he had in mind for her, setting a challenge in front of her – one that he believed she would not so easily surpass.

Having agreed to his plan, Emma spent hours and hours avoiding the blades of her opponents, using her hands only to deflect, as Percival had wanted her not to fight back, just evade and defend if necessary. It was a good exercise, the Sheriff noted as she slid under the swinging sword coming at her. It tested her agility, endurance and speed, with forcing her to engage spatial awareness to the full without resorting to her magic. The first three opponents had been the men who had come with Percival, but soon they had been replaced with another three, giving the first crew a much needed time to rest. Emma fully expected the men to go back to the village and rest, but they had instead chosen to sit by the field, having lit fires to keep themselves warm and dry, the contained flames providing enough heat to melt the snow around them. After another hour, another group of men had come, and the three Emma had been evading had gone to join the previous group, watching the Savior continue to display the range of her skills.

By the fourth hour, quite a large group gathered around the training circle, consisting not only of the soldiers but also the villagers who had been drawn by the excited shouts coming from the area, and filled in by the awed soldiers, the people of the hamlet had chosen to stay and watch the mysterious hero twirl and pivot, jump and slide, duck and roll in an amazing and frightening dance. Beside the knight, who had watched the Savior almost unblinkingly for the duration of the exercise, stood the young healer with her supplies at the ready, even though she hadn’t needed them that morning just yet, unlike most times when Emma had been in the ring – the blonde woman leaving some of the most unruly warriors with cuts and bruises, punishing them for their prideful refusal to admit defeat. But, for the moment, Gwen had no patients, the man beside her changing shifts the minute he would notice his men flagging down. 

The young woman was watching the blonde, surprised to note that not even her clothes had suffered during the continuous scrimmage, even though Emma had been starting to get winded and drenched in sweat. “She is slowing down,” she noted softly, directing her comment to the knight.

“About time,” Percival mumbled, not taking away his eyes from the people in the circle. “However, it is up to Geilgeis to stop the challenge. Either she stops it, or she drops from exhaustion.”

“I believe your men will drop first,” Aileen said from Percival’s other side, having heard both Gwen’s comment and the man’s reply. “Yes, Emma is slowing, but she still could go on for hours.” Her eyes darted toward the gathered soldiers, taking in the state the most were in, her lips twisting into a barely suppressed smirk. “Look at them, Percy. Look how sprawled over the ground they are. Even with the rotations and rests, she is driving them down.”

“I’ve never seen anyone maintain this tempo of action for so long,” the dark skinned knight sighed. “And, even with the fact that she is not weighed down with armor and weapons, she should have been fatigued by now.”

“Hard to imagine that only days ago she could barely lift her sword, isn’t it?” the shifter chuckled. “Geilgeis isn’t an ordinary person, Percival, you must remember that. She is not using magic, but it is part of her, just like my Wolf is part of me, and there is some transference even when she has it completely locked down. And, you have been pushing her for more than a week, improving her endurance by bounds and leaps.”

“She works on it alone, as well,” Gwen added softly, remembering that the she-wolf had mentioned finding Emma in the forest going through meditative motions. Also remembering that the Savior had apparently climbed the entirety of the rise from the valley below to the Dragon’s Bluff, and by the side that was most arduous to traverse, requiring an insane amount of stamina and perseverance.

“And, if you challenged her,” Aileen added pointedly, “her stubbornness alone would push her through.”

“Alright, she’s proved her point,” Percival yielded, uncrossing his arms in defeat. He stepped forward, intending to end the spectacle, not quite willing to see his men so utterly depleted. Just as he was about to call out to the Savior, who was in the midst of evading two swords slicing the air around her, he saw her freeze for a smallest of moments. With his eyes peeled to the combat he grasped in an instant that his men would not be able to stop their forward motion, one of them not even realizing that the blonde warrior in front of him was too still, and not quite cognizant of the blade heading toward her chest. “Halt!” he shouted, his voice travelling quickly and strongly over the practice arena, stunning the crowd into the silence, but his order came too late.

Emma simply ignored the chatter coming from the sidelines, even though the tired soldiers were sharing their impressions and projections about the exercise quite loudly. As she moved fluidly over the cleared field, dodging her attackers, she felt herself zone into the familiar meditative state, where she could focus on her moves and the moves of her opponents, letting her senses guide her without forethought, as she simply reacted to her surroundings. She was aware of everything around her, but she didn’t contemplate it, just accepted that it was there. Emma had found that with such a way of focusing, her attention would not wander at an inopportune moment, drawn by too loud a sound or too sudden a move from the people surrounding the circle. And, it allowed her to track the movements of all of the three men surrounding her, without forcing her to keep her head on the swivel. She would feel their moves, and anticipate their motions and simply not be in places where their weapons would be.

However, that all changed when she felt something disappear from her senses. While her mind sorted through the sensations her body had catalogued in an effort to find what had changed, she continued to spar with the soldiers. But, as soon as she realized that what was missing was the signature of the magical ritual from the Temple, she froze.

_ Regina! _ Her thoughts screamed.  _ The ritual must be over _ ; she understood instantly, a deep sense of relief engulfing her.

But, that single action of stopping threw off her ability to deflect and avoid the attacks, and the elation that followed her realization cost her, because her attention was pulled away for a brief second, but long enough for her not to be able to jump away from the blades coming her way. One of the men had swung his sword, intending for it to catch Emma’s belly, while the other one lounged with his weapon aiming for her head, both men too sure that the Savior would evade them once more, with ease – but they had boxed her in, and with the moment of inattention, Emma had lost her time frame to move away. And, honestly, she didn’t want to waste any more time on trying to deflect the weapons or pushing the men physically away. In one second she unlocked her magic, and just about as Percival shouted for everyone to stop, Emma raised her hand, stopping the blade going towards her middle with her palm, making the force of the hit transfer back to the soldier, bouncing him off away from her. Again, with her magic, she stopped the man behind her from advancing at her, turning him immobile for a brief period of time, while she ignored the tip of a sword catching her on her cheek, creating a shallow but two inches long cut along her left cheekbone. By then, everyone had realized that something was wrong, and deathly silence ruled over the field, most of the watchers having witnessed her use of magic to defend herself.

“Emma,” she heard both Percival and Gwen exclaim with differing notes of concern, as both of them, along with Aileen rushed to reach her, but she didn’t look toward them but to the path toward the Temple and Temple itself, having already decided that she would be there when the warning from her notifying ward would be known.

“Come with me,” she ordered quietly, but sharply, her voice carrying a note that forced obedience out of the three now surrounding her, her hand catching the healer’s palm before it could reach the cut on her cheek. She looked at the young woman, still holding her hand. “Come with me,” she repeated in a softer tone, releasing the girl as soon as she nodded. As soon as she gained Gwen’s compliance, the blonde directed herself to the path, her steps quick and long before turning into a jog, as she used one brief pulse of magic to clear the path through the fresh snow.

The Savior didn’t look back, but if she had she would have seen the healer scramble to follow her without hesitation, the shifter moving in step with her and the knight ordering his men to stay there, and keep the villagers away from wherever the blonde was running to. But, Emma had only one thing in mind – to get to the Temple before the ward fell, before the door to the secret chamber opened. She ran toward the main entrance, not willing to part with the secret of the founder’s entrance, and as soon as she reached the place where it was, she forced the hidden stairwell to appear in a loud grumble, rising up from underneath its protective enchantments, a sharp gasp of surprise telling her that others had caught up with her.

“How did you…” Aileen uttered in wonderment, her question tapering off before finishing it.

“I thought no one but Morgan knew where the Temple was,” Percival spoke as he took in the sight before him, his mind quickly remembering the stories his queen had shared with him.

Emma didn’t even bother replying to his confused words, but rushed in, pausing only to urge others to follow her as they stood at the entrance, breathing heavily and looking down into the unknown shadows with trepidations. “Quickly,” she hissed sharply, her order startling them into motion and they stepped down into the famous Temple of Knowledge. Honestly, she didn’t care about the knight and the shifter following her. She only wanted and needed the healer beside her, in case Regina needed help. The others were only an afterthought, as the queen would need someone to attend to her as well.

As soon as her foot came down on the main floor of the Temple, the crystals lit up and the entrance behind her closed, hidden from the outside view once more. Emma paused, needing a moment to adjust to the absence of the raw pulsating power that had been there every time she had sneaked into the secret halls. Shaking her head, she walked over to the table she had spent hours at the night before, knowing that the door to the isolated chamber would open soon. Reaching her goal, she turned around and frowned when she saw the rattled looks on the faces of her friends.

The Knight was gawping at the magnitude of shelves spreading far, the stories of the Library and the temple coming true right before his own eyes. Used to hard exertion, his breath quickly leveled out, and shedding his coat, he tossed it over the table, before he approached one of the closest stacks, peering into the depths of the rows, hesitant to venture out on his own. He was joined by the curious wolf, as the older woman took in the size of the underground repository.

But, the youngest companion wasn’t faring so well. Doubled over, with one hand pressing hard into her side, Gwen breathed in quick and sharp gasps, trying to fill her aching lungs with air and calm her pounding heart. Moving toward the young woman, Emma noted the shaking knees and the sweaty flush covering Gwen’s pale skin. “Here,” she murmured as she led the healer to the chair, gently forcing her to sit down, lowering herself into a crouch in front of her. “Not much of a runner,” she spoke softly, her gentle teasing noticeable in her voice as she peered into the healer’s eyes, causing the girl’s lips to quirk into a barely there smile. “Better?”

Gwen nodded, her breathing finally under control. Relaxing her posture as her arm lowered down, falling into her lap, she whispered slowly, “Why are we here?”

Emma gestured toward the wall behind them. “Whatever your queen did with Regina, it is over,” she said. “We are waiting for them to come out.”

“How do you know?” the girl asked, bending toward the still crouching Savior, keeping her voice in an almost breathless whisper.

Emma smiled at the woman’s attempt of being inconspicuous and patted the hand resting in her lap gratefully. “I can feel it, Gwen,” she spoke with a pointed look, her eyes gentling when she saw the confused frown shift into understanding.  _ Magic _ . Just like Gwen could feel the injuries and illnesses in people, Emma could feel magic.

“That is how you found this place?”

Emma rose to her feet and hummed in confirmation, her palm landing softly on Gwen’s shoulder before she stepped toward the wall, crossing her arms in front of her. It had been more than ten minutes since the magical signature of whatever the two women had been involved in had stopped, and still there was no movement of the hidden door. Closing her eyes, the Savior delved into her magic, pushing it outwards, directing it towards the place where she supposed the door would open, but as before, her magic couldn’t push through without breaking the protective enchantments layered into the stones and crumbling the wall itself, destroying the library with it. “Damn it,” she hissed as she pounded the rock standing in her way with her glove covered fist, unintentionally using her magic to give it added strength and protection, the resulting sound of hard impact reminiscent of two boulders meeting at high speeds – the shock startling all four of them, driving the black skinned man and the shape-shifter closer to the healer, as they cautiously approached the frustrated sorceress.

“Geilgeis?” She-Wolf reached for the Savior, her strong fingers clasping the rock hard upper arm of the seething blonde. “Patience, Geilgeis,” the shifter murmured, trying to soothe the woman in front of her. The frustrated anger Emma exuded was worrying her, because the last thing they needed right now was a temper tantrum of an incredibly powerful magical being, especially when they were underground and surrounded by priceless books and artifacts.

The sharp metallic green eyes pierced the wolf as Emma turned her head toward her. “I have been patient,” she growled between her clenched teeth. “I have been more than patient, Wolf,” she said, stepping into Aileen’s space, the lips twisting into a snarl at the end, staring the shifter down into submission, her unyielding gaze drawing a subconsciously motivated yelp from the older woman still holding her arm. “I am done with it!” Emma hissed, but her manner gentled, her steely look releasing the shifter’s eyes.

“Geilgeis,” the shaken woman murmured again, her tone careful. “Emma,” she sighed. “I only meant they might need a bit more time.”

“I know.” The Savior nodded slowly. “Time…” she scoffed before she moved a step back, rolling her neck. “They’ve had enough time. Something’s off.” The blonde remembered the dark cavern right on top of the chamber where Regina was, and she gathered her wits about her, stepping further away from the wolf, turning toward the back of the library, intent on getting to the secret passage, and farther, into the cavern, to use the holes in the ceiling to see what was happening in the room. She only managed to make two steps before she more felt than heard the stones grinding as an invisible latch had been pressed. Whipping around, she saw the panel finally move, uncovering a small tunnel to the room behind the wall, triggering the ward Emma had set to let her know when what just had happened came to pass. 

And, there, alit with the pale light of the crystals, leaning heavily against the side of the passage, stood the woman Emma had been waiting for. “Regina,” the blonde spoke as she walked toward the newly opened door, drinking in the sight in front of her.

Her unfocused gaze drawn by the calling of her name in that beloved voice, Regina blinked at the presence in the library, having been convinced that no one knew the location of the secret place. As her beyond tired mind realized that the Savior was in fact there, waiting for her, she sighed in relief, the name of her love escaping her, and with it, she felt what was left of her strength dissolve, slumping down the wall.

The blonde saw Regina’s exhaustion in an instant, and rushing to her beloved’s side, she reached her just in time to catch her, letting the brunette rest her head on Emma’s shoulder, strong arms enveloping her in a secure and loving hold. “I’ve got you,” Emma said gently, kissing her True Love’s forehead, feeling the tranquility of finally being with Regina surge through her body. “I’ve got you.” 


	25. Chapter 25

Having been released from the artificial surroundings by Gorlois, Regina felt the jarring sensation of becoming aware of her own body. The invoked magic lasted just a few seconds more before fizzling out, taking away the bright light that had surrounded her vision, sudden change of illumination making her temporary blind and she crumbled down to the hard floor, dropping both the stone and the dagger – the two objects clattering away from her in the silence that followed the disappearance of the crackling hum of the magic, as her limbs lost their ability to hold her up, having kept her locked in one position for far too long. As soon as she felt her head touch the cold stones of the ground, Regina lost consciousness, her exhaustion overwhelming her in an instant.

It was a loud thunder that forced her out of the dark oblivion, the rumble of it spreading through the stones of the room she was in, the vibration of it oddly helping her center her muddled thoughts and hazy vision. Out, she thought through the pain that riddled her mind, she needed to get out. And rest. And find Emma. She needed Emma. It had been so long, for her at least, and she needed to see her love.

First things first. “Mo…” she tried to speak, but instead of the name, all she managed was an unintelligible croak, her throat feeling like she had been swallowing broken glass. Giving up on that for the moment, she clenched her seriously weak core muscles, trying to push her body to her side, and with a throat searing grunt she managed turn to her left, the simple maneuver almost making the hazy room around her swirl, the dizziness overcoming her for a brief time, drops of sweat dewing over her temples. Slowly, she brought her right palm next to her left shoulder and shifting her weight she clumsily lifted her head and upper body, using her left elbow for support when she managed that not so small feat. With the added height she could see the other woman lying on the floor, unconscious, and with the clear stone still clenched in her hand. So, she would not receive help from that side, and Regina gritted her teeth, knowing it would be up to her to leave this infernal secret chamber.

With a tentative control of her drained body, Regina pushed herself to her knees, the move forcing her to make another pause, as the dark spots danced in her vision. Thankfully, because of her time with Gorlois, she now knew how to release the security lock placed on the room, and with ginger and slow moves, keeping herself on her knees, she gathered the objects used in the ritual, barely succeeding in taking the clear gem-like stone out of Morgan’s unconscious grip. Grimacing at the pain radiating through her muscles and tendons, she hissed as she grabbed the beautiful wood and bone container with her left hand, irritating the deep cut on her palm. Reverently, she wiped the dagger using her sleeve and placed it inside the box, arranging the stones within it as well, her touch gentle and sentimental as she traced the sharp lines of the quartz.  _ Goodbye, Gorlois _ , she spoke in her mind, not even bothering to use her voice, not in the mood for one more thing to ache her. With equal veneration, she reached for the Dragon’s Blood, admiring its pulsing red color for a moment before lowering it into the box. Carefully, she closed the small chest and bracing herself against the wall, Regina lifted herself to her feet and returned the instruments of her ‘instruction’ back into their original place, twisting the light crystal to hide the panel. Then, using the wall as a much needed support to stay upright, Regina shuffled toward the small tunnel, struggling through the dizziness and the pounding headache her effort caused her to release the lock on her way into the passage.

As the door opened in front of her, allowing her to finally exit the chamber, she let out a sigh, listing heavily to the side where she was leaning against the wall, glad to have accomplished the first part of her plan – she was out. However, before she could even contemplate the next step, she heard that melodious and emotion-laden pronunciation of her name, the intonation and pitch specific to her beloved. But, it was impossible, wasn’t it? Emma couldn’t have been there. It was only exhaustion playing tricks with her mind. Right?

She lifted her head, trying to see if her mind had been conjuring hallucinations, the dark edges of her already blurry sight making the already hard task even tougher, but even with the impairments of her thoroughly depleted system, she couldn’t mistake the blonde’s presence for a mirage, her astonished gasp forming her lover’s name on her lips. If anyone could do the impossible, it was Emma, and the Sheriff had already proven that rules were arbitrary coming to her. As the relief of being in the Savior’s presence surged through her fatigued body, she felt her already perilous hold on her consciousness falter, losing the ability to hold herself up anymore.

And, even though she knew that Emma would never let her fall without catching her, she was surprised to find herself landing into a strong and gentle hold, with arms coaxing her head to rest on the shoulder of her True Love. “I’ve got you,” she heard Emma’s whisper as warm breath passed over her face, before gentle lips pressed against the sweat doused skin of her forehead. “I’ve got you,” her beloved repeated firmly, before shifting her gently in her hold, turning her so Emma could place her in a bridal carry.

Under her ear, she could hear the rumble of Emma’s concerned low voice as the woman addressed someone else, and unable to open her eyes, Regina let her lover’s soothing timbre wash over her. “Can you look her over? And her hand?”

A shadow fell over the half of her face that was turned outwards as warm hands touched her neck, turning her head gently outward as fingers pressed lightly under her jaw. Then the warm fingers skittered over to her injured hand, “She is just exhausted, Geilgeis, both magically and physically, but apart from that and the already half healed cut, she is fine.” There was a brief pause and the other voice continued. “You can take her to your room and I will join you later with bandages and ointments.” As soon as the gentle and soothing voice stopped speaking, Regina felt herself lifted as strong arms supported her weight, curving under her knees and shoulders. But, before Emma could make another step, the same voice from before added softly, “No magic, Geilgeis, not directly.” There was something else said but at that point the brunette sank into oblivion.

* * *

Emma paid no heed to the knight and the shifter as the two of them rushed into the small room, her attention solely taken with the woman in her arms, as she motioned with her head for the healer to come closer.

Gwen quickly examined the brunette in the Savior’s arms, more than pleased with her findings. The cut on the hand had been deep, but it had already started healing, the injured tendons and muscles knitting properly on their own, no doubt aided by the magic of whatever the two sorceresses had been doing in the chamber. All that was left for her to do was to cover the wound in healing paste and bind it. As for the sorceress, the exhaustion might require a tonic or two, but Gwen decided to let Emma take care of the woman first before giving them to her. If Regina was even remotely similar to the Savior in regards to healing ability, she might not even need anything but a good rest to recover. Sharing her conclusion with the blonde, she warned the woman about the magic, before turning to see if her Mistress needed help.

Following the other two into the tunnel, the healer’s gentle expression turned serious as she knelt beside her teacher, her hands quickly rushing to the prone monarch’s neck and face. Finding Morgan passed out on the ground sent a brief spike of fear through Gwen’s blood, but the young healer didn’t allow it to prevent her from her job. With the help of her knowledge and ability, she realized that the sorceress who had all but raised her was only sleeping, no doubt exhausted by the ritual.

“She’s alright,” she whispered, stepping back to allow Percival to gather the queen in his arms. “Just needs rest and food,” she spoke, helping to arrange the woman’s skirts over her legs, the hems tangled by Percy’s hurried lift. “Take to her quarters, and I’ll be soon, to give her some tonics for recovery.” Looking at the knight, she addressed both him and the shifter, sending them away as she remained a moment more, breathing deeply with her eyes closed.

The Savior’s anger had shaken her, even though it hadn’t been directed at her, and the icy gaze the blonde had pinned the wolf with had made her shudder with terror. Later, when those eyes pinned her down, summoning her to the Savior’s side, she couldn’t even think, but her feet obeyed with speed she hadn’t even been aware of. As soon as she had reached Regina, she had felt the invisible reins drop away from her, but then she had gone on with the assessment of the brunette’s state of health, not reacting to the strange power Geilgeis had commanded over her. It had been strange – she hadn’t felt afraid or even concerned when the power had guided her to do as it had commanded.

Taking another breath, she pressed her palms against her belly and pushed them downwards, her motion following her exhale, and with forced calm, she opened her eyes and stepped forward, leaving the isolated chamber, her feet pattering quickly as she rushed to leave the Temple, suddenly being alone in the giant room filled with volumes and volumes of books not at all comforting. Gwen reached the stairs to the entrance, gasping in relief as she saw the magical door open and waiting for her to get out. Not waiting a second more in the Temple, she climbed out and took off running toward the village, caring not a bit about the secret opening standing gaping wide.

It was the run that kept her warm against the cold air of the day, her pounding heart able to push the heat of her blood through her limbs so hard and fast, that she could even feel herself overheating in the clothes she had chosen for herself that morning. However, before she could even think of a way of taking some of the layers of cloth off her body in the midst of her breakneck dash, she found herself jumping the steps of the Healing House. And, there, at the door, Keith waited for her, worrying his hands.

“Oh, good, you’re here,” he blurted out as soon as he saw her running up the steps. “What in the blazes happened?” he asked as he took Gwen’s forearm and pulled her down to the working area for the apprentices. “First, Geilgeis rushed inside carrying Queen Regina in her arms like Firedogs themselves are at her feet, baying for their blood, scaring the life out of us, and then Percival appears with Queen Morgan in his hold with Lady Aileen by his side.” As he spoke, he followed the woman to her working area because he knew if anyone was to get to the bottom of this, it would be Gwen – Morgan’s favorite and most talented healer of them all.

“Is someone with Geilgeis?” the woman asked, not even bothering to try answering the panicked question the young man had asked. She didn’t look at Keith as she waited for him to answer, gathering the supplies to make her tonics, mixing the herbs and oils with practiced ease in two large flasks, tossing the straps over her shoulders and remembering to take bandages and some of her special healing paste, she walked back to the ordered shelves, reaching into baskets that held what she needed. 

“Yeah,” Keith replied quickly. “Briana followed after them.”

“Good,” Gwen nodded, the answer easing some of the tentativeness she was feeling, being pulled in two different directions. Her Mistress was attended to by the wolf, who was a fully trained healer in her own right, and Regina did seem to be in greater distress. If Briana was there with the Savior, she had a few minutes to drop off the tonic with Aileen, and then focus fully on the brunette sorceress. “Good,” she sighed, ready to leave but just before she came to the door, she turned, finding her friend staying behind, bewildered. “If Mistress wants to share what happened today, she will,” Gwen finally said something to respond to Keith’s mild panic attack. “In the meantime, go to the kitchens – broths, soups, mashed vegetables, as quickly as they can,” she instructed him, her voice turning a bit sharper as she assumed command. “Keith!” she snapped as he just stared at her with his mouth wide open. “Go!”

As her friend jogged away, she shook her head lightly before she set off to the queen’s chambers. It took her less than a minute to reach the door of her Mistress’s suit, and with a light knock she entered, directing herself to the bedroom, in her hurried walk almost knocking over the man standing only a foot behind the open bedroom door. She looked up and saw the knight stand there stiffly, his hands hidden behind his back, no doubt clenched in fists, with his eyes closed tightly shut and an uncomfortable expression still hovering over his brows. Before she could even ask Percival what was wrong, she heard a soft grunt coming out of the side of the room where the lavish bed was. And, there, Gwen saw Morgan sitting limply, leaning against Aileen’s shoulder while the wolf diligently continued to take off the queen’s clothes, and as soon as Gwen saw the naked shoulders of her Mistress she understood the Knight’s predicament.

“Percival,” Aileen spoke not looking away from her friend, one hand holding the sleeping woman upright, while the other worked the knots of the queen’s undershirt corset, “prepare the bath.” The knight hummed in acknowledgement and disappeared into the bathroom, making sure not to look at their side of the room. “He can handle everything you throw at him, but show him some skin and he turns into a bumbling and blushing boy,” the wolf commented under her voice, motioning Gwen to help her with the queen’s underwear.

The young healer chuckled softly at the wolf’s lighthearted tease, her movements fast and practiced, but still gentle enough so the patient would not feel the passing of cloth over her skin. “She is his Queen, and old enough to be his mother,” she spoke quietly, peering into the sleeping face of her mentor. “He’s not used to seeing her so vulnerable. Neither am I, for that matter.”

“And, yet you are not faltering every step while you are helping me take care of her,” the shifter noted softly, tossing a robe over the unconscious woman’s shoulders, in order to spare both Gwen’s and Percival’s sensibilities, before she tenderly gathered the sorceress in her arms and lifted her off bed, intent on taking her to the bathroom.

“That’s different, I am trained to attend to people in all matters of undress, and I am doing what I am taught,” the healer replied, not moving from her spot by the bed. “He wasn’t.”

Aileen nodded in acceptance, before she looked over the young woman. “I can hold my own here, if you need to go to Emma’s,” she offered, gesturing with her chin toward the bathroom. “It’s not the first time I’ve done this.”

“If you’re sure?”

“Yeah, we’ll be fine.”

Gwen nodded, not letting a trace of her relief show, even though she believed that the wolf knew what she felt either way. “The food is on its way, and here is the tonic she needs to drink for faster recovery,” she left one of the flasks of her shoulder on the table beside the bed. “One cup every hour.”

A loud murmur of acknowledgement came from the bathroom, Aileen having already gone inside with the other woman in her arms.

Her duty done for the moment, Gwen quickly left and tore down the hall and down the two flights of stairs, her hands holding the flask and her satchel close to her body, arriving to the guest rooms where the Savior and her Queen resided while in Brocéliande, surprised to find the door wide open. “Hello?” her voice sounded as she entered, her brows furrowing. The Savior had come to the House of Healing. Keith had said so, but where was she? And where was Briana?

“In here,” she heard the familiar voice of her friend and fellow healer coming from the side where she knew the bathroom was. Despite her hurry, she didn’t even reach the washroom, when Briana got out and offered a small smile and a wave in greeting before she left the Savior’s quarters, unusual tenseness in her posture betraying her unease in the presence of the two guests.

Gwen shook her head at her friend’s shyness and leaving all the supplies she had brought on the table, she undid her cloak and tossed it over one of the chairs, before she walked into the bathroom, expecting to see the sunken pool filled with steaming water. However, what she found inside was not that.

There, by the copper tub she had pulled out for Emma only days before, Geilgeis kneeled, her upper body dressed only in a loose shirt with sleeves rolled up past her elbows, smiling gently down at the woman in the tub, holding Regina’s hand to her face, not caring for the cut that had started bleeding once more, no doubt due to prodding by the errant fingers. By all appearances, the now unconscious sorceress had gained awareness some time before Gwen had entered the bathroom, even if it had been only for a short while – it apparently had been enough to alleviate some of Emma’s concern and worry.

* * *

They got to their quarters rather fast, though Emma hadn’t used her magic not even to ease her journey a little bit, Regina’s whole weight resting on her arms the entire time. The minute Gwen had spoken her warning about magic, the Sheriff’s full attention was focused on the woman in her hold, her body following Emma’s desires almost on automatic, muscles, limbs and tendons working in perfect concert to get the blonde from the Temple, across the snow covered paths and through the village, to the Marble Palace, pushing through the tiredness that might have held some grasp over her body due to Percival’s practice tactic. Emma hadn’t even realized that she had startled one of the healers in the entrance hall as she had used her right hand, the one attached to the arm that held Regina’s knees securely, to pry the heavy door open and wrench one of the leafs wide open, storming inside and heading down the stairs, rushing down to her floor, and finally the guest rooms where she and Regina resided at the moment. Only when she arrived at the room, she noticed a girl stumbling after her, trying to match her speed unsuccessfully.

For the moment, the Savior ignored the girl’s presence, sinking into her mind, searching for the memory of her own overcharge, looking for clues that would help her deal with Regina’s current state. Flashing through the scenes in her mind, she found out that the solution seemed to be rather logical and common sense – easing up the tense muscles from the lack of movement, plenty of rest and nutrients. So, the first step would be to draw a warm, soothing bath not only to work on the coiled muscles of the woman still in her arms, but also to clean twelve days’ worth of sweat and grime away.

“You!” Emma spoke with a small sharpness in her quiet voice, addressing the healer in the room for the first time. “Briana, right?” She had garnered the girl’s name while she had routed through the memories, and seeing the flicker of surprise in the startled eyes was always satisfying, but this time she didn’t have time to enjoy it, needing to put the healer to work.

“Ye-yeah,” the girl stuttered, coming one step closer before she faltered, her hands visibly trembling as she held the hem of her apron.

“Fill the tub in there with water,” the Savior ordered, consciously keeping her voice gentle, having noticed the tremor in the young woman, and the quickly paling face the second she had spoken to the girl. Sometimes, she really hated her reputation, for all the fear and awe it inspired, it was a nuisance she didn’t need to deal with right now. “It should be just slightly hotter than lukewarm.”

“Yes, Guh-Geilgeis,” the girl said, her face rapidly flushing as she looked away from the Savior, escaping her presence and going into the washroom, complying with the order.

The girl already dismissed from her mind, Emma slowly unwound her arms and laid Regina onto the made bed, making sure not to jostle the unconscious woman. Getting rid of the green tunic and the woolen vest she had been wearing underneath it, she quickly rolled the sleeves of her shirt before she set out to take off Regina’s shoes, smirking at the woman’s penchant for wearing lace-up high boots. “I guess it’s my turn now,” she murmured softly as she touched the prone brunette’s cheek with tenderness that had been gone from her countenance the moment Regina had gone with Morgan, the gentle fingers tracing the pale skin before she moved on to the rest of the garments the sorceress had been wearing. True, when she had arrived in Brocéliande, brought over by Guardian’s power, she had been naked, but when she had been hit with Peter’s Curse of Darkness, both Regina and Snow had prepared her body afterwards. Not to mention the times that Regina had taken care of her often aching, tired and entirely too tightly wound body.

So, with gentleness that she didn’t show often, Emma undressed her beloved, making sure that her actions didn’t strain Regina’s body even further and after she was done, she once more gathered her lover into her arms and brought her to the bathroom, hoping that Briana had had enough time to get the bath ready.

“Oh,” the girl gasped as soon as Emma stepped inside, the bucket in her hands slipping away and falling into the half-filled tub, creating a splash of water. “Oh, sorry,” she flinched, reaching for it instantly, her sudden movement displacing even more water. “Uh…”

“It’s alright,” Emma said evenly, forbidding herself to clench her jaw, and she walked over and lowered the brunette into the warm water, her forearm holding up Regina’s head above the water. “One more bucket should do,” she added to the discomfited girl standing beside her, the shaking hands tightly grasping the wooden pail. At her words, the young healer rushed toward the faucet, quick to obey.

“Em…” a soft murmur drew Emma’s attention to the woman in the tub, an unbidden smile spreading on the blonde’s face as she leaned over. “Emma,” Regina murmured again, her head slowly turning to the left, her half-mast eyes barely focusing on the Savior’s above her. “You’re bleeding,” the brunette said with a reproach in her rough whisper, her right palm weakly reaching up, the wet fingers landing clumsily on Emma’s left cheek, the one that had been sliced with the sword only a short time before. Geilgeis, surprised by Regina’s comment, let out a soft snort, her hand cradling Regina’s to her cheek, not even acknowledging the sting the pressure on the wound was creating.

“So are you,” Emma murmured gently, glancing down at the injured palm the blonde had purposefully left leaning over the edge of the tub, the scab over the wound almost entirely rubbed away and the cut oozing blood, the large drops dripping off the fingers onto the stone floor, her eyes darting quickly to the approaching healer as the young woman poured the last of the water, before she focused back onto her beloved’s face.

“You’ve bled enough,” Regina said, ignoring Emma’s words, before her eyes rolled up and she sank back into unconsciousness. Just as the blonde whispered the woman’s name, another’s voice sounded from the bedroom, and Emma recognized the gentle timbre of her young healer friend. Just as Gwen spoke, the girl beside the Savior replied, getting out of the washroom, a sigh of relief audible in the silent stone chamber.

“How is she?” Gwen asked, going toward the rack of washing necessities, collecting what she needed, while she waited for the Savior to speak.

“She regained consciousness for a moment,” the blonde said, confirming Gwen’s theory. “I think she’s running a fever,” the woman added after a moment.

Going to the tub and the patient with her hands carrying what she needed, the healer nodded. “That is to be expected,” she said as she passed two small bottles to the Savior, keeping one for herself. “The blue one is for the hair,” Gwen noted quietly, taking Regina’s injured palm in her hand and started to gently clean it, careful not to aggravate the wound further. While she worked on the injury, Geilgeis washed the brunette’s hair, and then, they together washed the rest of the sleeping patient, massaging the tense muscles along, using the slickness of the soap to aid them in their goal.

Afterwards, Gwen managed to coerce the oblivious woman to swallow some of the nutritious tonic while Emma prepared the bed and found some light clothes for Regina to sleep in. Overall, it took them half an hour to get the sorceress situated in bed, dressed and tucked in.

“Well, all she needs now is time to rest and a light meal when she wakes up,” the healer commented as she sat at the table, watching the Savior hover by the bed and fussing needlessly with the edge of the quilt.

“Time,” Emma grumbled when she stepped away, and joined Gwen at the table, choosing on purpose to sit just so her cheek would be easily reached by the healer and still let her keep her view of the bed.

“Unfortunately, there isn’t a quick solution for the fatigue,” Gwen spoke reasonably, as she took a look at Emma’s cut cheek, having blinked in surprise when the Savior silently offered it for treatment, instead of leaving it alone or healing it with magic.

“But, that is just it,” Emma said quietly, careful not to move too much. “You’re living in one. To the outside, my recovery would seem extremely fast, wouldn’t it?”

“Yes, but as far as I know that is a natural magical occurrence,” the healer replied as she used a soft cloth doused in her special mixture to dab at the slice. She paused, peering into the Savior’s eyes. “Right?”

“Yes,” Emma agreed casually, the secret of the place firmly hidden. “But, the dragons know of magic that can limitedly mimic such occurrences, and Guardian taught me how.”

The healer raised her eyebrow before she shrugged. Being capable of doing the magic of other species was supposedly very hard and impossible for most of the magically inclined people, but supposedly, the Keeper of the Balance would be the one to do it with ease. “If you can do it so it doesn’t hinder her recovery, I see no issue with it,” she said finally. Then, after scooping some of her healing paste on her forefinger, she applied it to the cut. “You were quite quick at dodging that sword,” she commented quietly as she made sure that the paste was spread evenly.

“Obviously, not quick enough.”

“I saw you, Geilgeis,” Gwen said insistently. “I saw the moment you looked away. And I saw that the soldier wouldn’t be able to direct the blade away from you. If it were anyone else, Emma, I firmly believe they would be headless.”

“But it wasn’t.” The blonde retorted sharply. “It wasn’t anyone else. It was me. And, I should’ve been faster.”

Gwen didn’t know what happened. It was a simple comment that she had made, and unexpectedly it caused the Savior’s mood to change rapidly. “Emma,” she tried to calm the blonde in front of her, but the woman just shrugged her off and rose from her chair, her feet pacing the length of the room, right by the unlit fireplace that suddenly was filled with roaring fire, the abrupt blaze of flame surging out of the stone confines startling the healer enough to jump back from it, the chair clattering beside her as it fell over.

“I am the friggin’ Savior,” Emma spoke cuttingly as she paced. “I had no business playing games with the men lost in time, indulging Percival’s ideas about teaching,” she added continuing her dizzying walk. Gwen blinked, trying to shake off the shock of the fire as she raised her hands in the air in front of her, afraid to approach the angry sorceress. The angry sorceress that was walking in a circle. Well, not a circle, but her pacing consisted of five long strides from the table, by the fireplace on one side and the bed on the other, to the opposite side of the room, reaching the wall beside the closed door, and then a sharp turn with five strides back to the table. A pivot, quickly executed by spinning on one heel, and continuing pacing. “What right does he have to test me?” the Savior hissed under her breath.

“Emma,” the healer uttered softly. Something happened, this she knew. Something had set the blonde off, provoking the simmering anger that Emma had been suppressing since the Temple. “Geilgeis, please,” the young woman spoke as she inserted herself right onto the blonde’s path, shutting her eyes firmly and turning her head to a side in anticipation of another eruption.

The Savior turned with a growl ready for the young healer that had tried to speak to her but the second her eyes fell on the girl standing in her way, right beside the fireplace, Emma stopped, feeling her own breath leaving her as if someone had punched in the stomach. The young woman stood there with her hands clenched into fists, knuckles pale from the effort, with her arms straightened and tensely remaining beside her waist, even though she trembled in fear. But it was the turned head and closed eyes that made the anger evaporate at once. This young woman, this brave young woman was afraid of her in this state and still she placed herself on the collision course, expecting the worst.

Emma had anger issues. You didn’t get to grow up as she had without some damage and rage along the way. However, after she had met Henry, she had been keeping control over that, so afraid of what it could do to people around her if something was to provoke into reacting with that deeply buried, scarred and wrathful part of her. She had slipped several times, and the past several years, more often than not, it had been Regina who would trample all over her defense mechanisms and dig into her weak spots. The woman had a knack for pissing people off, and that was one of the things that Emma loved about her.

Here, in the Enchanted Forest, the Savior had been careful with that bit of herself, and shutting her emotions worked up to a point. The frustrations she had felt during her quests and journeys would feed that anger, but she had learned to transform it, to harness it into an additional source of energy, be it for her stamina or her magic. And, even though she was loath to admit it, Percival’s training had done a lot for her in terms of managing it. He had helped her, with his endless practices and duels. And, she knew that. She had known that for a while. So why was she so angry?

The blonde stepped toward the healer, drawing herself intimately close to the young woman, leaving only inches between them, but when she raised her hand to touch the other woman’s shoulder, she hesitated. Then, after a few awkward moments of silence, Emma withdrew her hand and cleared her throat, not knowing how to start. “I,” she exhaled, closing her eyes slowly and opening them again, before she tried again. “I apologize,” she said to the healer, who was now looking at her with wariness, the sharp eyes peering into hers seeking something that Emma honestly didn’t feel she could offer. But, a moment later, the healer relaxed and nodded, having found something in the blonde’s eyes that filled her with relief. The girl walked back to the table, lifting upright her chair and sitting back on it, turning to look at the still Savior.

“What was it?” Gwen murmured just before the silence between them was about to turn uncomfortable.

“Hmm?” Emma glanced at her in confusion.

“The thing that pushed you,” the healer spoke, nodding slowly to herself with understanding. “You see, ever since you slammed your fist against the wall in the Temple, you’ve been seething. But, your loved one’s safety took precedence, so I guess you just pushed it down for the time being.” Gwen raised her hand slowly, gesturing the chair beside the blonde before she picked some more of her healing paste, ready to continue her interrupted work. “What was it that brought it back to the surface again?” she asked, her fingers applying a fresh coat of paste over the wound on Emma’s cheek as soon as the blonde took her place.

Emma sighed, closing her eyes. “Don’t know,” she murmured softly. But she knew. It was the last thing Regina had said before falling back to sleep.  _ You’ve bled enough _ , she had said and it sparked something in Emma. It was unnoticeable at first, but the spark had flamed the already there embers of suspicion and outright distrust the Savior held for the Queen of Camelot. And, Percival had always been her most loyal Knight. Under his ‘care’, she had already bled twice, and when all of that had gotten jumbled together, it wasn’t hard to see the beginnings of an explosion to follow. It was only the unfortunate comment that Gwen had said that had forced the anger to the fore at that moment. In a way, she was lucky, Emma silently remarked to herself, her eyes regarding the healer with unhidden fondness. She was lucky that Gwen had managed to diffuse her so completely and before anyone had gotten hurt. If it had been Percy, or Gods forbid, Morgan – Emma wasn’t sure that they would have survived that. And, the girl deserved better from her, especially now, so she couldn’t just lie to her. “Regina said something,” Emma offered softly after the healer had finished, wiping her fingers on a still wet rag. “It made me question Percy’s motives.”

“And, I brought your attention to the cut, which in turn fed the suspicion,” Gwen added quietly, as she nodded in understanding. Gathering her things, she placed her fingers over Emma’s wrist, attracting the Savior’s eyes to her own. “I know you have your reasons for not trusting my Mistress, and I know some of them are even justified – but, know this if nothing else. Percival would never participate willingly or knowingly in any secret plots against the guests of the House of Healing, not even if Morgan absolutely demanded it of him. Especially not against you, Geilgeis, the one that some of the rumors address as the White Knight.” She offered a weak smile to the Savior. “There is a reason why his nickname is the Virtuous.”

“Thank you, Gwen,” Emma replied sincerely, inclining her head toward the young healer.

The healer rose, ready to leave and she brought the flask closer to the other woman. “This is the tonic I mentioned earlier. Since Regina has regained consciousness on her own, even before I fed her the first dose, she doesn’t necessarily need it for recovery, but it cannot harm her.” The blonde nodded. “Someone should soon be stopping by with the food, try to give her some when she wakes up.” Gwen walked slowly around the bed and just as she was about to open the door, she turned, looking at the Sheriff who hadn’t moved from her seat. “I just need to ask – the magic you spoke about, did you use it to heal yourself?”

Emma smiled at the young woman, seeing the curiosity glimmer in her eyes, amusement filling her voice. “No, I haven’t,” she spoke gently, making sure that her words held no trace of smugness. “I just heal quickly.”

“Oh,” the girl murmured in surprise, before she huffed, discarding the topic entirely. “Well, then,” Gwen said, her shoulder moving into a vague half-shrug. “I’ll see both of you later,” she spoke and left, closing the door behind her.

Emma remained seated at the table, bringing her hands to her face, careful not to wipe away Gwen’s healing paste. A deep sigh left her lips as she closed her eyes using her hands to unbind her hair, letting it fall down freely, the golden tresses spreading over her shoulders in waves. Keeping her eyes closed, the blonde breathed deeply and slowly, using the meditative practices to calm her mind, as much as she could, but her tiredness and frustration were proving to be a great distraction.

It all came down to time, she mused as she used the repetitive motion of her hands and fingers through her hair to narrow the focus of her thoughts. She needed time. They all needed time. Time to learn, time to prepare, time to be with her family, time to deal with the fairies, time to find the witch, time… Time she didn’t have. If Regina’s memories were correct, the brunette had arrived into Brocéliande three weeks before, so by the calculations of the time difference between this pocket universe and the Enchanted Forest the two of them had only a week more to do all the things that needed to be done, if they were to get back to their families on Christmas Day. Of course, they could stay longer, and gain more time, but honestly, Emma was loath to miss another holiday with her children, and she knew Regina was of the same mind.

However, on the other hand, the moment they were to leave Brocéliande, they would be put on a timetable to work against the two threats to their lives, Zelena (which apparently would be Regina’s duty to deal with) and the end of the world (that, surprise, surprise, fell under the Savior’s domain of impossible feats).

Time.

So, instead of letting Regina rest on her own, Emma planned to enact the ward to speed things along. Plus, there was the whole thing of magic dying, and she needed to prepare her beloved for it – because, as the adventure with the diamond proved, after years of using it constantly, the lack of it can be overwhelming and debilitating.

A quiet knock interrupted Emma’s silent ruminations, and she opened her eyes, calling out for the intruder to come in. The door opened and Keith walked in, carrying a large tray in his hands as he stepped carefully toward the table, offering only a small nod of greeting to the blonde. Emma looked over the food the boy had brought, and hummed softly in appreciation. Two cauldron-like dishes, about the size of a soccer ball each, gave out quite appetizing scents, despite the fact that both of them were covered with lids. On the tray beside them were two bowls with two spoons and a loaf of fresh, still toasty warm bread.

“You can place them in the fire if they need reheating,” the boy murmured, gesturing to the cauldrons. “It is vegetable broth and mashed vegetables,” he added, showing the food to Emma, opening each dish respectively. “Gwen suggested starting with the broth first before the other.”

“Thank you, Keith,” Emma offered softly with a small smile. “May I ask for a favor?” she spoke when the boy laid everything out for easy use. At his accepting nod, she leaned back. “When you leave, I am going to place a magic barrier around the room for several hours. Can you warn the others, so no one would try getting it? I wouldn’t want anyone to be hurt, and it is necessary for the Queen’s recovery.”

The young man’ eyes widened at the request before he stammered his agreement as he stumbled out of the room, promising to do as Emma asked.

And, as she walked to the door, locking them she enacted her magic, creating the ward along the borders of the rooms, including the washroom and the toilet as well. She planned to use one hour instances for the ward, so in case she needed to leave she could easily bring it down. As the magic of the ward stabilized, Emma sat back in her previous seat and leaned down with a tired grunt, using her hands to take off her boots, carefully setting them beside the chair to clean them up later. Then she took off all of her clothes, unwilling to spend any more time in sweaty and muddy garbs she had been wearing the whole day, tossing the garments into the washroom, to deal with them later. With a slow roll of her neck, Emma rose and walked over to the still full tub of water, and used her magic to change the water inside, knowing that she had more than enough time to finish her ablutions, and ever rest before her beloved would recover enough to wake, and that Regina would need probably more than just the one cycle of four hours.

An hour later, after a brief doze in the hot bathwater, the blonde felt somewhat better, but still feeling tired and restless, her mind stuck on the problems that awaited her outside – outside the wards, out of Brocéliande, even out of the damn Forest. So, despite the fact that she was feeling the pressure from the tasks ahead of her, she shrugged them away, choosing to put them aside for the moment. She dressed into some fresh clothes, forgoing the boots, and sat on the bed dragging herself up to lie beside her lover. Turning on her side, she placed her left hand beneath her pillow, holding it close to her head, while she let her other hand come within mere millimeters from Regina’s hand, her fingers curved inward in a relaxed position. Casting her eyes over her bedmate one more time and listening to the measured breathing, Emma allowed herself to sink into a light slumber, confident that she would wake in the event of Regina awakening before the expected time, or when the ward dissipated.

When the almost unnoticeable buzz of the time ward stopped, Emma’s eyes snapped open, focusing intently on the woman beside her. Assured that Regina was still sleeping, the Sheriff got up, making sure not to shift the mattress much, and reaching for the skin holding the tonic Gwen had prepared, she enacted another cycle of the time elongation. Measuring out two thirds of a cup she then gently reached under Regina’s upper body, lifting her with care. The ministrations brought out soft moans out of the slumbering woman, even though Regina did not regain full consciousness, she surfaced enough for the blonde to feed her without the fear of choking. After the medicine, Emma coaxed the brunette into drinking a bit of water, and even eating some of the broth, all the while the sorceress remained asleep.

After having fed her beloved, Emma quickly set to eat as well, going straight to the mashed vegetables, not in the mood for the broth, as it had featured a lot in her diet since she had found herself on this journey in this world. Then, she returned to bed, repositioning herself back in place, dropping off to sleep almost immediately. While the three hours she had spent sleeping previously constituted a good and worthwhile nap, since Emma had not been sleeping well during the absence of her beloved, she needed more than a few hours to fully rest. And, being beside her lover provided the comforting assurance that all would be well. The soft sounds of a peaceful breathing calmed Emma’s thoughts in a way not even the most diligent of practices of Mulan’s meditation forms could. The soothing warmth of the reclined body next to her eased her tense tendons, as Emma finally managed to let herself relax more than she could for the past ten days. And, not to mention the familiar buzz that danced across her skin in the presence of her beloved’s magic that grew stronger with each new casting of the ward.

* * *

She came to her consciousness slowly. First, there was the familiar feeling of safety surrounding her, before she realized that she was lying down, on a mattress she recognized. Along with the realization that she was in her room In the Marble Hall came the ache that spread through her body, through her muscles. Only then, Regina thought to open her eyes, finding out that she was indeed back in the room she shared with Emma while in Brocéliande and that it was still light outside, although she didn’t know what day it was. Turning her head slowly to the side, she felt her lips curl into a smile as her eyes took in the sight beside her.

There, only inches away, was Emma, sleeping. The blonde was lying on her side, with her body very close to her own, and with a dart of her eyes, Regina could see that with moving only her fingers she would be able to touch her beloved after being separated by their duties for so long. But, before she willed her hand into complying, she noted another thing.

Her beloved’s face was too pale, a greenish smear covering both the pillow and Emma’s cheek, and there, no doubt highlighted by the pale skin, the purpling bruises underscored the blonde’s closed eyes. Even asleep, the Savior’s face was still pinched, a slight furrow forming on the forehead and while Emma seemed more relaxed than Regina would assume her to be, she still portrayed the all too visible signs of immense stress. And, the words that Gorlois had spoken to her came to her, forcing her to affirm the decision she had come to in the mindscape in regards to Emma’s health.

The fact was the Savior really didn’t have the peaceful vibe about herself. Since the day she had met her, Regina had been able to sense Emma’s energy as something highly dynamic and frantic at times, even in her most laid-back moments. In the moments she had spent analyzing her enemy and later ally, Regina had come to conclusion that the survivor in the blonde, the instincts and behavioral patterns created by surviving and sometimes even thriving in harsh conditions of a child living on the streets of the big city conditioned Emma to be prepared for anything and everything as things could get worse any second. Honestly, she believed that such readiness and constant threat evaluation was one of the reasons why Graham had insisted on appointing Emma as his deputy. Not the main one, but one of the important ones. He had recognized a fellow abandoned child, raised in the wilds, so to speak. And, as Emma had been conditioned from her earliest to respond well to such stimuli, her body and psyche could function with practiced ease where the stress of it would not be damaging to her in the long run. However, the problem was, in the past two years Emma had been battered with the impossible at every step of the way, and a person that had learned to expect creepy guys in the darkened alleys and knowing how to deal with them could not possibly cope with the constant emergence of enemies and abilities that Emma of few short years before had not even been aware of.

Regina knew that Emma would need help in dealing with those kinds of stress, and after several long consultations with the Cricket, she had a feel how to alleviate some of the blonde’s emotional burdens, for she had a sinking feeling that her actual burdens would be reserved solely for the Savior.

A barely there touch along her finger brought her out of her ruminations and she looked back to her beloved, finding the eyes she adored focused on her, the color of them still not back to the previous spring green but far away from the grey ones she had found on her first day here. Moving her palm, she took Emma’s hand in her own and smiled when the blonde entwined their fingers into a more secure hold.

“Welcome back,” the blonde whispered in a barely there whisper, the words carried by her exhalation and not even willing to try to speak yet, Regina just pulled on the hand in her own, the simple gesture invitation enough for the younger woman. The Savior drew herself closer and brought Regina into her hold, letting the brunette rest her head on the shoulder as she fiddled with the covers.

“How long has it been?” Regina asked after a while, having enjoyed the simple pleasure of being in her loved one’s arms in silence for long enough at the time.

“Since you went in?” Emma’s roughened voice clarified as her arms unintentionally flexed around Regina’s back. After the soft confirmation, she added. “Twelve days.”

“Twelve?” Regina lifted her head as she peered into the shadowed eyes in front of her. It made more sense now, Regina considered. The sleeplessness and worry… “How long have I been sleeping?”

“Four hours,” Emma replied, lowering her head to gaze upon the caramel eyes as her lips quivered into a semblance of a smirk. At Regina’s incredulous look, the blonde felt herself smile a bit more.

Then a light of realization came to the brunette’s eyes. “The dragon magic, that time stretch thing.”

“Mhm.”

“So,” Regina raised her eyebrow, “how long have I been sleeping?”

“Times four,” the blonde said simply.

“Sixteen… But, that still doesn’t explain how I recovered so fast.”

“Gwen mixed up something to help with that, and I fed you some soup after each cycle.” Emma leaned her head back, pulling Regina down. “The fact that you were up and moving right after the thing suggests that the ritual fed you back some of the energy it needed.”

It did make sense, Regina considered as she nuzzled back on Emma’s shoulder. Gorlois had created the whole construct for advancing and storing his people’s knowledge. That measure of protection would be pointless if people were to die from the magical exposure. The brunette exhaled slowly and closed her eyes. It didn’t matter why she was not as affected as they expected, not when they had much more pressing concerns, it only mattered that she was relatively fine after just a few hours of recovery, leaving them time for other things and other needs. “Did you find anything interesting while I was entrapped in the secret room?” she asked slowly, letting her lips curl at the end, giving her words a slight teasing edge, but when Emma bit the inside of her lip, she frowned in concern.

Ignoring the still present pain in her limbs, she lifted her upper body and nodded gratefully at her beloved who had reacted instantly by placing pillows behind her back. “What happened?” she inquired of the blonde who sat opposite from her cross-legged, her left elbow leaning against her knee while her right hand still held Regina’s.

“It has been a long twelve days, Regina,” Emma warned softly before she spoke again. “As I told you before you went in, Aileen arranged for me to spend time with Percival in the ring, and considering my state of mind since you went into the Temple…”

“It didn’t go well,” Regina completed the sentence on her own. “Tell me,” she said gently after a moment, squeezing the blonde’s hand in support.

“We spent the entire afternoon working out and with each bout I would last longer, but the fact was I was getting tired both physically and mentally and I made a mistake. A small one but enough for me not to catch Percival’s blade in time before it cut me across my forearm.” When Regina’s eyes lowered down to the arm she held, Emma shook her head in answer to the silent question and showed her the unmarred left forearm, releasing the brunette’s hand for a moment to trace the long healed wound across the soft skin. Returning her hand into Regina’s lap, she grimaced as she considered how to share what had come next in the story. “Because of the blood and pain, and other things, I reacted… badly. I wasn’t there anymore, but at the cliff with Midas and I knew how to deal with him, just like I had before.” Lowering her eyes away from the sympathetic gaze directed at her she continued, her voice subdued. “It took Percy quite a few moments to stop me from choking the life out of him and to push me down, immobilizing me in the snow. To say that he was angry would be a gross understatement.”

“And, your arm?” Regina asked, not really needing elaboration on the flash Emma had had. Hopper had told her some of the symptoms and occurrences she should be prepared for, and she didn’t want to draw more attention to it, especially when Emma was feeling ashamed about it.

“Gwen took care of it. I must say the girl is a whiz with poultices and tonics.” She shrugged. “Anyway, because he refused to allow me into the ring while I was unstable, I got elected for a regular border patrol as it would keep me busy, and the Wolf thought it would work wonders on my restlessness. So, we set out, but for some reason we started from the harder part of the route, and as it was raining buckets of sleet the whole time we didn’t make much progress, going over the unstable grounds took us much more time than expected. Then, it started snowing, hard, and as we sought shelter in the caves, I stumbled upon one of the border stones, and felt its still active magic clearly. Finally, away from the blizzard, warm and dry due to the roaring fire the two men with us prepped, I fell asleep hoping that the tiredness would keep me under till the morning.”

“Nightmares?”

Emma chuckled at the unintended double meaning of the word Regina had used to prompt her further. “It was a mare, just not the one you expected. As it turned out, a Unicorn mare with its foal had gotten lost in the blizzard and stumbled off the plateau we were in, landing in thorns and brambles, getting completely torn up. I think, because of the stallion’s blessing I had received before and because of wild desperation of the mare, I somehow was able to connect to the unicorn while I slept. And, of course, as soon I realized what was going on, I rushed out into the storm, to Aileen’s tremendous delight, and tried to help.” She turned her head and gestured to the sheathed sword on the mantle with her chin. “It broke as I used it to slow down my descent down the same ditch that downed the unicorns. Despite her dismay and reluctance to let me out into the blizzard, Aileen helped as much as she could. We got there and I could do nothing for the mare as the thick and hard thorns had destroyed her the moment she got entangled in them. But, I could get the small foal out of it and using the shard of the sword I managed to pull it out of the brambles, bringing it to its dying mother. However, it turned out that the mare’s magic and desperation didn’t just call out to me, it called the herd as well. When the stallion saw what had happened, he used the magic of his kind to do something to me, and somehow I did something to him that he appreciated very much. I felt lighter and cleaner afterwards and still feeling the rush of the Unicorn magic in me I did something stupid.” Emma smiled at Regina’s rapt attention directed at her, waiting for the blonde to continue. “I fueled the border-stone, stabilizing its magic.”

Regina’s gasp was more than enough to bring some color to Emma’s sheepish face. “Emma, messing with the ancient magics…” The brunette shook her head in disquiet before she considered what she had learned from Gorlois. Indeed, Emma had been impulsive and it could have gone horribly wrong, but the truth of the matter was that the Savior’s instincts seemed to be unusually attuned to the world of magic. Letting that issue aside, she urged Emma to continue.

“Whatever the stallion did to me it stabilized my magic so I brought all of us to the village as rations were dwindling and the weather was abysmal.”

Regina frowned and leaned forward, grimacing as she felt her legs twinge with the movement. Waving Emma’s concern off, she pursed her lips before she spoke. “So, wait, you stabilized the border-stone?” she asked, her left eyebrow rising up. “Aren’t they interconnected?” At Emma’s nod, she slowly asked again. “And it’s fine now?”

“No one knows,” Emma replied with a short nod.

“How? I thought they needed the…” But before Regina could ask her question her words tapered off as her gaze lost its sharpness as she considered what she had learned. “You didn’t just stabilize the magic of Tintagel,” she spoke softly as sudden understanding came over her. “You gave them yours which would make you the master of the wards around this place.”

“Well,” Emma started but Regina continued, not even noticing the blonde had said anything.

“And Morgan doesn’t know,” the brunette said quietly, almost to herself. “Ooh, that is going to sting when she finds out,” she smirked as her eyes found Emma’s. “And you. The whole reason I went for the ritual was because she needed the Heir for the wards, and you just took them over, making  _ this _ ,” she gestured to herself and the bed by waving her hand in an exasperated and quick move, “pointless.”

“Hey, I didn’t know that was going to happen,” Emma replied back, her spine snapping straight and rigid as she looked away from the other woman.

“Of course you didn’t.”

Emma gritted her teeth as the eye-roll was practically heard with the words Regina said, her lips curling in distaste, but before she could retaliate for the slight, she felt a soft touch over her lips.

“None of that,” a whisper followed the touch as Regina drew herself closer to the Savior, her fingers gently gliding over Emma’s lips before she brought them to the already mostly healed cut on the cheek. “I know things just happen to you, Emma. And I know that your instincts about these things are rarely wrong.” Bringing herself even closer, the brunette lowered her lips onto Emma’s, pressing them gently together before she leaned back, pleased to see that her beloved dazed after the soft kiss. As Emma’s eyes gained back their clarity, she went on. “I am not criticizing or blaming you, dear. Just, sometimes this thing of yours drives me insane.”

“Join the club,” Emma sighed as she felt her body relax a bit.

Regina chuckled softly and pulled the Savior to lie down, using her hand on Emma’s cheek to guide gently the Savior’s head to her chest. As soon as Emma leaned against her, she used her hand to go through the blonde tresses. “How did you find me? And do not even think about saying those words your idiot parents are insistent on spouting every few minutes.”

Emma smiled at the sharp words and the soothing motion of the warm fingers going over her scalp. “Guardian,” she said. “She shared some things with me and in turn made me return to the village by myself, climbing the cliff-side. I didn’t think anything of it at first but when I went back to see why I was directed there I felt the magic of the border-stones and it led me to what I believe to be a secret entrance to the Temple. I couldn’t get to you, the chamber you were in was locked away, but I knew where you were and that the ritual was still going on.”

“The cliff-side? That must be Gorlois’s study then,” Regina spoke after a moment, her words prompting Emma to ask about the ritual and what the brunette had learned while in the artificial space, their talk spanning hours (helped by another time ward Emma placed around them) as they simply enjoyed their time together.

* * *

In the late afternoon, after many, many hours in the magical bubble of their own, Emma brought down the ward for the last time, needing only a second and a directed thought to cease the soft buzz of the dragon-taught magic. She sat on the bed, leaning against the headboard as she watched her beloved slowly put on the clothes the brunette had chosen for herself, a soft smile dancing around her lips as she saw the woman fussing about the lines of the over-the-shirt corset she had put on.

“Stop smirking and dress for a long stay outside,” Regina spoke without turning around, picking up a woolen short tunic to wear under her cloak.

Emma chuckled. “Yes, your Majesty,” she said, even though she was already wearing a simple shirt and trousers, and leapt from the bed with lazy hop, a swirl of magic enveloping her in seconds before tapering off and leaving her robed in a style she had been wearing while Regina had been in the Temple, as she walked up to Regina in sure steps, her boots freshly cleaned by the magic. She had not been reckless with her magic in Brocéliande, especially not since learning about it dying off in the Enchanted Forest, but Regina’s appreciative looks when she turned to take her in were worth the hassle, and even then, she had only magicked the clothes on, she hadn’t created new ones.

“Dapper,” the queen said, passing her hands over Emma’s shoulders, absently noting the strength that radiated from the blonde’s frame, before she placed her palm over the blonde’s heart. “You look at home in the clothes of this world, Sheriff Swan,” she said with a wistful edge as her fingers tapped out a soft rhythm against the chest. “Almost as if you were born to wear them.”

“Regina.” Emma frowned at the nearly somber words that the brunette spoke and quickly she placed her hand under Regina’s chin, bringing her face up. “I may have been born here, but I doubt Snow would tolerate me in men’s outfits.” Leaning in, she whispered softly over Regina’s cheek, “I doubt I would look as dashing in one of the monstrosities she would have me wear,” before she pressed her lips to the skin there, remaining in place for a short moment before retreating. When she leaned back, she found Regina’s eyes closed.

After a few seconds passed the brunette opened her eyes, the warm color of her irises turned into molten dark chocolate as she sighed, her hand clenching the clothes over Emma’s heart. “You underestimate your splendor, my dear. And your mother’s desire for you to be happy.” Shaking her head before Emma could comment about the princess, Regina continued on turning away. “But, that’s neither here nor there.” 

Emma hummed noncommittally, waiting for her beloved to say what was on her mind, her hand idly playing with the loose dark tresses that were reaching shoulders, still slightly damp from the quick bath the women had taken just an hour before.

“We should be seen and if Morgan is not out yet, that is even better,” the brunette said seriously. “I have a bone to pick with that woman and I intend to do so from a better position.” She tilted her head for a moment and glanced over Emma’s frame as she considered something, her thoughts turning heavy, bringing a frown to her face before she purposefully looked away and smoothed the lines of her forehead. “Then, I suppose you could direct me to your whiz of the healer. And, I need to speak with Guardian about a thing or two.”

“She must’ve ticked you off really good if you are willing to play such games,” the blonde noted with interest as she reached for the twined leather belt to tie it around her middle over the tunic. The loud snap of the dagger sliding back in its sheath was heard in the room and the Sheriff adjusted the belt before she turned back to Regina. “As for Guardian, she is in the valley below,” Emma added pointing to the window with her chin while their eyes met in the looking glass. “Unless you’re up for rock climbing, we need to find Shadow, or beg for horses.” She didn’t ask what Regina had in mind trusting the brunette would tell her in due time, but she couldn’t help but notice the pensive regard her beloved had for her, the concern had been quite clear in the dark eyes passing over her before the woman turned away. However, keeping her silence on the topic, Emma took the quiver and bow Percival had given her, holding them both with her left hand, because the woman had mentioned they’d be outside for a while.

“No begging.”

“Yeah, I figured.”

Regina finished with dressing, pulling on her gloves and she then pivoted on her heel away from the mirror, placing her hand on her hip. “Well?”

The Savior took a moment to gaze upon the figure of her beloved presented in front of her. The brunette used her clothes quite well to paint the picture of danger and power. The black tunic was tightly draped over Regina’s shoulders and torso, the elaborate stitching and silver fastenings drawing attention to her bust that showed just enough to tantalize and distract but not enough to skirt into indecency. It flared slightly at the hips and reached just under the line where thighs meet buttocks, it highlighted the woman’s figure perfectly. Below the tunic, skintight leather enveloped the shapely legs before disappearing into the knee high laced boots. Three fingers wide belt with a large silver buckle went around her middle with an almost unnoticeable dagger strapped to it.

It wasn’t the black of her garments that drew eyes. The streaks of white that were glimpsed under pulled attention, and the brunette artfully arranged her clothes so that with every breath she would take, the lapels and sleeves of her shirt would peek out from underneath the tunic. It was a tactic Emma was quite familiar with, as Regina had used it on her several times while still in Storybrooke, successfully at that.

“They won’t know what hit them,” Emma whispered, meeting the dark eyes with a smile.

“Perfect.”

Collecting their cloaks, the two women left the sanctuary of their room. Since Emma was more familiar with the layout of the House of Healing, she led the brunette first to the small day room where she was sure to find Gwen, giving Regina several minutes of privacy with the healer as she waited for her outside, accepting the large shoulder bag Regina had come out with from her visit with Gwen without a word, placing the strap over her shoulder, glancing with interest over the ruddy cheeks the healer had sported as Regina had left the room; then she led her beloved to the ground floor where the Mistress of the House had quarters, opening the door without even bothering to knock, letting her beloved sweep inside first while she remained slightly behind, her eyes watching out for any obstacles the former Evil Queen might encounter.

The two were greeted with “What are you doing here?” from the startled shifter as she jumped to her feet and stepped toward them to stop them from entering the bedroom.

“Is she awake?” Regina asked, ignoring the question and skillfully avoiding Aileen’s outstretched arm.

“No,” the shifter spoke after a moment of confusion, frowning as she actually looked at the woman in front of her. The sorceress stood there without a trace of the magical exhaustion on her face. “She’s still unconscious.”

Regina glanced back at Emma lifting her eyebrow as her lips curled in a victorious smirk. In turn, Emma just offered her a crooked smile before she opened the door, letting the brunette go out first and leaving the she-wolf without a word. “She is not awake yet,” Emma murmured as they donned their cloaks and she pushed the front door open. “You were coherent already in the first half hour and you said your part of the ritual was much more demanding.” As she closed the clasp on her cloak beneath the chin, the Savior placed her weapons on her back while pushing the bag Regina had given her to her side, doing a quick twist to check her mobility.

“I am probably used to the large amounts of magic streaming through my body, especially after all the practice I had with you and alone,” Regina said, tossing her hood on against the harsh wind as they walked down the steps of the Marble Hall and crossing through the village toward the stables. But, before they went in, Emma closed her eyes and took a deep breath calling up her magic, having a feeling that her four-legged friend was not even close to the stables.

“Wait,” the blonde murmured, reaching for Regina’s forearm. “She is west from here, ten or twelve miles up.”

“Can you take us there?”

“Hold on,” the Savior spoke after nodding, pulling Regina closer to her and willed them to the small clearing where she could feel the magic of the Gallants, letting her magic guide them to the closest available place near Shadow to appear in. As they rematerialized in the field, the brunette gasped and squeezed Emma’s arm hard.

“When I said to take us there, I didn’t mean right in the middle of them,” the queen bit through her teeth, slowly shifting away from the spot they had appeared in. Only a foot away from the two of them, two stallions were stumping the ground with their hoofs and neighing furiously at the intruders, ready to trample them in an instant. “We need to leave,” she spoke softly pulling on Emma’s hand but the Savior did not move apart from directing a calming look at the woman beside her.

“Trust me, we’re fine.”

And they were. In seconds, Shadow appeared by Emma’s side, her arrival calming down the two protectors and the stallions hesitantly moved away, still watching the intruders. However, Shadow wasn’t the only reason the males stepped away. It was the presence of the pure white stallion to Shadow’s side that calmed the herd most of all. It was the leader of the group, Emma remembered, the one horse that had snickered at her before, his intelligent blue eyes crinkling in the dimming light of the late afternoon as he trotted over, slowly circling them while Shadow came to Emma.

“Hello, girl,” Emma offered to the mare, who snorted and bumped the blonde’s shoulder in greeting before offering her forehead for a scratch. “See,” she spoke to Regina as she patted and scratched her trusted friend, “nothing to worry about.”

“Nothing to worry about,” Regina mocked under her breath as she kept herself close to the Savior, her eyes pinned onto the stallion who was approaching her slowly but insistently. “Emma,” she murmured, pulling on the blonde’s arm to get her attention. Yes, she was better equestrian than the Savior but she had never been so stupid or reckless enough to find herself in the middle of a wild herd, her very presence threatening the horses around her, and she didn’t like the way the blue gaze of the leader of the Gallants followed her every move while the horse inched closer to her.

However, the blonde didn’t react to her irritated tone. Instead, the Sheriff vaulted herself onto the black mare, still talking softly to her friend, the murmuring whisper too low for Regina to understand. But, before Regina could hiss out Emma’s name once more, the Savior turned to her and took in the situation before she chuckled. “Oh, Snow is going to love this!”

“What are you talking about?” Regina asked, the unexpected reaction from the blonde drawing her attention away from the stallion who had stopped right in front of her, staring at the brunette and not moving.

“He means you no harm, Regina,” Emma said with amusement, chuckling again when the stallion snorted, shaking his head sideways as if insulted. “In fact, I believe he has chosen to allow you to ride him.”

“Is that true?” the former Evil Queen turned to the Gallant and asked, getting an elegant nod in return. The brunette came closer to the magnificent steed and offered her ungloved hand to the stallion before she used her fingers to push the pure white forelock of the horse’s forehead, gently rubbing the space between the vivid blue eyes. “Aren’t you gorgeous,” she whispered to him as she looked over his sides and spine, using her hands to further inspect the perfect lines of the stallion and chuckled softly as she saw the horse preen at her words. “And, humble too,” she noted with humor before she returned to the front, her uncovered hand sliding over the horse’s forehead down toward the muzzle. “Should I choose a name for you, as well?” And if a horse could shrug, it would look just like the gesture the white stallion offered her before he turned his side to Regina, urging her up with his head.

She mounted him with enviable expertise, her jump appearing more dignified than Emma’s scramble, and seeing her beloved’s poise on the white stallion, Emma chuckled, shaking her head. “Figures,” she murmured. Of course, she would look regal even riding bareback on a horse.

After a moment spent situating herself and putting on the glove she had removed earlier, Regina nudged her ride to step beside Shadow, using the light pressures of her knees to direct her newly gained friend and steed. “Wait a minute,” she spoke suddenly as she reached for the blonde, grabbing her forearm to stop her movement. “How did you know what he wanted?” However, she didn’t allow Emma to answer but continued on with her own explanation. “You can feel them, sense their intentions.”

“Their magic is similar to that of Unicorns,” Emma simply said as if it answered Regina’s supposition. And, it did, the brunette concluded after a short rumination. The Savior had received an unprecedented gift from the Unicorns, and if her theory was correct, the Blessings carried with them the ability to use the magic of the particular Kind. And, Gallants did come from Unicorns, so it would be reasonable to assume some of their magic followed the rules of the Unicorn magic, the magic that Emma could understand and use. “And, I knew that Shadow would warn me if something was wrong,” the blonde added with a shrug, followed by a backward glance from the black mare as Emma’s Gallant apparently agreed with the Savior’s words.

“Oh.”

“I would not have done it if I thought you’d be in any danger, Regina,” came the soft rebuke before Emma clucked her tongue, urging Shadow forward in a faster pace, the move sudden enough for the blonde to advance several dozen yards before Regina commanded her steed to catch up, wisely choosing not to respond to Emma’s well deserved admonition.

In fact, Regina let the silence drag on as they rode down to the valley, but after a while, she broke it with a softly muttered apology, spoken just loud enough to be heard over the sounds of their ride. Emma nodded in reply, the sharpness of her head move softened by the way she reached for Regina’s forearm, squeezing it gently, somehow managing to hold the position for several moments despite the fact that the Gallants were moving very quickly through the forest.

“You’re quiet,” the brunette noted after another period of silence passed between them, this time a briefer one, using the slightly slower gait of their steeds to pick up the conversation between them. Proving Regina’s point, Emma only shrugged one shoulder, glancing toward her beloved in askance. “Is it possible your trials here have taught you patience?” Regina teased gently, watching the Sheriff beside her slowly smile in response.

“I know the weight of assimilated knowledge on one’s mind, Regina,” Emma spoke after several seconds. “I know how much focus it takes to keep the buzzing and overwhelming thoughts in a semblance of order.” Once more, she reached over and this time she took Regina’s hand out of the white stallion’s mane and entwined their fingers before she brought them to her cheek, pressing the leather covered back of the brunette’s hand against her wind chilled skin before letting it go, knowing the dangers of prolonging such position during the ride. “You’ve been in that mindscape with Gorlois for a very long time. I don’t doubt that during your learning session, he taught and told you many things, especially when you consider the centuries of knowledge at his disposal.” She smirked at the brunette beside her. “It is not so far out of the realm of understanding to think that this abrupt need to find Guardian, another long living magical teacher of sorts, is something that being under Gorlois’s tutelage could have sparked.”

Regina huffed quietly at the well-reasoned points the Sheriff presented and shook her head wryly. “I love you, you know that?”

“Kinda have proof,” Emma offered with a wide grin, patting the place above her heart with her right hand. “True Love’s Kiss and all that.”

Seeing the glimpse of the Sheriff from the past in the playful response, when she had not been so weighted with the burdens of her station warmed Regina’s heart, drawing an affectionate smile out of the brunette, it dimming slightly when Emma shifted in her seat and her face slid into a more serious countenance.

“We’re here,” the Savior said as she pointed toward the part of the valley that was devoid of plant life, hard packed earth and stone making the hooves of their Gallants echo as they ambled forward. There, where only moments before was nothing but rocks, appeared the dragon, her sharp eyes watching them come closer before the steeds stopped as if commanded. “They won’t cross the circle of protective magic without explicit invitation,” Emma spoke to Regina in low tones as she dismounted. “This has always been the domain of dragons and they respect that.”

“And, when we need to go back?”

“They’ll come if we call them.”

Regina swung her leg over her stallion’s withers and slid down before she turned to him, her hands going instinctively to his cheek and forehead. “Will you come?” she asked softly, peering into the intelligent blue eyes. When he quietly snorted and pressed into her shoulder in what she could see was a confirmation, she murmured her thanks and went over his flank with her hands, entranced by the manner his coat seemed to gleam in the late afternoon twilight, providing sharp contrast to the black leather of her gloves. It seemed otherworldly and it instantly made her remember the legends of ghosts and creatures living in the forests of this place, spawning many stories and cautionary tales. As she watched him, she realized that she had found his name. “Spirit,” she murmured. And, it fit. An apparition, fleetingly fast and uncatchable, but with a presence that is undeniable and unforgettable. And the horse apparently agreed, rubbing its muzzle over her shoulder.

“It suits him,” Emma spoke quietly from behind her as she came closer to the other woman. “Spirit and Shadow.”

Letting the Gallants leave, the Savior guided Regina over the protective circle and brought her to Guardian, her steps slow and careful. When they came within several yards of the hulking dragon, the blonde offered Regina an encouraging look before she bowed her head to the dragon and closed her eyes in greeting.

“Welcome, Knight,” Guardian rumbled softly, her neck craning and bringing her head in front of Emma’s just in the right position to flick her tongue to the center of the blonde’s forehead, the simple but expected gesture causing a small flare through Emma’s magic as it entangled with the dragon’s for a brief moment in recognition. Large head shifted a bit up and swiveled toward Regina. “You’ve found your mate,” the dragon spoke before returning her golden eyes to Emma’s, the slow rumbling voice carrying an edge of amusement. “As promised.”

Then, the large eyes focused on the brunette. “You wished for counsel?” The dragon said gently, shifting toward the former Evil Queen, her every movement followed by the sound of her talons scraping the rocky floor of the place. Regina nodded in silence, watching the glorious beast come closer to her. She had seen the huge dragon before and even had been close to her, but she was still in awe of her, amazed by the supremacy, not only magical but physical as well, the dragon radiated. Even if she could ignore the presence of such a magical behemoth’s power, she would be hard pressed to stay cold hearted with the dragon’s exquisiteness. “Your mind is troubled,” Guardian noted, focusing more intently on the woman in front of her. Then, after a moment of deep inspection, the dragon’s head swiveled back to Emma, considering her before initiating a shallow mind bridge.

“Your mate seeks privacy, Knight,” Emma heard in her mind, but she did not react outwardly, having already felt the familiar taste of the mind magic. “Will you grant it to her?”

Emma looked up into the intense eyes peering at her, darting her own to Regina before she connected back with the dragon and slowly nodded, her reluctance only fueled by her desire not to be separated so soon.

“It won’t last long, Knight,” the dragon soothed mentally. “And, there is a pair of wild hogs not far from here if you need something to keep you occupied.”

“You want me to go hunting?” Emma replied in the same way, the only outward sign of her surprise a raised eyebrow.

“Food will be appreciated, Knight,” Guardian remarked softly, her voice still only heard by Emma. “By you most of all, it seems,” the dragon added as she looked up into the already dark night sky. “You won’t be going up to the village soon.”

Emma furrowed her brow at the dragon’s words. “You know what she wants to ask you?”

“She still needs to learn to guard her mind properly,” Guardian said softly before turning her head toward Emma. “Go. Hunt. Your mate is safe here.” 

The Sheriff grunted in acceptance, breaking the connection with a sharp snap of her magic before she approached Regina. Leaning into her beloved’s figure, she dropped the large bag by the woman’s feet and pressed her lips to the brunette’s cheek. “I won’t be far,” she whispered into Regina’s ear, gently rubbing their cheeks together before she stalked off in the direction Guardian indicated, the loose pebbles and earth grinding and creaking under her heavy stomps.

“She is angry,” Regina murmured sadly, as she watched her lover leave.

The dragon settled down in front of the brunette, huffing in disagreement and letting steam come out of her nostrils, her wings fluttering restlessly, folded against her back. “You know better,” the dragon spoke with sharp reproof, focusing on the woman in front of her.

Regina grimaced at the low growling voice directed at her and nodded in acquiescence. Bending her knees, she lowered herself into lotus position, her hands flicking the cloak behind her. “I do,” she whispered, her head bowed as she brought her hands onto her knees. “She is frustrated more than she is cross but that anger is still strong.” She looked up. “That is something I actually wanted to talk to you about.”

Guardian only blinked at her, making Regina awkwardly clear her throat before pressing on. “When I, uh, when I entered Gorlois’s magical construct, it gave me a lot of information on this place. It, or rather he told me about a certain cavern that I should find…” She watched the dragon, hoping that she would know what she was talking about.

The thing was Gorlois had mentioned the secluded cavern only as an interesting tidbit about the valley in Brocéliande, both natural and supernatural formation that had served the dragons and other magically inclined species for eons. He had spoken about it when he had spoken about the members of four Kinds that would gather in Brocéliande in times of strife for a summit or simple meeting. Having four vastly powerful and incredibly diverse magical Kinds in one small place was always a recipe for disaster, with their magicks interacting so violently with each other. What was special about the cave, or rather meeting grounds (for as Gorlois had said, it was big enough to host several members of each Kind, including fully-grown female dragons) was the fact that due to convergence of several magical phenomena in the place, along with specific mineral composition of the rocks in place, any magical outburst within the confines was in effect nullified without outright suppressing magic in hosts. However, to Gorlois’s knowledge the space had not been used under Tintagel purview since Cador’s grandson’s grandson, so Regina didn’t know if Guardian knew of it.

But the dragon remained quiet, her luminescent eyes peering at her with indulgence.

“I thought,” Regina added softly, feeling more unsure about this by the minute, “I could use the cavern to help Emma…”

Guardian blinked slowly before she passed her tongue over razor sharp teeth. “Emma’s trouble is not related to magic, not directly,” she spoke and it was the only confirmation that the dragon knew what Regina had been talking of.

“I-I know that,” Regina replied, hating that she could feel the hot embarrassment licking her skin, something that she hadn’t felt in a long time and not since before she had orchestrated the murder of her husband. “But, the only way I can think of to help her could cause her magic to flare,” she added insistently.

She expected the dragon to scoff at her or to outright deny her, but what Regina didn’t expect was for the mammoth being in front of her to push into her mind, slipping easily within the borders Gorlois had taught her to erect. “The magic is not the problem,” she heard the familiar voice in her mind. “Nor is your ability to help the Knight with her frustration,” the voice remarked suggestively. “The Savior’s mind and her emotions are protected by much better shields that even you know, shields that even the magic of dragons cannot pass through. And without a solution for that, even the cavern you seek cannot help you.”

Regina felt her shoulders slump and her head sink low as the presence retreated from her mind, Guardian effortlessly proving her point. The master of Mind Magic had simply entered her mind despite all the instruction from Gorlois and if Guardian could not conquer Emma’s walls, what chance did Regina have – a novice in the arts?

“But how can she survive her burdens with such a handicap on her?” the brunette said quietly, her voice breaking at the last word. “How can she withstand the pressure of her calling, of being the Savior?”

“Even with the knowledge of Tintagel and such intimate awareness of your mate, you ask the wrong questions,” Regina heard the rumbling voice say. She glanced up and saw the dragon stare at her, the domineering hulk of the beast towering above her. “She is the Savior,” the dragon growled lowly. “Her survival was never in question. And the burdens she bears she chooses to carry. But, think on this – is it her duty that causes her anguish? Or, is it something else?”

Instantly, Regina remembered Emma’s nightmare, the haunted look the blonde had directed had her hand, hand that had strangled Midas. She remembered the Sheriff’s words about slaughtering a thousand men. She remembered Emma’s guilt and she understood. The blonde carried the perceived stain of her deeds wrapped around her soul, her reluctance of accepting them as justified and necessary part of the war she had been fighting prevented her from letting it go, instead choosing to shoulder the weight of her actions as a penance – her own conscience destroying her from the inside. “How do you force someone to accept forgiveness?” Regina asked softly, tears springing into her eyes as she realized just how hard the task she had set before herself actually was.

“There is a way,” Guardian offered her before she brought her head to Regina’s face, puffing a small cloud of steam over the brunette’s body. The dragon then turned her giant body away and started moving deeper into the shadows of her chosen habitat, the impatient flick of her tail startling Regina out of her surprised state and the brunette quickly jumped to her feet, picking up the sack with a low grunt and rushing to keep pace with the beast.

* * *

“Go hunt,” the Savior griped as she used a clump of snow to wash the blade of her dagger, making sure to clean every speck of blood and dirt from it, not willing to let carelessness destroy such a beautiful gift from Percival, and then doing the same to her gloves. “Keep yourself busy and out of the way, while we discuss important things,” she mocked the dragon, while she pushed the cleaned carcass of a boar onto a one sided stretcher she had fashioned out of branches. “Jumping into a volcano, sure, but staying around for a talk, no,” she grumbled, stretching her body upward before she placed her cloak back on and sat onto a nearby rock, heaving a disgruntled sigh as she leaned against the tree right behind her seat and wrapped the cloak around herself to ward off the cold that came with the nightfall. After a moment of silence, she just shook her head. She knew that Guardian had done it because Regina had needed a moment in private with the dragon, but it still rankled to be sent away, like a child that was underfoot.

Tossing her head back, she leaned it against the tree behind her, glancing up and hoping to find the stars, but it seemed that the same fog that prevented the people of Dragon’s Bluff from seeing into the valley now prevented her from seeing the sky. As her eyes found only murkiness, she closed them and let her head fall chin forward, still keeping it against the tree, feeling some of her hair snag on the rough bark behind her. Inhaling deeply, Emma tightened the cloak around her and crossed her arms over her chest, still holding onto the edges of the black cloak before letting warm air escape her lungs in a slow and measured exhale.

She wasn’t fair, she knew. And, the dragon had only followed what she had sensed from the brunette. Emma herself had benefited from Guardian’s insightful words and advice, why wouldn’t she let Regina gain from them, as well? Yes, she had been sent away, but was it Regina’s fault that whenever Emma had met the dragon she had been alone, with the abundance of privacy and time?

Emma breathed in gradually, letting her lungs expand fully before she stopped all motion, keeping the air trapped in her chest for a long moment.

The world was ending. It sounded silly when she thought about it that way, but still, the world of fairytales was facing extinction and she was the only one who held the key to its salvation. And, she had only so much time to spend with her beloved and the rest of her family, including the time to prepare and time to get herself to her absolute best before sailing off to the Origin Point, so why was she wasting it by being petty and abrasive, especially when she had known that Regina had something specific in mind for her consultation with Guardian?

She breathed out, feeling the warm mist cling to her cheeks before dissipating into the cold night air.

It didn’t matter, she decided, continuing to breathe slowly and deeply. Whatever the reasons, her spitefulness and injured pride were only making things harder and awkward. So, she would do what the blasted dragon wanted her to do and she would hunt until the summons came. And, the physical side of it would only serve to further ground her emotions.

Emma opened her eyes and rose to her feet, swiping off the heavy dark cover away from her shoulders folding it with care before she lowered it down against the rock she had been sitting on. Reaching for her bow and arrows she had laid down while she had cleaned the carcass of her kill, she opened her senses and listened for another prey.

Hunting was something Emma didn’t have a chance to do often, as she was usually provided with more than enough food to be properly nourished. However, her godmother had done a pretty good job in instructing her in the ways of the hunter, especially in regards to reading animal tracks and placing snares and traps. Although she currently had no need of the latter, Emma couldn’t but spare a moment to send a thought of gratitude toward her friend for teaching her so well, as she easily followed the marks in the spare snow and half-frozen earth. There was one side to hunting that she hadn’t really expected to appeal to her, since she was so new to the whole provide-your-own-fresh-meat kind of deal, and that was the very idea of a hunt. It was such a predatory feeling of stalking and chasing the prey, almost hypnotic in its simplicity and primitive instinctiveness where she could feel her consciousness recede into a state of calm and she was guided by her baser self. It was a form of a trance, she would later realize, where her rampaging and crowding thoughts would quieten to a non-disruptive murmur, a background noise she could easily ignore. It was a feeling similar to the one she would get on her more exciting bail bonds assignments, albeit stronger and more pervasive. Stalking a lonely wild pig she had tracked down, so focused on the movements of the animal that she lost her all-consuming worries for the future, Emma notched an arrow and pulled the string back and waited for the moment when her game would expose a soft spot for the quick kill.

Just as she was about to release the arrow, the familiar voice broke through her focus and filled the emptiness of her mind.  _ She is ready for you _ , coming in that maternal tone of the dragon’s avatar, the simple words completely derailing Emma’s targeting and surprising her into sending the whistling projectile way of the mark.

“Damn it,” Emma hissed in reaction, watching as the low screech of her arrow frightened her target into a mad run away from her. She wasn’t disappointed by the loss of the prey but by the rather distressing way her thoughts surged back into her brain, ramped up by Guardian’s innocuous statement. “Ready for what?” she murmured as she returned to her previous spot, picking up her cloak and grabbing the branches to pull her catch back to the center of the valley.

It was a mark of her excellent physical shape that it took her only several minutes more than it had done to traverse the path she had stomped over when she had walked away in a fit of pique. Even the heavy load of the half-frozen remains of her hunt didn’t slow her much down, despite the ungainly way she had to transport it.

As soon as she came near to the dragon, she mentally received directions for Regina’s whereabouts, the dragon skillfully ignoring her questions. Shaking her head at the odd behavior of her mentor, Emma dropped down the branches and left the hog carcass beside the large beast, chuckling lightly at the throwaway comment from Guardian that the meat would be waiting for them when they decide to be finished with Regina’s plans.

Following Guardian’s short instructions, the Sheriff walked into a dark mouth of a barely noticeable tunnel hidden on the side in the wall of the cliff, letting her bond with Regina guide her through the obscure passage toward a fork in her way. Choosing the left-sided path as directed, Emma stepped deeper into the darkness. It unnerved her, the squashing sense of it, the slight tingle of panic that danced along her spine and the way the sound of gravel beneath her feet seemed much louder in the pitch-blackness engulfing her. However, even though she hated the pressing feeling of the dark around her, she did not use her magic to call forth a light source. She could survive a short walk through a spooky tunnel without help.

After a minute that seemed much, much longer, Emma saw a soft, muted light ahead. As she hurried along she found herself at the entrance into an odd cave, with the air so warm that her winter attire was making her sweat.

It was quite obvious that the space had been artificially shaped, evident by the clear and straight lines of the room she was in. The hewn walls were covered in crystals that radiated light, keeping darkness at bay but still not strongly enough to bother the eyes of the people in the room. The large space was divided in two parts, each side drastically different from the other. On one side, in a space with two precise corners Emma saw a large bed covered in skins and sheets, placed low, only a foot of the ground, two fur-covered seats and a wooden table placed beside the bed in one corner, just as low, and in the other corner a shelf-like space hewn into the wall on the other side of the bed. But, on the other side of the room there were no discernible corners but a small underground spring of hot water, creating a shallow pool with the bottom covered in finely ground sand that glimmered in the lights of the crystals, The pool had a cleverly designed outflow that went into the curved wall on the farthest side of the room. And, right beside the drain was a small wooden door, just big enough for a person to stoop and pass through, that led to what Emma could only assume to be some kind of a toilet.

However, even though the room held some of Emma’s interest, most of her attention was on the brunette standing at the center of the room, with hands placed on her hips and back turned away from the entrance, looking at the spring to her left, her cloak and tunic tossed over one of the chairs, with the bag dropped right beside it.

“What is this place?” Emma spoke as she crossed the room to join her beloved, her hands absently taking off her bow, quiver and her cloak, putting it aside, right next to Regina’s things, before she took off her gloves and carelessly tossed them away on the table.

At Emma’s voice piercing the gentle hum of the ever-flowing water of the spring, the brunette half-turned and smiled at the Savior. Lowering her arms beside her as she lightly leaned into the hard body by her side, inordinately pleased to feel Emma’s hands rest at her waist. “It was a private chamber for the head of the Fairies.” Feeling her lover shift her head to look at Regina’s face, the brunette explained. “As you know, all of the Kinds have their leaders, rulers of sorts. And, this valley was to some extent a meeting point for them, so when the rulers came to serve as envoys for their… people.” She hesitated over the word but at Emma’s encouraging squeeze at her hip, she continued on, “Each one would have a room made by their Kind’s specifications to use for rest and privacy. Guardian felt this one would suit us best.”

“For what?” Emma asked, pressing Regina’s side gently to persuade the woman into completing her turn, her eyes peering into the dark ones. She noted the origins of the place, but delving into the history of Brocéliande wasn’t what was important to her at the moment.

“This room is special,” Regina spoke, glancing into Emma’s inquisitive eyes. She saw a brief flicker of befuddlement at her non-answer reply but the blonde remained quiet, waiting for her to finish. “The rock formations of this side of the cliffs are so spectacular and unique. You see, they have this amazing ability to contain loose magic, making it harmless as it is expelled out of their users, making this particular side of the valley so useful in holding assemblies with such powerful species.” Regina lifted her palm and placed it flat against Emma’s chest, seeking connection with the blonde as the Sheriff had unconsciously lowered her hands away from Regina’s hips at the mention of wild magic. “Originally, I intended to use the cavern where the Kinds used to gather but Guardian denied me, offering me this place instead,” she said slowly, a slight tinge of puzzlement coloring her voice.

The Savior frowned at the words the woman in front of her spoke, considering them carefully against the wealth of knowledge she possessed. “If the room where they met has the same properties you mentioned,” Emma uttered slowly. “Then, I can think of why you wouldn’t be allowed to enter. Not even I would gain entrance.” She let her words sink in first before adding, “Dragon’s magic is very volatile when they are just hatched.”

“Oh!”

“You still haven’t answered my question,” the Sheriff spoke softly, reaching for Regina’s hand on her chest.

The former Evil Queen came closer to the blonde in front of her, leaning in and bringing her free hand to Emma’s neck, she pulled the blonde into a soft and tender kiss before she made one step back, closing her eyes to hide her disappointment at Emma’s lukewarm reception, separating them but still leaving them close enough for her hands to remain in place and keep touching her beloved.

_ What is it that keeps you away from me? _ Regina wanted to ask, but kept herself silent.  _ That wall around your heart, what is it protecting you from? _ She let her mind ask questions she wanted to speak aloud, her thoughts directed at the woman in front of her, but she knew that if she spoke what was now going through her brain, Emma would withdraw and the whole purpose of their journey here would be void and the effort for naught.  _ I know you desire me, Emma. Perhaps, even more than I yearn for you. I see the hunger in your eyes, I hear your quickening breath, and your rapidly beating heart. But, still, you keep yourself away. What is it about me that frightens you so? _ Regina opened her eyes and peered into Emma’s, expecting to see the traces of dread hidden within their depths. But, it wasn’t fear she found in the Savior’s eyes as the blonde watched her warily. And, finally able to see what was keeping Emma’s fences so strong she knew how to proceed. “For us to spend some time alone.”

“Why?”

“Because, you’re angry,” Regina replied, after a second of looking into Emma’s eyes, her voice tight as her hands kept Emma in place. “And, I won’t have it unchecked around Henry and Kyle.”

The blonde visibly flinched under Regina’s words, only the strong grip on her body stopping her from moving away. “I would never hurt them,” she seethed a second after, glaring at the woman in front of her.

“Emma, it’s not about hurting them,” Regina spoke slowly after she cleared her throat, her voice clear and reasonable. “I know they are safe with you. But the thing is – you swallow your emotions and you keep them so tightly bottled, and the strain of keeping them contained is getting to you. Your anger is seeping out, Emma, and it’s making you a ticking time bomb. And, you know that.” Softening her tone, she added. “Gwen told me what happened earlier.”

“I didn’t mean,” Emma started quietly, her vexation slipping away at the words of her lover but she couldn’t continue, because no matter what she was going to say, it would end up being a worthless excuse.

“I know,” Regina soothingly replied, her voice filled with understanding. “The thing is, since you’ve been here, you haven’t allowed yourself to unwind properly, and you’ve been pushing both your body and your mind beyond the breaking point. You know that you cannot keep doing this, not without completely diffusing the pressure building within you. Your control is impressive, and it has served you well considering the circumstances, but now, Emma, your self-control is your enemy. The emotional and mental barriers you’ve built to protect yourself from everything and your ability to compartmentalize are now to your detriment, Emma, because they are the very thing that is causing you harm.” Pulling the blonde into a warm and comforting hold, she whispered against Emma’s cheek, “We both know this and that is why we are here.”

Closing her eyes, Regina could feel Emma’s muscles almost vibrating under her hands. She was pleased that the blonde hadn’t stiffened entirely, but it made her heart ache for her beloved, as she knew that only a season before Emma would have relaxed completely into her hug. She took in a deep breath and pressed the blonde’s frame more firmly into her, placing Emma’s head against her shoulder, guiding it gently so Emma’s forehead would lean against the side of her neck.

She needed to be gentle, she reminded herself. Gentle and patient, no matter how her libido or her personality might push her to be aggressive and demanding. Emma needed her to be soft and persevering.

Rubbing her hands over the blonde’s shoulders and back, Regina slowly disentangled them and stepped towards the entrance, her fingers deftly engaging the mechanism to close it, wincing at the sudden loud sound of stones grinding as a rock panel slid over the opening. She glanced back and saw the Sheriff stand in the middle of the room, right where she had left her, straight and unmoving as her intense green eyes watched her every move with wary interest.

“Emma,” Regina said delicately as she approached the uncomfortable blonde. “I need something from you.” Before Emma could respond with the expected ‘Anything’ she placed her fingers on the dry lips. “Before you answer, you must know first what I want,” she added quietly. At the woman’s hesitant nod, she pushed forward. “We are here because you are too tense and too divided within yourself to survive much longer under the stress of the roles thrusted upon you, and I know that even you realize that,” she paraphrased their previous conversation, and gazed into the still off-green eyes of her beloved, not commenting on the minute flinch of the woman at the softly spoken words, knowing that Emma would come to her when she was ready. But after an awfully long and fraught silence, she saw the acquiescence in Emma’s eyes.

“I have an idea how to help you, but for it to even remotely work you must trust me completely and unconditionally, Emma. You need to trust me that regardless of whatever I ask of you, you will be perfectly safe in my care.”

Emma gently kissed the fingers on her lips before she pulled them just a bit away. “I trust you,” she said solemnly, portraying earnestness that made her face shine in the muted light of the crystals. Before Regina could caution her again, she raised both of her eyebrows and dipped her head lower. “I trust you even when you imply that the cure for me is an oddly situated Dom sex game.” Her lips pulled in a soft smile when she saw Regina blink and roll her eyes in realization that Emma recognized what she had in mind. “I trust you even if you need to cause me pain for what you have in mind to work.” Regina only smiled wanly, before she shook her head. “Do I need a safe word?” Emma asked, forcing her words to sound flippant but she was more than aware of the seriousness of the situation.

“Do you?” Regina reiterated quietly, waiting for an answer with bated breath.

However, this was the thing with trust, Emma considered. If they were anywhere else, in any other situation, she would have a safe word ready as she well understood how these plays worked. But, Regina had gone out of her way to underline the need for absolute and unreserved belief that the woman would keep her protected and cared for no matter what. And, she did trust Regina, unequivocally and unconditionally. “No,” she replied firmly.

Regina sighed in relief, closing her eyes for a moment before she looked at the blonde in front of her, offering her a pleased smile as she caressed the cheek under her fingers, tracing the bone underneath, before a change came over her as she slipped into a mode she would need for this to work. After Guardian had left her to find the private quarters she had considered what her role needed to consist of, and with further realizations about Emma’s motivations, she hoped that she had managed to find the right combination. Her back straightened and she pulled away from the Sheriff, keeping herself close but still out of the touching distance. But, before she continued, she peered into her beloved’s eyes, needing to ask one more time. “You sure?”

Emma nodded.

Taking that as the full acceptance of what was about to happen, the brunette pushed on with her plan. “Take off your clothes, Emma,” she instructed firmly but still kept her voice gentle. Her directive caused the blonde to start a bit, but after a short hesitant pause, Regina was pleased to see that Emma obeyed, her hands going up to the fastenings of her belt. “Slowly and with care,” she commanded, stopping the other woman from simply tearing her garments off. “Think about each item you take off. Give it a title, a role you have garnered during your life.” At Emma’s slightly crinkled eyebrows, the former Evil Queen elaborated. “I think a Warrior would do for your belt, don’t you?” she spoke, allowing her commanding and sensual presence to surge forward, giving a certain tone to her voice. She knew Emma would not speak, unless the answer was demanded of her. She was glad to have that benefit of their mind melds right that moment – Emma had seen her own memories of sex escapades she had been in during her rule as the Evil Queen, and instinctively she had followed one she had implemented most often. “And as you take it off, I want you to shed the title of warrior from you, put it away from your mind, for here, you are not.”

At those words, Regina saw the blonde stop for a brief moment of time she could almost convince herself she had imagined it, but she knew the pause was real. However, Emma resumed with untangling her belt and removing it from her hips. As soon as the leather was away from the Sheriff’s body, Emma offered it to Regina, holding it out in both hands, almost reverently. The brunette reached out and accepted the offer, smirking proudly at her beloved when as soon as the belt left the blonde’s fingers, Emma’s body lost some of its intensity and buzzing energy. If it were anyone else, Regina would speak praise, or offer a simple ‘Good Girl’, but doing it to Emma would backfire so hard that any other interaction would be incredibly awkward. So she placed the belt on the small table carefully, right next to Emma’s gloves and returned to her previous spot.

As Emma disrobed, Regina observed patiently, offering various titles for each vestment, receiving it from the woman in front of her, folding it up and placing it on the chair where the rest of the things were. “In here, they don’t matter. In here, they don’t exist,” she said as Emma removed her pants and boots. “Let go of the worries and burdens the worlds have burdened you with. Here, they have no power. Here, worries of a Mother do not exist, as well as the duties of a Royal. While we remain here, there are no regrets of a Leader, no challenges of an Enemy, envy of a Sister, the devotion of a Friend, heaviness of Power, guilt of a Knight, expectations of a Daughter, abandonment of an Orphan. While we are here they have no hold on you.” As Regina spoke slowly and deliberately, she watched the blonde comply, with each garment removed, the blonde seeming less consumed with the frantic energy that had seemed to envelop her, despite her physical stillness. “There is no Savior, no Sheriff, no White nor Black Knight, neither Keeper of the Balance nor any other role you have been forced to play. Shed them all away until all that remains is the woman I have met that night at the Tripoint – my lover.”

When Emma was down to her underwear and slowly untying the fastenings of her shirt, Regina could feel her own breath leaving her lungs in a staggered exhale, leaving her slightly dizzy at the sight in front of her.

She had seen Emma’s naked body before, of course, and from the moment she had met the blonde, she had known that the woman was hot, infuriatingly sexy even with her tank tops and skinny jeans. Once the blonde had stayed in Storybrooke and started hanging out with Henry and others of the townsfolk, Regina had seen the beauty in the formerly orphaned scrappy Deputy, and shortly after Graham’s death the Sheriff. Later, as they had grown closer, the brunette had often been left thoroughly amazed by the way Emma caused her body and heart to react. It had been here, in the Enchanted Forest that she had finally gotten the chance to appreciate the delicious marvel that was Emma Swan, and it had left her forever imprinted on the blonde hero and honestly, addicted. The long separation, and later, Emma’s infirm state had done nothing to limit and lower her love and attraction she held for the woman, only to slightly dull the sharp edges of the constant need she had for her beloved. But, at this very instant, seeing the blonde almost naked and bathed in the soft light of the crystals, she felt her body warm right up to the feverish levels, with sweat breaking out over her already damp skin, not at all helped by the heat radiating from the hot spring in the room.

Forcing herself to remain still and breathe, Regina glanced up, worried for a second that her inability to completely clear her mind from the mist of arousal wasn’t caused by her lover’s exquisite presence but due to the lack of air in the closed chamber. However, the ventilation shafts, similar to those in the secret chamber in the Temple, were still there where she had seen them the first time she had looked around the room, small dark rectangular holes burrowed into the carved ceiling. With hardly wrought focus, she could feel the fresh cold air coming down in barely there gusts from them, supplying oxygen to the room and keeping the hotness from the spring from overheating the space. It would seem that the sudden surge of heat was due to her insane levels of attraction to her beloved.

_ Patience, Regina _ , she admonished herself mentally, as she returned her gaze to the blonde in front of her, feeling her chest constrict at the sight before her. Clenching her hands into tight fists and keeping them lowered down for a moment longer, she watched the woman bring her shirt within Regina’s grasp, the movement of those pale arms slow, almost languid but also Regina could not help but get a sense of reverence coming of the blonde holding up the off-white garb. Releasing one of her palms, Regina lifted her arm measuredly, careful not to move too fast and risk touching Emma’s fingers, for she believed in that very instant that if she were to contact that inviting skin, she would lose all her tenuous control over her libido, and more importantly the situation. She caught one end of the shirt and pulled, letting it spill out of Emma’s hands, purposefully tugging on it gently in order for it to slide over the blonde’s palms and knuckles in a soft, teasingly long caress. When the shirt was completely out of Emma’s possession, she laid it over the back of the chair, taking a moment to gather her composure.

Regina turned around, leaning on the back of the chair with her thighs, affecting tranquility and complete control over herself and the room. And, she watched. There, barely four feet away stood Emma, covered only in this world’s version of undies, her arms relaxed beside her sides and her loose golden hair falling down, covering her shoulders. Regina didn’t expect the blonde to be demure or shy, far from it, really, when one took into consideration what Emma had been through, but as she let her eyes intently glide over the expanse of pale skin, she saw Emma stand there, unbothered by her open regard. Well, not completely unbothered, Regina noted wickedly as a smirk pulled on her lips at the sight of rosy flesh pebbling under her insistent gaze.

The woman in front of her seemed to get more beautiful each time she saw her, Regina thought as she let her eyes roam over the exposed skin, noting the well-outlined wiry muscles that exuded strength along Emma’s limbs and torso, the visible definition of the blonde’s belly and hips making her mouth water and drawing her attention to the one place that was hidden by a rudimentary grayish cloth. Blinking away the haze brought on by a spike of her arousal, she brought her eyes to Emma’s, catching them looking back expectantly.

Pushing away from the chair, Regina lifted her right hand, curling her fingers slowly, lazily, inviting Emma to come closer, her lascivious smirk turning into a welcoming smile when the blonde instantly obeyed, without a trace of hesitation. In a slow but deliberate move, she pushed the blonde tresses behind the shoulder and placed her fingertips over the woman’s newly revealed collarbone. Tracing the soft and still dry flesh, despite the warm temperatures of the place, she savored the fact that Emma’s skin constricted in goosebumps wherever her caressing fingers trailed. Following the raised bone over to the shoulder, she pressed lightly, feeling the strong body under her hand give easily, moving in the direction she wanted, the blonde turning around and revealing her back to Regina.

At the sight of familiar scars slightly obscured by the hair, Regina could not resist, bringing both her hands up and splaying her palms over the shoulder blades, letting her palms connect fully with Emma’s skin, moving her hands down Emma’s back, following the contour of the spine. When she reached the line of the underwear she traced it with both her hands around, enveloping Emma in a sensual hold, pulling the blonde back into herself. Placing her chin over Emma’s naked shoulder, careful not to snag on the light-colored locks, she blew gently over Emma’s ear, delighting over the shiver it caused. “You missed something,” she spoke clearly into it, making sure not to let her lips touch the ear or any other part of Emma’s head. “Take off your panties, Emma,” she said firmly, as she moved back a bit, bringing her hands again to Emma’s shoulders, letting them slide down the back as the blonde bent over to comply. “Drop them,” she instructed as she stopped the other woman from lowering down, her hands lightly keeping Emma’s hips in place. “Step out,” she urged softly, guiding the motion with the barest change of pressure in her hold. “Kick them,” she added, sliding her hands up Emma’s back when the blonde did as told. As her fingers reached the lower ends of the rib cage, she pressed just a little bit harder, reveling in the breathy gasp that escaped her lover’s mouth, feeling the spine curve backwards under her touch, the blonde’s head tilting up in pleasure.

Digging her hands possessively into the flesh in front of her, Regina followed the ridged line upwards, feeling the blonde’s back curve more, her unsteady inhale interrupted by a quiet but vibrating moan. As soon as her palms reached Emma’s neck, Regina wound her hands into the luscious hair, purposefully tangling it around her fingers before she gently pulled, forcing Emma to bend a bit more backwards, her head dropping farther back. Stepping slightly to the side, the brunette unwound her left hand from the golden tresses and slid it down the back of Emma’s head pressing her nails against the sensitive skin of Emma’s scalp. Smirking as the blonde shuddered in her hold, Regina pressed the hand against the corded muscles of Emma’s neck, bringing it slowly forward to Emma’s throat and resting it lightly beneath the sharp edges of the blonde’s jawline, feeling the woman’s throat move with a noisy swallow and also feeling the thundering pulse of the blonde’s heart.

Emma wasn’t struggling in the brunette’s clutch. In fact, it seemed that when Regina had placed her hand on the woman’s neck, the blonde’s shoulders lost some of the rigidity forced into the muscles by the strain of keeping her head from overbalancing her, the entire weight of the blonde’s head transferring to Regina’s hand still in the woman’s hair. If this was one of her conquests from the past, Regina wouldn’t hesitate to assert her dominance even further, but this was Emma, the other half of her heart, and Regina was there most of all for Emma’s benefit, to help her de-stress completely.

“That’s it, Emma,” she spoke in a low, sultry voice, her lips only millimeters away from the left side of Emma’s face, kissing the slightly flushed cheek in encouragement. “I am here,” she said firmly, guiding Emma’s head to rest on her shoulder, turning it a bit toward her neck to ease the torque on her own elbow before releasing the blonde tresses and dropping her arm down. She pressed her front to Emma’s naked back and with gentle but insistent push of the hand on Emma’s neck, she took on some of Emma’s weight. “Isn’t that better?” she asked rhetorically, her right arm winding around Emma’s middle in a possessive but gentle embrace. Flattened firmly against the blonde, she could sense Emma’s core muscles loosening up, letting the woman lean into the brunette and relax even more.

It was a good start, Regina noted to herself as she kept the blonde in her embrace, accepting to bear some of her beloved’s heft. They still had a ways to go, and Emma had more walls than the Imperial Palace and the Forbidden City put together. But her method was working quite well, at least for now.

They spent several minutes just standing there, in the middle of the room, Regina’s booted legs on the outside of Emma’s bare ones to ensure stability, just breathing. When Regina decided to move on, she slowly brought her lips to Emma’s temple, kissing it lightly, using the tender sign of intimacy to draw Emma’s attention. “Step to the bed, Emma,” she instructed, keeping her voice quiet, still holding the woman very close and steady, anticipating the awkwardness of walking while arching back. However, the blonde didn’t falter, still leaning against Regina, she managed to make a step forward without dislodging herself from the brunette’s front. Immediately, Regina readjusted her stance and so, step by step they reached the low settled mattress. “On, with your knees,” Regina commanded, her arms keeping the blonde stable during the move. “Sit on your heels. Lean back.”

Due to the bed being so close to the ground, now Emma’s head was nestled on Regina’s chest, right between her breasts. Still holding her hand on Emma’s neck, Regina gently slid it to a side, letting her palm rest on the left shoulder of the woman in front of her, the fingers of her hand pressing lightly against the collarbone, while her thumb traced the left side on the back of Emma’s neck. Bringing her other hand to Emma's other shoulder, mirroring the position of her left, Regina tightened her grasp, just enough to see her fingertips grow white with the pressure. “You mentioned pain before, and I am now curious why you would think that was something I had in mind for this.” Her voice was soft and low and it was only the small trace of hoarseness that belied Regina’s calm and unaffected manner. “The thing is,” she went on, as if she wasn’t holding onto the naked woman she loved with her whole being, “Pain would not break through these walls you have built around your heart, as you’ve become quite immune to it.” Squeezing her fingers harder to demonstrate her point, she hummed appreciatively when Emma proved her right by not reacting at all to the painful grasp. “Even denial and deprivation of pleasure would fail at cracking the defenses you’ve ensnared yourself in, for you already have proven strong enough to bear all the sacrifices you’ve offered,” she added insightfully, easing up on the blonde’s shoulders. “Nor would you succumb to persistent and forceful coaxing, even if I was the one to demand it of you.”

With the words Regina spoke came the tremble in Emma’s frame, her breathing speeding up as Regina had listed all the ways she would not use. At the mention of forcing Emma, the blonde stopped breathing altogether for a short moment, just long enough for Regina to raise her eyebrow at the reaction before Emma continued breathing, although in ragged and staggering bursts. Perhaps later, she could explore this, Regina thought to herself as she moved, ready to go on.

“Spread your knees,” she instructed the blonde, keeping her tone even.

Emma complied instantly, the speed of her actions drawing a smile out of the brunette, who was quite relieved that Emma couldn’t see her face at the moment. Quickly, Regina smothered her smile, tracing the soft skin over hard-defined muscles of Emma’s right arm, following it down to forearm, using her hand to bring it over her own shoulder, lightly caressing the soft underside of the pale upper arm, and using the teasing touch to keep Emma’s arm in place.

“Wider,” she spoke only seconds later, her other hand gliding over Emma’s neck, deft and playful fingers dancing over the sensitive skin below the jaw, as she watched the blonde adjust her knees.

“This is where things become interesting,” Regina said, still keeping her mask of being unaffected by her lover’s current presence firmly affixed, quite aware of the effect her aloofness had on her beloved, the skin under her touch steadily heating up. “I really admire your control, Emma. If I didn’t know better, I would’ve expected you to snap already, either running away or ravaging me. At the very least, I would have expected your magic to act up.” At Emma’s sudden throat clearing, she pressed her forefinger against the blonde’s chin and tsked in warning. “But, I know better. And I learned a lot while I was away. For example, I learned that the need to control is often a way to keep from feeling abandoned.” As she spoke, her right hand glided up and down Emma’s side, climbing up to the elbow then sliding down the underside of her arm, skirting the edges of the armpit, and down, tracing the ribs and side of the belly, and up again, questing fingers teasing and arousing, just enough to make the blonde’s muscles flex under her touch. “That explains a lot, doesn’t it?” she asked rhetorically, before she hummed, absently agreeing to her own point. “Anyway, where was I?”

Flexing her fingers on Emma’s throat, Regina hummed again. “Ah, yes, control,” she spoke calmly. “You’ve disciplined your mind so well while I was away, and even though the meld we shared here days ago is more structured and less filled with emotional resonance, I still know you well enough to see what was missing. What your very thoughts shy away from.” Regina splayed her hand on Emma’s side, resting it lightly against the blonde’s ribs, her fingers just millimeters away from the underside of Emma’s breast. “I know why your first reaction just now was to expect pain from me,” she said a bit quieter, her voice rougher with the emotion she couldn’t help but let seep through.

Regina felt blonde’s hard swallow as the woman’s throat moved in an effort to speak, but quickly moving her fingers onto Emma’s chin, holding it tightly up, she shushed the woman gently, lifting her other hand to caress Emma’s cheek as she bent her lover’s head back in order to meet the green eyes. At the soft and muffled, but nevertheless heartbreaking whine that the blonde let out despite Regina’s attempt of keeping her quiet, the former Evil Queen bowed her head and placed her lips on Emma’s forehead.

“Hush, my darling,” she soothed. “It’s alright. I am not holding it against you nor am I taking offence at it, I don’t mean to hurt you, Emma, only to tell you that I understand.” She kept her voice gentle but her desire to show Emma the truth gave more weight to her words. “I finally understand why,” she whispered, anguished realization almost making her unable to speak. But, she had promised to both herself and Emma that she would help and she wasn’t going to fail because she couldn’t keep control over herself and her emotions.

The brunette kept her eyes on Emma’s, not breaking their connection, and she watched the green orbs fill with tears that slipped over unchecked as the blonde trembled in her clutches. “I am here,” Regina whispered, her breath tickling the hero’s face. “I am here,” she kept repeating knowing that those particular words held more meaning and power for the Savior than she had ever suspected. She remembered the first time she had used them to comfort the blonde, so long ago, on the Jolly Roger, and even then, the words had been able to calm the restless woman in her arms. And, since that time, those words became an oath, a greeting, a soothing gesture, and a bolstering message all in one for the two of them. In some ways, those words held more promise and love than their ‘I love you’s. These were the words that ‘dream’ Emma had used to give Regina courage while she had been in Storybrooke, and these were the words Regina had spoken to awaken her lover from her despondency after the Red Mist. And now, these words held a new meaning. “I am here, my love,” Regina spoke as she used her hands to wipe Emma’s tears, her gentle fingers further soothing the other woman. “I am here now.”

With tender touch, Regina directed Emma to bend her raised arm around the brunette’s neck, giving it a small but valued proof that she was indeed there, real and solid. Using her left hand, Regina moved the blonde’s head to the side, bringing it to rest on her bosom with her ear pressed against her breastbone. And, as soon as she removed her hand, letting it set down on Emma’s other arm, she heard the woman sigh in respite, no doubt due to the strong and steady beat of her own heart.

“When I left,” Regina started softly, making sure not to stop the caressing movement of her hands that helped her ground Emma, “I hurt you.” She heard but didn’t react to a barely audible whimper coming from the blonde. After a moment of heavy silence, she continued. “That evening, we both knew that our separation was going to be hell and that our night together was perhaps unwise, adding even more pain to an already devastating goodbyes. However, you ended up in a much worse position, because not only I was gone, but your entire family. And, in the two years since you’ve met Henry, you’ve changed enough that your old defenses couldn’t work anymore, not after getting to know how it felt to be loved, accepted and integrated. No matter how learning that you weren’t alone in this world was and is good for you, it has left you vulnerable to loss, and to the pain of absence.” Regina bent her head down and kissed the crown of the blonde’s head, lightly clenching Emma’s left forearm with her hand before she turned her head and leaned against Emma with her cheek. “You needed me to be here, to show you that your memories, so vivid and strong, were real. That what we had shared that night wasn’t a cruel dream; that it went beyond making love. That we became intrinsically and irreversibly bonded, wildly surpassing everything we had shared before.

Closing her eyes, Regina remembered the devastation she had read about in the journals and had witnessed later, through their bond. And, as always when she thought about those days, she felt the tears spill beneath her lids, seeping into Emma’s golden tresses. “But, I wasn’t,” she murmured, forcing herself to speak around the knot that had formed in her throat. “And, remembering us so connected was like having ghosts of the past stab you repeatedly in your heart, painful and driving you insane. So, in order to cope, you took every memory of intimacy we had shared and packed it tight, locking it away, along with the part of yourself that belongs to us, to me. You became cold and detached, amazing warrior and brilliant leader, but to those who knew you from before, a shadow of your former self.”

Carefully, Regina enveloped Emma in her arms, still keeping the blonde’s one around her neck and nuzzled the soft locks beneath her cheek. “Yes, I am here now,” she added softly, “but, we both know that due to circumstances I might not be, quite soon at that. And, that terrifies you. The idea that if you actually allowed yourself to remember, to fully feel what had transpired between us that night, to immerse yourself completely in what can happen tonight, and I leave again… It would kill you.” Her words were followed by a shuddering whimper as the blonde stiffened in her arms. “You see, Em,” the brunette whispered sadly. “I do understand.”

Holding the unmoving woman in a firm embrace, the brunette waited patiently for Emma to relax again. She wished she could have done this any other way, preferably without hurting her beloved even further, but she also knew that Emma’s walls needed to be taken down for the woman to be at her best and survive the challenges ahead.

After a long period of quietude, Regina felt wetness slowly spread over her chest, the fabric of her clothes soaking up the sweat she had produced in the warmth of the room, helped along by her arousal for the woman in her arms. However, despite the dampness of perspiration, Regina could sense that the growing wet stain over her shirt was not due to her bodily function but to the blonde’s silent tears. When a small hiccup confirmed her thoughts, she squeezed her lover tighter, offering comfort through her very presence. She didn’t attempt to stop Emma from crying. On the contrary, by her touch and barely audible humming, she was encouraging the blonde to cleanse some of her pain through tears, paying no heed to the uncomfortable feeling of wet stickiness of her shirt. It was such a small price to pay, in her mind, for at least some of Emma’s release. Not long after Emma’s breathing calmed down, Regina felt the blonde slump against her, her body returning to the previous level of pliability, all evidence of Emma’s breakdown gone from her posture.

“I loath to use your parents’ favorite line, but it is quite apt for the occasion,” she said when Emma relaxed back into her arms. “But, the connection we share, Emma, it will let us always find each other, no matter the distance or circumstances. And, that very connection will always bring me back to you.” Regina kissed the blonde’s head. “Even death will stand defeated at the strength of our bond,” Regina stated firmly, her words resonating with otherworldly certitude.

Emma did not respond in any way, apart from winding her fingers through the dark tresses at the nape of Regina’s head, the possessive gesture making the former Evil Queen sigh quietly in relief.

“Do I still have your consent?” she asked, having let the moment of comfort pass between them. When Emma nodded, Regina clucked her tongue in mild disapproval, prompting Emma to reply with a rough and low voice, her statement consisting only of four words. “Yes, Regina, you do.”

“Good.”

Bringing her right hand to Emma’s, she intertwined their fingers before she gently brought both of them down, winding their arms around Emma’s middle, keeping her palm over Emma’s. “You’ve been so strong, darling,” she offered proudly. “So staunch in your duties, but there is no need for that here, while you’re with me.” Using the thumb of her right hand, she traced the defined lines of Emma’s belly, delighting in the quivering muscles underneath.

With her left hand, Regina reached down to Emma’s hip, letting her fingers just graze the sensitive skin there, slowly, through touch returning them both to the charged atmosphere of before. She didn’t deviate much from the zones she had chosen, first to get Emma used to such touch and in that context, the previous emotional experience making her wary of jumping into things too fast.

Paying attention to Emma’s breath, Regina had to constantly remind herself not to rush, not to slide her hand down to Emma’s slit, no matter how much she wanted it, and no matter how much Emma physically seemed to be ready for it.

_ You have a plan _ , she had to repeat to herself whenever her fingers would glide a bit lower than she intended.  _ Be patient. _

Just a bit later, when Regina deemed her beloved sufficiently enticed to continue to the next part of the plan, the brunette brought her hands to the pale thighs in front of her, bending both herself and Emma slightly forward for ease of access. With Emma’s knees already spread wide enough for what she had in mind, Regina slipped her right hand between the blonde legs, skimming the delicate skin on the inside of Emma’s right leg, tracing the thigh with just the tips of her fingers lightly grazing the skin, stopping her motion whenever her hand would reach the line of the butt mindful not to come too close to Emma’s center, before she would draw her hand lower, toward the knee.

Once, when her thumb accidentally brushed the tendon right next to the woman’s lower lips, Regina more felt than heard the woman in front of her moan, bringing her attention to the blonde’s head, and the flushed face of her beloved. There she saw her lover biting her lower lip while screwing her eyes tightly shut.

“Stop that!” she said sharply, using her the index finger of her free hand to pull Emma’s lip out of its white prison. “The sounds you make belong to me. I want to hear you. I want to hear every moan, every hiss, and every reaction you feel the need to make. Don’t stop yourself from making them. Understood?” Capturing Emma’s chin firmly between her thumb and first two fingers, she gently turned the woman’s head to a side, meeting the dazed eyes, so she could make her point clearer. “When you hold them back, you are taking them away from me, and I want what’s mine!” Even though she felt at ease in such a possessive and dominant position, Regina worried that if she were to overdo it, the blonde would retreat from her and this elaborate set up she had insisted on. However, after a hard gaze into the stunned expression of her beloved and hearing the sharp, explosive gasp leaving Emma’s mouth at her forceful words, and judging by the rapidly enlarging pupils of the blonde’s eyes, Regina had a feeling that she didn’t need to worry about coming off too strong.

“Now that’s settled, let’s move on,” Regina said before she lowered her head down and pressed her lips to Emma’s, still holding her chin. And as the blonde let out a muffled moan during the kiss and pushed back, seeking more of it, she could see that her words had an effect on the woman.

Continuing her previous motions, Regina watched her beloved sink deeper into the haze of desire, her bluish green eyes losing some of their piercing quality as the blonde struggled to keep their gaze connected. Sliding her fingers over Emma’s flushed cheek gently, the brunette smiled encouragingly at the younger woman in her arms, before she slid her right hand right into the warm wetness, her index finger just grazing the side of the blonde’s clit.

The resulting gasp followed immediately by a frustrated moan seared through Regina’s blood, as she strained to contain her arousal just enough to maintain her role, clenching her teeth to stop a low growl from leaving her throat. Emma was wet. Not just wet, she was dripping, her juices instantly drenching Regina’s fingers. Enticed by such overt display of desire, the Queen drew her hand lower, just barely touching the nub on the outside and then, instead of going to the source of the wetness, she slid her hand onto Emma’s thigh, letting her damp digits paint over the blonde’s heated skin.

When she repeated the move several times without touching the clit a bit harder, Regina felt the blonde in her arms grow more impatient, her hips starting to cant slightly in an effort to hurry Regina along.

“Let it wash over you, Emma,” the brunette spoke in a soft whisper, her mouth close to Emma’s ear. “Don’t chase it, it will come,” she added before catching the yielding tissue of Emma’s ear between her teeth in gentle warning.

Deliberately and with extraordinary patience, the brunette brought pleasure to the wounded Knight in her arms, the torturous slowness used to gently degrade the control Emma had over herself. She may have surrendered to Regina’s sensual touch but the holds she had over her magic and her emotions were still holding strong, no matter how tenuous they might have seemed earlier, and Regina knew that without them breaking, Emma was still in danger.

Only when the brunette felt the familiar buzz spreading over her skin, she smiled and awarded the woman in her arms with a few hard circles over her no doubt aching nub. The sudden escalation startled the blonde, tugging a sharp yelp out of her, followed by a sinful moan as she sank into the bit of relief Regina offered, her magic slipping out even more.

The feel of power that carried her beloved’s essence soothed something deep within Regina’s heart, filling the emptiness she had been feeling for a while until she had left the secret room at the Temple. But, then, her mind had been overwhelmed with the knowledge she had received from Gorlois and the relief she had felt as she finally ended up in Emma’s already waiting arms. She hadn’t been able to make sense of the fact that Emma had managed to reactivate her magic and that it had become even more potent since that day long before, on the pier of Safe Haven. Even earlier, in their room at the House of Healing, Emma had kept her power tightly under wraps, leaving almost no ambient trace of it for Regina to fully sense it.

But now as the Savior’s power seeped out, the brunette could feel the subtle changes in it. It was still Emma’s magic, the mind-blowing mixture of Savior’s white magic created out of True Love, Emma’s own personal brand of magic, and with the strong presence of Dragon, Yaoguai and Unicorn magic, along with traces of her own dark-tinged power. The scent of it was incredibly potent and seductive, calling upon her own, the bond they had making it even harder for Regina to resist the pull. But, it wasn’t time yet, Regina firmly decided, despite the yearning to entangle their powers together.

“Reg-” the blonde gasped, her pleading tone attracting Regina’s attention.

Taking mercy on her beloved, the brunette stepped up her efforts to bring gratification to the frustrated blonde. By now, Emma’s skin was covered in sweat, not even the liquid managing to keep her body from heating up even more. In time, the Queen brought Emma to a powerful climax, but due to the all previous teasing, it was far from enough to sate the blonde’s newly awakened appetite to bodily pleasures. So, Regina continued leading Emma through the very heights of making love, never pushing too hard to force the pleasure out of her but just enough for the blonde to lean into orgasms.

And, with each new climax, Regina could feel Emma’s shackles slip away bit by bit. First, it was her magic, just seeping out at the beginning but under Regina’s ministrations, Emma had lost all control of it, the power rising and falling with each breath Emma would take, its amazing force swirling around them, its indomitable power still calling Regina's own, even stronger than earlier, the sharp and demanding tides of it trying to entice Regina into rushing and losing control over herself, the brunette barely managing to hold herself along with her magic in check, before the incredibly strong and willful energy dissipated into the stones lining the room. Then, it was Emma’s control over herself that disappeared, the blonde completely surrendering to the devastating pleasure Regina foisted upon her. She had truly stopped thinking, existing solely in the moment, solely for the will of her True Love. She had no ability to recall memories of pain, loss, or loneliness, because nothing existed outside the two of them at that very moment, Emma completely yielding to Regina’s will and letting go of everything else, including all the reins she ever had held over herself.

With expertise, Regina brought her lover to an earth-shattering climax, not at all surprised when Emma’s eyes rolled up and the blonde slumping unconscious in Regina’s arms tailed the orgasmic scream.

Setting the blonde down onto the bed, Regina gently checked Emma’s breathing and pulse, sighing in self-satisfied relief when she confirmed that her lover had only passed out, no doubt to her exhaustion added to the heights of emotional releases Regina had guided through. She removed Emma’s wildly strewn hair away from the blonde’s cheek and leaning over, she pressed her lips on the still sweat-saturated forehead. Leaving the bed, she carefully stepped away to avoid shifting the mattress too much and walked over to the hot spring in the room, on the way gathering a small bowl. Having filled it with steaming water, she went to the satchel and took out the supplies she and Gwen had prepared. Setting the small parcel with food on the low table, she took one of the rags Gwen had packed and a glass bottle of the massage oil she had taken out of the blushing healer’s hands. Having heard from both Emma and the young healer that the blonde had not been dutiful in her recovery, Regina had decided that another healing massage was in order, but first…

She took the rag and dropped it into the water, letting it soak, as she settled beside Emma, kneeling down on the floor from where she could easily wash the blonde’s sweat away.

Sometime during her tender ablutions, Emma floated up to consciousness, sighing softly at the feel of hot fabric wiping away the stickiness from her skin. She opened her eyes to find the brunette leaning slightly over her, the gentle motions not stopping when the sparkling dark eyes met her own.

“Welcome back,” the brunette chuckled lightheartedly as she smirked down on the still hazy woman. Shifting just a bit, Regina leaned down and kissed the blonde lightly, her peck full of love. “You OK?” she asked softly, her hand flinging away the rag into the bowl as she had finished, and she lifted herself up onto the bed, settling beside her beloved.

Emma hummed in confirmation, her body immediately curling up to the brunette’s. “Just tired,” she murmured into Regina’s throat, her hand winding around Regina’s middle.

“Then rest a bit more,” the Queen replied, using her magic to remove most of her clothes and to bring a light sheet over them before she relaxed into the mattress, nuzzling the blonde’s temple. Honestly, she too needed a little break and they didn’t need to leave for a long while yet.

A brief period later, Emma woke up enveloped in a feeling of safety and love, the warmth suffusing her body, making her head still feel a bit fuzzy and her wholly relaxed. As it dawned on her that the balminess was due to Regina’s loving hold on her, she became aware of soft and barely there touch over the back of her shoulder, the soothing motions maintaining the rhythm she was intimately familiar with. Snuggling deeper into the welcoming arms, she sighed with content, not in a hurry to do anything but be there, soaking up the affection so easily bestowed on her.

Regina, on the other hand, couldn’t help but let her thoughts run wild, her indomitable will making sure that none of her turmoil was detectable from her body and face, her ever gently caressing fingers the only sign of her inner restlessness. The talk she had had with Guardian previously had left her bewildered, but also with a sense of ominous expectation, something that she didn’t like at all. The last time she had felt this way, she had just been informed that the Savior was deep in the Infinite Forest and needing her help. Needless to say, finding Emma on the verge of death had made her wary of Guardian’s vague wisdoms and warnings. She’d need to talk to the damn Dragon again, she told herself.

But, for now, she was exactly where she wanted to be. Where she needed to be. With Emma. So, she simply allowed herself to enjoy her lover’s burrowing and comforting weight pressing her down into the bed. She had missed this Emma’s penchant to climb almost entirely on top of her in her sleep, nuzzling the point where her neck met the shoulder. When she heard the blonde’s soft sigh, she brought her hand to Emma’s face, cradling the woman’s cheek. “I am not done with you just yet,” she said tucking some of Emma’s wild mane behind her ear. Emma hummed in acknowledgement before she lightly groaned, her arms flexing as she tried to lift herself away from the brunette, her reluctance to move obvious in her slow actions but the trust and desire to please her beloved seemed to win, as she managed to push herself onto her hands and knees, waiting for Regina to give her further instruction.

Regina chuckled at the expectant glance Emma had thrown her and patted the still warm surface of the bed in invitation. “Just lie here, on your belly,” she supplied before she rolled out and reached for the oil. She didn’t miss the realization dawning in the blonde’s eyes that had intently followed her out of the bed, nor did she miss Emma’s surprised frown as she lowered herself down. “This is for me as much as it is for you,” Regina spoke in a low tone as she straddled the woman’s thighs. “I love taking care of you. Helping you heal, helping you be the best you can be.” Rubbing the oil between her palms and filling her hands with more oil, she added, “It calms something tempestuous in me,” before she poured several drops of warm oil out of her hands onto Emma’s back.

“I under-st-Aah-nd” Emma tried to say before she let out a satisfied moan when Regina pressed strongly into the spaces next to her spine. “Oh God,” she gasped as the brunette guided her hands upwards.

“I knew you would,” the brunette smirked at the prone woman’s reaction. Spreading the warm liquid over Emma’s back, she added, “We both appreciate the sense of belonging it offers us, the feeling of acceptance and unconditional love.” Directing her thumbs to press into the corded muscles of the blonde’s neck, she relished Emma’s rather vocal appreciation of her efforts. Even though her work on loosening up the exceedingly strong muscles of her beloved’s body was quite similar to that of two weeks before, Emma’s response was notably different. Where once the Savior would have shied away from too intimate or too sensual touch, allowing only for the soothing and healing benefits of the massage, now the woman even urged Regina to spend more time on each of the areas the brunette was focusing on, her spoken encouragements further enhanced by the guttural groans of deep gratification.

Slowly, and with great care, Regina rubbed oil over every inch of Emma’s skin, doing her best to ignore the sensual moans such touch inspired. When she was done with the back, she instructed the blonde to turn over, pouring more oil into her cupped hand, and went on with the massage, moving around the bed to get as much reach as she would need for the hard muscles and strained tendons of her beloved’s body. Having put the younger woman through several body-spasming peaks, she took her job seriously, working on healing aspects of the massage rather than arousing ones, just as the last time. As soon as she finished with Emma’s limbs, she again coaxed the blonde to turn over, quite pleased to note the sluggishness in the woman’s movements. 

_ And, now for the next part _ , Regina quietly commented to herself, settling on Emma’s thighs, once more reaching for the oil. While holding the bottle in her hand, she brought her other one to the small of Emma’s back, pressing gently into the flesh, feeling the loose and limber muscles under her fingers. Tipping the oil container gently she spilled it slowly over the small of the woman’s back and brought it over the buttocks, using her hand to guide the excess oil.

It was gratifying to Regina that Emma didn’t flinch under such a move, nor did she react in any negative way, the only reaction was in a form of long and indulgent hum.

Having placed the bottle close to her, but far enough not to accidentally tip it over, Regina pressed both hands onto Emma’s bottom, spreading the oil around and rubbing it in the sensitive skin, her skillful fingers teasing over the line of the crack and sliding to the outer side of the lips, while digging into the butt muscles, causing Emma to groan from the double stimulation. 

“You’re killing me,” Regina heard the softly uttered gasp and looked up at her beloved’s head. There, beside the blonde’s head turned to the side, with loose hair strewn over her left shoulder, was the right hand, pressing into the mattress just enough to create a small indentation in the sheet. The half-lidded sparkling eyes were looking at her with amusement mixed with pleasure.

Regina chuckled in response, before slipping her fingers over the puckered muscle, chuckling again at the slow hiss it coaxed out of the blonde. Shifting down a bit and letting most of her weight rest on her own knees and legs rather than Emma’s, the brunette carefully moved, so Emma’s legs would be on the outside of her own, the new angle letting her reach Emma’s already soaked core.

Pouring more oil, this time directly over the flushed labias, Regina caressed the sensitive folds, spreading the viscous fluids all over them. She was tender and patient in her ministrations, escalating her touch slowly, keeping Emma’s body in a state of lassitude, left over from the massage but still bringing pleasure to the woman, balancing expertly on the line between too little stimulation (that would either be much too frustrating for the blonde or not arousing enough) and too much of it, pushing her into fast orgasms. No, what Regina had in mind for her True Love was nothing so quick and easy.

With her slick fingers, the brunette found the sensitive nub peeking out of the folds of the inner lips, and gently spreading more oil over it she started playing with it, teasing it further out as it filled with blood due to Emma's arousal, her digits gliding over the folds before returning the nub. 

When Emma started squirming in need, unable to hold herself still anymore, her shortened breath often interrupted by soft, keening moans, Regina shifted down a bit and with her hands pulled the woman's hips toward herself, her gentle manipulation bringing Emma to bend her knees under her torso, leaving her core up in the air and with ease of access. As soon as she brought the blonde to the position she wanted, Regina returned her hands to the sopping and hot folds, her actions making the woman in front of her groan in need, her hands digging into the bedding beside her head. 

Not once did Emma beg or insist for Regina to just get on with it, even though the brunette expected her to. The quiet murmurs of Regina's name, with sputtering exhalations of ‘Oh, God, oh, God’ were the only things the blonde clearly spoke. The fact that even the younger woman's magic had seeped out without the accompanying edge of frenzied demands hidden within the tendrils of power itself spoke much of Emma's complete surrender. The blonde was hers, in ways she had never been before, and that amount of trust and belonging awed Regina, especially taking into consideration that Emma had been such a wild and untamable spirit, incapable of calm acceptance but always quietly, and not so quietly, raging against the authority people would have over her. That had been one of the reasons Emma had butted heads with her so strongly in Storybrooke, and why the woman was chafing under Snow’s mothering. Even Graham had commented once how the blonde had chuckled indulgently at him when he had tried to assert the dominant position of his job over hers. So, to have the woman who was legendary with her disdain against authority submit to her effortlessly, resting her upper body against the bed, not moving out of the vulnerable position Regina had placed her in; and to be truthful, the pose the brunette had her in was truly one of the most vulnerable ones for a woman - was humbling and filling Regina with adoration for the blonde in front of her. 

Quickly bringing her lover to devastating heights, Regina leaned slightly away from the searing warmth of her lover's skin, her fingers curling into fists as she pressed them hard against her oil slick thighs, the dull pain doing nothing to distract her from the overwhelming need roaring in her, her body trembling in arousal, almost too sensitive even for the feel of her underwear against her skin. 

Biting her lip and using the sharp hurt to marshal her thoughts and will, the brunette initiated the next part of her extensive plan of helping Emma. 

* * *

A soft but melodious hum came from the woman beside her as they lounged in the hot water of the spring in the quarters, the gentle tune drawing Regina's attention to the moment. Previously, her mind had sunk into the pleasurable haze, brought on by an explosive completion following a vigorous round of lovemaking and a tender caress of Emma's hand gliding over her back. 

Regina had used her life experience to help Emma slowly tap into her own desires and to reestablish the dominant side of her own personality, guiding her beloved with care and bit by bit relinquishing control. Her careful guidance had ended when the blonde flipped them, trapping Regina in an overpowering hold, making what was left of her clothes disappear in a blink of an eye and proceeded to ravish her, paying her back with numerous moments of rapture until they both had collapsed into an exhausted heap of limbs. 

Turning her head to her side, resting it lightly over her forearms, the brunette lazily opened one eye, taking in the beautiful warrior beside her. Emma was on her side, her head propped against her hand and held up by her elbow, her wet hair falling over to the side and the murmuring water reaching just under her breasts. 

“What is that you're humming?”

Emma's sparkling eyes found Regina's and the woman smiled. “An enchanted moment,” she spoke softly, the tune of her hum obvious in the words. “And it sees me through; It’s enough for this restless warrior just to be with you.”

Regina rolled her eyes at the song she recognized almost immediately, as soon as Emma had started softly singing the words. “Really, Emma? Disney, and a wrong one, at that?” she said with a lighthearted scoff but the blonde beside just winked at her, before gathering her in her arms, going to the chorus of the song.

“Can you feel the love tonight? It is where we are-” Emma would’ve sung more, no doubt, but a pair of luscious lips had pressed against her own. The sudden move forced a half-strangled giggle out of the Savior before she relaxed into the kiss, wrapping her arms around the woman currently attacking her. 

A long minute later, Regina let out a pleased sigh as she shifted into a better position to look at Emma’s face. “So, aside from your questionable taste in music, what’s on your mind?” she asked softly, her index finger sliding over the blonde’s cheek in a gentle caress. 

Using her arms to pull the older woman into her own body, Emma let out a relaxed hum. “I am just thinking; what next?”

The brunette smiled, pecking Emma’s lips before she replied, her words turning coquettish. “Well, we could sort the bed and get on it. I still didn’t have a chance to-”

“I still can’t move from the last time,” Emma replied in mock exasperation. “You’ve played plenty.”

“It’s not like you haven’t returned the favor, Emma,” Regina spoke in return. “But, I guess it is time for reality to intrude…” She lowered her head down on the blonde’s chest, her ear pressed against the solid thump of the blonde’s heart. “I don’t think we should stay here past Christmas. In fact, I would like to get to the castle just in time for it. So, we have about a week still.”

“Alright,” Emma agreed. “That should do fine. The tailor and the cobbler would be done by then, and Percy has already promised to start with the preparations to leave Brocéliande. In the meantime, I will visit the Yaoguai and get more information out of Guardian. Then, I’ll need to deal with the blacksmith, and I suggest you get some training with Percival or Dai. We can always use the time ward if it is needed.”

“Why would I need further practice in combat?” the brunette asked, lifting her head off Emma’s chest to look at the woman below her.

Emma opened her mouth to reply before she paused. Pushing onward, she said, “Magic is disappearing from the Enchanted Forest.” Tucking an errant lock over the brunette’s ear, she continued. “My destiny, according to Guardian, is to bring it back into the world - because the Enchanted Forest cannot exist without it.”

“Your magic, that can explain it,” Regina spoke after several moments of pensive silence. “When I scried for you by searching for your magic, the map of the Forest lit up in its entirety.” Shaking her head, the brunette returned to the topic. “So, it would provide me with an advantage over Zelena, assuming she hasn’t prepared in the same way.”

“You have the benefit of living in Storybrooke for twenty eight years and knowing why the magic is failing.” Kissing Regina’s frowning forehead, Emma scratched the back of the brunette’s head in a soothing manner, before she slowly rose into seating position, holding Regina in her arms, so the woman ended up sitting on her lap with legs going around Emma’s hips, their lower bodies still submerged in the hot water of the spring. “Have you given any thought to where she might be?”

“No.” Leaning her forehead against the blonde’s neck, Regina wrapped her arms around Emma’s shoulders, seeking comfort from her beloved as she thought about her half-sister. “From everything you have learned about her, and what little I have gathered from the spy, I know that she is jealous of me, but I don’t see the point for it now.”

“Perhaps her spy informed her that Cora had died. We weren’t exactly quiet about that in Storybrooke.” Emma brought her hands to her beloved’s back, pressing Regina into her while her fingers stroked the wet skin.

“Maybe.” A soft sigh pushed air over Emma’s neck. “She wants what I have. I would have expected her to take my castle away from me.”

“Blame me for that, I locked it down with my magic.”

“Right,” Regina said in a droll tone, as she wrapped her fingers into the partially waterlogged blonde hair, squeezing the excess liquid out of the tresses in an almost absent-minded way. “You did the same with the Dark Castle, so She went to the Forbidden Fortress instead, because Maleficent was my closest friend. The Charmings’ Palace is occupied and well defended, as we witnessed only two days ago, in the outside time, anyways. We could check Henry's estate when we start looking, but nothing else comes to mind.”

“Your mother's mill?” Emma asked. 

“There is nothing left. Mother torched it to the ground when she married Daddy.” 

“Midas?” 

“I doubt it, but we'll check.” Regina looked at the woman holding her in an embrace and smiled at a loving glint that still hadn't gone out of the eyes that had finally returned to their true colors. “I still don't get why now? Who wages war in winter?” 

“We have to assume she has some sort of a plan in mind, even if it might be completely insane,” Emma spoke softly, splaying her palms over Regina's shoulder blades, the tips of her fingers digging gently into the hollows on both sides of the spine. “We’ll figure her out and then you’ll deal with it.”

“Hmm,” Regina murmured in agreement as she lowered her head, her move bringing Emma’s lips within the range of her own. With her hands in Emma’s hair, she pulled in it, tilting the blonde’s head back and kissed the woman, her tongue slipping between the open lips of her lover, letting the passion between them rise again. “No more talking,” she breathed into Emma’s mouth. 

Emma hummed and holding the brunette firmly in her arms, she rose from the water, her core strength keeping both of them from overbalancing. Not breaking their kiss, the woman brought them to the bed, and with only a thought of fixing it, she willed it into its previous state, with clean and undamaged sheets, the magic also drying both of their skins. Carefully sitting down on the newly restored mattress, Emma set them both down, not breaking the intimate hold they had on each other. Only then did Regina break the kiss, turning her lips to Emma’s jaw and neck instead. “Emma,” she said softly into the blonde’s ear. “Please,” she added as she scraped her teeth over the pulse point on the woman's neck. 

The blonde hissed at the sensation, dropping her palms to Regina's bottom, and grabbed the buttocks, using her strength to both press Regina's core against her hard-muscled belly and massage the flesh in her hands. As her lover's hot cleft came in touch with the well-formed lines of Emma's abs, the blonde felt the woman shudder in her arms, as well as the wetness at the point of contact. 

“More,” Regina gasped even as her hips pistoned, rubbing her sensitive clit against the clenched muscles. “More,” she insisted, pulling on Emma's hair. “Please.” 

Emma complied, her fingers skidding down the line between the buttocks, making sure to press lightly against the puckered muscle in several teasing circles before reaching the source of heat. She swirled the tips of her digits in the wetness pouring out of her lover, pinching and pulling gently on the drenched inner lips, reveling in the jerking motions of Regina's hips. 

“In, inside,” the brunette ordered in a breathy voice. “Don't tease.” But, Emma didn't want for it to go too quickly, so she lifted one arm, whose loss Regina felt keenly, and used it to push her lover slightly away. Bending down, she caught Regina's nipple between her teeth, sucking on it while using her hand to play with the other one. “Emma, Emma, please.” Pulling again on the blonde tresses in her hands, she tried to urge the woman to listen. “Oh, God,” she yelled when Emma bit and pinched her peaked points just as she dipped two of the questing fingers into her, barely past the entrance. 

Emma chuckled at the reaction, repeating it several times more. 

“Damn it, Emma, just fuck me!” 

“As you wish,” the blonde replied impishly, moving her hand from thoroughly abused nipple to Regina's heat, sliding over the already swollen clit with hard touch. 

“Oh, yes!” 

The fingers of the hand she used to enter Regina from behind remained barely dipped in the woman's drenched chanel, fluttering and pressing against the quivering muscle, but Emma used her right hand to rub the clit and push into Regina, each time she would drive her fingers deep inside, a passionate yelp or a moaning gasp would come from the woman in her arms, her breath too often stolen by Emma's actions. 

“Oh, there, yes, faster.” 

Emma set an almost punishing rhythm, driving Regina toward a mind-blowing orgasm, but even when her beloved reached her peak, she didn't stop, coaxing one more out of the completely ravished woman, the second one more powerful and accompanied by a flood of liquid splashing over Emma's belly and hips. 

“Leave it inside,” Regina managed to murmur, her head slumped on Emma's shoulder, as her limbs still twiched with the aftershocks of her amazing climax, stopping the blonde from removing her hand. 

After some time, the brunette allowed Emma to move, hissing softly as the feeling of fullness dissipated. Keeping Regina pressed to her chest, the younger woman shifted and settled down on the bed, with her lover atop her, their legs entwined, and she used her magic to bring the sheet to cover them with. Resting her head and shoulders on the down pillow, Emma hummed in content when her beloved set her ear right above her heart, and in turn she used her left hand to lightly stroke the skin of Regina's neck and scalp, while she draped her right one over Regina's waist. 

“I love your heart,” Regina's whisper broke the silence. “So strong.” She brought her left palm to Emma's breastbone and still listening, she imitated the soft thumping against the sternum with her fingers. “Ever since the Jolly Roger, its rhythm has been able to bring me calm, and soothe me in ways nothing ever could.” Splaying her palm in the space between Emma's breasts, she pressed her head harder against the comforting beat. “When it stopped, I… I was lost. And, I just couldn't… “ her voice broke and she shivered in Emma's arms. 

“You restarted it. You brought me back. I am here.” 

“I know,” Regina said quietly. “The point I was going to make was that your heart gave me peace and safety so I could let myself love you. But, it was your strength that drew me to you. The first time I saw you, you were this riff raff from Boston, but even then I could sense you had quite the physicality about yourself.” The solid thumps under her ear remained measured, but Regina knew Emma was listening, if only by the slowing of her fingers in the dark hair. “And you couldn’t help but show off every time I saw you around the town. Did you have to look so overwhelmingly sexy while saving my son?”

She could hear the chuckle start from within Emma before the blonde let it out. “You’re the one to talk, with your power suits and straining shirts,” the blonde responded, squeezing the supple flesh under her right arm.

“Your physical power is something I have always admired. I’ve seen you fight and destroy enemies before you, but also I’ve seen and experienced how gentle you can be, restraining that strength under tight control. I don’t think you can fully appreciate how safe you make me feel, Emma, even when all this power is directed at me, even with the link between our minds.” Blowing her breath in front of her, Regina’s eyes caught the nipple before her tightening due to the hot air. “But, even more, I think you fail to realize how hot it makes me,” she added, slowly moving her hand to the breast and using her forefinger to circle the nub, making it firmer. As she played with Emma’s breast, she heard the pleasing sound of Emma’s heart speeding up. 

Lifting her head up, she looked into the questioning eyes above her. “You were always quite fit, but since your presence here, you've become magnificent,” Regina said and leaned over to kiss Emma's neck. “I was too concerned about you to really do what I want with these incredible lines, but now. Now, you are going to lie here and let me.”

Just as she finished speaking, she sank her teeth to the back of Emma's shoulder, gripping it tight enough to bruise but not to break much of blood vessels and skin. Emma reacted with a growl streaming through her clenched jaws as her head flung back into the pillow while she wound her fingers into the dark hair and made a fist. “You, witch,” the warrior ground darkly as she pulled Regina away from her shoulder, still making sure not to cause the woman any undue hurt. She was surprised with the bite, but it hadn't been painful, not really. She could even admit that the sensation was an arousing one. 

The brunette scoffed at the words, before she chucked, her laughter filled with the sharp edge of something, the kind of something Emma had no doubts anyone else would call evil. But, as the Savior knew her beloved to the very depths of her soul, she also knew that Regina hadn't suddenly been exchanged with her counterpart from the past. 

“I, my dear, am the Queen,” the woman declared, pressing both her palms against Emma's chest, heels of Regina’s hands digging into the swells of Emma’s breasts, using her arms to balance forward and sit astride the blonde, just above the prone woman's pelvis. “And, you are mine,” the former Evil Queen stated, her words radiating possessive certainty. 

Emma gasped when her lover's hips shifted and the woman's slick center ground against the lower abs she had tightened in surprise. The puffed lips had left behind them a trail of hot wetness, one that Regina refreshed by moving her hips again. 

How did they get there? How was talking about Emma's body resulting in this raw and domineering love-making? 

Apparently, her silence had not been the proper approach as the brunette pressed into Emma's skin with her fingers, the trimmed nails leaving white crescents in their place. The warrior flexed her muscles and lifted her shoulders off the pillow, pulling Regina's head down in a violent meeting of their mouths, her response bringing a deep moan out of the brunette before the Queen pushed Emma back down, the sudden retaliation making the blonde lose her grip on the dark locks. “Stay,” she ordered sharply, tossing her hair over her shoulder with a head snap, her core gliding over the slicked belly, the hips never stopping to move. 

Regina was rubbing against her muscles, it came to Emma's mind, and just like that, the blonde understood. Her beloved was highly aroused by the sharply defined muscles on her body, by the physical prowess it presented. The worshipful massages, the speech… Additionally, Emma had been waiting for Regina's darker and controlling side, the Queen, to resurface, especially after being held back for the more gentle and caring parts of her personality, and as Regina had said, Emma made her feel safe. Safe to simply be, whatever facet of her existence needed to emerge. 

“Can you feel how hard they are?” Emma whispered as she watched her beloved chase relief, biting her lip and canting her pelvis. “For your pleasure, my Queen,” she added in a low tone, bringing her hands to Regina's knees to help keep them steady. “Only yours.”

For a moment, Emma doubted her lover heard her, but at her last statement, a new gush of hot arousal covered her belly and Regina sped up. 

“I am yours, my Queen. In body and soul.” 

Just as the blonde spoke, the woman above her let a deep and long groan as her legs spasmed out of rhythm. “Emma,” the royal gasped as her weight shifted forward, and she barely managed to hold herself up, the sudden change of pressure on her swollen nub setting off the aftershocks of her climax. “By the Gods, Emma,” she uttered between the hurried deep breaths, and as her dark eyes connected to the green ones, the blonde could see that her beloved was surprised by her own reaction to the words Emma had spoken. 

“I am, you know? Just as you are mine.” Emma said earnestly, her palms travelling the sweat covered skin from Regina's knees, over her sides to her shoulder blades, guiding the brunette closer so their lips could meet in a soft, loving kiss. “I love you,” she breathed out over the moist lips before she pressed harder, pulling Regina into a more passionate kiss, her tongue probing into Regina’s mouth, as her hand tangled into the luscious dark hair at Regina’s nape. 

“Oh, Emma,” Regina sighed against her beloved’s lips when they pulled away to breathe. “I can’t even put to words how much I love you.” She pushed herself slightly up and brought one of her hands to Emma’s cheek, cupping it as her thumb traced the blonde’s flushed and slightly swollen lower lip. Shifting slightly, she used her other hand for stability, then she leaned over the prone woman and kissed her on the forehead, feeling the movement of Emma’s eyebrows. She lifted her head and peered into the twinkling eyes watching her in amused curiosity. “I missed those,” she whispered, lowering her lips again, this time setting them over the eyelid, gently touching the soft lid, before moving to the other, repeating the kiss. Then, she kissed Emma’s cheek, opposite from the one she still held with her hand. Taking a deep breath, she dipped her head lower and brushed her lips against Emma’s once, and then again in a lingering touch. Moving further down, she kissed the underside of the blonde’s jaw, peppering light kisses down the neck before her mouth came upon the still red mark her teeth had made only minutes before. In apology, she softly pressed her lips, tracing the bite with light touches, but she didn’t linger for long, moving onto the collarbones, caressing them with barely there kisses. 

As her lover covered her in soft nips of affection, Emma hummed, her skin tingling under Regina’s lips and tickling strands of hair. The quiet hum turned into a startled gasp when the hot mouth captured her nipple and into a moan when the lips gave way to teeth and tongue. But, when the woman repeated her actions on her other breast, using her fingers to continue manipulation on the first one, Emma couldn’t help but let a deep groan in pleasure. 

The brunette chuckled as she moved lower still, keeping her fingers on Emma’s nipples while her mouth explored the blonde’s chest, the soft and sensitive skin over the breastbone and ribs, her questing tongue drawing several flinching giggles and gasps out of the warrior. 

As she reached the well defined muscles on Emma’s belly, she hummed at the flavor dissolving on her tongue, co-mingling with the salty taste of the blonde’s sweat. “I taste good on you,” she spoke, her eyes glinting in the mild light of the crystals as she lifted her head to look at her beloved’s flushed face.

“Oh, God,” Emma groaned, her reaction getting her another chuckle in return. “Don’t you want to see how I taste?” Emma managed to utter before Regina twisted her nipples sharply, causing a tortured moan to follow the words.

“You might have a point,” the brunette said, her voice low and husky, and Regina lowered her head down, her nose digging into Emma’s belly-button. Then, with an impish smirk, she shuffled downward and scraped her teeth over the softness beside Emma’s hipbone, humming in pleasure when the blonde shuddered. But, then, she no longer cared to prolong her playful teasing, because the scent of Emma’s arousal drenched her nose and she simply had to follow the aroma back to its source, diving into the flushed and swollen sex with abandon. 

* * *

They talked, making further plans for the time they had left in Brocéliande and, later, after the short gathering with the family. With a small nap thrown between their conversations, the two women slowly started preparing to rejoin the outside world. Or, at least, Guardian, for the moment.

“How do you feel?” Regina asked from her seat, surreptitiously watching her beloved put on her clothes as she fiddled with her boots. 

Emma looked over to the brunette and shrugged before she tucked in her shirt and bended to reach her tunic. “I don’t know,” she said slowly, pulling it over her head and turning to face the other woman, she felt a salacious smirk spread over her face. “Not as much frustrated, that’s for sure.” Seeing Regina’s barely there smile, the blonde sighed. “I’m not fixed, or anything like that.”

“This was never about fixing you, Emma,” the Queen spoke softly, as she pushed up from the chair she had been sitting in. “Not that there is anything to fix,” she added when she reached her lover and caressed the blonde’s cheek, her voice low and heartfelt. “It was about providing an outlet for all the bottling you have been doing lately, and giving you a safe space to let go.” Her fingers slid down to the jaw and traced it to the slightly parted lips. “So, I am not expecting you to be miraculously untouched by the hurdles you have gone through.”

Unable to stop her tongue from meeting the soft fingers on her lower lip, Emma lowered her head, leaning her forehead against Regina’s. “I feel… Cleaner, somehow. Clearer. Like…” Blowing a raspberry in frustration made by her inability to find the right words, she tried again. “Like all the buzz of energy in me had lost an edge to it. I still feel powerful and dangerous, but not as unstable, if it makes any sense.”

“Perfect,” Regina confirmed, pulling the taller woman into her arms and pressing her lips against Emma’s. “Ready?”

Emma hummed quietly before turning toward the door. Taking that in the confirmation, Regina unlocked the chamber and guided them out and to meet Guardian. And, there, beside the dragon were pieces of meat, cut into perfect size for nibbling, sizzling on the fire heated stones, the scent of pork spreading through the air. 

“Come, eat,” the dragon rumbled as they approached her. “You seem lighter, Knight. Your mate’s presence has served you well.”

At the words the dragon spoke, Emma felt her cheeks heat up even though she still had not sat by the fire. Her flush was not helped by Regina’s lighthearted hum as she sat beside the Lady of the Skies, leaving a place for her between the dragon’s foreleg and the brunette’s knees. Shaking her head at the smirk her beloved had directed at her, Emma sat down, gently patting the golden limb in greeting, not at all surprised when the great beast lowered her head and flicked her tongue out, the very tip of it touching the center of Emma's forehead. 

“Have you shared your teachings, Protector?” the soft and maternal voice reached the women, and Emma, recognizing the dragon’s humanoid voice in the meld, looked up at the eye peering at the two of them, aware that the beast was broadcasting her thoughts rather than speak. 

“She didn’t,” the blonde replied softly for both of them. “She had more important things to deal with first,” she said, glancing over her shoulder at her beloved, offering her a loving smile.

“You should do it soon.The Knight needs to know the true magic of Tintagel before you two confront the last daughter of the line.”

“We’ll do it, as soon as we get to the Bluff,” Emma again spoke for the two of them, bending over to the stones and reaching for the bits of meat, using magic to protect her hand. Tossing a bite in her mouth, she moaned at the soft and juicy flavor, gathering more into her hand. “Morgan’s still resting, and honestly, I don’t want to deal with her just yet.” She leaned back and offering Regina her full hand, she watched as her lover daintily picked up a small piece and brought it to her mouth.

“There are the things to do before the Inheritance ritual, and I still have a message to deliver,” Regina joined the conversation, as she picked another piece from Emma’s hand. “Gorlois had a lot to say, and even though I’ve had time, it still isn’t fully incorporated yet.”

Guardian’s soft human-like voice hummed in the minds of the women and the dragon rose to her feet and, after wishing them good night, turned and left for the caves, leaving them alone.

“So, Knight,” Regina said teasingly as she turned toward the blonde. “How did you plan for us to get to the House of Healing?” 

Emma chuckled as she swallowed the last piece of supper. “Be grateful we don’t have to do what I did the last time.” Leaning back on her elbows, she pointed with her head toward the cliffs. “I had to climb that.”

“Why?” Regina asked with surprise as she looked up, trying to measure the height.

“A teaching moment,” Emma replied softly. “Guardian had a point to make. And the secret entrance to the Temple is just before the summit of the cliff.” Turning over to her side, she lifted her arm, and gently wrapping it around Regina's upper arm she tugged her lover to lean against her belly, Emma's casual touch radiating with affection as she caressed Regina's shoulder and neck, not caring for the clothes in the way. 

“Will you show me?”

“The entrance?” Emma asked in clarification. 

Regina just turned her head to see the blonde’s face and nodded, taking Emma's hand and bringing it to her lips, even though she still could smell the traces of meat on the fingers. 

“Of course. I want to show you that book of prophecies, as well, and, honestly, it’s better if we don’t go in via the main door.” Judging them done with the conversation Emma closed her eyes and breathed slowly, getting in touch with the magic she had received from the Unicorn stallion. “We're going back up the same way we came down,” the Savior said quietly, taking away her hand from Regina's and twining her fingers through the dark locks, bending around the brunette so she could bring her head to her beloved's neck, her chin digging beneath the clothes as she sought the warm skin to rub her nose against. 

“Shadow?” Regina asked, even though her mind was fighting to stay on the conversation, Emma's lips stealing her breath away. 

“And Spirit.” 

Regina chuckled softly, glancing at the blonde as she moved slightly away, placing her finger against the blonde's mouth. Then, she dropped her hands to her lap and shook her head. “I still can't get over the fact that the white Gallant refused you, the White Knight, and chose the Evil Queen instead.” 

“Stop it,” Emma whispered seriously, her fingers grabbing Regina's chin and turning her head down to meet her eyes. “If you were evil, he'd never come near you,” her voice turned firm as she pointed out. “You've changed. You've grown. And, now you'll prove that by arriving on your very own Gallant friend.” Leaning in, Emma pressed her lips against the soft skin beside the brunette's mouth, kissing her lover again as Regina's lips sought her own. “And if the White Swan can be the Black Knight, why wouldn't you ride a white horse?” Emma added after the kiss had ended, her voice dipping low. Bringing their foreheads together the blonde hummed, soaking in the almost vibrating air between them, and the closeness their actions of hours before inspired. 

“I love you,” Regina spoke suddenly, breaking the quiet moment between them. At Emma’s amused look, she smiled. “I just can’t say it enough. After Daniel, it was... “ She sighed and looked into the patient eyes of her lover, now almost fully returned to their previous sparkling green. “I know how precious this is,” she said earnestly, not breaking the gaze. “And, I know we’re not guaranteed the tomorrows. So, I want to say that I love you because…” She would’ve said more but the blonde placed her finger against the plump lips. 

“I love you, too.” 

Regina nodded at the honest and serious tone Emma spoke with, before she ducked her head and sunk into Emma’s embrace where she remained until their steeds came for them.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, that's it for the old chapters... The new one is... in progress? I guess...


	26. Chapter 26

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The long awaited chapter. Hope you enjoy!

“Okay,” Regina said with a sharp nod as she looked around the place where she stood, reconciling the edge of the cliff covered in fresh snow with the memory of grassy outcropping Gorlois had provided. “Open it,” she spoke to Emma, gesturing toward the ledge.

“I know we are doing this now to use the time while Morgan is still recuperating, but are you sure?” Emma asked as she let her magic rise up and connect with the enchanted markers under the thick white cover. “I kinda just want to sleep for several hours.”

“You know time isn’t on our side, Emma,” the brunette murmured as she stepped closer to her lover, her glove covered hand reaching for Emma’s forearm in search of connection. “Inside, after the ward, nothing is stopping you from creating a pallet and grabbing a short nap.”

Emma rolled her eyes, chuckling. “You just want me for my unique magic,” she said over her shoulder, walking over to where the first hidden step to Gorlois’s secret entrance was. With the stones already triggered, all that was left was for Emma to step down the obscure path and unlock the door.

“Well,” Regina drawled as she watched her True Love disappear over the cliff. “Not just the magic. It’s a shame to waste such physique…”

“Har-de-har,” the blonde replied before a sound of stones grinding was heard, signaling that Emma had opened the entrance. “See if I let you see it again any time soon,” Savior spoke, her eyes following the former Evil Queen’s descent down the summoned steps.

“Oh, beloved,” Regina smirked, coming inches within Emma’s face. “Do you really think you’d be able to follow through with it before yielding to my advances?” she asked before landing a short but passionate kiss on Emma’s lips.

Lifting her arms to pull the woman closer into her embrace, her hands pressing into the sorceress’s back, Emma returned the kiss, this one lasting longer than the first. At the tightness in her chest, she leaned slightly away, moaning in pleasure as her lover bit her lower lip in retribution. “Honestly, no; but I’d do my best.”

Adding a short peck to the lips in front of her, Regina sighed and looked into the glimmering green eyes watching her with undisguised love and mirth. “My beloved,” she murmured with affection, her gloved fingers lightly caressing the blonde’s slightly blushing cheek, her mood suddenly turning somber. “I do love you so, beloved.”

The Sheriff wasn’t deaf to the veneration and love packed into that simple word of affection. Nor was she blind to what it truly meant to Regina to be able to call her as such. Beloved - the term so old and formal that very few people use it, and almost no one who had lived in Her world for any measure of time. In the Enchanted Forest, ‘beloved’ was reserved for the Royal spouses, and only for those who were truly loved. To hear a queen address someone as such is to know who is her most dear, and to know her weakness. And, hearing Regina call her that - the daughter of the dreaded Queen of Hearts and the Dark One, who had been taught from an early age that love is weakness… it was beyond humbling.

The White Knight felt her heart grow in her chest, filled with enormous love for the woman in her arms. A tear slid out of her eye as she sighed in return. “My Heart,” she said, but not in English. No, with the overwhelming amount of affection filling her and stirring her power, she had used the language of magic, its words so much more capable of conveying the emotions behind them. “Mo Chridhe,” she repeated as she lowered her forehead onto Regina’s. “You are,” she spoke to the stunned sorceress, their shared breath giving her words more weight. “You are my Heart, Regina.”

Blinking out the tears out of her eyes, Regina slowly pressed her nose along Emma’s and let out a shuddering sigh. “Say it again,” she urged softly, her fingers curling into the loose locks of the blonde hair.

“Mo Chridhe,” Emma said earnestly, the power of the words even stronger. Feeling the woman in her arms tremble, she pulled her tighter against her front and repeated the words that were causing the reaction. “Tha mi an seo, Mo Chridhe,” she said, using Elvish to speak the words so meaningful to both of them - I am here. Hearing them, Regina closed her eyes and just held onto her True Love, leaning her head on Emma’s shoulder, working hard on regaining her composure. The Savior remained still and quiet, letting the sorceress calm down at her own pace. She didn’t dare speak, lest more of Elvish pass her lips, and both she and Regina needed time to get used to the tremendous impact the language had on both their magic and emotional state. Instead, she held Regina and looked around, mentally going through what they needed to look up in the large book repository and in Gorlois’s office.

A minute later, Regina turned her head and nuzzled into the blonde’s neck, humming softly as she felt the arms around her tighten in response. Pressing her lips against the warm and soft skin behind Emma’s jaw, she gently untangled herself from her lover and stepped away, walking toward the still open hidden entrance. “You climbed this whole way up?” she gasped in awe as she took in the great view of the valley below, able to see familiar landscapes through the thin layer of mist. “It’s so high!”

“Just a bit higher than the ravine at the Wolf’s Col,” Emma spoke with indifference walking down the passage toward the study, as she took off her black cloak and along with the bag that had been hanging off her shoulder she placed it on the table closest to her, before she pulled out a stool from underneath and sat on it. At Regina’s questioning look she only shrugged and willed the magic to slide the door back in place.

The brunette shook her head at her lover and then, slipping the thick coat and her gloves off, she let her eyes explore the room she was in. “It looks the same as in my memory,” she noted idly as she picked a half finished trinket off the working table.

“Don’t think many people knew about this place, even among the Tintagel,” the Savior said, letting Regina explore the ancient study.

The older woman hummed in agreement, letting the comfortable silence stretch between them as she looked over the familiar yet never seen space, before she turned to face her lover. “Show me the prophecies you found,” she spoke firmly, ready to start with the huge workload they had agreed on before entering the Temple.

“So, straight to business,” Emma murmured to her chin before she walked to the secret passage and opened it for the two of them, their things tossed over her arm. She didn’t bother to provide Regina with the commentary about the space around them, considering she had the memories of the men who had built this place, so she only led Regina to the Repository, setting their things down on the familiar lone table at one end of the enormous hall. “A moment,” she murmured as the brunette reached for the chair, disappearing between the rows of shelves as she went to the small section she had been lucky to stumble upon. Picking up the grey tome she walked back, already commanding her magic to institute a Temple-wide time ward with many perimeter protections and alarms. “I set it for twelve hours,” she informed Regina softly before giving her the book. “Page before last.”

“Can you hold it for that long?” Regina asked with concern as she placed the book down, looking over the blonde’s face, noting rigidness in Emma’s neck and shoulders, all the relaxation of hours before gone. Not only that, Emma’s eyes showed tiredness. “You okay?”

Emma offered a half nod before she took her cloak off the desk and rolled it up into a bundle before placing it down beside the closest shelf and lowering herself on it, she leaned back, her eyes returning to her True Love. “Not really thrilled to be back here,” she murmured, just loud enough for Regina to hear her. Then, she sighed, answering Regina’s previous question. “I can hold it, but being two days continuously under it, it’s going to leave some energy damage.” 

“Emma, you didn’t have to do it all at once.”

“It is easier to do it one time, rather than several,” Emma said, shifting in her seat. “Don’t worry about me.” She offered the brunette a tired smile.

“Emma,” Regina sighed, ready to do something more for her lover but the blonde raised her hand. 

“You’re wasting time,” the Savior spoke tersely, gesturing at the book.

Having considered her lover for a few long moments, Regina exhaled and deciding to let it go for the time being, she sat down and opened the unremarkable tome, finding the penultimate page with ease. It took her a second or two to be able to fully comprehend the magical script, but after awhile she didn’t even notice the ease she was reading the text with, her attention focused on the specific wording of the prophecy involving her son. Under the crystal lights, she read the mystic words and they terrified her. She didn’t want this future for her boy, especially if he would be as powerful as this particular prognostication claimed, her fear showing as her hands clenched the gray leather covers while her eyes traced the elvish words, completely ignoring the poorly done translation. 

Feeling her lover’s gaze on her face, Regina glanced up, meeting the blonde’s eyes, her own filled with terror. “This is…” she started speaking, but she had no words to continue, her mouth trembling as she was breathing heavily. 

Drawn by her state, Emma rose to her feet, coming closer. “We must tell him,” she said, her voice clear and insistent as she leaned against the table with her fists. Her heart ached for her lover and she knew what fears were now flowing through her, but this couldn’t be avoided.

“No!” Regina snapped back, closing the book with force. “He can’t know!” The harsh whisper of her demand carrying the slight edge of panic in it. 

Emma looked at her incredulously, before she scowled. “Are you kidding me?” she bit through her teeth as she turned away from the table, seething at the other woman’s reaction. With the sudden burst of unstable but strong emotions, she used a calming breath to lock down her magic in an instant, fearing what it would do if left unchecked, before she addressed the brunette behind her. “This whole thing started with keeping Henry safe, and now you just want to ignore this?” Her voice rose toward the end, the last two words almost a shout. 

“He is too young, Emma!” The brunette got up and walked around the table, reaching for the Savior. “You know what this kind of power does to a person,” she pleaded with the blonde, holding onto the woman’s forearm, beseeching the Sheriff to turn and look at her. “This could ruin lives.”

“Exactly,” Emma said sharply as she pivoted on her heel to grab her True Love by her upper arms. “It would be disastrous!” she added firmly, but before Regina could relax with the Savior’s seeming complacency, she continued. “So he needs to be taught, trained! Prepared for this.”

“Emma,” the brunette shook her head. “If he knows about it, he will use it. And…” She bit her lip, stopping herself from adding anything else. But Emma knew her, knew her mind and she knew what the words that would have followed were:  _ He’d turn dark _ . 

Bringing the older woman closer to her, Emma leaned her head against Regina’s, changing her strategy. “Our son is a strong willed and stubborn rebel who sometimes thinks he knows the best,” she said softly. “And, he is becoming a teenager, on top of all else,” she added with a slight smirk, her words pulling a small, but wet chuckle out of the brunette. “He will learn about his powers one way or the other. The secrets in our family have a way of surfacing when they can deal the most damage.” 

“He hates them,” Regina added quietly, the blonde’s reasonable tone reminding her of the whole curse debacle. 

“Do you really want him to learn about this after a terrible accident caused by an emotional upheaval? When he could cause unimaginable hurt just because he was in one of his brooding moods?”

“But, he is still too young,” the sorceress said, but now her words reeked of desperation. 

“I know,” Emma agreed. “And, we will help him carry this burden.” Enveloping the brunette in her hold, the younger woman sighed, thinking about their children and their future. The future they would have beyond this world, and in the World without Magic. 

Despite the fact that Emma’s arms around her provided much needed comfort, Regina knew that they had come into the Temple for a reason, and standing there and worrying about a distant future was not really productive, so after a last squeeze around the blonde’s middle, the sorceress lifted her head and gently broke the hug. “We’ll deal with this when the time comes,” she murmured softly as she peered into the fierce green eyes focused on her face. “But, first,” she smiled gently at her beloved before she made one step back. “We need to figure out what ceremony Morgan was planning for the wedding,” Regina spoke clearly, looking over the books on the nearest shelf. “And, you need a new sword,” she tossed over her shoulder, glancing at the blonde. “Then, to research my dear sister and what she might have in mind. And, your new quest, as well...” she continued, pointing out the subjects they would have to focus on.

The Savior leaned her behind on the table and watched the brunette formulate the plan of attack on the various topics they had come to investigate. She couldn’t help her lips twitching into a barely there grin at the way the sorceress had systematically outlined their work, but it wasn’t just the way Regina had dived into it, but rather the mannerisms of the woman - before her stood the Mayor of Storybrooke, the business woman ready to conquer the next town council meeting. A woman who rarely had a chance to manifest among the royalty and wilderness of Enchanted Forest. 

Having noted the general direction Regina had pointed for the first task on their long list, Emma came to her feet and decided to get on with it, and as she had remembered something, she spoke to her lover while heading to the shelves holding the relevant books and scrolls. “I wouldn’t worry about the sword, Madam Mayor. The blacksmith offered to make one, with magical assistance.”

“Assistance?” Regina prompted, as she followed the blonde into the depth of Repository. 

“He needs magical aid to properly work with the metals,” Emma explained and stopped by the shelf she wanted, taking out several books and carefully passing them into the brunette’s arms. “In his words, it would be worthy of the White Knight,” she said as she moved to another shelf. “And, while on that subject, I had an idea,” Emma said slowly, more of her attention focused on the various book tomes depicting magical ceremonies.

“Yes?” Regina prompted, leaning with her shoulder against the shelf, having used a brief pulse of her magic to send the books away to the table. 

“Guardian forbade me from giving the black halberk to anyone else, stating that I was the only one who could truly redeem the crimes of nature that Rumple committed in creating it, and to have anyone else wear it would be a sacrilege of the unwilling sacrifices done in its making.” The blonde turned to look at the older woman watching her with curiosity clearly portrayed in her eyes. “Not even Henry is allowed to wear it.”

Regina nodded slowly as she understood Emma’s point. “It makes sense. But, what does that have to do with the sword?”

“The halberk is made of unwilling sacrifice,” Emma said as she mirrored Regina’s posture. “I want the blade to be forged with gifts of the Kinds, but with…”

“With the willingly given tokens,” Regina finished for her beloved, smiling at the idea. “Something powerful, created by cooperation between the Kinds would be a good symbol for you, Sheriff. Or should I say Keeper of the Balance?”

Rolling her eyes, Emma sniffed in disdain and turned away, leaving, the two volumes in her hands the last of the books she deemed necessary for the research on marriage ceremonies. Regina followed her quietly, watching her lover with barely hidden concern, but instead of voicing her thoughts, she kept her silence, and once they reached the desk, she picked up a book and settled down to find the most probable ceremony Morgan had had in mind for them, and the one the two of them would prefer, while still fulfilling the requirements of the magical inheritance and acceptance. 

After a while, as they made a list of possible rituals, Regina looked over at the blonde, her intense gaze drawing Emma’s eyes to hers.

“Hmm?” the Sheriff hummed as she closed the tome in her hands, putting it away. 

“You know that since you already have full control of the wards, this whole thing is unnecessary,” Regina started quietly, looking at the other woman for reaction. “I did spring it up on you, and if there are still some misgivings about this....”

The Savior sighed and shook her head as she chuckled softly, before she reached for Regina’s hand, holding it in both of hers. “Did it come at a crazy time?” she asked rhetorically, and squeezed the hand in her possession. “But, answer me this, Regina. When did something happen in our relationship that hasn’t been at some insane and overly busy time for us?” When Regina tilted her head in consideration, Emma pressed on. “I want you to be my wife, and more, I want to be yours. Yes, with the True Love between us, the recognition of our bond is beyond reproach, but I want this additional step.” She leaned closer to the brunette and kissed Regina’s palm. “I was gonna ask you after all this mess with the operation Gate and such, when things settled down a bit, but...”

“But, we’ll be doing this without our friends and family,” Regina pointed out in a whisper. 

“I was always going to push for eloping. I have no patience for all the pomp and circumstance of it, especially if Snow is what I imagine her to be about weddings. And, I don’t think you are in a mood for it, either, considering your first one.” Emma pulled the brunette into one armed hug, peering closely into the dark eyes. “If you are ready and want to marry me, then I am truly for doing the ceremony here.”

“I am ready,” Regina spoke slowly but with conviction, her eyes alight with happiness and Emma could see ideas and thoughts whirl around at incredible speeds in her lover’s mind. “I’ll take care of everything, the dresses, or maybe your new clothes… And, rings…”

“Don’t go overboard with the rings, Chridhe,” Emma cautioned, unconsciously using the elvish for the affection filled nickname. “I still am expected to be fully capable of using a sword with both hands.”

“I haven’t forgotten,” the sorceress spoke with mirth in her voice, before she pressed her lips against Emma’s in a short but sweet kiss. “That’s what I get when I fall in love with the local hero,” she added in her trademark droll tone. “But, that is for later,” she said regretfully, moving out Emma’s half-embrace and rose to her feet, fingering the hard paper they had used to make the lists of marriage ceremonies. “As we’re done with this,” she motioned to the books littering the desk, her magic covering them with purple mist and spiriting them away, “we should focus on the next topic.”

“Which is Zelena,” Emma said carefully, remaining seated.

“My sister.” The woman turned away from the table and made a few strides before pivoting on her heel and continuing to pace, ignoring the scaping sound of her lover’s chair. “I have yet to learn how to deal with that little tidbit.”

“As with everything, Regina,” Emma said as she approached the still pacing brunette, stepping into her path and catching her by her shoulders. “One thing at the time.”

Regina scoffed and shrugged Emma’s arms away. “You know more about her than I do!” she snipped as she stepped around the blonde and resumed her pacing, her hands clenched into tight fists by her sides.

“That is no longer true as I have shared everything with you,” Emma retorted calmly, not letting Regina’s barbed tongue inflict any wounds. Regina had every right to feel slighted and to vent her frustration with the errant sibling, and Emma was more than willing to let her. And, maybe, along the way they would get somewhere with it, even if it was some wild conjecture about the Green witch’s whereabouts. 

The brunette returned to Emma’s side and sighed. “I’m sorry.”

“Not necessary, my love,” the Sheriff said gently. Then, she reached for Regina’s hand and led her to the table. “We’ve spoken some of it before,” she spoke as she held a chair for Regina to sit in. 

“Yes, we have, Emma, and the only thing we have come to is that she hates me.” Regina contended heavily. “For being the one Mother kept,” she added with scorn. 

“She is envious,” the blonde replied. 

“But, Cora was an actual heartless monster!” the brunette screamed out in frustration. “She wasn’t some saint that could have won a mother of the year award,” Regina maintained in lower tone, her voice carrying some sass and she was ready to argue any point Emma was to raise, but the indulgent look in those piercing green eyes quelled her response. 

“Regina,” the Savior brought her hand to her lover’s cheek. “An abandoned child, love, it will always wish for their parents, no matter how awful or terrible they seem,” she spoke insightfully, her calm words sparkling understanding in Regina. 

Nuzzling her beloved’s palm, the brunette closed her eyes and nodded. “It’s not my fault Cora got rid of her and kept me,” Regina had to add.

Emma chuckled at the retort before she spoke a reply of her own. “We know Zelena isn’t much for reason and sanity at the moment. And, as the true object of her feelings is not available, she is focused on you.”

“Then, she would be in a place important for me…” the older woman murmured as she leaned against the Sheriff, smiling gratefully when the strong arm wound around her middle, her mind going through a list of places in the Enchanted Forest she had some attachment for, but nothing obvious came to her. “I know we, or rather I, have to find her, but honestly, I am more interested in what she’s been doing.”

“Okay,” Emma agreed. “So how do we go about it?”

“We look up everything even remotely related to her behavior - spells, rituals, events - everything. We are in the Repository of the most of magical knowledge of Enchanted Forest.”

“What do we know?” the blonde pensively quirried as she took another piece of paper to jot their ideas down. “There is that thing with Henry’s and Snow’s blood.”

“Walsh worked at the hospital, he could have easily found out that Snow was pregnant again. And, considering the power her firstborn has, it could have been related. As for Henry, well, there are a lot of reasons for wanting Henry’s blood.” Regina considered her own words and turned to look at Emma. “She can use it for scrying, and if she knows where Henry is, it's a good bet she could think we aren’t too far away.”

“Can it be blocked?” Emma asked with worry.

“I don’t know. It doesn’t work for the Infinite Forest, but we can’t just stick him here.” At Emma’s challenging look she shook her head and patted the blonde’s shoulder. “We’ll get back to that. I am curious about the night root situation. Courage as an ingredient… Abstract symbols for ingredients suggest advanced and highly powerful spells - that should narrow things considerably.”

* * *

A long time later, the two of them were sitting at the desk, various books stacked between them while the ones they had already gone through were placed haphazardly on the outer sides of the desk. Emma sighed and straightened up, rolling her neck before closing the volume she had just finished reading and placed it on a heap by her side. “Nothing there,” she murmured tiredly as she reached for another one from the pile. “But, I learned how to use the blood of my family to prevent them from ever leaving the prescribed area,” she said quietly. “That’s not even mentioning the number of rituals and spells involving babies or their parts,” she added, not able to hide her feelings on the subject. 

“Black magic is called that for a reason,” Regina commented absently, the hand not busy holding the brunette’s head up landing on Emma’s thigh, rubbing it gently several times before returning to turn the page. She understood Emma’s disgust with the knowledge they had been parsing through. Some of these caused even her hardened sensibilities to rebel in revulsion. “You can take a break, Emma,” she spoke with a gentle encouragement in her voice, looking up at her beloved and letting a small smile show on her face. “It’s okay.”

“Yeah,” the Savior grumbled and for a moment Regina thought the blonde would refuse on principle, but only moments later the warrior pushed the book in front of her away and rose from the chair, stretching out. Then, she picked up the tomes they had finished with and walked slowly away, leaving the sorceress to her research. 

An hour later, a warm tingle of the Savior’s magic pulled Regina’s attention away from the pages she was inspecting, as the slight buzzing signified that Emma was very close by, and had been for several minutes, but the blonde still had not joined her at the desk. She raised her head and saw her beloved, only a few yards away, walking up and down the closest aisle, her face scrunched in concentration as she muttered something under her breath. Loath to interrupt her, Regina watched her for a bit before returning to her own work. However, when the blonde’s pacing brought her closer to the other woman, Regina could hear some of the words her lover was mumbling. 

_ A brain... A heart… A home... _ Regina repeated what she had heard in her mind, the words themselves confusing out of the context, but said together, they sparked a vague recognition of something Gorlois had transferred during her schooling.

“What did you just say?” Regina spoke up loud enough to stop Emma from her restless pacing.

The Sheriff turned around to look at the seated woman. “It’s, it’s just something I remembered from the Wizard of Oz.” When Regina said nothing but only narrowed her eyes and raised her eyebrow expectantly, Emma exhaled and walked over to her True Love, using the short moments to gather her thoughts. Instead of sitting down, she leaned her behind on the desk. “At the last bit of the movie when Dorothy and the rest meet the wizard… Well, there is a diploma for Scarecrow - the brain; the medal for Lion - the courage; the clock for Tinman - the heart; and a way home for Dorothy. A brain, courage, a heart, a home…” Not able to say why that seemed important right now, except for the fact that they needed to deal with the Wicked Witch of the West, Emma shrugged her shoulders. 

The brunette considered Emma’s explanation and at the end of it, she remembered why it was so familiar. “That’s it!” She jumped off the chair and grabbed Emma’s head, pulling it a bit down as she connected their lips in an enthusiastic and passion-filled kiss. “Gods, I love you!” she mumbled the second their lips separated and then, leaving Emma dazed by the sudden attack, she stormed off to yet another section of the library. 

Only a short minute later, the sorceress returned to the desk, a large silver encrusted tome in her hands, the elaborate filigree work encasing the surface of the covers and spine of the book, kept closed by a strong, magic fueled clasp. Gently lowering it on the cleared portion of the desk, Regina moved to a side and invited Emma closer, placing her hand between the blonde’s shoulder blades. 

There, amidst the intricate details in the silverwork, stood an artistically woven elvish glyph, its stylized form forcing Emma to take a few moments more before being able to comprehend it. 

“Time?”

Feeling Savior’s gaze on her face, Regina nodded, before she found the spring green eyes. “It bothered me, why now? Cora is dead, and what’s the point?” She sighed when Emma’s arms enveloped her and sank deeper into the comforting hold. “If it was merely vengeance against me, she would not be so slow, so deliberate, so tactical. She had Henry in her clutches, she had you… It is all a ruse…” Then, she tilted her head and amended her words. “Well, no. She wants to make me suffer, and she wants to rule Enchanted Forest, but it is also a distraction.”

“For what?” Emma asked softly, pulling the woman in her arms closer. 

“You’ve watched innumerous movies, TV shows and read many books. How do you change the main character after the story is almost done?” Regina held the other woman’s eyes, and watched as the Sheriff considered her words.

Emma’s brows furrowed and she glanced at the book, noting the glyph, before looking back into the chocolate orbs she so dearly loved. “You change the story,” she muttered slowly. “You recast and start over again.” Her eyes widened. “You go back.”

“While I was with Gorlois, he mentioned that there was a class of extremely dark Magic that involves Time meddling.” Regina pressed her lips against the coarse tunic covering Emma’s shoulder before she disentangled from her beloved’s arms. “When you started speaking of the movie, it reminded me of some examples Gorlois’d shared.”

“I thought you couldn’t break the Laws of Magic,” Emma said in surprise, as she collapsed onto the nearest chair and leaned back, when the full implication of their supposition hit her. 

“You can’t,” Regina replied firmly and sat down on the other chair, having pulled it closer to Emma moments earlier. 

“Then, how?”

“Not to go deep into the temporal mechanics,” the brunette spoke calmly, smiling with tenderness when Emma chuckled at the reference, “but, changing the past is easy.” The sorceress reached for Emma’s hand closest to her, taking it into her own, idly playing with the pale, limp fingers. “However, getting the result you want is extremely difficult, and it gets exponentially worse the further you go back. The risk of destroying everything is too great, and the thing about Time is - what is meant to happen, will happen, no matter how much you change in the weave of the Past. Not to mention that every spell that involves real Time Travel requires ritual murder to power it.”

“Ritual murder?” Emma repeated, blanching in horror. That explained why it was one of the darkest branches of Magic. To enact a spell powered by ritual murder, one must have a prepared unwilling sacrifice and kill it slowly, letting the pain and terror of the victim fuel the spell. Determination to stop Zelena flooded the Savior and she clenched her jaw. “How do we stop her?”

“By knowing which spell she’s going to use,” Regina answered simply, nodding at the book and gently squeezing the hand in her hold. “But, I can’t open it. Only the Master of Tintagel could.”

The blonde regarded her True Love for a moment and closing her eyes, she inhaled deeply, flexing her shoulders before she forcefully relaxed her every muscle and when she deemed herself calm enough, she placed her free hand onto the silver rune and whispered sharply an order to unlock in elvish, pushing her magic into the metal. After a few tense seconds the clasp complied and snapped open, the loud click of it providing relief to the two women. At the sound of the clasp releasing, Emma slid her palm in a slow glide to the edge of the silverwork and catching a corner of the cover with her fore and middle fingers, she opened the book. For a long second, her hand hovered over the first page, hesitating, but the blonde pulled it slightly back and turned the book toward the other woman, letting her have the first go of perusing through the dangerous text.

As Regina drew herself closer to the mystical tome, her fingers carefully going over the pages of magically treated paper, Emma watched her beloved read, her thoughts returning to what the former Evil Queen had said only moments before. The Master of Tintagel. The warding stones and now the restricted book had recognized her as such. Would that mean that Morgan would be able to see it, as well? And, if she saw it before the marriage, would that change the things for her and Regina and their plans? Would the discovery lead to animosity or would the former queen of Camelot accept the new situation without much fuss?

“Luckily, there aren’t many of these that use Courage,” Regina’s voice interrupted her rumination after a long while, having gone through the book several times, inspecting each ritual and spell carefully. “And, there is only one that I believe Zelena would use,” the brunette added in a seething growl before she thrusted the book toward Emma.

The Savior looked down, and there, on the left side was an elaborate diagram showing the placement of elements and ingredients of the ritual, while on the right one were more comprehensive instructions along with various notations and directions to further explanations of the ingredients. It took Emma a moment to fully understand how dark actually the spell was, and how it completely perverted the elemental representations of Light magic Rumple and Guardian had taught her about - Love, Wisdom, Courage and Innocence… And, then, something else caught her eyes. “Oh, God,” she murmured in dread. “Nine?” The ritual demanded nine living victims to fuel this immensely powerful spell, and if Emma was reading the annotations written in magical glyphs correctly, the Realm’s Walker could be used as one of them to better the odds of the ritual’s success.

“And, Henry could be one of them,” Regina voiced the conclusion grimly, her jaw clenched. 

“He’s safe,” Emma spoke up immediately. “The castle is secure. Zelena can’t breach it, not for a while and not so soon after the battle.” Staring at the damning words, she brought her finger to the list of the ingredients, knowing that some of them the green sorceress had already gathered from the Dark Vault. “Who do you think others will be?”

Regina hissed at the blunt question and glared at the blonde before she slumped back into her chair and rubbed her forehead with the fingers of her left hand. “Four of them could be completely random,” she said in exasperation. “But, there aren’t many who fit the criteria for the symbol of Wisdom. And, even the symbol for Love is not found on every corner…”

“A resilient heart?” Emma voiced, reading from the book. “Wait, there is a definition,” the blonde mumbled as she turned the pages to find the corresponding text. “A resilient heart keeps going, still beating with affection, transcending grief and pain, overcoming bad times of misery, sorrow and torment, and becoming stronger with each adversity. A resilient heart loves deeply and passionately despite the scars and hurt of loss and hate.”

“It’s me,” Regina sighed after she listened to Emma’s translation. “She wants to punish me, of course it’s me.”

“Yes,” Emma agreed before she tilted her head and looked over at her lover. “But, from everything I know of Zelena,” she flicked her fingers in a gesture depicting magic, “she would rather have you as her captive audience.” At Regina’s frown, Emma continued. “She wants to gloat, to lord her victory over you. She wants you to suffer, Regina, and you can’t do that if you are dead before the very end. She needs you to witness it for her triumph to be complete. To break you.”

“So, someone else.”

“Someone we know,” Emma postulated, her mind quickly sorting through the people they know. “Someone who is considered a monster due to her abilities. Someone who had lost her first love to her own deeds, along with the whole village.” 

“Red.” Regina realized who the Sheriff had in mind. 

“Red,” Emma confirmed. “And, if we follow the theory that the choice of the victims is to cause you most pain, then symbols of Wisdom and Innocence are Rumple and Snow.”

“Lovely,” Regina replied sarcastically. “The good thing is that the ritual can be done only during the night of the full moon and that she has to have all elements for at least a week before starting it.”

After spending several more hours researching the intricacies of the ritual, transcribing it in its entirety along with every notation and added elaborations and explanations, the two women uniformly decided to take a break away from the darkness of the ritual, each sorceress using the time to find something else to occupy their minds, splitting up to follow up their own interests. 

Disappearing into Gorlois’s study, Emma familiarized herself with the requirements for the renewal of the Fairies, having found additional instructions in a small chest in the study, along with several pouches of unground and ground fairy dust, a vellum map of whole of Agrabah and a small black velvet pouch holding the scarab. She took great pains to copy the carefully inscribed words, loath to take such an important document out of the Temple, but she couldn’t do the same to the map and the scarab, so she took them and stashed them with extreme care in her bag, along with two other pouches of fairy dust, one filled with a fine dust while the other contained unground stones of various sizes. Satisfied that she had done all she needed in the Temple, Emma left her things in the study and went deeper into the Temple to find her lover who had gone to read about jewelry and magical means of creating it.

As the Savior reached the brunette who was no longer reading but just idly scribbling something onto the loose sheet of paper, the two women decided that their visit to the Temple had served its purpose and that they could break the time ward and go to the House of Healing for rest.

* * *

Regina’s eyes snapped open, the afterimages of her vicious dreams still plaguing her vision. With her heart pounding and her lungs working harder to dispel the edge of panic coloring her seconds of wakefulness, the brunette slightly raised her shoulders and turned to her side, leaning on her elbow, while her other arm traced the empty space on the bed next to her.

It was quiet in the chamber she and Emma had claimed for the duration of their stay in the House of Healing. Almost peaceful. It was not surprising since it was only scant hours until dawn. And, it was dark, the only source of light in the room was the almost extinguished glow of dying fire in the large fireplace. However, despite the seeming calm, Regina could sense the disturbance in the tranquility of the night. As her heart slowed its rapid beats and her breath eased, she looked over at the woman standing in front of the curtain-bare window, gazing out into the blizzard that was raging outside. The brunette only then realized that it was cold in the room, freezing even and despite the tense posture of her naked body, Emma gave no sign that the frigid air bothered her, not even when several snowflakes fell on her bare skin and melted.

The Savior stared at the storm of flurries preventing her to see farther into the valley, but because of who she was she didn’t need eyes to see what had disturbed her sleep. She could quite easily guess what it was that had pulled her away from the warm slumbering embrace of her lover and had drawn her to the window.

“Emma?” came the soft and affectionate utterance from behind her, and the blonde turned, letting the heavy drapes fall in place, covering the window. She looked at the woman lying in bed and she took in the rumpled tresses soaked in sweat and haunted eyes. With a simple thought, she summoned more firewood and put it in place to easily catch fire.

“Come back to bed,” Regina whispered gently and opened the covers, watching as the soft light radiating from the dying embers grew stronger at Emma’s intervention with her magic. The orange blaze made the Savior’s skin glissen, especially where the melted flakes had left the water lines sliding down Emma’s chest. Seeing the clearly defined lines of the Sheriff’s well developed frame and her naked and unabashed magnificence reignited the burn she had merely doused only two hours prior. 

The blonde hummed in acknowledgement of Regina’s summons and walked over to the table, her eyes catching the brunette’s barely there nod. She poured a cup of water, drinking it in a few large gulps before she refiled the cup and brought it to the other woman, sliding in right next to her.

Carelessly discarding the empty cup after taking her drink, Regina leaned over her lover, gently caressing the Knight’s breastbone. She noticed that her beloved was warm to the touch, as if she had been under the heavy down duvet the whole time, and not standing in front of the open window in below freezing temperatures. “Bad dreams?” the brunette murmured as she searched the Savior’s eyes for visible signs of what was keeping her beloved awake.

Emma brought her hand up and tenderly pushed Regina’s dark tresses away from her face, rubbing gently the skin on the woman’s temple with her thumb. “Not really,” she replied softly as she pulled Regina’s body closer, so the other woman was almost completely on top of her. “I hadn’t noticed it after we left the cave, and the Temple had the magical protections of its own, so it hid it from me, but I can feel the others without any effort. Any time before, I would need to enter a special magical trance and focus to find them and feel them.” The Savior spoke quietly as she wound her arms around her lover.

“The other kinds?” Regina asked in a whisper, gently placing her palm on Emma’s cheek and sliding her leg between Emma’s, gratified to hear the soft hiss the blonde issued when her thigh pressed down.

“The herd of unicorns is close by, in holding pattern. The Yaoguai have used their time here wisely and multiplied to decent numbers, and if I am not truly mistaken, I think there are a couple of young dragons flying low over the valley in this storm.”

“That’s good, isn’t it? That Guardian isn’t the last, anymore.” The brunette pressed her lips against Emma’s in a short but sweet peck before she lifted her head to look back into the Savior’s eyes. 

“Yeah,” the woman murmured against Regina’s neck before adding apologetically, “sorry for waking you,” kissing the neck higher. 

The former Evil Queen half snorted half sighed softly at the feel of Emma’s hot breath over her neck. “You didn’t, actually,” she replied after a hitching exhale escaped her lips when the blonde nibbled on the sensitive skin just behind her jaw bone. “That dubious honor belongs to my mother and the King, unfortunately,” she continued after Emma hummed in askance. When the blonde pulled slightly away to look into her eyes in concern, her hand winding into Regina’s hair while the other one slid down her back in a comforting motion before splaying fingers pressed into the small of her back, the protective gesture bringing a warm smile to the sorceress’s face. Regina kissed the woman on the lips, pausing over the lower one to bite it. “I’m alright, beloved,” she whispered against them before she shifted her head upwards and gazed into the shining eyes of the Savior. “The time we spent in the Temple brought up some memories best left in the Past.”

Emma chuckled at the woman’s unintended pun. “What a pair we are…” she said lightly before she flipped them over, carefully making sure not to fully pin the other woman down, for she knew that nightmares about the King always inspired a certain vulnerability in Regina. “Well, since neither of us is in a hurry to sleep, perhaps we could do something else until the morning.” She smirked at the Mayor, letting out a soft laugh when the older woman bent her leg over Emma’s thigh and wound her arms around the blonde’s neck, pulling her down into a consuming kiss.

* * *

It was a soft press of moist lips against her cheek that woke her and before the body leaning over her could move away, she reached out and grabbed the nearest arm, pulling Emma into a deeper good morning kiss. “You’re leaving?”

Emma nodded and brought Regina’s hand to her lips. “I’ll find Percival and tell him to be ready before I go to the valley.”

“It hasn’t stopped snowing, has it?” Regina sat up, glancing at the still covered window, before her eyes returned to the fully dressed Savior, ready to brave the blizzard. “You’ll be safe?”

“Don’t worry,” the blonde replied, pressing Regina’s hand against her cheek. “I’ve learned a trick or two to keep the cold away. And Shadow will make sure I don’t stray.” At the confident assurance, the brunette sighed in relief, before realizing something else. Something Emma had known as well. “Dress in easy removable layers,” the Sheriff advised and with another kiss, she professed her love and left, offering no goodbyes. 

Following Emma’s good advice, the Mayor chose her clothes for the day and with a quick bite to eat, she left the room, ready for the day. 

She opened the large door at the entrance of the House of Healing and shuddered at the strong and cold wind that greeted her. Not only that, the mere seconds she was out of the protection of the building left her covered in white icy powder, the sharp pin pricks assaulting her face before she managed to pull a scarf over it. Shaking her head at the ridiculousness of what she had planned to do, she straightened her spine and pulled her heavy cloak tighter around herself, determined to come down the steps without an accident. Managing to reach the bottom without much difficulty, she directed herself toward what she supposed was the path to the Temple and the practice circle Emma had spent time training with the knight of Camelot. 

“Your Majesty,” she heard someone shouting from somewhere, but due to the loud roar of the wind she couldn’t quite determine who it was or where it was coming from. She stopped and turned around, peering into the overwhelming whiteness surrounding her, hoping to at least see a silhouette of the person calling her, if they were indeed calling for her. Suddenly, her shoulder was grabbed by a strong arm and before she could even think to shrug it off, the person holding onto her spoke again. “Your Majesty, are you alright?” She looked toward the man, able only to see his eyes as every other inch of him was bundled in fur and wool, and nodded sharply. 

“The Savior told Sir Percival of your plans for today,” the man shouted, guiding Regina toward something with his sure grip, in a direction the former Evil Queen was sure that was away from the practice field. “Weather being what it is, he decided to use the Hall instead of the circle,” he added, pointing toward the communal hall Emma had told her about. “I was supposed to inform you and take you there,” the man added in a lower tone, hanging his head at his apparent failure. 

“It’s fine,” the brunette spoke loudly, grateful that she wouldn’t have to spend her exercise time out in the open. When the man brought her to the large building, she looked into what was visible of the face of her guide. “You’re Dai, aren’t you?”

“Yes, your Majesty,” the man said and then he stomped his feet right beside the door to the Hall to get rid of the excess snow, before he opened the door for the brunette, inviting her inside. 

“Oh, your Majesty, you’re here,” Percival greeted her, rising from his seat and walking quickly to her to help her with her cloak. “I thought the change of venue would be best, especially after Geilgeis explained what you had in mind,” he said quietly as he placed the cloak over the chair by the lit fireplace closest to them. Jumping right into it, he led Regina to the middle of the room, motioning to Dai to stay out of the reach. “Emma did say you had some training previously, so let’s see what we are working with.” Regina understood his point and agreed immediately, pleased to note that the Hall boasted with many burning fires, keeping the air inside comfortably warm. She took off the outer layer she had worn under the cloak and loosened her tunic to give her a wider range of motion, while Percival simply stood by and waited patiently. “Whenever you are ready, your Majesty,” he said when he saw the brunette step up to the middle of the improvised practice area. 

“Please,” Regina raised her hand imploringly. “There is no need for that. Regina is fine.”

He nodded in acceptance. “As you wish, Regina,” he said, smiling as it reminded him of the first time he had met her. 

After a few attacks that the knight easily deflected, the brunette hissed in frustration and tossed a hit with her right fist, catching the dark skinned man on his cheekbone. However, as his body moved with the momentum of the hit, he caught her arm and pulled her off balance, bringing them both down, before he jumped to his feet and out of her reach. As he stood there, looking down at her, noting her bubbling temper, he chuckled and rubbed his face, his mouth widening into a delighted grin, which only served to infuriate her further, until she heard him speak. 

“Geilgeis did say you have a good right. A wicked hook, she called it, I believe.” Then he came closer to her, crouching and offering her a hand to get up. “But, you leave yourself too vulnerable afterwards,” he added as he helped her up. “We’ll work on that.” 

Regina dusted off her tunic, remembering the moment Emma had alluded to. She had been so pissed off with the blonde and with Graham defying her, even though she had his heart, she had snapped and attacked the woman who had dared to challenge her. Even though Emma had retaliated immediately, drawing the first actual blood between them, she had been satisfied with that one moment of power and strength. “What else did Emma say?”

“Only that despite having her memories, you are not the scrappy brawler she had been before becoming the Savior,” Percival replied and gestured to the woman to come closer. “But, your foundation is good and I’ll show you how to make the most of it.”

Then, he guided through several attacks and defence moves, working on her speed and motion rather than strength. After twenty minutes, the brunette had to take off her tunic, leaving her in a light shirt and the corset she had chosen for the day. Using her magic only to dry herself and manage her hair, she followed the instructions to the letter, ignoring the burn of muscles not used to such work out. Some time later, the knight suggested they had a break for a meal and to give the woman a chance to rest and recover. 

“I can escort you back to your chambers, your Majesty, if that is your wish,” Dai spoke quietly as he bowed slightly, waiting for her answer.

Regina considered him and the knight for a moment before she made her decision. “I would prefer to stay, if that is alright,” she said, watching the men for their reaction. She would, of course, respect their wishes if they wanted her gone, but, honestly the idea of going out into the blizzard and facing the empty room she shared with her True Love, only to return later wasn’t at all appealing. 

“You are more than welcome to stay, Regina,” Percy offered with an easy smile, inviting her to sit with them, and share their meal. 

Drinking a lukewarm tea the knight had offered her, Regina leaned back and enjoyed the easy conversation that was flowing between the two men and her. It was strange for her to be around someone who wasn’t her extended family, or someone who wasn’t afraid of her, or at least in awe of her, and Percival’s easy going manner did wonders for her mood. He showed proper respect, but he never allowed it to curtail his innate charm and friendliness, drawing Regina into conversations about topics she had honestly not considered in ages, and Dai’s unobtrusive presence was only interrupted by his insightful observations and witty remarks. She could see why Emma liked them.

Later, after the friendly break, the two men put Regina through her paces, showing her the practical applications of everything they had shown her before by forcing her to use the moves on the two of them in order to escape their firm holds.

* * *

Well tucked into her black fur cloak, Emma dismounted and looked up at the snow and ice covered tall crag. “You sure this is the only way up?” the Savior asked Shadow, leaning toward the steed to prevent the wind from carrying away her words. The Gallant snickered and pressed her muzzle to Emma’s shoulder, pushing her toward the rock. “All right, all right,” she complied and looked over the stone she would have to climb over. “Good thing I don’t really need the cloak right now…” She unclasped the heavy protection and tossed it over the mare, letting her friend at least share some warmth while she was waiting. “You’ll be here, right?” Another snicker met her and not willing to delay anymore, Emma turned to the rock. Tying the strap of her bag tighter around her, and fixing the leather gloves she had on her hands, she reached for the first small outcropping and pulled herself up. “What is it with this world and climbing?” she wondered out loud, before she searched for another hand hold further up the crag. “I should’ve stayed in bed,” she grumbled under her breath, remembering the sinfully beautiful woman she had left in the aforementioned bed that morning, having driven her to exhaustion with her loving ministrations. 

But, she knew that they really didn’t have the time to lay about when they had so much to do before leaving Broc éliande, and that even if she had stayed, Regina still would have been leaving to meet with Percy. She herself had searched for the knight and finding him already awake and ready for the day, she had told him her and Regina’s plans for the woman’s training. Only then, having already made a short stop by Gwen’s quarters, had Emma left the Marble Hall and the village of Dragon’s Bluff. 

Luckily for her, the climb was short and not long after reaching a four feet wide ledge, she found the entrance into the cave system she had been looking for. 

Immediately after ducking into the dark passage, she noticed the warm air circulating through the cave, mixing with the freezing air from the outside. She followed the flow of it and within minutes she came upon the very beings she had come to visit. 

_ Bright one, you’ve come _ , Emma heard a gentle voice in her mind as she looked upon dozens of Yaoguai frollicking about in a large cavern, while one of them approached her slowly, its incandescent blaze destroying all evidence of snow on Emma’s clothes. Not willing to test her clothings against the fiery touch of the beasts, the Savior quickly disrobed, leaving her garments by the entrance but still far enough away so they would not catch on fire should one of Yaoguai pass by. Dressed only in a short shift, the blonde walked slowly toward the one who had addressed her and lowered herself to her knees, sitting down on her haunches and ignoring the small pricks and hurts from the rough surface of the stony floor. 

“May I?” she asked, lifting her hand up toward the Yaoguai, watching the dazzling play of red and orange flames dancing over its scales. 

The animal came closer and after a moment spent looking at the blonde with its gold red eyes, it carefully ambled over and leaned its flank against Emma’s palm in acceptance, its magic accepting and welcoming Emma’s touch with ease.  _ We remember, Protector, what you have done for us, _ the creature spoke with its mind.  _ We remember and we revere _ .

Letting her hand pass over the hot scales, rubbing them tenderly with her fingers, Emma offered a somber smile. “I do not need nor want your reverence. I only did what was right, and for that…” The Savior shook her head and sighed, dropping the conversation completely. She wasn’t about to get into an argument with a member of the species she had single handedly saved from extinction, no matter what her motivations at the time had been. “But, I do have some questions and a boon to ask of you,” she whispered slowly, her hand slowly going to the creature’s shoulders and neck. 

_ If we can give, you shall have it. _

Her eyes wide, she stared at the Yaoguai in front of her before she lowered her head, bowing to the noble creature, immensely humbled by the unconditional acceptance they offered. Just like that, without bargain or deception. If they had answers, they would give them. If they could provide what she needed, they would, no caveats or conditions. And, yet, most people she had met would at least demand to know the reason why they should help her and how it would benefit them. Here, these creatures, considered demons and pests by many, were more charitable and nobler than humans.

“You honor me,” she whispered, unaware that she had spoken in elvish until she heard the words in the air around her. At the sound of the magical language, others turned their attention to the Savior and Yaoguai in front of her. Moments later, the blonde was besieged by several flaming balls, yipping excitedly around her, and when she heard a tinkling laugh echo in her mind, she was further amazed.

_ As you see, Bright one, we remember. Our gratitude and love for your kindness is undying. _

Unable to resist, Emma picked one of the pups, bringing it closer to her face and laughed when its small paws reached out for her nose. “Aren’t you cute?” she murmured softly, her gentle voice drawing other pups to clamber over her knees and to fight over the space in her lap. “Hey there,” she spoke to a rambunctious one climbing over others to get to her chest, catching her gently in her free hand. Then, playing with the Yaoguai pups, she explained what she wanted to do in a soft, soothing voice, the adorableness of the young creatures breaking her reticence to talk. As her concentration was directed at the puppies and the representative who had come to her in the first place, she didn’t notice others of the Kind surrounding her and listening to her designs and questions. 

_ Watch the young access their magic, Protector _ , a new, more powerful, voice was heard in Emma’s mind, the sudden appearance of it snapping Emma out of the narrow focus and she flinched, but managed to control herself not to hurt the young in her arms.  _ Watch how they connect with the world around them. It’s part of them, as your magic is part of you. As our Fire is part of you. There is nothing to learn, Bright one, only to explore, only to use _ . 

Emma turned her head and looked at the creature that had addressed her, watching as it stepped slowly closer. It was large, half a size larger than the rest of them, its radiating scales glowing in the color of molten gold edged with translucent blues, emitting almost unbearable heat that seared the rocky floor of the cavern. When the creature reached the still kneeling Savior, it made a soft, grumbling, noise, sending the young away, along with others that had gathered around them, and started circling the now profusely sweating blonde. 

_ For you it has been only weeks, but for me it was generations upon generations of my kind.  _ Yaoguai spoke and looked into Emma’s face, her gold-red eyes familiar to the blonde. _ It is only fitting that what you ask for comes from me. After all, it is my magic that courses through you, Protector.  _

“You?” Emma gasped in surprise. “From the mountain keep…” she whispered in understanding. 

_ The moment I knew you were who you are, I knew what my fate was. No young came from me, and none shall ever. _ The voice spoke gently to Emma’s mind, while the creature brought itself within inches of Emma’s face.  _ I will be the one who meets you at the Origin Point. And, I will give you what you ask for.  _

Tears filled the Savior’s eyes as she realized what the creature had shared. “I’m sorry.” Yaoguai licked one of the tears, its tongue sizzling over Emma’s cheek, but instead of leaving her skin seared, its touch was tender and painless, the magic of the creature entwining with her own for a brief moment. 

_ We all have our duty and we all have our parts to play. _

The blonde shook her head, licking her lips before her teeth sank into her upper one, the tight pressure of her jaw bruising the sensitive skin. Then she closed her eyes and hanged her head, offering a short commiserating nod. “I wish…” She bit the inside of her mouth, stopping herself from uttering pointless words that would only demean the noble being in front of her. Instead, she brought her face to Yaoguai’s and leaned her forehead against it, ignoring the sizzling heat the creature was exuding. She lifted her arms and enveloped its thick neck in a gentle but tight hug before she, guided by the animal’s magic, found a loose scale in the middle of the back and gently peeled it away. Quickly, she rose to her feet and rushed to her things, digging out a small glass container out of the bag and gently transferred the still burning platelet into it, preserving the magic of the incredible gift she had been given. 

Yaoguai turned to leave, before it stopped and looked back at her.  _ Our light burns within you, Protector. Do not be afraid to use it. _ With those words echoing in Emma’s mind, the creature trod away, leaving behind scorch marks in the stone.

With nothing else to do, Emma dressed and retraced her steps outside, preparing herself for the sharp change in temperature. 

* * *

Percival grabbed Regina from behind, wrapping his hand around her throat, while he used his arm to pin Regina’s to her body. “The most important thing is to not panic,” he said into her ear as he tightened his hold. “Breathe,” he urged as he noted Regina’s too shallow breaths and a rampaging pulse under his fingers on her neck. “If you panic, you’ll pass out,” he lectured, easing his grasp a bit, but still holding her captive. “Think, what do you have?” he then urged her to consider her situation.

“My legs are free,” Regina murmured, wriggling against his arms.

“And?”

“I can lean my head back.”

“Good,” he nodded from behind her. “Fight me off,” he ordered, reapplying his grip on her neck and middle. And, suddenly, the former Evil Queen snapped into action, using her heel to slam down on Percy’s foot before she kicked him with the back of her head. But, instead of releasing her, the knight just stumbled a step backwards, still holding on tightly.

“What now?” he said gruffly.

The brunette huffed in frustration before an idea appeared in her mind. She leaned against Percy and pushed her feet up into the air, twisting her hips to a side at the same time. Then, as her legs were falling, she used the small amount of wiggle room she had achieved by the maneuver and dug her elbow in the knight’s middle, aiming for his kidney, letting the shock of her landing transfer through her body, adding a bit of power to her kick. While he reacted to her hit, she twisted away from him and flipped him over to the ground.

“Oh, wow,” she heard Dai gasp from behind her and as she turned to look at him, he quickly raised his hands in surrender.

Smirking at the man, she looked back at the man still prone on the floor. “Are you alright?” she asked him, only then seeing the blood smeared over his face. She lowered herself into a crouch and looked into his slightly dazed eyes. “Percy?” she whispered, motioning her arm toward Dai to bring a rag and water to them.

“A minute,” he mumbled, lifting his hand to wave her concern away. “That was good,” he added after a short while, bringing himself into a seated position, his hand going to his nose, feeling around for the damage. “The last part was unexpected. Who taught you that?” He gratefully accepted the wet rag, pressing it under his nose, still looking at the brunette.

“Emma,” Regina answered shortly, not really willing to go into the discussion of memories, as they were neither hers nor good. “Did I break it?” she asked, gesturing toward his nose.

“Ah, it’s nothing Gwen or Keith can’t fix in a moment,” the knight shrugged it away and rose to his feet. “Let’s try this again,” he added, watching as Regina’s mouth opened in incredulity. “Come on, before the lunch crowd comes in.”

With Dai’s help, Percival led Regina through a few more scenarios, and pleased with her progress, he decided to put a hold on things. Just as he waved his companion off and called for a stop, the large door to the Hall opened and a group of people trudged inside, covered in snow, bringing with them a rapid drop of temperature in the Hall. Feeling the cold, Regina rushed to her discarded clothes and quickly put them on, using a small burst of her magic to dry out her shirt. 

“Ah, ye lad, enough a that now,” one of the newcomers said, addressing the knight. “If I don’t get the fires going, my head it’ll be.” The man was tall and muscular, his face hidden behind a large dark beard and bushy eyebrows, sprinkled with white.

The last knight of the Round Table chuckled, “And, where you’d be without that rock you call head, aye?” As the man punched him in the shoulder in jest, Percy turned toward Regina. “Regina, I would like you to meet Colm, our Hall keeper. Colm, this is her Majesty, Regina.”

The large man offered his hand as he bent slightly in the waist. “Pleasure to meet ye, yer Majesty. If you be wanting anything, just ask old Colm.” He then looked over at the door and saw another group of people enter. “I better go, this weather calls for mulled mead.” He nodded to the two of them before he went away.

As Regina watched him weave through the stacked tables and duck behind the door leading into the kitchens, she leaned toward Percival. “What does he do?”

“The Hall is his domain - he takes care of the overall things to do with food, drinks, firewood. He keeps tabs on the cellars and larders, he keeps the cooks in line and makes sure everyone has everything they need to keep the Hall warm and provide for food and drinks. He’s not alone, and has helpers, but he is the master.” He then glanced at Regina. “May I invite you to join us for lunch?”

Regina smiled and almost accepted, but before she could, a tendril of sweat soaked hair fell over her forehead, reminding her that she was a sweaty and dusty mess. Not in the mood to sit and eat among the people of the village in such disarray, she prevaricated. “I would love to, but I am not dressed for company.”

The knight nodded in understanding. “Then, may I escort you back to the House?”

Regina accepted, and donning her cloak and scarf, she, along with the knight, left the warmth of the Hall. On the way to the House of Healing, the brunette noticed people rushing out and about, despite the still raging snow storm. “Is it safe to be outside?”

“It’s safer now, rather than after nightfall. Chores must be done and life doesn’t stop because of the bad weather.” He then pointed toward the two men hammering something into the ground a few dozen steps away. “They are putting up the lines to help orientation. Ordinarily, we do it after the first staying snow, which usually happens later in the year, but this time it surprised us, the lines weren’t ready and some of the posts had rotten away.” As they reached the Marble Hall, he offered his hand to Regina to help her up the steps. “The invitation still stands, your Majesty,” he said, opening the large door. At her acknowledging nod, he inclined his head and turned back, leaving the woman in the safety of the House of Healing. 

* * *

It wasn’t hard to walk down to the valley, despite the sight-robbing blizzard and dangerously violent wind. As Emma traipsed over the fresh snow, digging a three foot deep trench with her movements for Shadow to follow behind her, she noted that her magic did help with things, a lot. Then, she snorted at her own thoughts. Of course, magic makes things easier, that is the lure of it, but in this instance, Emma wasn’t using it overtly. If she really wanted, she could easily make a path for her and her friend with one focused and magically infused thought, and if she really tried, she could even stop the storm. No, what she truly meant was that her magic, on its own, was keeping her safe from icy daggers of frigid air, and keeping her strong and energetic, even after hours of trudging through the waist deep snow. Even her sometimes clumsy legs were surefooted, not tripping over hidden roots and rocks.

A soft nicker called from behind her, stopping her in tracks, and Emma glanced back at her friend. “Really?” she asked, looking to the left, trying to see a bit further than the blizzard allowed. “I thought they would seek the shelter of the dale,” she spoke, hesitation clear in her voice. Shadow neighed and tapped her front left hoof before she pushed into the high snow in a new course. “Alright, I am coming,” Emma shouted after the Gallant threw a dark look at the Savior behind her. She hurried and after confirming the direction with the mare one more time, she continued on, grumbling lightly under her breath, making Shadow snicker in return from behind her. “Oh, shut up.”

Shortly after the change in their direction, Emma and Shadow reached a small copse of trees, and there, the very creature Emma wanted to meet waited for her among the trees. With his silver white coloring the Unicorn Stallion was visible only when standing in front of the dark bark of the bare trees, and as he followed their progress, he moved, drawing the Sheriff’s attention. That he was alone, Emma didn’t doubt, and it also explained why Shadow insisted on taking this way. The rest of the herd were safe in the vale, just like her magic had been telling her. With a soft chuckle, she approached the stallion and knelt in front of him. She did not speak because she knew he could feel her intentions well enough.

The Leader of the Unicorn herd ambled over, regal and noble despite the slow approach, and inclined his head to the Savior, his long horn touching the crown of Emma’s head. A moment passed where nothing happened and then, a large burst of Magic enveloped both the blonde and the stallion, isolating them from the storm and Shadow. It was both similar to the Dragon’s surface meld, and also very different. No thoughts or words passed between them, only feelings, strong feelings of anger, sorrow, fear, joy, trust… followed by a small notion how to use them to call upon the gifts she had received from the Unicorn. Overwhelmed by the immense Love and Forgiveness that filled her up with the Stallion’s urging, Emma felt tears stream down her face, the warm trails of water instantly turning to white powdery marks on her cheeks. She couldn’t speak, she couldn’t move, even breathing proved to be a challenge as her heart pounded in her chest. Her own magic was subdued under the onslaught of the Unicorn brand of power. Only when the Stallion moved his horn away, breaking the connection between them, Emma could breathe easier as the feelings subsided, leaving the Savior dazed. Then, the Leader turned his head and used his horn to rend a deep gash into his flank, his soft neigh urging Emma to move quickly and collect the blood before the wound closed and healed. 

“This is why you called me?” Emma murmured as she kept the flask against the still oozing cut. “You knew I’d need instructions and blood?” She asked as she rubbed her other hand over the Stallion’s neck.

_ You needed our aid, and you have our friendship _ .The Stallion leaned toward Emma and nuzzled her cheek before he slowly turned to leave. He paused for a second, a quiet snicker passing between him and Shadow, and suddenly, he was gone. 

“Now what?” Emma asked her companion, making sure that her flask was properly corked and safe in her bag, protected from breaking. 

_ Now you come to me, little one _ . Emma heard the maternal voice of Guardian echo in her mind.

Emma rolled her eyes and shook her head. “Perfect,” she mumbled as she closed her eyes, trying to orient herself towards the caves, for she assumed Guardian would be close to eggs and the rest of the dragons.

“Do you have any suggestions?” she asked her black friend, not really expecting an answer, but when Shadow nodded, Emma raised her eyebrows, pausing her motions. “You do?” Following the mare’s gestures, the Sheriff came closer and mounted up, settling on the Gallant’s unsaddled back while her fingers twined with the loose strands of Shadow’s black mane. “I am ready,” she murmured, prepared for the sudden jolt of the Gallant’s speed, quite aware of the steed’s sense of humor. 

The Camelot-bred took them on a longer path, easier to traverse on horse, but with the steed’s speeds, it didn’t matter. Nevertheless, Emma remained vigilant, ready to send her magic flying should her friend need any help to get through the drifts of snow. Although the storm had not abated, neither Shadow nor her rider showed to be bothered by it, travelling with ease to the cave systems the Elder dragon was at.

Some time later, when the mare entered the protected circle of the valley, Emma slid down Shadow’s side and with a gentle pat on the Gallant’s shoulder, she walked away going toward the main meeting cavern Regina had told her about.

But, before she could enter the large cavern, a small but suggestive pulse of dragon magic guided her to a small tunnel leading deeper into the ground, a tunnel she recognized. It was the same tunnel that was leading to the room she and Regina had used, but instead of turning to where the door was, the magic led her further in. Before she could even voice the question on her mind, another door opened and there was Guardian, perched on a small ledge marred by many grooves, no doubt left by claws of Dragons of old who had used this space. As the dragon watched her enter, her tail flicking restlessly over the rough stone covering the ledge, Emma looked around this strange room. It was a meeting place of sorts, with hewn rocks instead of stools and a large block of sanded granite serving as a table. Apart from the entrance Emma had used, there was another, a much larger, one obviously made for someone of Dragon’s persuasion. 

_ This is Rionnag’s work room _ , the dragon said through the connection of the meld.  _ There should be something you can use. _

“Why didn’t you tell me, the last time I was here?” Emma spoke quietly, picking a closest rock to sit on, careful with her things. “Why all the secrecy?”

_ There is a time and place for everything, Sheriff _ . The dragon lowered her head toward the Savior and huffed lightly.  _ And, right after you left the care of your mate was not the right time _ . 

Emma shook her head with a scoff and leaned against the table, her gloved hands rubbing against the surface of the granite. “My magic is clearer now,” she spoke softly, looking into the golden eyes of her mentor. “It has grown,” she added pointedly. 

“Yes,” Guardian spoke aloud, her deep voice vibrating off the stone walls. “And you can feel that I am not the Last anymore.” The beast of the skies stretched her neck and brought her large head closer to Emma, her tongue flicking in a familiar gesture of touching Emma’s forehead. “I have you to thank for that. You brought hope into the world.” At the blonde’s demure wave, Guardian chuckled and changed the topic. 

She spoke of Emma’s magic, how it would grow as the Savior understood what was guiding such power. She spoke of elements and how they connected to each Kind, reminding Emma of things Rumplestiltskin had taught her before. She whispered of the might of Rionnag’s order and the downfall of Fairies under Blue’s command. Finally, the dragon shared the story of the hatchling of a first dragon in forty seven years not counting the cursed time. She spoke of staggering the time the eggs spent in the Sanctuary, so not all dragons would be born at the same time.

_ By the time of the Origin Point, thanks to the Sanctuary, there will be a few adult dragons around _ , Guardian spoke to Emma’s mind, her body reclining on the ledge, while her eyes focused on the Savior.  _ The knowledge of the Kind will be passed on _ , the noble beast added softly, melancholy seeping into her voice.

Emma rose from her seat and walked over to Guardian’s head and having climbed onto the raised ground, she placed her palm on the dragon’s ridged forehead while bringing her own forehead to rest against the softer scales right beside the golden eye which closed in trust. “It will live on not only in dragons, my dear friend,” the Savior whispered, the harsh tones of her voice betraying the heavy emotional toll the topic had extolled from the blonde. After a long while spent in silence that only deepened their bond, Emma stepped back and wiping her eyes, she inhaled deeply to settle herself. “Can I meet some of them?”

“They know you, little one,” the dragon spoke kindly as she lifted her great bulk and carefully turned around, her movements measured and slow as she led Emma through the large tunnel. “They know you as their friend, as their kin, as their Protector,” she said softly as the tunnel widened into a huge hall, lit by many fires. “They know you as their Savior.” Then, Guardian stepped to a side, letting the blonde pass by her, finally able to see properly into the cavern. At the sight welcoming Emma, she gasped, bringing her hands to her chest and mouth. The Sheriff expected several new dragons, but what she found were many more than a simple few. From what she could see, there were six of them flying around, while at least a dozen more moved around the sandy grounds. The bland colors of the hall were broken by the amazing shades of various hides on displays, bronze, gold and reddish brown dominating, but there were blues and greens in the mix as well. 

The old dragon watched Emma as she stood there, frozen, gazing upon the new generation with awe, the Sheriff’s magic rising under the strong emotional response, and instead of cautioning Emma, Guardian let it seep out of the Savior, as the Blessing she had given the unusual woman would stop any dangerous reaction with their magic. 

Soon after, they were noticed and an excited chitter rose in the cave, the youngs greeting their elder, while one of them was brave enough to approach them, flying over to them and landing clumsily by Emma’s side. The young beast was about a year old, judging by what Emma knew of dragon sizes, curious and brave, its scales glimmering crimson in the light, but as it came closer, Emma saw that it was actually dark copper. “Hello, you,” the blonde uttered softly as she stood motionless, not willing to startle the youngling. 

_ She is the oldest, _ Guardian spoke mentally.  _ She is too young to communicate properly, but she will be able to, soon. _

_ What’s her name, if she has one _ , Emma asked the same way, watching the beautiful creature sniff her and look over her, the curious bronze-like eyes taking in every feature. 

_ You may call her Maden _ .

Emma sighed, a soft smile lighting up her face.  _ How fitting _ , she added gently. She would be the New Dawn of her kind, signifying the rebirth of the race. 

Guardian chuckled and with a short grumble sent the youngling away. “There is one more thing you need to do,” she spoke lowly, taking the Savior back to the room Emma had met her in. After a short conversation on the way to the meeting place, Guardian agreed to provide blood and one of her horned scales for the weapon, even allowing Emma to extract them herself. With the gruesome deed done, the dragon retreated into the cavern, leaving Emma alone to search the room for whatever the fairies had left behind. 

* * *

Enclosed within her own bathroom, Regina took off her clothes and using her magic to light a few oil bowls, she picked up a pail and filled it with lukewarm water. Dropping a small towel in it, she took a bar of soap from the shelf, and proceeded with her ablutions. She didn’t run a full bath because she had a feeling that Percival was not done with her for the day, and wasting time and water did not appeal to her. So, after she cleaned up, she dressed in fresh clothes from the dresser and went to the Communal Hall for lunch. Luckily, Keith was just about to leave the House of Healing when she reached the main floor so he offered to escort her to the Hall. With the light conversation about his duties in the House of healing, the two of them reached their destination without much delay, as the storm finally ended, the wind and ice abating, leaving behind only snow that was still falling heavily.

It was strange for Regina to eat surrounded by the boisterous inhabitants of the hamlet, and as she couldn’t quite participate in their talks about the village and their readiness for winter and the possibility of leaving, she kept her mouth quiet and observed the people around her. Then, suddenly, the Hall started emptying out, the only people remaining were Percy, Dai and her, along with several of the women who were busy gathering the dishes to bring them to the kitchens for wash. 

“There is a lot to do if we are to be ready to leave when you are,” Dai murmured to the former Evil Queen, picking up the cutlery and plates from their table. “Now that the storm has stopped, the others have work.”

“Emma mentioned, but I didn’t think…” Regina started in a whisper, when a light touch of a hand on her shoulder stopped her from voicing her thoughts. She looked up to see Percival, his face tight and his lips pursed as he was looking toward the door. “We’ve been here long enough.”

The rest of the afternoon, the two men taught Regina how to escape various types of restraints and restrained positions, locked rooms and even tight, enclosed spaces. Along, they worked on Regina’s hand to hand, teaching her tricks with sudden attacks by knives, and quite quickly, the afternoon passed.

“Is Geilgeis returning for the night?” Percy asked softly as he gave Regina a wooden bowl filled with vegetable broth, taking a seat next to her, at the table closest to the walls and the raised podium. He shifted slightly away as Dai reached them, bringing pitchers of mead and ale with cups, helping him set them down on the table.

“She should, but I don’t know,” Regina replied quietly, taking a spoon to her mouth. “She, too, has a lot on her plate.” She ate fast, as the day’s workout had left her famished, and she knew that soon a roasted mutton was to be brought out. “When you said you wanted to leave this place, were you speaking for the whole village?” she asked quietly, choosing a moment when Dai left to bring over more cups and drinks, and with the din in the Hall rising, her voice was just loud enough for the knight to hear her and no one else. 

The dark skinned man turned his head and looked into her eyes for a long while, searching for something in them, and when the other man returned, Percy rose to his feet and waved to a few people to come and sit at their table. People joining them were properly introduced to Regina before they took seats, creating a slightly conspiratorial atmosphere in their corner of the Hall. “Her Majesty here wants to know our plans,” the knight spoke in a low voice, accepting a cup of ale from Dai. When he received nods from the others, he turned back to Regina. “Well, first,” he spoke after taking a sip. “There are some who want to stay and are prepared to be left behind.” He gestured with his free hand at the man who had introduced himself as Hallam, the carpenter. “They found peace here and they are loath to give it up for the strife and desolation of the rest of the Forest.”

“Aye, Mistress,” the carpenter agreed. “Me and my wife lost our boys at Camlann,” he said, Regina catching Dai showing her three fingers, before she focused back on the old man, “and our daughter has never truly recovered.” He drank his mead and continued. “It’s a simple life, your Majesty, and if we could leave for a time or two to visit some of the others, we’d rather stay here.”

“The Queen’ll most likely go to Avalon and a few will join her, but the rest want to stay in Enchanted Forest and accept you as their Monarch.” Percy added quietly, while others nodded in agreement. 

Regina sighed, her fingers tracing the rough surface of the table next to her empty bowl. “If you really want to go, or stay, I will not stop you, but you are not obliged to be under my banners,” she said, looking into the faces of men sitting around her. “There are others that would love to receive you,” she added softly. 

“Your Majesty,” one of the men rumbled, his deep voice making everything around him vibrate even though he was whispering. The smith, Regina thought, unless she was mistaken. “We’re aware of who you were. And who you are. We also know who you are going to be.” He leaned toward her. “We were of Camelot, but now we’re of Tintagel. You are the next in line, Evil Queen or not.” He then chuckled. “And, I think you and that lass of yours are going to do just fine as our rulers.”

Regina decided that, if she couldn’t dissuade them from joining her, she could warn them of the war her sister had been waging against her, so she did, telling the men of the dangers awaiting them outside of Brocéliande. Slowly, the talk veered off into telling stories of hers and Emma’s adventures, tales of the children waiting for her at the castle, others pitching in with stories of their own exploits, all the while mead and ale flowed and hot, succulent roast consumed. 

Their joyous revelry was only briefly tempered by the appearance of the shifter by the table. “Is this a private party or can I join?” Aileen asked tiredly, thanking them when two men rose from the table and brought over another bench, so all could be seated comfortably. 

“Is Morgan awake?” Regina wanted to know, offering the other woman a cup filled with mead, while one of the men asked one of the servers for more food to be brought over. 

“She was,” the Wolf said quietly. “For a short while, anyway, and went back to sleep.” She glanced at the brunette and smiled. “She was so worried about the magical backlash killing you, but no one could even presume that you’d be completely fine and she so exhausted.” Nibbling on the still steaming meat placed in front of her, she added gently, “she asked about you the first thing.”

“She misjudged,” Regina said coldly, her eyes pinning the Wolf in her seat. “A lot of things, actually, and there are consequences for that.”

Aileen frowned. “Did you do something?”

The brunette scoffed and looked away, pouring herself a cup of mead. “I didn’t do anything.” Taking a small sip, she looked at the shifter over the rim of her cup and smirked. “Let’s just say she played with forces she never understood and now she is paying for it. And, that Emma isn’t happy that she lied about it, goes without saying.” As she spoke the words, she heard surprised gasps from people around her. That Emma was a sooth-diviner was a known fact, more or less, and that she had been angry with the resident queen was also a known fact, but now Regina had put it in context. 

“But, if you didn’t do anything, how are you so hale?”

“Not everyone has a Savior for their True Love,” Regina answered simply, shrugging her shoulders, letting Aileen reach her own conclusions. 

The shifter nodded once and drank from her cup. Morgan’s deals with Regina were Morgan’s business, and Aileen didn’t want any part of it, especially if her friend was making mistakes, as both Emma and Regina firmly believed. Letting it go, she poured herself another cup and felt herself be drawn into a conversation about Wolves and Regina’s plans for the future for the pack. After the topic of the queen of Camelot was closed, the brunette seemed to relax and even throw in some teasing remarks, contributing to the merriment of the group. That the pitchers of mead and ale were constantly replenished seemed only to help the jovial mood. 

* * *

It was the beautiful sound of Regina’s delighted laughter that Emma heard first when she opened the door to the Hall and slipped inside, having blocked her magic from being detected, her arrival unnoticed, and as she walked slowly over to the table where her beloved was, Emma saw who was there with her. Pleased to see her lover so unrestrained and wholesomely accepted by the group, Emma leaned against the fur covered wooden wall and watched her fondly.

“Stop making eyes at her, and join her,” the young healer whispered, nudging into her side with an elbow, having come to the Hall just moments after the Savior. “Don’t let all the preparation be for nothing,” Gwen added, repeating the move with her elbow, her tone turning cautious. “And, it will be if she continues drinking. Colm’s mead is quite strong, despite how easy it goes down.”

_ It was still very early in the morning when Emma knocked on Gwen’s door, and surprised to find the young healer awake, she quickly explained what she needed from the girl. After the young woman gave her the special containers for the magical items Emma was going to get, she turned around and wrote a small note to herself, mumbling ingredients under her breath. “It will be ready by the evening, Geilgeis,” Gwen said with a light smirk, that turned into a wide smile at Emma’s disgruntled look. “I’ll even mix up something special for the bath,” she added with a soft laugh, sending the Savior away. And, as promised that evening, everything was ready, so when Emma found her finishing up her daily chores in her small working room, she showed the blonde what she had prepared. “First, the bath, then the milk,” she instructed as she explained the usage of her blends.  _

Emma chuckled and pushed away from the wall, approaching the table from behind her True Love. Her appearance was quickly noticed by the men of the group, who immediately shouted for her to join them in eating and drinking. She bent down and kissed her lover’s flushed cheek. “Hello, my heart,” she whispered into Regina’s ear, smirking when the brunette’s neck showed goosebumps, before she sank down on the bench beside her. “Did you miss me?” she asked in a jest as she reached for a cup Percy was offering her. 

“Immensely, my dear,” Regina murmured, leaning gently onto Emma’s strong frame. 

The Savior chuckled at her beloved’s lazy greeting and pulled her into a loose embrace while she ate and reacquainted herself with the people around her. Soon after, as her hunger was assuaged and people sufficiently conversed with so they would not think her rude, Emma rose and bid good night to everyone, pulling Regina gently to her feet and dressing both of them in their cloaks, she carefully guided her lover outside.

“Did you have fun today?” Emma asked as she led the former Evil Queen over the freshly fallen snow toward the Marble Hall. 

“They want me to be their queen,” the brunette replied, seemingly not answering the question. “They know who I am, and still… Even Percival.” The dark eyes were glistening with tears as she looked into Emma’s face. “They want me.” A short but heartfelt burst of laughter escaped her chest as she turned away. “Yeah, I had fun,” she finally replied. “I don’t remember when was the last time it was so freeing to be around other people, people who aren’t you.” 

“As you said,” Emma spoke quietly, gathering Regina’s hands into her own. “They know who you are.” She leaned in and kissed the brunette on the lips before she lifted her head a bit and focused onto the swirling caramel eyes. “Not the Evil Queen,” she whispered, her warm breath washing over Regina’s face. “Not that she isn’t a part of you, my love, but that is not who you are anymore,” she added with a saucy wink, before she grew serious once more. “They see someone worthy of Tintagel legacy, and they are right.”

“I only have it because of you,” Regina replied sullenly, her face dropping down as her eyes closed.

Emma shook her head and brought her hand to the brunette’s chin, tilting her head up. “I may have the power that started it, but you have the history, the knowledge and the wisdom to use it. You are the Heir, I am just the consort.” Before Regina could refute it, she pressed her lips against Regina’s and kissed her deeply. “I am not what they want without you. I am not capable of being the True Love’s Born without you. Don’t you understand by now? Without you, there is no me, and without you there is no Tintagel.”

“Oh, Emma,” Regina gasped, jumping into Emma’s arms, embracing her tightly as she tried to compose herself, but instead of shushing her or even trying to comfort her, Emma lifted her up, taking her into a bridal carry and went on to the House of Healing, using small tendrils of magic to open and close the main door of the Marble Hall. She didn’t put her down until they entered their room and reached the bathroom, using magic to lock the doors behind her. As she stepped into the bathroom with the brunette in her arms, the bowls of oil lit up and the taps opened, the sizzling hot water spewing out, filling the sunken pool quite fast. Settling Regina down gently, Emma picked up a small satchel made of gause and tossed it into the pool, the soothing scents wifting off the surface of the water.

As the bath was ready, Emma turned to Regina and gently unclasped the cloak, taking it off and tossing it over the small desk situated by the door, reaching for the velvet jacket Regina was wearing next. When the brunette’s hand halted her progress, she looked into the uncertain brown eyes and offered a soft smile. “Let me take care of you, my heart,” she whispered, not moving her hands until Regina released her. The sorceress blinked slowly at Emma’s loving gaze and nodded, letting her hands fall, surprised when the Sheriff knelt down and nimbly did away the laces on her boots. Slowly, and with care, the Savior removed each of Regina’s clothes, further gentling her touch when the brunette would hiss in pain due to her strained muscles, and when the sorceress was nude, Emma guided her to the pool, helping her inside, before she took everything off from her person and slid into the pool herself. 

“What is this mixture?” Regina wondered quietly before she sighed, enjoying the incredible warmth of the water and the healing effects of whatever was in it. She felt the blonde thread water behind her before strong arms enveloped her from behind, pulling her into the strong and naked body of the Savior. She hummed in pleasure, letting her head fall back on Emma’s shoulder while her hands went lazily through the opaque water, enjoying the sense of peace that engulfed her as she rested her eyes, safe in Emma’s arms. 

“Something Gwen cooked up for the muscle aches,” the Savior whispered into Regina’s ear, leading the brunette toward the edge of the pool on the deeper end, placing the woman’s elbows onto the warm stone before she reached for a sponge and a scented bar of soap. With the necessary things in her hands, she gently removed Regina’s hair from her neck and kissed a spot below the brunette’s hairline, before she placed the soft surface of the sponge on it and started rubbing it softly, her ministrations causing Regina to hum and sigh as her head was leaning on her forearms. 

“You know what I miss?” Regina muttered with her cheek resting on her bent arm, while the Sheriff was scrubbing the other one paying attention to every crease, her voice low and slightly slurred. When the blonde quietly hummed in response, squeezing Regina’s forearm in return, the brunette spoke again. “Music. This situation calls for a gentle, soothing ambient music.” She heard Emma’s soft grunt from beside her, and turning just a bit to see her beloved’s face, she continued. “Showers, too. The hot, pounding stream of water just washing away your day… And, God, what I wouldn’t give for a cup of coffee…” 

Emma chuckled into her chin as she lowered Regina’s arm back into the water, reminded of her own resentful tirade that had gone through her mind when she had been climbing the cliffs by the Temple. “You grew up here,” she noted lightly, as she gently touched Regina’s shoulder, coaxing her to turn around, and bringing the sponge to the woman’s clavicle, she continued to wash the brunette.

“I know,” Regina conceded with a deep sigh. “I didn’t even realize how Storybrooke has spoiled me with its modern amenities.” She then looked into her lover’s face, raising her palm and touching the blonde’s cheek in a tender caress, a soft look passing between them, and in Emma’s eyes she could almost read the words -  _ it isn’t so bad here _ . “I know you had times when even the modern world couldn’t provide enough for your comfort, and I don’t mean to make light of it,” she explained further, that is until Emma’s fingers covered her lips, stopping her from adding more. 

“I miss those things, too, Regina, and more,” Emma admitted quietly as her fingers traced the brunette’s upper lip, dwelling a bit longer over the scar. “No apologies,” she reminded the queen of the words spoken so long before. Gently holding Regina’s head by the chin, Emma angled herself over deliberately and kissed her, her tongue teasingly passing over the brunette’s upper lip, before she tilted her head upwards and looked into the woman’s hazy eyes. “Just relax,” she breathed out, and kissed her again. Then, using her magic as an added limb, she reached for the plug, pulling it out, having decided that the mixture Gwen had provided had done its work, and now, the Sheriff could continue with bathing her lover. As the murky waters swirled away, the blonde summoned the scented soap Regina preferred to her hand and, opening the spigots for the fresh hot water, she gently guided Regina to place her head under the carefully adjusted stream, wetting the dark tresses. Using soft, circling strokes, she lathered up the black locks before she rubbed the scalp with the caressing fingers. After she was done with the hair, she washed the rest of Regina, making sure to get everywhere.

When she finished, Emma tried to move toward the edge of the pool, but Regina stopped her with a gentle hold over her biceps, taking the soap and the sponge out of her hands. “It’s your turn,” she said quietly, already working on lathering up the sponge. 

“This is for you,” Emma returned gallantly, but she didn’t even try to evade Regina’s soapy hands.

“So is this, Emma,” Regina brought the sponge to the blonde’s shoulder. “You had an eventful day, too. I can feel it, despite the fact that you are blocking your magic from me.” With those admonishing but kind words, she went on to scrub the scent of sweat and mustiness from her beloved’s skin, paying extra attention to Emma’s long hair. “I take it, you have everything you need for the sword,” she surmised, lathering the blonde’s scalp. 

Emma hummed in lieu of nodding since Regina’s fingers were still in the yellow tresses, not really in a mood to speak about her visits to her friends, nor about what she had experienced with her magic. The next day, perhaps, definitely when they enter the meld, but not that evening. 

“So tomorrow is another busy day,” Regina murmured as she watched the blonde rinse out her hair. 

“So the usual.”

Regina quietly chuckled at Emma’s pithy tone. “What else did you have in mind for the evening?” she asked, bringing her arms around Emma’s neck and waiting for the response, she kissed the blonde on her chin, right below the corner of her mouth. 

“I asked Gwen to make a special body milk for you,” Emma murmured, chasing the woman’s lips. “A massage, in front of the fire.”

“A massage?” Regina queried, looking at her beloved with wide eyes. At Emma’s nod, she cooed affectionately at the woman in her arms. “How romantic.” Then, she kissed the Sheriff and breathed another question into Emma’s mouth, her voice becoming lower and huskier, with a titillating edge. “Just a massage?”

“For starters,” Emma answered, shifting her head to a side and catching the soft part of Regina’s ear in a teasing bite. “Only that, if you don’t behave until the milk soaks in,” she added as she stared into Regina’s darkening eyes, her own flashing in challenge.

“Well, then, Savior,” Regina spoke with a dark tone imbuing the title, her arms falling away from Emma’s body as she made one step back. “I surrender to you,” she continued, her voice carrying a dangerous but suggestive edge. She raised her arms to the height of her chest and lowered her head, her posture mockingly submissive,

The blonde Savior did not comment on Regina’s words or actions, but she quickly climbed out of the pool and helped the brunette exit before she toweled them both dry, wrapping the other woman in the largest towel she could find. 

When Regina walked into their room, she gasped in surprise, noticing for the first time the elaborate setup in front of the already lit and magically protected fireplace. There, on the floor beside the roaring fire, thick furs were arranged, creating a bedding of sorts, soft enough to spend some time on it, without feeling the hardness of the stones, all of them covered with a quite large but several times folded sheet of densely woven cotton, no doubt to protect the furs. Beside the bedding, on the other side from the fire, there was a bowl of still steaming water with a large glass container shut with a cork dipped into it, obviously to keep the off-white liquid inside still warm. That she hadn’t noticed all of these preparations on their way to the bathroom only spoke how she had been distracted by Emma’s playful antics, and alcohol she had imbibed in the Hall. “How do you want me?” coyly she asked, unwinding the towel from her body and spreading it over the cotton covered furs.

Not able to fully stop herself, Emma snorted in amusement before she lowered herself on her knees beside the furs and the bowl. “On your belly,” she spoke purposefully evenly, not even looking at the brunette, but checking if the milk was the right temperature, taking it out of the water. She could practically feel Regina’s smirk as the woman walked around her and graciously came down on her knees and hands before she positioned her body in a sprawl with her head resting near the edge of the fur bedding, while her feet were completely on the cotton sheet and towel. 

Emma brought her knees closer to Regina’s legs, and with a soft, barely there touch she caressed the calf that was only millimeters away from her thigh. Then, she gently wrapped her hands around it, lifting it and placing it carefully on her lap, making sure not to twist or awkwardly bend the knee. With the leg in her lap, she uncorked the bottle, the sharp scents of peppermint and chamomile spreading through the heated air, along with other pleasant smells of honey and milk, and pouring a bit of it into her cupped hand, Emma tenderly spread it over the brunette’s foot, covering every inch of it before she started rubbing the liquid in, her strong fingers gradually digging in deeper and deeper, her thumbs pressing down into the arch of the foot, releasing all the tension gathered there. Following the tendons and muscles, the blonde slowly worked the milk into the calf before she gently lowered Regina’s foot down and took the other one into her lap, repeating the action. 

It was a bit meditative, the Savior remarked to herself within the silence of her mind, while her hands rubbed the lower part of the tan thigh, careful not to put too much pressure on the back of the knee. The repetitive motions of her palms and fingers brought a special kind of stillness into her mind, where she was aware of everything that was related to Regina’s body - the sudden inhales of breath, the soft gasps and moans of pleasure, the subtle flexing of the muscles under her hands, the warmth of the skin that grew comfortably warmer under her ministration, the pulsating grip Regina had on the edge of the bedding, the barely detectable scent of arousal over the smell of the milk… But, her thoughts didn’t focus on one thing at the time, but, rather, they encompassed it all. Also, touching the brunette’s olive skin did wonders for her stress levels. 

With the heat from the fire that had been spelled with a certain charm so no sparks could fly out and potentially injure one of them, Emma had no worry that the naked woman spread in front of her would get cold, so she didn't rush, working the muscles in order, giving them full attention, as she slowly climbed up Regina’s body, keeping her touch, for the lack of better word, professional, paying no heed to the disappointed sighs coming from the brunette. Additionally, as she reached the small of Regina’s back, she started using one more thing in her arsenal. Getting in touch with her magic, she increased the warmth of her palms, making them noticeably hotter than the woman’s sensitive skin, but not so scorching that she would make Regina uncomfortable. 

“Ooh, I like that,” the former Evil Queen murmured after hissing in pleasure at the unexpected but welcome surprise, as the hands pressed against the lower oblique muscles and glutes, right where the back met the buttocks.

Emma softly hummed in response and brought herself to a new position, now astride the brunette’s legs, needing the proper placement for added pressure and mobility and less straining work for her own back. With her strong arms and nimble fingers, she started working on warming up the woman’s knotted muscles, knowing that her beloved had not been able to properly relax and recover from the highly intensive undertaking that was the Gorlois-made mindscape, and that didn’t take into account the fact of many stressful events prior to arriving to the House of Healing in search of her. If not for the constantly running magic that circulated throughout her body, healing stiffened muscles and tendons along the way, Regina would not be able to move, let alone traipse through Enchanted Forest.

With light, barely there contact, Emma guided her hands over the pristine olive skin in long, continuous motion from the butt up to the neck and back down, gradually pressing her palms down into a firmer touch, not skipping out on arms. Only after the movement started creating a drag, Emma reached out for the bottle of the milk and poured some into her hand, before letting it drip over the small of Regina’s back, using her other one to smear the liquid evenly over the surface, slowly working the milk into the whole back with gentle flowing strokes. When the skin was slippery enough, the blonde returned to the small of the back, using a slightly firmer pressure and putting her whole body into it, and while she was easing back, she shook her arms and hands to make vibrations, gently rocking the hips from side to side. Then, choosing a side, she carefully used the fingers of one hand to guide the pressure, while the whole palm of the other followed with a more evenly distributed weight, going from the side of the spine outwards, making sure not to put any force in her touch when she went over the bone structure of the hip. Each path she repeated several times before going to the other side and doing the same, slowly working her way up, making more repetitions on places where she could feel the bunched up muscles, relaxing them in a steady pace, not rushing nor using more power in her hands than she really needed, not responding at all at the pleasure-filled moans coming from the brunette. 

As she went up her lover’s back, she paid special attention to the muscles around shoulder blades, moving Regina’s arm to reach them easily, as she dug her fingers into the soft tissue. When she was done with the blades, she went on to the space slightly higher, at the root of the neck, working the tightness out, digging in her knuckles and thumbs, before she moved onto the shoulders. 

After doing all she could from her position at Regina’s back, she rose and shifted quietly over the brunette’s head, gently urging the woman to move a bit forward and rest her forehead on the blonde’s thighs, knees slightly apart cradling Regina’s chin. Having wiped her hands on the towel she had brought with her, she gathered the dark brown locks and moved them away from the neck, scratching the sensitive back of the head gently. Then, she leaned a bit forward and getting the milk, she poured some of it over the woman's upper back and placed her still very warm hands on the tight muscles of the shoulders, using the whole palms to spread the liquid and using gliding motions, she slightly firmed the pressure, pressing down her thumbs along the upper spine and following the muscles and tendons of the shoulders and neck, she continued the treatment of the now pliant body. After she was done and waited for a few minutes so the liquid would dry, she bent herself down and whispered softly into Regina’s ear to turn around. She helped the woman settle on her back before she went back to the brunette’s feet, starting the whole process of massage from the beginning, only this time she worked on the top side of the body parts. Even though she pressed deeply into the muscles of her lover’s body, she made sure not to keep her hands longer than strictly necessary in sensitive areas around the pelvis and chest, working only to ease up the strain of the brunette’s adventures so far. 

When she was done with the body and neck, Emma rose up from her position and walked over to the table where a small vial and a cream bottle were placed inconspicuously by a small towel. Picking them up, she brought them over to Regina before she washed her hands in the now lukewarm water in the bowl. With gentle hands, she lifted brunette’s head back into her lap, careful not to pull on her long and loose hair. As the woman opened her darkened eyes to gaze up at her, Emma smiled softly and lightly pressed the tip of Regina’s nose causing the brunette’s eyes to cross before she glared mockingly up at the Savior. 

Opening the cream container and taking a bit of it on her fingers, Emma spread the buttery substance over Regina’s face, rubbing it in in gentle circular motions that turned into a caressing massage when the cream was thoroughly applied. 

“What is that?” Regina murmured, keeping her eyes closed as Emma was tracing the soft skin under them. 

“Something to keep you moisturized, even in this cold,” the blonde replied in a whisper. Then, having done with the face, she moved just a bit away, sliding Regina’s head down her lap for just an inch, and gathering the black locks, Emma opened the vial, letting a strong scent of almonds and herbs fill the air. “This will help, too,” she added softly as she applied the oil, rubbing it tenderly into Regina’s scalp before she let it spread out to the tresses, helped by her careful hands.

Wrapping the hair into the towel, Emma secured it with a twist and a small bit of magic, and then, she rose to her feet, gathering the empty bottle and the containers, setting them on the table, before she poured two cups of water and brought one of them to the still reclining woman by the fire, while she drank the other one. 

Regina turned to a side, using her elbow to prop herself up and after sipping the fresh cool water, she looked up at her beloved walking through their quarters, with not a stitch of clothing on her. Something had happened to the blonde while she had been in the valley, it had been obvious the moment she paid attention to her lover’s eyes, and the minute she could feel the blonde’s magic on her skin. The power Emma possessed had changed and matured, yet again, creating a strange buzzing effect in it whenever her own magic reached out for Emma’s. She knew from her time with Gorlois that the Savior would have some pretty nifty tricks up her sleeves with the Blessings, but the application of it in hot hands had surprised her. It also explained why Emma hadn’t been cold the night before. However, watching the younger woman now, Regina could see that her beloved was more at ease and her magic more settled. So she wiped away her soft smile and swallowed the rest of the water, deciding to resume her previous plans of bringing this alluring woman to her arms and enticing her into something new in their bed. 

“Have I behaved, as you commanded?” she spoke up, her voice husky and filled with sultry undertone, causing the blonde to look at her over her shoulder, the wisps of her loosely bound hair barely hiding the flash of desire in those greens. It was like looking at the caged lion or tiger. The powerful and majestic force hidden behind Emma’s steely control over her actions, with only the eyes showing her true feelings and thoughts. Regina lifted her arm into the air, the summons clear in the gesture, and she watched with unbridled thirst for the Savior’s athletic form as the woman unabashedly turned toward her and made those few steps with slow but assured grace before lowering herself to the furs beside Regina, coming down on her back and resting her head on the bended elbow beneath it.

Emma looked up at the brunette’s molten chocolate orbs, not moving her eyes away when Regina placed her arm over the blonde’s middle, her thumb tracing the raised edge of the ribcage. “Well enough, I suppose,” the Sheriff murmured softly, her mouth spreading into a teasing smirk, that quickly turned into a high pitched chuckle when the brunette pinched her side in retaliation.

“Enough for a reward, do you think?” Regina continued as Emma took the offending hand and brought it to her lips, keeping it in one of her own. When the blonde hummed with her eyebrow raised, the sorceress leaned down, bringing her face barely an inch away from Emma’s and sharing the air, she whispered, “A reward that both of us should enjoy immensely.”

“What’s on your mind?” Emma asked, her eyes darting down to the brunette’s inviting lips, but before she could lift her head and steal a kiss, the sorceress shifted and brought her mouth to Emma’s ear, whispering hotly about what she wanted, and with each new word, brought over by Regina’s moist and warm breath spilling over the sensitive skin of her ear and neck, Emma could feel her ardour rising. “And, you want me to…?” she questioned in a half strangled whisper.

“Well, it is a reward for me, after all,” the brunette answered, pleased with Emma’s reaction to her suggestion. “Will you do it?”

The Sheriff didn’t even have to think about it and she breathed out an emphatic Yes, before she pulled Regina down into her arms, initiating a full body contact, and kissed the woman, her arms going around the brunette’s back, one hand landing between the shoulder blades, while the other ended up squarely on Regina’s butt, squeezing it with her strong fingers. When Regina wrapped her arms around Emma’s neck and shoulders, her fingers dispelling the knot Emma had used to keep her lustrous tresses out of her face, Emma flipped them over, pressing her thigh firmly between Regina’s legs, causing the brunette to moan sharply at the sudden but much desired contact, her fingers digging into Emma’s skin. 

Even though the slick substance spreading over her quad was proof enough that her beloved was more than ready, Emma didn’t rush, slowly moving her leg up and down as she brought her hand to Regina’s puffed lower lips, gliding over them in a tender and slow motion, flicking the peeking nub every time she would press up her thigh, working the woman further up. Then, using her thigh, she spread Regina’s legs wider and brought her fingers to her entrance, circling it gently, wetting her digits before she inserted one in while her thumb continued to tease the engorging clit, the one quickly followed by two after several thrusts. While she used her hand to prepare her beloved for the main event of the evening, she turned her thoughts inwards, sinking into the impressive knowledge of magic Regina had collected over the years, searching for the one piece of it her lover had described. Finding it, along with several brunette’s memories of how she had used that spell, Emma focused and enacted it, guiding it with both hers and Regina’s preferences. 

What she did was a magical equivalent of putting on a strap on, but for many reasons, the spell Emma chose was much more complicated than simply adding a magically affixed dildo, or changing her own body parts for that of a man. No, she used this particular spell, first because she didn’t want to be a man or have a fully functioning cock, and second, dildos lacked certain sensitivity she was after, so what the spell actually did was changing the size, shape and length of her own clitoris, making it hard and gentle to touch, but still covered in all of the nerve endings that promised incredible pleasure. And, with this particular spell, the effects last until she cancels it, so no premature flaccidness due to her own peak shorting out her magic. 

“You ready?” Emma murmured as she used magic to thoroughly lubricate herself, the tingling sensation searing through her spine. 

Regina nodded, pulling the blonde tighter against her. “Slowly,” she replied breathlessly, moving her arms to Emma’s lower back. 

The younger woman guided herself to Regina’s opening, only pressing lightly against the fluttering muscle, and then she moved her hips, sinking into the warmth of her beloved in steady increments, letting the woman get used to the intrusion bit by bit before she bottomed out. “God, this is intense,” she hissed as she shifted slightly to ease her movement, leaning on her left elbow, her arm right under Regina’s armpit, while her hand gently clasped the woman’s neck. 

“Look at me,” the sorceress husked out after a deep, gratifying moan escaped her when the blonde moved. When the dark eyes of the Savior found hers in the blazing light of fire, she trembled under the onslaught of such a deep connection they shared. “You can move,” she added after a short while passed, and Emma gently lifted her hips, taking almost the whole length of the clit out before slowly sinking in fully, not once looking away from her lover, the pleasure filled sounds emanating from both of them, and soon enough, Regina’s hand pressed against Emma’s bottom, guiding the blonde into a faster and harder rhythm that took them to completion several times in a row. After taking a short breather to drink water and rest for a bit, Regina rose to her knees and turned around, giving Emma a come hither look over her shoulder. “Take me,” she ordered sharply before she lowered herself on all fours, presenting quite an inviting picture for the blonde. Emma complied immediately, after once more applying the lubrication, and sank into Regina’s depths in one steady thrust, holding the brunette’s hips firmly in place. Luckily, after the first time Regina had shreaked in ecstasy, Emma had used her brewing magic to soundproof their quarters, but, this time she had doubts the charms would hold as the woman wildly screamed and swore at her, pushing her into a punishing pace as they raced toward what seemed to be the strongest orgasm of their lives. As they neared the peak, the blonde pulled Regina’s upper body up to rest against her own, her arm winding around her middle and still keeping her in place, while the other reached for the sorceress’s nub and rubbed it mercilessly. 

Regina came first, passing out mid-scream and collapsing back on the blonde, and Emma followed seconds after, grunting as a clear liquid burst from her entrance, soaking the both of them. As soon as she gathered her wits, Emma carefully lowered them down on the furs, staying inside as the brunette’s muscles still had a strong hold on her, pulsating erratically. Placing them on the side, the Sheriff used her hands to caress and rub thoroughly flushed skin, soothing Regina’s body while the woman was oblivious of the world around her. 

The Savior knew the second when the sorceress regained consciousness. The brunette’s magic swirled as the woman practically oozed the rapture, and kissing Regina’s neck, Emma hummed in greeting, almost preening under the fondling tendrils of the reddish purple power. “Yes, yes,” Regina croaked before she cleared her throat in amusement. “You fucked me into oblivion, you should be proud,” she added, patting Emma’s butt lightly, but when the blonde snapped her hips into hers in retaliation, she hissed out, expecting uncomfortable tenderness. However, the movement sparked another fluttering of her inner muscles and she gasped as another, much, much weaker orgasm passed through her. “Oh.” When the blonde chuckled into her neck, she just rolled her eyes and twisted her arm so she could bring Emma’s lips to her own. “Thank you,” she murmured into the blonde’s swollen lips. 

“My pleasure,” the Savior impishly replied, smirking at her lover. After the healing submission in the caves down in the valley, they rarely could keep their hands away from each other, only the duty and tiredness stopping them from spending all their time in bed and on other suitable surfaces. She had never before been so in love with someone, to find them so irresistible, and being with Regina in such carnal and pleasurable ways did not only bring them immeasurable satisfaction, but it brought them closer in such intimate ways that even the mind sharing hadn’t been able to. “I love you, Mo Chridhe,” she sighed softly as she slowly pulled out, silencing Regina’s groan with a deep kiss and dispelled the enchantment as it had done its job, and honestly, the Sheriff was not sure she would be able to go again, not that night at least. Then, she wrapped her arms tightly around her lover and magicked them to bed, not willing to sleep on drenched sheets beside roaring fire. As the brunette settled on her shoulder for the night, Emma kissed her forehead and fell asleep.

* * *

Three soft knocks rapping against the solid oak wood door of their quarters, breaking the silence of the morning, roused Emma from her deep slumber, and as she turned her head towards the sound, the blonde became aware of hot lips pressing gently on the underside of her jaw, before a low, raspy voice wished her a good morning. The Savior quietly hummed in response as her arms tightened around the woman she had held the whole time she had been sleeping. 

At the younger woman’s lazy reply, Regina softly chuckled before she kissed again the pale skin of her lover and relaxed back into her previous position, snuggling into Emma’s embrace. After a long minute of comfortable silence they spent enjoying the rate moment of casual intimacy, Regina brought her hand to Emma’s chest and started lightly caressing the woman’s breastbone, her fingers absently tracing the soft flesh that rose to swells, keeping close to the center of the chest. 

In turn, Emma kissed the brunette’s forehead and pulled her closer against her with one arm, bending the other behind her head to support it. 

“I don’t want to get up,” Regina spoke in whisper, her breath dancing over Emma’s collarbone.

“Then, don’t,” Emma replied quietly, her palm gliding up and down Regina’s back. “We could stay here.”

Regina wistfully smiled at the tempting offer before she minutely shook her head. “But, there is so much to do,” she countered regretfully.

Emma agreed with a deep sigh, before she spoke. “There is always much to do.” She looked down at the brunette, tilting the woman’s head up. “But, we can’t forget about us, either.” Turning to her side and grabbing the idly wandering hand on her chest, she peered into the dark eyes. “We need this moment, Regina, to just be with each other. You taught me that.” Ending the barely started discussion, she gently pushed the brunette onto her back and hovering over her, she kissed her, deeply. Holding her beloved tightly against her, she did nothing further to alight their passion, using the time simply to kiss her lover, enjoying the exchange between them immensely. It wasn’t an fervent make out with a goal of sexual completion,  it was slow, emotion filled exploration that took their breath away, and with each new kiss, with each new ‘playful’ bite of lip, each new tongue connection the two women felt immeasurably closer and more in love than ever. 

As their breaths mingled, so did their magic, tendrils of it teasingly touching and gliding over each other, playful and intimate as their kisses. 

Some time later, driven apart by their rumbling insides , the two women disentangled from each other and left the bed. While Regina ducked away to the bathroom and the room beyond, Emma summoned a light robe from the wardrobe and wrapped it around her naked body and loosely tied it up before she opened the door to their quarters, assuming correctly that the knocks that had woken her earlier had been of someone dropping by with their breakfast. The blonde found a tray of food on the floor by the entrance to the room and she picked it up and brought it inside, kicking the door closed, her hands carefully carrying the tray to the table. Sitting down in one of the chairs she reached for one of the plates on the tray and grabbed a strip of dried meat, tossing it into her mouth, rolling her eyes when she found the brunette leaning against the bathroom door and smirking in her direction.

“I’m hungry,” she mumbled over the half chewed meat, already picking another morsel to eat.

Regina smiled at the blonde, slightly shaking her head at her behavior before she pushed away from the door and walked to her beloved. Using Emma’s distraction with the food, she sat down on the blonde’s thighs, placing one arm around the woman’s neck while she picked a bite of cheese with the other, giggling softly at the surprised grunt the blonde gave out when the brunette ended up in her lap. When the green eyes glared at her, she smiled again and kissed the nearest cheek while her fingers idly caressed Emma’s neck, her smile widening as the blonde’s arm wound against her middle, holding her close and steadying her. Then, she reached out for another piece of cheese and offered it to the Sheriff, pressing it gently against Emma’s lips, yelping in delight when the blonde snapped it up in a too fast a move, her lips wrapping around Regina’s fingers before releasing them.

They ate in silence, sharing the food and occasionally kissing between the bites, playfully teasing each other with tasty morsels until all of it was gone. Then, they remained seated, just enjoying the rare indulgence of closeness, looking into each other’s eyes, their hands caressing the soft skin underneath gentle fingers. 

“I’ve been thinking,” Regina murmured as she peered into the spring green eyes of her lover, her voice taking on a serious tone as she held Emma’s shoulder. Her beloved blinked slowly, waiting for her to go on, the affectionate gaze turning more focused, and the brunette noted the odd calm the woman portrayed, where the Savior of old would have been a barely restrained ball of nervous energy. With a soft sigh, she continued, deciding not to start with the changes Emma had gone through, but with the thought that had been on her mind since the blonde had told her about the sword. “I think that with your training with Guardian and mine with Gorlois, we can make a selective link, not sinking too deep into each other’s minds.” When the Sheriff frowned, she hurried to explain. “There are many things I want to share with you, but the whole knowledge I received from Gorlois could overwhelm you. And, I am sure, some things you learned you were supposed to keep to yourself.” 

“Okay,” Emma spoke slowly, her frown deepening. “There’s no rush,” she added softly, looking back into the dark eyes, her lips twisting into a barely there crooked smirk filled with affection. 

“It can help you in the forge,” Regina said immediately after. “And, Morgan has woken, it will be only a matter of time when we are summoned to her side.” The brunette sighed with a weary look on her face. “We both should have all the important information when she calls for us, and even Guardian mentioned we should do it as soon as possible.” Her fingers traced the edges of the soft smile on Emma’s cheek, loath to see the ease on the Savior’s face go under the seriousness of their business. 

“Alright,” Emma nodded. “Now?”

“Now,” Regina agreed and immediately, she felt the blonde’s magic’s gentle but still invisible tendril reach out for her, carrying along with it the emotions and thoughts Emma was currently having. The heady and powerful presence of it called Regina’s own magic, and the brunette allowed it to come and entwine with the Savior’s force. Guided by her previous experiences of melds with Emma, Regina expected it to begin at once, suddenly dropping into a shared mindscape, but, this time, it did not come as it had before. Not so quickly, and not so overwhelmingly displacing. First, the brunette felt incredibly loving warmth and the sense of safety she strongly associated with her beloved’s mind suffuse her entire being all the while she was still looking into Emma’s twinkling eyes. After a long moment of this, she noticed a shadowy presence in her mind, much like Guardian had once communicated with her, and with that presence, came the memories, soft trinkle of them filling Regina’s consciousness so gently and un-intrusively, while Emma used most of her own memories to supply the new information to her True Love. The former Evil Queen was aware enough that some parts were blocked away from her access, but she didn’t pry, knowing that some secrets needed to be kept.

When the memories from Emma stopped, Regina focused and with a great deliberation she chose the parts of Gorlois’ teachings to share. As there were no secrets to keep away from the Savior, the true Master of Tintagel’s legacy, Regina only worried about Emma’s ability to cope with the large quantity of knowledge she was about to receive. So, she concentrated mostly on what Emma would need in the nearer future, among those were most of what Gorlois had taught her about the Kinds, about the various types of magics and their applications, along with the knowledge of the warding stones of Brocéliande. In time, Regina decided, she would share the rest of it with her lover, but not just yet. 

As soon as the older woman ceased the memory transfer, Emma closed her eyes and tilted her head back, keeping their magics entwined for a while longer, thus letting Regina feel the amusement and intrigue fill the bond between them. “Interesting,” the blonde murmured softly, before she peered at Regina beneath her barely lifted lids. “Seems no one but idiots trusts Mother Superior.”

Not able to stop herself, and not even trying to, the brunette chuckled at the droll comment, wholeheartedly agreeing with it. “She won’t like your plans for Nova,” Regina said with a soft trace of caution in her voice as she gazed upon the frowning face of her beloved, having gained enough knowledge about Emma’s impending trip to Agrabah to know what the Savior had in mind for the young and friendly Fairy.

“She can piss off,” Emma replied in a harsh whisper, her eyes snapping open in irritation, before the emotion filtered away from the green orbs and the blonde relaxed and looked at her lover. “You were right,” she added softly, a smirk quite obvious in her voice, the previous outburst already forgotten. “This,” the woman said, breaking gently the connection between them, “gave me an idea for the sword.” Offering an affectionate smile at the woman in her lap, she glanced toward the mantle, where the remains of her broken blade rested, her look signifying an end to their short interlude.

“So, we should get dressed,” Regina conceded with a resigned sigh, knowing that their morning was over and that Emma would be incredibly busy for the next several days. Moving to rise from her seat on Emma’s thighs, she yelped in surprise when the strong arms pulled her back into the hard body of her beloved and guided her lips to the blonde’s for a brief but passionate kiss.

* * *

Emma looked up into the sky, searching for the weak Sun, hiding behind the grey clouds that promised another bout of snowfall in the days to come, and finding it still angled toward the East, a fist away from the zenith, she nodded sharply to herself, pleased to see that it was not too late in the day to go about her business. With a soft hum, she walked down the steps of the Marble Hall and went to the lonesome hut of the smith, carrying her bag and the sword over the cloak she had wrapped herself in, her black clad figure highly noticeable in the whiteness of the snow covered hamlet. When she came upon the door of the building, she pushed it right in, not bothering with knocking, or even pounding on it, for the sharp clangs of the smith’s hammer were too loud for anything short of a cannon to be heard over it. As she went in, she closed the door behind her with haste, to stop the cold from rushing in and the heat of the forge leaving, and as she stepped away from the door, she waved in acknowledgement to the man at the anvil, the freezing breeze drawing his attention away from the tool he was fixing. He stood there, a large hammer in his hand, naked from the waist up and drenched from the heat, his hair loose and damp, splayed over his scarred shoulders, his dark eyes finding hers easily in the gloom of the forge. 

“Ah, Geilgeis,” he greeted, his voice booming over the space, and he placed down the hammer from his hand and stepped away from the anvil. “Down,” he added, pointing toward the trapdoor, gesturing to Emma that he would join her in a short while before he walked to the opposite end of the room. The blonde complied with the short direction and climbed down the ladder to the cellar, very careful not to jostle the bag she had with her. When her boots touched the hard packed earth of the ground, she walked over to the table and, gently, placed the bag on it, making sure not to damage the containers she had for the elements of the Kinds she had collected. As soon as the precious cargo was safe, Emma took off her cloak, and immediately after, her tunic as well, remaining only in a shirt Regina had set aside for her that morning, and light pants tucked into her boots. Confident that the heat sinking down from the fires above would be enough to keep her warm, and if not, her own magic would keep the cold away, the blonde folded her tunic and cloak, keeping them out of the way.

“Sit,” Roan spoke as he joined her in the room, now dressed in a simple cotton sleeveless shirt covering his body, and with his hair gathered in a tail on his neck, his look making Emma suppress a smile threatening to appear on her face when she looked at him. His shirt was stretched over his body but sticking in places to his wet body, and his hair seemed drenched, heavy drops oozing away from his tail and further leaving trails on the shirt, and Roan looked as if he had poured a whole pail of water over himself before putting the shirt on and tying his hair off. After a moment of consideration, Emma slowly blinked in realization - he had done just that, he had tossed the water over his body, quickly washing away the sweat before coming down into the cellar. 

Before she took him upon his offer, she reached for her sword and holding it by its scabbard, she gave it to the smith, hilt first, feeling a small prick of loss when it left her hands. 

“Good quality steel,” the large man murmured quietly as he inspected the weapon and its sheath. Drawing it out, his eyes looked upon the remains of the blade. “Worn, though,” he remarked, noticing many marks upon the edges, glancing toward the Savior. “Put to use. A fine sword, indeed. Fit for an excellent warrior.” He then placed the blade back into the scabbard and judged its size and guessed its weight, taking into the account the missing piece. “Same style and size, yeah?” he asked as he looked back at the Savior, placing the sword onto the table between them. 

“More or less,” Emma replied and noted the interest in the man’s eyes as he leaned forward to listen, gesturing to her to explain. “It will be the same size, but I need it to be a bit more elaborate,” the blonde started talking, her hands going to the bag in front of her and opening it gently, she pulled out a rough sketch of the sword she had made in the Temple the day before and showed it to the smith. “First, the sword will be made with the gifts from my friends,” Emma said before she delved into further explanations into the intricacies of the sword she had planned for the two of them to make, pleased to see the man following her words with ease and even offering a few suggestions himself. 

“Right, then,” the blacksmith spoke after a half an hour long discussion about the new blade. “I’ll need help with the extra details,” he added slowly, considering all the information the blonde had given him and looking down at the sketch that showed many alterations after their conversation, he tapped his chin with his finger, leaning back on his chair. “I can gather the people we will need, and we can start after lunch.” He then looked over her, his eyes following the outlines of her arms, and added, “You look strong enough, you could do some of the work, too.” When Emma nodded at his suggestion, he hummed in acknowledgement. “But,” he suddenly cautioned. “The work, it’ll take longer, Geilgeis. Seven, even eight days with only small breaks, maybe longer. Even with the others helping.”

At his estimation, Emma felt her shoulders slump. They had planned to leave Brocéliande in time to meet with the children on Christmas Day, but with this… She bit the inside of her lower lip, considering something dangerous, before she made the decision. “I have a solution for that,” she spoke up, and then told Roan about her ability with the time wards, describing the way they worked.

“That could work,” the man murmured, nodding his head, before he rubbed his chin. “That would work,” he then said a bit louder. “And, while the metal is curing or resting, I could finish with the works for the village.” He then told the Savior to give him a couple of hours to gather the men and to eat before meeting him back at the forge, and Emma left him, shaking her head in amusement at his excitement for the hard work in front of them.

* * *

After the lazy morning she had shared with her beloved, Regina wasn’t in the mood to remain alone in the room still bearing evidence of their previous activities, so she quickly dressed and went by Morgan’s quarters, finding the young apprentice, Briana, at the door. Spending a moment in the conversation with the young healer, the brunette learned that the Queen was still recovering from the ordeal at the Temple and was too weak to leave her bed for any length of time, preventing her from assuming her regular duties. She also learned that the only people allowed in the chambers were the healers, Aileen and the last remaining Knight of the Round Table, and that all others who needed to see the Queen had to wait for her to get better. Pleased by the fact that Morgan’s infirmity was giving both her and Emma more time before finally having the dreaded conversation and perhaps confrontation with the older Queen, Regina sent her best wishes and departed, offering the young girl a gentle smile as she left. Following a short deliberation, the woman directed herself to the Communal Hall, expecting to find at least one of the villagers familiar to her, hoping that she could join them for a bit. 

It was odd, she remarked within her own mind, that she was looking for someone to spend her time with. Not only that, she had rather really enjoyed the evening before, in the presence of so many people who had honestly humbled her by their acceptance. Earlier in her life, she had abhorred spending time around people who had not been the Heartless or the Guard, or her Daddy. The fear and loathing of her servants and subjects had been too irritating for her to endure without her retaliation. Even with her so-called friends, like Maleficent and Jefferson, she had been reticent and ill at ease, able to tolerate them in small increments of time. The only exception had been Henry, her father, but even he would sometimes grate on her nerves, prompting her cruel response and punishments, or long bouts of avoidance. Her son had been the first person whose presence she not only tolerated but craved and adored, and his scorn had hurt her much more than he had known. Later, it had been Emma who had brought her desire for companionship to life, and with her, Regina slowly learned to accept others in her life, for the first time ever having real friends and family around to support her. She was surprised to find that she actually missed them. She missed her children, of course, but she found herself thinking about Neal, and Snow, of all people, and all others who had become her friends over the duration of this crazy adventure. 

“Oh, hey,” a soft timbre of the familiar voice broke her rumination and Regina looked up to see the she-wolf holding the door open for her. “Would you like to join us?” the shifter asked quietly as she motioned toward the table in the middle of the Hall, where Percival and three of his men were accompanied by Gwen and Keith. 

“Sure,” the brunette easily agreed and allowed herself to be led to the table, greeting the people there individually, having remembered their names from earlier, delighted to find them welcoming. Feeling herself easily integrated in their conversations, Regina relaxed.

She was still with the group, sharing a light meal and a funny story about Emma’s bumbling adventures as the Sheriff of Storybrooke, quite easily changing the modern details into something more understandable to her audiences, when she felt the familiar stirring of her magic. Not stopping with the story, she looked over at the entrance and moments later, the subject of her story walked in, finding her eyes instantly. As the blonde warrior approached the table, Regina slowly wound down her story, causing many of her listeners to chuckle or outright guffaw, their boisterous laughter drawing attention from the surrounding tables. The sorceress had been watching her True Love and she had seen the exact moment when the Savior had realized that the story had been about her, the green eyes rolling in mocked annoyance, pinning the brunette with a glare, to which Regina only smirked in smug satisfaction, wiggling her eyebrows at the woman. 

When Emma reached her, she placed her hand on Regina’s shoulder, her touch gentle and warm, before the hand moved slightly and fingers started playing with the wisps of loose hair covering the neck, in an affectionate manner that Regina guessed Emma wasn’t even aware of. “Enjoying yourselves?” the Sheriff asked pointedly as she looked over at the men still chuckling, her words dousing the obvious merriment Regina’s tale had left behind, but the blonde did not let the group devolve into tense silence. “Well,” she started before she grinned widely, her eyes catching the dark ones of her beloved. “I was an idiot, then,” she added self-deprecatingly, her words making her lover snort as Regina lifted her arm and placed it around Emma’s back to the woman’s opposite hip.

“Was?” Regina questioned lightly, but her tone showed no malice, smiling at her beloved in affection, her question further answered by Aileen’s and Gwen’s pointed rejoinders about insane ideas. 

“I guess, that’s open to discussion,” Emma conceded graciously, before she leaned down and brought her face to Regina’s ear. “I need to talk to you,” she added in a barely heard whisper, before she pressed a kiss to the woman’s temple. 

Humming in acknowledgement, Regina took her cup of tea and rose to her feet in a graceful move, excusing the pair of them for a moment before she guided Emma to an empty corner of the Hall, the farthest away from the fires that kept the space pleasantly warm. “What did you do?” she asked the moment they were assured of privacy, careful to keep her voice low. Seeing Emma frown and open her mouth with no words coming out, she quickly added, “I know you, beloved.” Lifting her free hand to Emma’s cheek, she caressed the raised edge of the blonde’s cheekbone, her thumb gently touching the edge of her mouth. “And, you look just like Henry does when he knows I won’t like something he has to tell me.”

Emma shook her head with a wistful smile before she rolled her eyes. “Figures,” she murmured ruefully as she brought Regina’s hand down into a gentle hold of both of hers. “The sword will take a lot more time than anticipated,” she said without preamble, going straight to the point. 

Proving that she did know Emma, Regina understood the blonde’s actions immediately. “You plan to use the wards,” she said, her voice even.

Emma nodded and quickly launched into a plan she had worked out on the way over from the forge, detailing the schedule she had in mind. 

“I won’t ask if you can hold it that long, but I am concerned about the repercussions,” the brunette spoke quietly, clenching the hand that was underneath her palm. The wards themselves weren’t the problem, Regina knew because of the memories of that morning that Emma was quite powerful and could hold them for much longer without much of a drain on her core. The problem was using additional magic inside the ward, along with providing the stabilizing effect to all the ingredients Emma planned to use in making the sword. Keeping track of that many branches of actively used magic would prove to be exhausting, at the very least, and Regina wasn’t keen on having her beloved suffer another bout of overcharge. 

“The Unicorn did his thing,” Emma mentioned quietly, her words providing enough explanation to soothe some of Regina’s worry. “The magic won’t harm me, it’ll just be tiring.” Then, Emma ducked her head, leaning closed to her True Love, peering into her concerned eyes. “I just didn’t want to do anything before telling you first, and I thought that the thing Morgan had made for your ritual might even help-”

“No,” Regina interjected sharply, before she simply turned her head and waved the young woman healer over, having caught her eyes quite easily after her loud outburst. “The concoction she made was specifically tailored for the magic conducted by the stones. I don’t know how it would react with the way you intend to use it.” Right at that time, Gwen came to them with a slight hesitation in her step. “Gwen,” Regina greeted the girl with a welcoming smile intended to ease her discomfort. “My dear Sheriff needs you to make her a variation of endurance potion,” she said gently before she drank the rest of her tea. “She will be using inordinate amounts of magic along with prolonged physical exertion,” she added in explanation, squeezing Emma’s hand in reassurance. “And, if you have any suggestions, we’re listening.”

The apprentice healer first looked at the Savior, considering her for a long moment, before she shortly nodded to the regal brunette speaking to her. “It’s the thing with Roan, isn’t it?” she asked the Sheriff quietly, not really needing the answer, her mind already going through possible remedies for exhaustion. “I don’t know how to prevent the overcharge,” she said firstly, but when the blonde murmured that it wouldn’t be a problem, she continued on. “Then a stronger variant of the potion along with plenty of food and water, and the mix I made you for muscle strain should come in handy.” Then, the young woman excused herself to go and prepare the things Emma would need, picking up Keith along the way to help her.

“Can I visit?” the brunette asked quietly after they were left alone, her eyes still on the young healer now leaving the Hall. 

Emma frowned at the uncertainty of Regina’s words, though the tone voicing them was even, and lifting her hand to the older woman’s chin, she brought them closer to each other. “Of course,” she said emphatically, holding Regina’s dark eyes in her gaze. “I always want you by my side, Chridhe, no matter what I do,” she said firmly, but quietly, not willing others to hear her use of elvish. “Okay?”

“Okay,” Regina murmured softly, all traces of her insecurity demolished by the use of the term. 

Glad to have settled that, Emma guided the two of them back to the table, ready to eat among her new friends and to spend a bit more time with her beloved before setting out to forge her new sword. 

* * *

Not long after the lunch, after a short stop to her quarters, Emma returned to the smithy and found Roan waiting for her, along with several other people, gathered around one of the working tables, a bit away from the roaring fire of the forge. “Geilgeis,” the blacksmith greeted her with excitement, clapping his hands, before he introduced his helpers to her. “I explained something of the time extension you want, and they don’t mind,” he continued, his words followed by both verbal and non-verbal agreements from the people beside him. 

Nodding, Emma then spoke about the schedule she had planned for, smiling when Roan stopped her from giving the others big chunks of time for rest. “I’ve stuffed several pallets in the cellar, lass,” he said gruffly. “They can rest inside the wards just as well.” He then mentioned that one of the healers had brought over enough food for a week for ten people, showing her the large stack of goods lining one of the walls of the cellar. Emma chuckled with understanding; it had surely taken the young man, Keith by all accounts, several trips to bring it all to the forge. “There’s a flask or two for you, Geilgeis,” he added, pointing toward the rack beside the door.

And, with a short bit of organisation, they started. Roan gave the task of creating the scabbard, the pommel and materials for the handle to his people, explaining to each what to use and what motifs to work into the artwork. But, before they could split to begin their tasks, Emma used a small bit of the fairy dust to infuse the metal the men would work with, smirking softly at the lightshow of colors her actions created. 

“Come here, lass,” Roan called Emma to his side as they left the others to work. When the Savior joined him, he opened a small trunk and brought out several nuggets of the metal, each one the size of the smith’s large hand. He then started explaining every part of the process of forging the metal, going into incredible detail, especially with the magical part of it, making sure that Emma would be alright basically on her own, as he would need to work on the crossguard and the assistant he had assigned her knew nothing of the process as it had been a closely guarded secret. 

Guided by Roan’s instructions, the memories from Gorlois and her own study of the art, she took the nuggets, gasping in startled surprise when she lifted the much heavier lumps than their sizes had suggested, and placed them in a small melting pot the smith had used the last time he had worked with the ore and set to smelt it, preparing the additional ingredients she had planned to add to the blade. Having already prepared the additives for the crossguard to add when Roan was in the middle of turning the iron ore into steel ingots, she was ready to begin. With a short shout of warning, she instituted the ward, using the one where one hour on the outside equaled six on the inside despite the fact that it was progressively harder to maintain, and got to work. 

With the help of one of the men, Thane, she smelt the ore, following the steps Roan had outlined for her and keeping tight control over her magic, gradually adding the mixture she had prepared from the gifts of the Kinds and her own blood. When it was done, the two of them set out to remove the slag from the metal, heating it directly in the furnace and then beating it on the anvil, hours passing in hard and loud work. With the metal ready, Emma left it to cool down, as she used the time to rest a bit and to stretch out her muscles and spine. Sharing a light meal with the villager next to her, she watched the others work on their own projects.

One of the men, an old but still spry soldier by the name of Wyndam, sat in the corner by himself and worked on creating hoops from a very thin steel wire in order to make the curbed chain that would be part of the handle, a large heap of them on the floor beside him telling that he was almost done by this part of his task. What was left was to string them in a line, seal them and twist them to make the curbed chain that was by the smith’s calculation 18 feet in length. 

On the opposite side of the large room, sat Aiken, the middle aged man who made wood and skin his trade, helping the village tailor and cobbler out when they needed it, or working as a woodcarver in the meantime. He was currently busy preparing two planks of treated oak for the sheat, while the handle made of finest oakwood was soaking in a special solution to prevent igniting the wood in a small jar beside him. By his side were several large pieces of black colored leather he would use later for the scabbard and for the bracers they would make at the end.

Only two steps away from Aiken were two men working on gems Emma had given them to polish, having already done preparing the silver for the artisan work on the scabbard and crossguard and having already finished with the basic shape of pommel, making it the almost pear shaped scent stopper (a term she had learned from Roan when he had drawn the sketch of it for her). The two men, brothers named Marden and Nyle, had been apprentices with a Camelot jeweler before they had been drafted for the king’s army, joining Morgan and her cohort after the battle at Camlann, and Emma knew that they relished the opportunity to work their craft once more, the need for it scarce during their exile in Brocéliande.

And that left Pell, a young man barely out of his teens, who had been Roan’s apprentice and helper for the whole length of their stay at the Dragon’s Bluff. The boy was tall and developed, but his scarred face and hands drew too many looks for him to be comfortable among the people, choosing the sanctuary in the isolation of the forge. He didn’t speak, most of his communication conveyed by simple gestures, and the first time Emma had seen him on her walk through the village she had thought the boy had been deaf, but he had easily followed Roan’s directions even when the man had been whispering them out of the young man’s direct line of sight. Now, she watched him monitor the smelting process, as Roan had stepped away to drink water. 

With their short respite finished, Thane and the Savior returned to their ore, this time working on thinning and folding the metal, making sure to douse the ore in a curious mixture of clay, ash and water, before brushing it away. Emma repeated the process several times, the blade not needing too much of the folding due to the amazing properties of the magically cured ore, and when she was finished, she left the metal to slowly cool submerged in the solution she had made from the remaining gifts, quietly chanting a long spell that would bind the desired properties to the metal. Then, having checked the progress of the others, she slipped away to the cellar to grab a few hours of a shut-eye, having already spent more than three outside hours working on the blade.

And, so, the work continued with occasional pauses for meals, ablutions and naps, the men and Emma working diligently on their tasks, even helping Roan finish up with the backlog if they had time in between forging and annealing the materials.

* * *

After Emma left for the blacksmith’s cottage, Regina resumed her exercise with Percy, working on her speed and agility and perfecting the moves he had already shown her. She didn’t mind the exertion as it kept her busy, from both worrying about her lover and losing her mind while waiting on others to be ready to move. When Percival and Dai would beg off for a rest, she would join Gwen, with the young woman’s permission, helping the healer prepare her stores for travel, along with helping her mix various poultices and liquids useful to have on hand, especially considering the fact that they would be leaving in a few days. 

“You don’t do well with waiting, do you?” the young healer murmured after Regina sighed in frustration for the fourth time in a short period of time she had spent with the girl. 

Surprised by the quietly spoken comment, the brunette scoffed in reply. “No, can’t say that I do, dear,” she said gently, pleased that the healer felt free enough to speak up, despite her reputation both as the Evil Queen and the future ruler of Tintagel. “Even though it seems I’ve spent most of my life waiting for something…” she murmured to herself before offering a self-deprecating smile to the young woman, not willing to engage into more of her self-pitying behavior while Emma was busy with making swords and Morgan was recuperating. “Emma told me that you don’t want to stay here,” she changed the subject, pulling the topic out of the memory her beloved had given her that morning. 

“I would like to be part of your court, your Majesty,” Gwen replied with a small curtsy, before she returned to the shelf she was organizing. It astonished her that the Savior had already spoken on her behalf to the Queen and the Heir, honestly having thought that her earnest plea had been forgotten amidst the commotion of Morgan’s infirmity and the preparations. But, from what she had seen of the blonde, the woman was fair and honest, wanting to help and reward assistance, so perhaps she shouldn’t have been so surprised with Regina’s question. 

“What does that mean, exactly?” the Queen asked slowly. “And, please, Regina is fine.”

“Part of your entourage, Regina,” the healer replied, coming closer to the brunette and sat across from her, her fingers idly playing with the fraying edge of her garb’s sleeve. “Your personal healer, if you will…”

“You are aware, of course, that my True Love has the gift of the Unicorns?” Regina remarked gently. “And, that after all this business with the Wicked Witch of the West, the Sheriff and I will be going home, to the town the Dark Curse had created in the World without magic?”

Gwen nodded, her earnest gesture showing her biological years. “But, you do have a court, don’t you? Guards and servants who will remain in the Enchanted Forest?”

“So, you’d stay with them?”

“Yes.”

Regina leaned back and took in the girl as she looked her over. There were not many people in her court, as Gwen had called it, but what was there, it consisted of good people. And, she trusted her newly minted Captain to watch over any and all of her subjects, which Gwen might need as she would be away from the protecting sphere of Morgan’s influence and out of Brocéliande’s small village. “Yes,” she proclaimed with finality. “You can be part of my court,” she spoke gracefully, stifling a smile that promised to appear at the young woman’s barely concealed glee at her words. 

Staying with Gwen until the late hours of the evening, Regina finally retired for the night, planning to go to Roan’s hut in the morning, to catch Emma during one of the breaks the woman had told her about. Sighing heavily at the empty bed, she wrapped herself into the covers and holding Emma’s pillow to her face, she fell asleep within minutes, despite her concern that she would not be able to close her eyes even for a minute. 

After a spot of light breakfast, the brunette hurriedly dressed and rushed over to the smith’s hut, arriving just in time to see one of the men opening the door and leaving, using the opportunity now that the ward was down. And, there, by the heated furnace of the forge stood the Savior, dressed only in light linen leggings and leather vest, drenched in sweat, with her hair tied high on her head. She stood beside Roan, talking to him in low tones as she rolled a slab of metal in her hands, her muscles dancing on naked and glistening arms. 

Regina had seen Emma as a warrior, but this side of her, despite all the memories she had gained through their transfers was unfamiliar to her, simply because the blonde had not been interested in mirrors while creating what she had needed. The strange look of deep concentration and attentive interest was odd to see in the spring green eyes, but somehow it suited the Sheriff. Not only that, she looked very enticing.

“You can come in, you know,” the blonde addressed her before she turned around and smiled at her, stepping away from the furnace and closer to the door. Knowing well that after what amounted to four days of sweat and smoke was sticking to her skin, the younger woman didn’t come too close, nor did she attempt to hug her lover, but Regina ignored all that and wrapped her arms around the Sheriff, kissing her firmly on the mouth, pretending not to hear the ribald comments from the men remaining in the hut. “Well, good morning to you too,” Emma spoke after she regained her senses, guiding her beloved outside for a bit of fresh air. 

“You are turning into quite a craftswoman,” the brunette noted, her gloved hands wrapped around Emma’s biceps, trying not to leer at the woman’s body. “First the arch stones, now the sword…” She looked up into twinkling eyes. “Is this something that interests you? Working with your hands?” Regina asked, curious to see what Emma’s response would be. The blonde hadn’t had many hobbies in Storybrooke, apart from getting into mischief with their son, and here in the Enchanted Forest all her free time had been directed toward research and preparation for the next step or task ahead of her, doing everything out of necessity rather than enjoyment. But, if this was something the woman liked doing, the Mayor would do her best to set her up with a space and equipment, despite the fact that stone carving and metal forging weren’t really a Storybrooke trade. 

“It’s interesting,” Emma murmured, absently tucking a lock of loose dark hair behind Regina’s ear. “But, I don’t know if I want to do it just to do it…” 

Right then, Roan came to the door and called out for the Savior, needing her to consult on something or the other. With a light kiss to Regina’s cheek, Emma excused herself, welcoming Regina to come in and explore if she wanted, an offer that the brunette accepted immediately, not because she was too interested to see the half finished parts of what would later be the Savior’s weapon, but because she had heard the only two men that passed for precious metal-smiths and jewelers in these parts of the world were inside, and she was in need of their assistance.

So, with their generous help and suggestions, along with Emma’s tongue in cheek donation of the precious stones and metals, Regina walked out of the forge with a clear idea what she wanted and how to make the wedding rings for the two of them, secretly hoping to be crafty enough to make an engagement ring for Emma, as well, planning to formally ask her the night before their organized nuptials.

* * *

Two days later, or what amounted to twelve days thanks to the extensive use of the time wards, the work was done. After carefully shaping the blade, and tempering and quenching it with extreme attentiveness, Emma had slowly etched the crest she had chosen for the sword to bear on the ricasso part of the blade, making sure to follow the general outline the hilt would leave on the blade, so the crest would be perfectly visible and uninterrupted by the artwork on the hilt. Then, Thane had taken over other finishing work on the blade like polishing and sharpening it, making the perfectly formed metal gleam under the weak light of the forge, even the curved spaces of the gullet receiving the treatment. By the time Thane had been done, the parts that would form into complete hilt had been finished, the amazing engraving and silver gilding drawing eyes to the crossguard and pommel, and the scabbard had been completed, made to fit the sword perfectly, the crest on the locket lining up with the crest on the blade. Then, when all the artwork had been done, Roan and Pell had assembled the sword while Emma had used her blood guided magic to bind all the magical elements together, making the sword not only unique but incredibly powerful. 

“Well, then, Geilgeis,” Roan spoke somberly as he looked down on a remaining sheet of black leather, where the finished weapon was laid out. “Why don’t you try your masterpiece?”

And, indeed the sword was the amazing blend of artwork and functionality. With Regina by her side gasping in awe when the weapon was uncovered, Emma couldn’t help but agree with her beloved’s silent praise. Even though she had been there for every part being made, the final outcome had amazed her. The silverwork on the scabbard contrasting perfectly with the black leather underneath, making the swirls of silver clearly depict a styled representation of the forest with the Kinds hiding in it, along with random motifs of swans and apples. There on the chape, a gold inlaid swan with a crown was artistically represented, while on the locket, a black inlaid interrupted square with an gold filled etch of an apple tree with a crowned swan in its canopy.

“You combined our crests,” Regina let out in a tearful gasp, moved beyond expression by Emma’s action. It wasn’t only the black interrupted square of the Evil Queen, but the apple tree as her personal mark, formed by her father’s gentle hand. The swan was rather obvious, but what surprised her was the small ringlet on the swan’s head, when Emma had been very reluctant to acknowledge her Royal status. 

“It seemed appropriate,” Emma replied quietly, pulling her lover into her side, continuing to examine her new sword.

Where the scabbard ended and the hilt of the sword begun, central part of the crossguard was shaped as geometrical diamond, a precious stone in each of the corners, the corner toward the blade inlaid with a circularly cut ruby, the one next in a clockwise turn was filled with a similarly cut diamond, the corner directed toward the handle was inlaid by a teardrop sapphire, while the remaining one was filled by an circularly cut emerald. At the center of the four corner shape was the simplified elvish glyph for the True Love Born gilded with gold. From the diamond in the middle sprouted the guards, perpendicular to the handle, beautifully chiseled and gilded, the artwork blending perfectly with the scabbard. Under the crossguard a simple spacer was installed, a gold inlay of a dragon serving as the maker’s mark, as all smiths of Camelot had used this particular symbol. On the other side of the spacer was a short string of gold inlay of elvish glyphs that Emma had made herself, but they could not be seen as the sword was laying on that side. 

The space between the spacer and the pommel was filled with an oakwood handle covered in black leather, then wrapped in polished and treated steel curbed chain, held in place by magic infused silver wire. The last part of the sword was the scent stopper, the pommel made in an almost pear shape, with gilded silverwork and engraving following the motifs on the other parts of the sword and scabbard. And, to complete the ensemble, a black leather baldric studded with silver and with silver buckles was attached to the scabbard.

Emma reached for the sword and gently picked it up, drawing it out of its sheath, her move reacting to the magic of the blade, and the bluish white surface of the metal shone with cold brilliance, causing others to gasp in surprise. “Watch this,” the blonde murmured to her beloved and placed the sword in front of her face, blade up, and pushed a bit of her magic into the sword, and suddenly, white flames spread over the blade, the paleness of the fire drawing eyes to the gold elvish glyphs on the spacer. 

“Hope’s flame?” Regina read the words in English, not willing to test what the elvish name would do to the magic of the sword.

“Too many people have referred to me as their hope,” Emma murmured, ending the flow of magic and lowering the blade, careful not to hurt anyone around with it. Then, repeating the words from earlier, she shrugged her shoulders. “Seemed appropriate.” Slowly, she reached for the blade with her hand and offered the sword to Regina. When the brunette grasped the hilt, the metal started glowing again, startling the sorceress into removing her hand, her hasty move followed by Emma’s soft chuckle, before the blonde gestured the smith to take it into his hands.

When Roan took the sword, it didn’t react, the bluish white metal remaining unchanged, but still remarkable.

“It is bound to me, to my family,” Emma explained as she received the weapon back and put it back into its scabbard, a soft click of the locket loud in the ensuing silence. “Anyone of my blood would be able to make it shine, but only those with light magic would be able to draw out the flames.”

“But, I-” Regina started softly, before Emma interrupted her with a piercing look.

“You are my True Love, Regina. You  **are** my family.” The Savior’s firm and clear statement brought moisture to Regina’s eyes as she simply sank into the waiting hold of her beloved, leaning her forehead against the blonde’s neck. “ **Is** tu mo Chridhe,” Emma whispered softly, the tingling feel of the woman’s breath over the sensitive skin of Regina’s ear and neck surpassed by the buzzing pulses of their magic reacting to the words.

After a minute, Roan softly cleared his throat, loath to interrupt the two women, but also he wanted to get on with it and finally get some rest, the work he had done for the previous two weeks quite exhausting. At Emma’s questioning look, he motioned toward Pell and the boy brought out two bracers and placed them on the black leather where the sword had been. “Thanks to you, lass, and the magic you did, they turned out better than I expected.” Taking one of the artifacts, he motioned for Emma’s arm. “The metal is flexible enough to allow you to put them on and tighten them with leather ties,” he said as he slipped the brace over Emma’s left forearm, the bluish white metal lined with black leather on the inside with strong, twined leather rope serving as a tie. As he tied it tighter, as one would do with shoe string, Emma noticed that the previously two inch wide space was brought to less than a half an inch, protecting the forearm completely. The piece of metal was simple, without much adornment, the only added detail was the gold inlay of a stylized sketch of a dragon in flight, a startlingly different design from the sword. “They are so light, I feared they would break under the powerful swing of a sword or an axe, but,” Roan then pointed toward the anvil where the large shards of an heavy war axe still littered the space, “as you can see, my fears were for naught.” He inclined his head towards the brunette, and Emma released her beloved out of the embrace as the large man then placed the other on Emma’s other arm, expertly tying the string. “There you are, as promised. Bracers and a sword fit for the Savior, Geilgeis.” 

The blonde patted the blacksmith's shoulder before she looked down onto the other bracer, noticing the same dragon design on it. "These are truly the masterpieces, master Roan. I don't know how to thank you." 

"You helped, lass. A lot." He then looked around the hut with keen eyes. “And, with your help, everything is ready for the leave taking on my side,” he added solemnly, gesturing toward other finished products they had done during their time in the wards. “No thanks needed,” he spoke with a light smile before he inclined his head toward the women. “Your Majesty, Geilgeis,” he said with unbridled respect and receiving soft smiles and nods in return, he along with other men left the hut for a well deserved rest.

* * *

When they entered their quarters, Emma quietly shut the door before she turned around and leaned back against the hard wood, tilting her head slightly upwards and closing her eyes, as a deep and weary sigh passed her open mouth, She felt gentle hands fiddle with the baldric around her hips, removing the weight of her new sword with it. Then, the nimble fingers untied the leather twines on the bracers, slipping the new accessory off, the careful touch driving Emma to open her eyes and look at the brunette standing in front of her, only inches away, the melted chocolate eyes glinting in the candlelight with concern. “I am okay,” the Savior spoke slowly and quietly, putting a barely there smile to reassure her True Love. “Just need a moment.”

Regina clicked her tongue in disapproval before she pulled the blonde away from the door and led her to the bathroom, and instead of preparing the sunken pool for their much needed soak, she went to the tub already set and filled with steaming water, held under the purplish haze of preservation spell. With a playful wiggle of her fingers, the brunette disrobed them both and guided Emma into the tub, following immediately after and settling in behind her, pulling the tired blonde into a relaxed hold in the hot bathing water and wrapping her arms around the woman’s middle, and with another wiggle of her fingers she guided her magic to bring up their hair into high buns, keeping the tendrils away from the water. “Close your eyes,” Regina whispered softly into Emma’s ear. “The heat will keep, and the salts will help the pain,” she explained in a quiet hush before she kissed the blonde’s salty temple and splayed her palms over the knight’s well defined belly. Feeling her beloved relax into the hold and lean her head fully onto her shoulder, she hummed in encouragement. “Rest for a bit,” Regina murmured, smiling when Emma’s gentle hand squeezed her slightly raised knee in response, as she settled into the brunette’s body, her long pale legs straightened out to the edges of the magically enlarged tub. 

Several minutes later, the blonde slightly shifted, turning her head toward Regina’s neck, leaning her temple to the other woman’s jaw, and placing her arm over Regina’s she started gently caressing the submerged limb, feeling her mouth pull into a lazy smile at the brunette’s soft and languorous hum. “Do you think I should wear a dress for the bonding ritual?” Emma asked quietly, her eyes on their fingers entwining under the murky bath water. 

Surprised by the sudden broaching of the topic, the older woman’s brows furrowed before she considered Emma’s question. Perhaps the impending meeting with the resident queen brought up the subject and Emma was never one to have a quiet and empty mind for long. “Would you like to be in a dress?” she asked, instead of answering the blonde’s question. She had seen her beloved in many forms of attire both through the memories and experience, and even though she knew that the blonde would be beautiful and breathtaking in whatever she would choose to wear, she never got the feeling that dresses were something the Savior was truly and completely at ease with, and it certainly didn’t go with her tomboyish nature and less than materialistic past. But, if she wanted a dress, then she would have the most amazing dress magic and limited materials in Brocéliande could provide. 

The Savior was quiet for a minute, before she clasped Regina’s palm, her shoulders flexing minutely. “I don’t know,” she murmured. “I don’t think I would feel comfortable in one, not after months of pants and leggings, and certainly not here.” 

Expecting such an answer, the brunette had a solution ready, kissing the younger woman’s temple. “Then,” she started slowly as she spoke into Emma’s ear. “Why don’t you just come in your ‘knightly’ whites, and wear a dress for the wedding celebrations we will have with our family.” Bringing their hands to her lips, she kissed Emma’s palm, her gentle acceptance calming Emma’s slightly nervous state. “It will give you time to get used to dresses again, and it will definitely help with Snow’s grumblings on proper princess etiquette,” Regina added with a slight bite to her last words. 

“That works,” the Sheriff mumbled as she settled back into Regina’s embrace. “What are you going to wear?” she then asked, a curious tone in her voice.

“You’ll see,” Regina answered simply, and when the blonde turned a bit around to look up at her she raised her eyebrows. “It’s a surprise.” The Savior playfully huffed and returned to her previous position, wrapping the brunette’s arms around her. In fact, she had already visited Selwyn, the local tailor and made arrangements with him for the dress she had in mind for her nuptials. As this was her second wedding, and she was the royal with rule over several domains, especially after Morgan’s impending abdication, she wasn’t obligated to wear white. Nor would she want to, as it really didn’t suit her. And, as Emma had agreed to wear the leather ensemble Selwyn had finished for her, it would be too much for her to be in white, too. No, she had another color in mind, one that she liked, and that represented Tintagel as well. 

But, that was for later. Now, they were enjoying the hot and healing waters in anticipation of official summons to the queen’s quarters, where the last stage of their visit to Brocéliande would commence. They would arrange a time for a wedding bond after which Regina would be officially named as the Tintagel Heir and Morgan’s successor, and with that done, they would be free to leave, and just in time to greet their children on Christmas Day morning. And, Regina silently decided, she would find a moment at the meeting in the queen’s room to somehow impart Gorlois’s last message, having a feeling that it would give her leverage over Morgan to convince her to use the rites Emma and her had found in the Temple. 

“Do you feel better now?” the brunette quietly asked as she gently tilted Emma’s head to the side, so she could see the woman’s eyes. She had known from the moment she had seen the blonde at the forge that the long, arduous hours of loud and hard work and keeping the wards in place, along with additional workings of magic had exacted a heavy toll on her beloved. Perhaps not a physical one, as Emma’s body had been conditioned for extreme labor, but a mental one for sure. The constant noise of hammers, files and fires couldn’t have been easy to endure, particularly for someone who had keen ears of a hunter. Even though Emma had claimed that she had been fine, Regina had noticed the creased forehead, the drawn eyes and barely visible flinches that spoke of a raging headache for the blonde. 

“I was fine to begin with,” the Savior spoke, just as Regina had expected. “But, I’ll never pass on spending more time with you, especially, naked and wet,” the blonde added, tossing in a lewd grin at the end, as she wiggled her eyebrows in jest. 

“Emma,” came the chuckling but chiding response, as Regina shook her head before leaning in and kissing the blonde’s cheek. 

“What? It’s true.” 

The sorceress only smiled and kissed the younger woman on the lips, before she looked into the refreshed spring green eyes of her beloved, glad to notice that all the signs of the earlier ailment were gone without a trace. “I love you,” she spoke in a somber whisper, as she grasped Emma’s head with her hand, her thumb gently caressing the bone of the cheek while her other fingers held the back of the blonde’s neck and head. “And, I worry.”

“I know,” Emma murmured softly, carefully turning her body to look easier at her True Love, tenderly wrapping her arms over Regina’s shoulders, the still present warmth of the water soothing the goosebumps the move caused on the brunette’s neck. “I know you do, and you were right, I had a headache, but you don’t have to worry about me, Regina.”

“It seems,” the brunette spoke quietly as she held her beloved to her with her arm, while the other one was still on the blonde’s cheek, “the events around you are determined to prove you wrong.” 

“Yeah,” Emma agreed with a rueful grin, thinking back on every life and death situation she had experienced since the day Henry had brought her to Storybrooke. “Sorry?” 

“It’s par for the course,” Regina said with a wistful smile. “Our son obviously inherited that from you, what with all the adventures he had managed to lead us into…” She then looked at the blonde and frowned. “I sure hope Kyle won’t follow in your footsteps.” Closing her eyes for a brief moment, she shook her head as she realized what she had said. “I don’t,” she started but before she could fully form an apology, Emma placed a finger on her lips. 

“It’s okay, Chridhe,” Emma murmured gently. “I know we were both lost babies in a new world, but he will be loved and protected, and with Henry as his older brother and us as his mothers, he won’t have a chance of serious mischief.” She kissed the brunette quickly and smiled. “You’ll see.”

Regina would’ve said more, but before she could a timid rap on the door to their quarters was heard and the two women looked at each other with determination. The summons finally came.

* * *

Escorted by one of the younger healers, the two women entered a small, cluttered study, and found the Mistress of the house waiting for them at the small table by the lit fireplace. Morgan still looked tired, but as Regina could see, the woman had been on her feet and now she was reclining in a small, low back chair, immaculately robed in the same white dress with gold embroidering she had been wearing the first time the brunette had met her.

Dismissing the escort with a simple hand gesture, the monarch then offered the two empty seats to the women. “Please, join me,” she said quietly, her hands going to a clay teapot, preparing the drinks for her guests. “We have much to discuss.”

Sharing a look with Emma, Regina sat down right across from the other queen, while the Savior stepped toward the fireplace and leaned against the mantle with her elbows and back, and crossed her legs at the ankle, her affected relaxed position belied by the watchful eyes surveying both the queens and the room. The move had been deliberate, effectively forcing the dark skinned sorceress to split her attention between the two. As the brunette settled in the oddly comfortable chair, she tugged lightly on the outer seam of her dark pants, straightening the line with ease before she placed her hands into her lap and looked at the former Camelot queen with a neutral expression, her innate grace obvious in her posture.

Morgan chuckled quietly at their maneuvering, but she didn’t comment on it, aware that the women weren’t exactly happy with her. Instead, she poured tea and offered it to the women, pleased that both of them had accepted, Emma even reaching for it, rather than to make her bend uncomfortably over or even rise from the chair in effort to serve the Sheriff. “First, let me begin by saying that I was wrong to lead you to the ritual without completely being honest from the beginning. In my mind, it was the only way for both of us to get what we wanted, and needed, but it still doesn’t excuse the subterfuge. For this, I offer my unreserved apology.”

Regina graciously nodded, sipping her tea, but she didn’t speak, and Emma didn’t even bother reacting to Morgan’s words, looking into the cup where the dark tea was. 

“I was informed that you intend to leave in the next few days?” Morgan asked after several long minutes spent in a terse silence. 

“Two days from tomorrow,” Regina replied in agreement. 

“And the rites will be completed before you leave?”

“Of course,” the brunette said, placing the empty cup on the table. “However, Emma and I want a specific bonding rite to be performed. It complies with all the requirements you have placed forward for my beloved’s integration into the Tintagel line.” She procured a single sheet of paper with the particular ceremony depicted in minute detail and slid it over the surface of the table to the other queen, her tone brooking no dissent. 

Morgan looked down at the paper, surprised. “It wasn’t the one I had in mind,” she murmured quietly as she looked it over, but as Regina had said, it did cover most salient points for the Savior. “However, it’ll do. And, the Inheritance will be performed right after?” When the other two women nodded in confirmation, Morgan hummed. She didn’t mind the change, nor did she mind the quick exit the women planned after the rituals. They were needed in the outside world, Morgan knew, and they had people waiting for them. She had been saddened by the news Percival had brought, that he and some of the others intended to join them, her prized pupil among them, but she had expected that to happen the minute Guardian had brought the ailing Savior into the House of Healing. However, despite the sorrow she felt at the impending loss of the last of the knights, a man she had grown to consider a family, she had given him her blessing. “Tomorrow night, then?” the elder sorceress spoke quietly as she looked over at the brunette, before turning to look at the Savior. When she saw Emma’s frown, she hurried to explain. “To start with the rites, as they are supposed to be finished before dawn.” As the Sheriff nodded in understanding, Morgan turned to Regina. “There is a small grove of apple trees not far from the Temple. I think it would be a perfect place for the ceremony. And, there is one of the rune stones, so the Inheritance can be conducted in the same place.”

“It’s winter, the trees are bare,” Emma murmured before Regina could answer. 

“They need not be,” Morgan replied with an indulging smile, before she turned toward the brunette. “Your father took several saplings of trees from there once. It was for his orchard, he said.”

At the mention of her father, Regina inhaled sharply, bringing Emma to her side within a second, but when the blonde placed her hand on the woman’s shoulder, Regina patted Emma’s hand before she looked up, smiling, her eyes alight with happiness. “My father’s tree, Emma,” she whispered in awe. “My tree.”

Seeing her lover’s reaction at Morgan’s words, the Savior nodded sharply. “Then, it is decided,” she spoke for the two of them. “The ceremony will be in the grove.” She then looked down at the brunette, her palm gently cupping the radiant face of her True Love. “Tomorrow night,” she murmured, letting excitement finally bleed through her concerned expression. 

Hearing the Savior agree, Morgan then turned the conversation toward the small details, asking the two women many questions in order to make the nuptials as perfect as it was possible in such a short time and away from their families. During the discourse, she noticed that the daughter of her dear friend had started to fidget, as if she wanted to say something, but was hesitant. Not only that the reluctance wasn’t like the famed Evil Queen, who had been if anything too direct and overly decisive, but it also wasn’t anything like the woman she had seen healing the Savior, confident and assertive. “Is there something on your mind?” the sorceress asked gently at the first lull in their conversation.

Pursing her lips, Regina nodded sharply. “As a matter of fact.” Not willing to begin a long and quite complicated explanation, she just quickly grabbed the queen’s hand and helped by Emma’s encouraging presence, she initiated the complete mind meld with the Camelot royalty, her actions activating the memory Gorlois had prepared for such an occasion. 

Immediately, she noticed the scape that surrounded them, the shining marble of the House of Healing almost blinding under the glare of summer Sun, and there, at the top of the steps stood Gorlois, dressed in his long red velvet vest decorated with copper, his hairless dark skin glistening in the sunrays, contrasting with the red shine of his copper armbands. He stared down, and only then Regina noticed that he wasn’t glaring at her but at the woman she had brought into the mind scape. The woman who was currently speechless and terrified at the sight of the creator of her line, the man who had been dead for millennia, holding on to Regina’s hand as if it had been the only thing to keep her upright.

“Morgana Riamh Gràsta, the last daughter of the Tintagel line on these shores,” the man addressed the sorceress in a booming timbre, his eyes flashing in anger, as he took one step down for the each word he spoke, until he finally came to her, standing in front of her, forcing her to look uncomfortably up as he was a head taller than her. “Do you even know the shame you have brought on my name, Morgana Le Fey?” he sneered, spitting out the name Camelot had given her, and then proceeded to take to task for hiding away and wasting time, at the same time initiating a memory transfer in order to explain how his presence was at all possible. But, after a blistering rebuke, his face gentled, and he reached for her face, holding it tenderly between his large palms. “I know the follies of a broken heart, my daughter,” he said quietly, his amber eyes peering into the weeping desolate ones. “I know the madness it brings, and I forgive you.” He then kissed Morgan’s forehead before looking once more into her eyes, his thumbs wiping the still streaming tears. “Give her the titles, my child,” he whispered in a soothing tone. “Give Regina the burdens of Tintagel and go to Avalon. Leave the sorrow and pain of this world behind.” Gorlois then smiled gently. “Your family awaits you. Go to them and be at peace.” With another kiss upon Morgan’s brow, he whispered the soft words of absolution in the language of magic against her forehead and released her, stepping away and for the first time glancing toward Regina, he nodded before he dissolved into nothingness. 

The effect of his last words over the elder sorceress was quite visible, as the previously inconsolable woman was now standing straight with a dazed look on her face, tears gliding down the darkened cheeks, and Regina didn’t want to intrude on the moment, so she quietly broke the connection between them, and with a soft look warning Emma not to speak, the two of them left the former queen of Camelot to her own thoughts, retiring to their own quarters for the night.


End file.
